.Dudley Ransford Brandyce Grant, affectionately called D.R.B by family, friends, and even the few foes that disagreed with him, was short in physical statute but a giant of mind and vision. D.R.B was deeply committed to his Lord, his wife Gene, loved children and respected people, especially of the grassroots. In preparing this Tribute to my colleague, friend and mentor I did a quick scan of the Internet. Two phrases jumped out: ‘father of early childhood education’ and ‘early childhood education theorist’.
The first is flat wrong. The first of the enslaved emancipated were children six years and under in August 1834. Infant schools, established in1835, were the first schools for mass education in Jamaica. Bethlehem Training College was established in 1861 specifically to train females and infant schoolteachers. Born 80 years later in 1915, D.R.B would reject any notion of being styled the father of early childhood education.
On being an early childhood education theorist, most likely Dudley Grant would request clarification and justification. The D.R.B. Grant I knew was a hands-on, street-smart, folk-wise, consummate practitioner of the art and science of education. By example, D.R.B taught me how to detect ‘runnings’, navigate it and negate it if necessary. Dudley Grant placed doing good way above abstract musing, stereotypic of university academics.
Consider this. Dudley Grant was a founding member of the Institute of Education, UWI, Mona when it was established in 1963. As a Lecturer, he was the founding Director of the Centre for Early Childhood Education when it was created in 1966 with funds from the Van Leer Foundation. He was promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 1968. In 1975 Dudley Grant was promoted to the Rank of Professor but not conferred with the title.
To unpack this anomaly, contrast the how of Dudley Grant with what was standard for universities. His modus operandi was not on campus but in the school system. It was not teaching, research and publication but transforming day-care operations in poor communities into schools. It was not publishing books but writing manuals. Caught with this conundrum the University was conflicted and its action contorted. It recognized and rewarded Dudley Grant’s work and worth by the rank of Professor but withheld the title. Dudley Ransford Brandyce Grant was a Professor of Practice long before universities globally had created this category. Dudley Grant was way ahead of his times.
If Dudley Grant was not the father of early childhood education nor a theorist of early childhood education in the conventional use of this expression, who then was he? Knowing the man and his work, I offer an alternative perspective. First, Dudley Grant was The Man for the Moment, when history rhymed. Second, Dudley Grant was Father of the Basic School Paradigm. Third, Dudley Grant was connected to the Taproot of Church Schools in Jamaica.
DUDLEY GRANT: MAN FOR THE MOMENT WHEN HISTORY RHYMED
As Jamaica moved to become a sovereign nation in 1962, teacher education and early childhood education were two challenges around which all agreed. The Ministry of Education created the Emergency Teacher Education Program to improve teacher supply. UWI created the Institute of Education to guarantee teacher quality for infant and primary schools. The Jamaica Teachers Association, formed in 1964 from five teacher unions, made early childhood education its first major project. The Van Leer Foundation provided the Institute of Education with the resources to create the Centre for Early Childhood Education.
The official start of the new nation’s history was rhythming with the official start of emancipation in the mid-1830s. The common focus was early childhood and teacher education. The difference was the partners with the people. In the mid-1830s, it was the Imperial Government and Protestant Missionaries. In the mid-1903s, it was the elected government of the people, the teachers’ organization (JTA), the University of the West Indies, and the Van Leer Foundation. The University led the partnership and applied accumulated learning.
Dudley Grant’s entire career as an outstanding Head Teacher of several government schools, long-standing member of the Jamaica Union of Teachers, JUT, Methods Tutor of Monague Teachers College, Principal of Caledonia Junior College, and Lecturer of the Institute of Education had prepared him for this moment. Dudley Grant was trusted by all partners.
DUDLEY GRANT: FATHER OF THE BASIC SCHOOL PARADIGM
At the official start of personal freedom, some left Jamaica, many remained but sought to continue slavery in the free society but most, especially those previously enslaved, grasped the opportunity to determine their own destiny using skills, savings, and experience acquired during slavery. Likewise, in the 1960s, at the official start of political freedom, some left, many remained but hoped for independence colonial-style through the development paradigm of imitating the former industrialized colonial powers, borrowing their money, using their methods and their manpower. But the people and their partners saw imitation of elsewhere, top-down imposition, and indebtedness as a future no different from the past.
Over the 130 years since 1835, no government had built enough infant schools or trained enough teachers. Further, fee-paying preparatory schools founded as early as the 1670s had continued to serve the middle classes. The children neglected were descendants of the excluded, that is, the enslaved, the propertyless, and low-income earners unable to pay taxes but who had resisted, rioted and rebelled over centuries. Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944, and the transfer of power from British Officials, had transferred political power to the excluded.
Out of necessity, women of the excluded had been inventive. All over Jamaica, low-income working mothers had provided work for other women by entrusting their children to their care in arrangements that were self-supporting. Educating and training women offering day-care to become teachers, would add learning to day-care operations, thereby transforming them into schools – Basic Schools. A major incentive to become Basic Schools was official Recognition by government which provided salary subsidy for its teachers and certification that children were learning which satisfied their mothers.
The Basic School Paradigm created an institution that paralleled the government infant school and private preparatory schools. What followed was that Churches of most Denominations established Basic Schools in communities in which they operated. Basic Schools allowed Jamaica to achieve universal early childhood education within twenty-five years. This was bottom-up transformation of Jamaican education and society.
DUDLEY GRANT’S CONNECTION TO THE TAPROOT OF CHURCH SCHOOLS
Dudley Grant was a Deacon of the East Queen Street Baptist Church for many years. East Queen Street Baptist Church was founded by Thomas Swiegle ,who was one of the earliest Jamaican converts of African-American Rev George Liele who brought the Baptist denomination to Jamaica in 1783. Thomas Sweigle was the schoolmaster at Rev Liele’s Chapel at Windward and Elleston Roads. Swiegle left and founded East Queen Street Baptist Church and its school between 1797-1801. The East Queens Street Baptist Church in the 1820s was one of the largest Baptist Churches in the world. Calabar Infant, Primary and Junior High School at the East Queens Street Baptist Church is the oldest continuously operating Church school in Jamaica. Its institutional memory should not be overlooked.
CONCLUDING COMMENT
When the history of early childhood education is written, hopefully Dudley Ransford Brandyce Grant will be accorded his rightful place.
