Abstract:
Ghana has an obligation to ensure that children grow, survive, develop and
receive protection through the establishment of Early Childhood Care and
Development (ECCD) services. The quality of care provided to children in any
kind of ECCD centre is very important in that the higher the quality of care the
better the developmental outcomes. The purpose of this explanatory sequential
mixed methods study was to assess the health and safety conditions of ECCD
centres in Cape Coast Metropolis (C.C.M.) of Ghana and identify the
determinants of these conditions. Data was collected from all the 160 ECCD
centres, all 160 ECCD centre Heads and all 462 ECCD teachers. Eight Heads
and eight teachers were also interviewed. Descriptive statistics showed that
physical environment of ECCD centres in C.C.M. was of a fair quality.
ECCD centres met most of the health and safety practices. However, two
themes were identified as explanations to why play yards in ECCD centres were not good: “Funds” and “Government”.
The theme identified as
explanation to why centres were not requiring copies of doctor’s reports was: “We don’t bother to ask”. Four themes identified as explanations to why hand sanitizers were not used were: “Water and soap”, “Expensive”, “Teachers
have” and "Some children have”. Chi-square analysis revealed that private
ECCD centres were likely to meet recommended health and safety practices.
Four themes came up as explanations to why private centres were better:
"National cake”, "For profit”, Nice facility” and "Responsible parents”. In
explaining why specialized training in ECCD was not associated with health
and safety practices, three themes came up: "Desire”, "A calling” and "Skill”.
Implications for best practices, conclusions and recommendations were made.
