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The indispensable requisite for sustainable, and equitable early childhood education is innovative educators with developmentally appropriate strategies to communicate essential skills to young children. Holistic development of young infants, especially those under five years old lays the foundation of lifelong learning. Research revealed that songs and rhymes aid the development of fundamental abilities in children. However, most of the South African Early Childhood Development (ECD) educators are ill-equipped with expertise hence their constraints in using music-based pedagogy to aid in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) children’s acquisition of conversational skills. Therefore, this case study explored the constraints and proposed solutions for rural ECD educators in employing music-based pedagogies to impart conversational skills to learners. Six ECCE educators were purposively sampled from centres in Kimberley, Northern Cape province, South Africa to participate in a semi-structured interview and reflective writing. The generated data was analyzed thematically. All the participants concurred that the teaching method centered on music was the best for the ECCE classroom, however, they were restricted by factors such as inadequate expertise in music education, a dearth of musical materials, and a lack of government funding to acquire musical resources and inadequate infrastructural facilities and human resources. They believed that a short musical intervention program would boost their effectiveness and their self-confidence in employing music-based pedagogy to impact children’s language development. The study recommends that a resilient support system be implemented to support ECD educators with basic musical abilities. The results of this study will help curriculum creators and ECD/ECCE policymakers improve the developmental facilities available for teaching and learning.

Background: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) learners have unique needs, and specific pedagogies, therefore, need to be employed to support the acquisition of their essential skills. A great deal of research has been conducted on the use of music-based pedagogies to teach mathematics, life skills, civics and literacy at various levels of education. In South Africa, where ECCE is a relatively new educational sector, very little structure has been put in place to facilitate using music-based pedagogies to teach communication skills to ECCE learners. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore ECCE educators use music-based pedagogies to positively impact children’s communication skills and language development. Setting: The qualitative case study was conducted at two Urban ECCE centers in Durban, KwaZulu Natal Province, South African. Method: The study was informed by a social constructivist paradigm underpinned by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, focussing on ECCE learners’ interaction with the more knowledgeable other (MKO). Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with six educators, and through document analysis. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: The study confirmed that the ECCE educators have some levels of understanding of using music-based pedagogies as a strategy for teaching communication skills to children aged from three to four, but there are constraints. These limitations include insufficient training, a lack of musical resources and the non-inclusion of music-based pedagogies in both the pre-service teachers’ curriculum and the ECCE curriculum. Conclusions: The study recommended a comprehensive review of the content and implementation of the ECCE curriculum in relation to music pedagogy.