Code of Ethics for Nigerian Teachers: Awareness and Implementation Constraints in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The field of Early Childhood Care Development and Education has witnessed a lot of expansion in most states in Nigeria since the year 2000. The number of Early Childhood Education centers has increased greatly, along with the numbers of teachers/caregivers, proprietors and other personnel. Numerous reports of child abuse in these centers give the impression that most of the personnel might be unaware of the code of ethics for teachers. The study assessed the level of awareness and factors that deter effective compliance with the code of ethics for teaching at the early childhood education level. Data were collected with a Questionnaire designed to Determine Caregivers’ Level of Compliance with the Code of Ethics. Kaiser-Meyer Olkin’s computation yielded validities of .590; .630 and .643 for sections A, B and C respectively:  KMO of minimum value 0.5 was used for this preliminary study. The entire instrument had a reliability of .887. A purposive sample of 300 early childhood caregivers in Abia State, who willingly completed the questionnaire, was selected for the study. The data from the study showed that caregivers were quite aware of the salient provision of the code.  However, the compliance level demonstrated was below expectation due to the various factors that posed challenges to them. On the basis of the findings, it was recommended that caregivers should be provided with an enabling environment, continuous professional development and support for ethics training workshops. The working condition of caregivers should also be improved.