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Utilization of Resources for the Implementation of Early Childhood
Education and Care Curriculum in Pre-primary Schools

Nnadi, D.N., Akuma, N., Nnubia, V.A, & Okpube, N.M.

Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki – Nigeria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51244/IJRSI.2025.1210000131

Received: 02 October 2025; Accepted: 14 October 2025; Published: 07 November 2025

ABSTRACT

The study examined the utilization of resources for the implementation of early childhood education and care
curriculum in pre-primary schools. Descriptive survey research design was used. Two research questions and
two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The population of the study consisted
of 487 public pre-primary school teachers teaching in the six education zones in the seventeen local government
areas of Enugu State. The sample for the study was 195 pre-primary school teachers. A questionnaire with
reliability coefficient of 0.82 was used for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used in answering
the research questions while t-test was used to analyze the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results
revealed that for effective teaching, some of the available resources were underutilized while some were not
utilized at all. The study concluded that poor utilization of human and material resources in public pre-primary
schools implies that the early childhood education and care curriculum is not being well implemented in public
pre-primary schools. Thus, the researchers recommended that government should pay more attention to pre-
primary schools in their states by ensuring that all the necessary materials needed for this level of education are
adequately provided and well utilized.

Keywords: Child Education and Care, Utilization, Human and Material Resource, Curriculum Implementation,
Pre-primary Schools.

INTRODUCTION

One of the major outcome targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG) according to United Nations (2015)
and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2016), is the access to quality early
childhood development, care and education for all children. This has made it very fundamental for young
children to be given quality care, nutrition and stimulation they need for healthy growth and holistic
development. A mean to actualizing this is through Early Childhood Education and Care (ECCE) program which
starts from birth and ends at age five.

As postulated by Radhikar (2020), Early childhood education or pre-primary school education is the branch of
education that is tailored towards imparting knowledge to children below primary school age (6 years of age).
Radhikar stressed that this type of education lays the foundation on which effective growth and development of
children take place. The author further maintained that whatever children learn at this stage remains throughout
their lives as long as they implement the knowledge in an efficient manner. Furthermore, he stated that children
are trained in areas such as reading, writing, numeracy, oral communication, thinking skills, logical reasoning,
problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, job tasking planning and organizing. Children are trained in
these areas from the initial stage so that they are able to grab these skills as they grow older.

The primary goal of early childhood education is to prepare the child for a smooth transition into the primary
school education. Therefore, such education needs all the resources both human and material in order to achieve
this goal. Resources can be seen as useful or valuable possessions or means of support for man in making a
living. They can also be considered as any item that will aid, stimulate and motivate the learner as well as simplify
the processes of classroom teaching. Resources are those things that can be used to satisfy human needs. It is
any physical or vital entity of a limited resource that needs to be consumed in order to derive benefits (Isukpa,

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2022). Anaele, Amadi and Obed (2016) opined that resources are materials, services, individuals or other assets
that are transformed to produce benefit and, in the process, may be consumed or made unavailable.

In education, resources refer to materials, services, teachers, support staff or other assets that are transformed to
produce benefit in teaching and learning and in the process may be consumed by the educational institution.
These resources help to nurture and support the development of early literacy and numeracy in children from
birth to five years. Chukwubuikem (2019) is of the opinion that these resources should be based on sound
contemporary international research. According to her, these informative and practical materials should suit a
range of early childhood settings and should provide examples of how parents, care givers and practitioners can
create stimulating environment for their children, thereby making use of the most critical period of rapid
development in learning.

In any early childhood educational institution, resources are needed to enhance their productivity. Consequently,
Evy, Sunyito and Etin (2020) posit that material resources in early childhood education include messages, people,
materials, tools, techniques and the environment. In their opinion, learning based on various sources is a learning
strategy that gives learners the opportunity to acquire and build their knowledge through interactions with
various learning resources. They see learning based on various learning resources as an educational model that
has a broader meaning than the learning model; this means that learning resources are things that are used to
support learning activities. Availability of such resources, both human and material is critical for the successful
implementation of any educational program because they are needed to provide a conducive teaching and
learning environment, purchase relevant instructional and learning materials and pay staff.

Human resources are the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry
or economy. According to Ikechukwu, Ukah and Okpo (2019), human resources are the manpower or workforce
required by a nation or organizations to enable it achieve its pre-determined objectives or to serve the purpose
for which it was established. Human resources in the educational sector are different categories of personnel that
provide different services in the teaching and learning process. It includes specialists or professionals, highly
skilled and experienced staff and non-professionals. Isukpa (2022) observed that no matter how beautiful the
program and assets of an organization or institution may be, without human resources, the attainment of the
institution’s goals and objectives would be very difficult. This implies that human resources are the significant
resources of any established organization. In education, human resources are those personnel who aid or assist
in imparting knowledge and skills into the learner. Human resources cannot operate without material resources;
both complement each other.

Amie-Ogan and Osazuwa (2020) emphasized that since the formative years of a child is very paramount and of
great value to the child and the society in general, therefore, a key element in the delivery of quality early
childhood education is the provision of adequate quality material resources. According to them, material
resources are physical resources utilized by educational institutions in the process of implementing educational
programmes. They act as ancillaries for the achievement of educational goals and objectives. Educational
material resources are an integral part of a well-organized school system. It could be described as any material
used to facilitate the overall teaching and learning process in schools. They include textbooks, visual aids, charts,
maps, chalk/whiteboard, playground and other materials applicable in the education system. Abdulkareem and
Fasasi (2013) described material resources as the tangible resources that can easily be seen and observed in any
educational institution such as classroom, staff office, vehicles, health centers, library, instructional facilities and
so on which directly or indirectly contribute to the achievement of educational goals and objectives. In early
childhood education, proper human and utilization material resources are very essential since they are needed
for the realization of the objectives of that level of education.

Utilization of resources for the implementation of early childhood education and care curriculum is another
critical factor that needs to be evaluated. Utilizing resources that are available in schools is paramount in teaching
and learning especially in pre-primary schools (early childhood education) due to the fact that a lot of experiences
are embedded in those resources and those experiences cannot be unraveled if the resources are not utilized.
Abdullahi (2013) described educational resources as materials or tools locally made or imported which could
make tremendous improvement on a lesson if intelligently used. This statement indicates that utilizing resources
while teaching in the classroom makes teaching and learning meaningful and worthy.

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According to Federal Republic of Nigeria, (FRN, 2007) in the National Early Childhood Curriculum for Ages
0-5 Years, the material resources needed for the implementation of the curriculum are personal file, birth record,
weight scale, tape rule/measurement, growth chart, health record, merry go round, slides, balls, mats, rocking
horse, various toys, sand tray, music box, charts, building blocks, radio, television, clean water resources, first
aid box, tape recorders and story books. Resources such as personal file, birth record and health record need to
be provided for each child, while other resources should be provided in a quantity that will make it accessible to
the learners simultaneously depending on the population of the learners.

On the other hand, the human resources needed for the implementation of the curriculum are teachers/caregivers,
curriculum developers, teacher assistants, special education professionals, guidance counselors, school
administrators, health and safety personnel, professional development trainers, assessment and evaluation
specialists, language and cultural specialists, speech and language therapists, child psychologists and facility
maintenance staff. The number of human resources recruited ought to be enough to give individual attention to
each learner. These resources when provided in schools if properly utilized will help to equip children with the
necessary knowledge, skills and experiences they need to be prepared for primary level of education and for
general growth and development, thereby implementing the curriculum.

While stressing the importance of using variety of instructional resources, Santrock (2014), indicated that people
receive experiences through all the five senses (touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight). He added that if teachers
can appeal to more than one sense at a time, their message is likely to be understood and accepted more
permanently. He further explained that different materials appeal to different people, therefore when planning
lessons, teachers must not concentrate on memory work alone, but also on hearing, seeing, touching, doing and
making. To ensure quality instructional delivery for the benefit of both teachers and learners, early childhood
education and care require appropriate utilization of a judicious mix of both print, audio, visual, audio-visual
and other materials. These materials include but not limited to textbooks, journals, magazines, perodicals, wall
charts, posters, pictures, maps, globes, filmstrips, slides, projectors, graphs, radio, tape recorders, televisions,
flash cards, chalk, marker among others (Chukwu, Eze and Agada, 2016).

Infrastructural resources (facilities) on the other hand are very essential in the delivery of quality early childhood
education. Shively (2017) opined that for learning objectives to be achieved, it must be supported by adequate
facilities and infrastructure. Facilities and infrastructure such as buildings, classrooms, tables, chairs, garden or
school park are all vital in the effective delivery and implementation of early childhood education and care
curriculum (Gallagher & Clifford, 2020). The implementation of early childhood education and care curriculum
is strongly influenced by the conditions of educational facilities and infrastructure owned by schools and also by
optimizing their management and utilization (Khikmah & Mukminin, 2017). Cassey (2015) noted that good
infrastructural facilities are expected to create clean, beautiful and conducive school environment for both
teachers and learners. He added that it is also expected that the availability and optimal utilization of adequate
learning tools or facilities are for the benefit of children’s education and teaching process in schools both in the
urban and rural areas.

All these mentioned above are key initiatives spelt out in the report of the education sector of the National
Technical Working Group for Nigeria’s vision 20:20:20 programme for achieving the objectives of Early
Childhood Education and Care Curriculum, but are yet to be implemented in public schools. This indicates that
government has paid less attention to the implementation of ECEC curriculum in public pre-primary schools
located in both urban and rural areas and this needs to be properly addressed if the objectives of early childhood
education and care curriculum will be achieved. It is worthy to note that gender of teachers has a significant role
to play in this level of education as regards children in the early childhood stage of life.

Gender has been observed as an important factor that influences teacher productivity and this is of paramount
interest because females are gradually taking over and dominating the teaching profession in pre-primary school
level of education. This observation was noted by Akiri (2018) who reported that females consist of about 75%
of teachers in Nigeria. Consequently, it seems the phenomenon of gender differences in the teaching profession
has over the years formed a significant part of the general discussion in different parts of the world. According
to Akiri, in some parts of the world especially Africa, people generally associate certain professions with males
and if females are found in such professions, it is regarded as abnormal and vice versa. In supporting this view,

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Sara, Louise and Annika (2022) asserted that males are encouraged to take jobs like engineering while females
are encouraged to enlist in jobs that are mostly accepted as female oriented such as teaching. Consequently, this
may influence their professional practices, efficiency and performance on their jobs. Odoh (2016) revealed that
male teachers found in the pre-primary level of education tend not to last long in the profession because at that
level, a high sense of love and care is needed in order to handle young children and teach them to achieve the
objectives of early childhood education and care curriculum. He emphasized that the skills needed to achieve
this are mostly found in female teachers who are either wives, mothers or prospective mothers.

In African culture, the task of taking care of children lies solely on the shoulders of women which gives them an
edge over their male counterparts and has consequently made the teaching profession especially at the pre-
primary school level to be the business of women only (Ike, 2021). It is important in this study as regards the
availability and utilization of resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education and care
curriculum in pre-primary schools.

OBJECTIVES

Determine the utilization of the material resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education
and care curriculum in pre-primary schools in Enugu State.

Determine the utilization of the human resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education
and care curriculum in pre-primary schools in Enugu State.

METHODOLOGY

The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The design was adopted because it is appropriate for a
study involving the use of questionnaire for data collection (Abonyi, Okereke, Omebe, Anugwo & Nnachi,
2022). The area of the study is Enugu State, Nigeria. The choice of this area was due to the fact that the area
houses many civil servants in the urban areas whose children are enrolled in pre-primary schools. This makes it
possible to determine the extent of availability of the resources for implementing the early childhood education
and care curriculum. The population of the study consisted of all the 487 pre-primary school teachers teaching
in the six (6) education zones which make up the seventeen (17) local government areas in Enugu State. The
total sample for the study was 195 pre-primary school teachers (8 males, 187 females). To select the sample,
cluster sampling with multi stage approach was used to select 5 LGAs out of the 17 in the state. In each LGA,
purposive sampling technique was used to select the schools with male and female teachers for the study. A
structured questionnaire developed by the researchers titled “Questionnaire for the Utilization of Resources for
the Implementation of Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum” (QURIECECC) with reliability
coefficient of 0.82 was used for data collection. The questionnaire consisted of two sections, A and B. Section A
dealt with utilization of available material resources with 22 items, while section B dealt with utilization of
available human resources with 11 items. In order to elicit responses from the respondents, both sections had a
four-point rating scale – (4) Very Highly Utilized (VHU)-4 points, (3) Highly Utilized (HU)-3 points, (2)
Seldomly Utilized (SU)-2 points and (1) Not Utilized (NU)-1 point. out of the 195 administered instruments,
180 were returned valid; amounting to 92.3% return rate. The data collected were subjected to descriptive and
inferential statistics. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses
were tested using t-test at an alpha level of 0.05.

RESULTS

Table 1: Mean responses on the utilization of material resources needed for the implementation of early
childhood education and care curriculum in pre-primary schools in Enugu State. N=180

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S/N Items Required 4

VHU

Total X S Decision

1 Personal file
(statutory record)

95 63 22 - 180 2.85 .855 UT

2 Birth record
(statutory record)

45 72 18 45 180 2.50 1.272 UT

3 Classroom 153 27 - - 180 2.55 .574 UT

4 Tape
rule/measurement

84 63 24 9 180 2.55 .574 UT

5 Growth chart - 54 36 90 180 1.80 .874 NU

6 Health record
(statutory record)

108 54 18 - 180 3.50 .673 UT

7 Merry go round 108 36 27 9 180 2.94 1.247 UT

8 Slides 117 36 18 9 180 2.55 1.239 UT

9 Balls 99 72 9 - 180 3.45 .742 UT

10 VIP toilets 81 63 36 - 180 3.25 .769 UT

11 Rocking horse - 18 9 153 180 1.25 .624 NU

12 Various toys 90 36 27 27 180 2.60 .972 UT

13 Sand tray/buckets 153 18 9 - 180 2.55 .912 UT

14 Music box - 9 9 162 180 1.15 .478 NU

15 Charts (standard
size)

27 63 54 36 180 2.53 .975 UT

16 Building blocks 81 45 36 18 180 2.52 1.052 UT

17 Weight scale 153 18 9 - 180 2.52 .511 UT

18 Television - 18 9 153 180 1.25 .624 NU

19 Clean water
resources (utility)

54 54 18 54 180 2.58 1.205 UT

20 First Aid Box 72 54 27 27 180 2.95 1.074 UT

21 Fire extinguisher 98 32 13 37 180 2.53 .460 UT

22 Pre-primary books 54 99 27 - 180 2.55 1.074 UT

VHU – Very Highly Utilized, HU – Highly Utilized, SU – Seldomly Utilized, NU – Not Utilized.

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Table 1 indicates that the most available material resources needed for the implementation of early childhood
education and care curriculum are utilized in pre-primary schools in Enugu State.

Table 2: Mean responses on the utilization of human resources needed for the implementation of early childhood
education and care curriculum in pre-primary schools in Enugu State. N= 180

S/N Human Resources 4

VHU

Total X S Decision

1 Teachers/caregivers 85 95 - - 180 3.55 .815 UT

2 Curriculum developers 18 27 18 117 180 1.68 1.044 NU

3 Teacher assistants 95 85 - - 180 3.30 .716 UT

4 Special education
professionals

18 27 27 108 180 1.72 1.021 NU

5 Guidance Counselors 45 63 27 45 180 2.60 1.117 UT

6 School administrators 99 81 - - 180 3.25 .769 UT

7 Health and safety
personnel

9 18 45 108 180 1.60 .863 NU

8 Speech and language
therapists

- 9 9 162 180 2.15 .478 NU

9 Child psychologists - - 18 162 180 2.10 .301 NU

10 Nutritionists 103 77 - - 180 3.50 .593 UT

11 Facility maintenance
staff e.g. cleaners,
electricians, etc.

36 45 36 63 180 3.50 1.148 UT

Table 2 shows that the out of the 11 available human resources needed for the implementation of early childhood
education and care curriculum, only six (6) are properly utilized in public pre-primary schools in Enugu State.

Table 3: Independent sample test: Rating on the utilization of material resources needed for the implementation
of early childhood education and care curriculum in public pre-primary schools in Enugu State.

Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances

t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t Df Sig.
(2-
tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std. Error
Difference

95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference

Decision

Lower Upper

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Total
Score

Equal
variances
assumed

.269 .604 1.270 178 .206 3.000 2.363 -1.662 7.662 P-Value
greater than
0.05

Equal
variances
not
assumed

1.131 5.273 .307 3.000 2.652 -3.713 9.713

Decision: Since the P-value (0.206) is greater than the significance level (0.05), the null hypothesis is not
rejected. Therefore, the researchers concluded that there is no significant difference between the responses of
male and female teachers on the extent of utilization of material resources needed for the implementation of
early childhood education and care curriculum in Enugu State.

Table 4: Independent sample test: Rating on the utilization of human resources needed for the implementation
of early childhood education and care curriculum in public pre-primary schools in Enugu State.

Decision: Since the P-value (0.296) is greater than the significance level (0.05), the null hypothesis is not
rejected. Therefore, there is no significant difference between the responses of male and female teachers on the
extent of utilization of human resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education and care
curriculum in Enugu State.

DISCUSSIONS

After analysis of data collected from the respondents, it was found that the available material resources are
utilized while the ones that are not available are not utilized due to their unavailability. Based on this outcome,
it is obvious that the available material resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education
and care curriculum in public pre-primary schools in Enugu State are utilized. The study has also shown a no
significant difference in the mean responses of teachers on the extent of utilization of material resources for the
implementation of early childhood education and care curriculum. The teachers all agreed that the available
materials are utilized while the unavailable ones are not utilized and this is not good for the implementation of
early childhood education and care curriculum. The finding of this study is in line with that of Mbagala and

Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances

t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t Df Sig. (2-
tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std. Error
Difference

95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference

Decision

Lower Upper P-Value
greater
than
0.05

TotalScore

Equal
variances
assumed

.847 .359
-
1.048

177 .296 -1.593 1.521 -4.595 1.408

Equal
variances not
assumed

-.819 5.207 .449 -1.593 1.946 -6.537 3.350

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Shukia (2019) who revealed that many material resources necessary for early childhood education are not
utilized because of the fact that they are not available. It was also supported by Ibukun, Oludele and Ikumola
(2023) who maintained that government does not provide necessary material resources for public pre-primary
schools in their states due to negligence. However, the reason for the unavailability of these materials is
inadequate funding, inefficient resource management, lack of improvisation, poor storage and carelessness in
handling of resources, among others. In order words, the unavailability of material resources needed for the
implementation of early childhood education and care curriculum is detrimental to the system since it hinders
the proper implementation of the curriculum and this reduces the Nigerian education sector to nothing because
the early childhood level of education is the bedrock of every other level, therefore there is serious need for the
stakeholders in education sector to focus on this level in order to uplift the system.

After analysis of data collected from the respondents, the findings revealed that the available human resources
such as teachers/caregivers, teacher assistants, guidance counselors, school administrators, nutritionists and
facility maintenance staff are utilized because they are available while curriculum developers, special education
professionals, health and safety personnel, speech and language therapists and child psychologists are not utilized
because they are not available and the teachers perform these tasks in the course of delivering their duties. Based
on this outcome, it is obviously clear that all the necessary human resources are not made available for utilization
in pre-primary schools for the proper implementation of this curriculum. On the test of hypothesis that there is
no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female teachers on the extent of utilization of human
resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education and care curriculum in pre-primary
schools in Enugu State, the result from Table 8 has the grand mean of 2.0 which is also less than the cut off mean
2.50. This showed that both male and female teachers agreed that the available human resources needed for the
implementation of early childhood education and care curriculum in pre-primary schools are utilized while the
ones that are not available are not utilized. This finding is in line with Isukpa (2022) who lamented that there is
gross non-utilization of human resources necessary in schools which hinder the implementation of educational
objectives. This can significantly affect the quality and success of educational programs especially at the pre-
primary level. However, several factors can contribute to this which include lack of qualified personnel as a
result of inadequate training of teachers and care givers in early childhood education methodologies, mismatch
between qualifications and early childhood education requirements such as hiring general education teachers
without specialization in early childhood, limited access to professional development or training, ineffective
deployment of available staff such as assigning ECE-trained teachers to unrelated duties, low budget allocation
to ECE programs thereby limiting hiring and training opportunities, inability to offer competitive salaries thereby
causing qualified professionals to leave for better paying jobs in other sectors, perception of early childhood
education as babysitting rather than a critical educational foundation, limited career growth opportunities for
ECE professionals and marginalization of early childhood education in national priorities among others. All
these factors need to be looked into by government and other stakeholders in order to raise the standard of early
childhood education by ensuring that all the necessary human resources are utilized for proper implementation
of early childhood education and care curriculum.

CONCLUSION

Most of the available material resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education and care
curriculum in pre-primary schools in Enugu State are utilized while others are not utilized because they are not
available. Equally, the available human resources needed for the implementation of early childhood education
and care curriculum in pre-primary schools in Enugu State are utilized while others are not utilized because they
are not available

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of the study, the researcher suggests the following recommendations:

School administrators in pre-primary schools in Enugu State should ensure that the few available material
resources are properly utilized to serve the number of pupils in their respective schools. They should also
encourage the teachers to improvise some of those material resources where necessary. This implies that active
and dedicated teachers and school administrators need to be employed.

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The researcher recommends that all educational institutions in Enugu State such as universities and colleges of
education should have early childhood education departments where teachers can be trained for pre-primary
schools. This will go a long way to ensure that teachers and other personnel needed for early childhood education
are provided in adequate quantity and quality.

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