Evidence S. Matangi^1,, Phoebe Kashora², Adwell Mhlanga¹, Jenneth Musiyiwa³

This research seeks to investigate the perceptions of prospective early child development teachers on the interplay roles of housemaids and nurseries on early child development. Overall, the respondents agreed that these two though not pivotal were essential for the professional pursuit of mothers hence formed a support intervention for the overall development of children. They also agreed that housemaids and nurseries were not substitutes for time-poor parents. Nurseries and housemaids did not interact considerably with parents on child matters. Nurseries outweighed housemaids favorably in all aspects of child development except on their space requirements, personality and natural development. Nurseries promoted foreign language use in children whilst housemaids promoted local languages. Significant associations were revealed amongst the perceptions of the respondents and their demographic factors. In particular, the perceptions of the respondents on nurseries overwhelmed the influence of housemaids in early child development as evidenced by their significant associations with the respondents’ demographic features such as sex, age group, marital status, and Christian doctrine. Contrarily, insignificant associations were shown between the respondents’ perceptions and their employment status, religion and place of residence. Overall this study showed that the respondents perceived that nurseries outweighed housemaids in most early childhood development initiatives

association, early child development, housemaids, nurseries, perception