This study was guided by the following objectives:

This exploratory study used a survey design to get opinions of participants on the viability of home-based ECCE in their communities.

The study was set in rural communities that have limited access to early childhood education services and a low number of ECCE centres.

Purposive selection of 120 participants that included parents, teachers and caregivers was carried out. This included 30 participants, of which there were 20 parents, five teachers and five caregivers from each of the districts of Kalaki and Kaliro in Eastern Uganda, Kalungu and Buikwe in Central Uganda.

In-depth interviews and focus group discussion guides were used to collect data. Contact persons in the communities, one per district, were identified and provided the criteria of which participant to look for. The criterium was a male or female parent of a child in the ECCE age range. In addition, parents who had a child with special needs were prioritised to pursue inclusive education perspectives.

Qualitative data collected were analysed thematically, while quantitative data were analysed descriptively.

Before introducing the concept of home-based ECCE into communities, the study first identified community expectations of children by the age of 6 years to help in competence development. Participant responses are summarised in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1, more participants preferred vocational skills, and then home chores, vocational skills and games. Female participants (10.1%) had more support for self-care skills. The implication of this is that more learning activities that impart children such skills need to be included in the centre’s programmes.

The participants were asked to identify what they thought would make a home-based ECCE centre be of high quality. More participants (19.5%) suggested better sanitation (washing) facilities in the centres, latrines and a large compound.

In this study, all the participants reached showed a positive attitude towards establishment of HBECCE. Some of the major reasons for the support included the centre’s ability to introduce its children to different learning skills (listening, speaking, creative thinking, problem solving, reading and writing), easy access for children to learning sites, developing children’s social skills, and be disciplined.

A quick survey on the prevalence of children with special needs in the study area found 19 cases of children among participants in the selected districts. The cases ranged from physical disability being more prevalent, intellectual, communication and hearing impairments. Others identified were partially sighted, hydrocephalus, multisensory and epileptic.

We also explored the participants’ views on whether it was a good idea for their children to study with a child who has special needs. All participants supported the idea of children with special needs studying with their own children in the same class, with 43.9% of fathers strongly supporting the idea of inclusive education. Reasons for support of inclusive education in the home-based ECCE are summarised in Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 2, some of the strategies that were suggested to strengthen inclusive education include guidance and counselling (26.7%), parents’ sensitisation (23.3%) and putting in place safe learning environments for such children (20.7%). Others suggested financial assistance to parents and use of community by-laws in order to enforce enrolment of such children in schools.

Participants identified home-based ECCE sustainability practices as summarised in Figure 3.

As presented in Figure 3, participants wanted to teach agriculture, social skills, discipline and hygiene. The implication of this is that parents offer what they have. This should be a revelation to the curriculum development and implementation players. Education is only relevant if it benefits the individual and the members of the community.

The research team probed to find what are the specific roles community members would be willing to play. Men were more inclined to do monitoring and supervisory roles, while women prefer disciplinary and teaching roles. The gendered roles mean that focal persons need to find ways of working with relevant parents to support different activities. For those participants who were volunteering to manage the centres, they suggested skills they need to do their work well, as summarised in Figure 4.

As shown in Figure 4, more women preferred inclusive childcare and centre management skills, while men preferred resource training on mobilisation skills and entrepreneurial skills. To support the centres, participants suggested contributions as summarised in Figure 5.

As presented in Figure 5, more participants suggested contributing food items, while others suggested contributing learning materials and offering labour to maintain centre materials and structures. The implication of this is that men will be more involved in establishment and construction work at the centre, while women will be engaged in maintenance and day-to-day management of the centre.

Community member in this study felt that home-based ECCE centres are useful in laying a foundation for later learning of their children. They were also able to identify different skills developed in their children by the age of 6 years if the children attended early learning in such centres. Such skills included largely literacy and survival skills that are developed through engagement in different home chore activities. The implication of this is that persons who intend to support establishment of home-based ECCE in the communities must focus on development of such skills if parents are to appreciate the interventions as adding value to their children.

It was also crucial to note that the study identified 19 cases of children with special needs in the selected communities, an indication that there could be many more. This strengthens earlier findings which showed that many children with special needs are present in communities and lack access to formal learning opportunities (Uganda Society for Disabled Children [USDC] 2003).

The study also found female participants to be more knowledgeable about home-based ECCE than male participants. This may strengthen earlier findings that have shown that female participants are more involved in ECCE than male participants (OECD 2014). In addition, women were more interested in having their children learn self-care skills, while men preferred making their children learn life skills.

There was an overwhelming positive attitude of the communities towards establishment of home-based ECCE centres in their areas. Female participants showed overwhelming support for centre establishment when compared with male participants. This implies that ECCE provides opportunity to relieve them from the burden of childcare, as childcare in Africa is traditionally a major role for females (Oxfam International 2018).

Participants provided different reasons like preparing children for future life and development of social and life skills for all children including those with special needs as key to their support for learning centres. As alluded to by earlier studies, this stance indicates the willingness of communities in the study area to support their children with special needs in an inclusive setting (Enable-Ed & USDC 2017).

The study also found that fathers supported of inclusive education more when compared with mothers. This is a unique finding in that ordinarily, mothers would be more supportive than fathers, and are still not able to see mutual benefits of inclusive education for all (Hands 2005). Attitude change is key in all efforts aimed at providing holistic support to and social justice for these children at home and in school (Locoro 2017).

Participants suggested use of community by-laws with penalties for those not complying to enrol their children with special needs in centres. While this can be an effective way of ensuring such children join school, it does not address the underlying factors. Factors such as fear of stigmatisation or safety of the children if established must be dealt with early enough as it is crucial for inclusive education (Banks & Zuurmond 2015; Sense International Uganda 2016). More sensitisation of other parents and counselling of affected persons may be key in combatting stigma and negative attitudes (Mental Health Uganda 2009).

Communities are able to sustain established home-based ECCE centres that utilise practices available in the communities. In this case, farming communities will predominantly teach farming skills, while business communities will teach business. If centres work with such skills, they will promote better parent participation to enhance ownership and make the interventions relevant to the needs of families and the community (Werner 2006).

Communities also have practices that are gender specific. For example, in this study, male participants preferred teaching children agriculture, hygiene, crafts and discipline, while female participants preferred social skills, home chores, literacy and games. Agencies can use this gendered nature of parent roles as a critical entry point to begin tackling gender bias early in life (Koch & Irby 2005).

There are also a significant number of people in the community who may not be willing to contribute anything towards the centre, even when they have children in such centres. Some of them will always say they cannot afford to pay any fees to the centre or have time to volunteer physical labour. In this situation, we initiate entrepreneurships to help families come out of the poverty cycle (Naudeau et al. 2011).

Community members were more willing to support centre activities. This is a good gesture as community participation is usually a key factor in centre sustainability (Henderson & Mapp 2002). However, even when persons are willing to participate, they may not have the necessary skills to implement the identified activities. In this case, project officers need to train human resource for the home-based centres if they are to witness successful turnaround (McAlister 2013).

The main strength of this study is its ability to work with to get actual perception not influenced by promise of further temporal gifts. However, a major weakness of this study is the timing of the study that was carried out during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Uganda. The idea of home-based ECCE and the kind of support parents would provide may have been confused with temporary home learning initiated during lockdown.

Communities have a broad idea of what inclusive early learning interventions in the study sites. We recommend that agencies and NGOs that intend to support establishment of such interventions explore specific concepts and provide further sensitisation to consolidate in marginalised communities.

It was also found that a significant number of children with special needs were available in the participating districts. We recommend that district authorities provide more sensitisation to improve community awareness on the need for identifying such children and enrol them in the learning centres.

More communities are becoming interested in establishing home-based ECCE centres that rely on the local content. We recommend that curriculum development agencies start work on developing informal contextual early years learning curricular to guide such initiatives.

Children with special needs will be admitted into home-based ECCE centres in communities. We recommend that special education units at local levels start adapting local play materials to support learners with special needs.

Sustained home-based ECCE are ones directly under the management of parents. We recommend that agencies that want to support establishment of such centres in communities should make parent empowerment a key support strategy for sustainability.