Early childcare, education and spatial planning approaches to addressing
urban built space challenges of preschool infrastructure in Addis Ababa
- Filmon Hadaro,
- Tsiyon Helesabo
Abstract
Viewing interfaces as collective role of urban spatial planning and
early childcare education approach, the study documents urban built
space challenges of preschools in the context of rapid urbanization. It
aims at identifying policy, institutional and practice gaps in
addressing preschool infrastructure, education, and early childhood care
policy implementation in Addis Ababa. A case study of private and public
pre-schools was considered. A qualitative design was used to collect
data from secondary and primary sources. Data on pre-school policies,
practices, regulations, and data on implementation were collected. Key
informant interviews were used to collect primary data, including the
perspectives of policy-makers and implementers. The thematic data
analysis revealed that, urban planning lacks a detail working plan at
local level that can be translated to action in addressing the
challenges of preschools. The spatial plan and education policy do not
incorporate early childhood care and education infrastructure demands of
the preschools observed. Thus, policy and institutional gaps need to be
recognized and addressed to solve the challenges of preschool
infrastructure and to create a conducive space for early childhood
education in Addis Ababa.