Contextualising Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP): considering Caribbean countries

Caribbean nations have leaned on and undergirded their early childhood programmes with Developmentally Appropriate Practices promulgated by the NAEYC. For many years the guidance provided by DAP has been used in both the development of standards of practice for early childhood professionals as well as curriculum development. In recent years however, as Caribbean nations have attempted to employ more Caribbean-centric approaches and understandings of Early Childhood Care and Education, the role of DAP and its applicability to Caribbean Early Childhood Care and Education systems have been questioned. Now that DAP has evolved to provide greater consideration to socio-cultural differences across settings, the role of DAP must be re-examined. This paper focuses on the evolving role of DAP in Caribbean early childhood settings. Importance will be placed on presenting the work of Caribbean early childhood educators in relation to the new philosophical and theoretical tenets of the fourth version of DAP. This paper identifies ways in which the revised DAP position guidelines more readily address cultural and social nuances of ECCE practice in the Caribbean. It also identifies areas where specific focus should be highlighted to ensure that DAP represents the Caribbean reality.