Preschool education

Nursery school near Baroda, Gujarat, India

Preschool education is the provision of education that focuses on educating children from the ages of infancy until six years old. The system of preschool education varies widely, with different approaches, theories and practices within different school jurisdictions. Preschool educational programs are sometimes refered to as nursery school, day care or kindergarten. While pedagogies differ, there is the general agreement that preschool is responsible for providing education before the commencement of statutory education.

History

In the 19th century, several European educators, Robert Owen of Great Britian, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi of Switzerland, Friedrich Froebel in Germany and Maria Montessori of Italy began to develop educational systems designed for early childhood in the hope of actively helping children during one of the most crucial stages in human development. It was Froebel who came up with the term kindergarten.

Philosophy

The areas of development which preschool education covers varies by jurisdiction, however the following main 'themes' are represented in the majority of systems. [2] [3]

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication, including talking and listening
• Knowledge and understanding of the world
• Creative and aesthetic development
• Physical development
• Mathematical awareness and development

Preschool is generally considered appropriate for children three to five years of age, between the toddler and school stages. During this stage of development, children learn and assimilate information rapidly, and express interest and fascination in each new discovery. These qualities make them prime candidates for education, although most are not ready for structured elementary schooling. ^{[citation needed]}

At the age of four the practice of vocabulary and grammar starts to become very important. For four- and five-year-olds, the average vocabulary span is between 1500 and 2000 words. In this age group, the curriculum should focus on past tenses and pronouns of words. One word concept that becomes very confusing to the preschool age students is literal statements, which are those phrases that explain something figuratively but not realistically. An example is “when pigs fly”; if you say this a preschooler will picture a pig actually flying.

Mathematical skills also come into use a great deal at this age. Preschoolers begin to recognize numbers better and understand the concept of numbers and their use. Rote counting, the ability to recite numbers in their proper order, is a very popular part of the curriculum for this age.

The physical development of preschoolers should include more challenging activities. They like to do more things on their own. They love to help with anything they can and have responsibility. At this age their coordination has improved a lot and their body proportions have changed. They also become responsible for their own simple hygiene.

Parents are a child's best resource for education before school. Research shows that the more time and effort parents, caregivers, or teachers at preschools give to the child, the better a preschool child will be able to adjust to their environment. ^{[citation needed]}

Some preschools schools have adopted specialized methods of teaching, such as Montessori, High Scope, The Creative Curriculum Reggio Emilia approach, Bank Street and various other pedagogy which contribute to the foundation of education. In the United States most preschool advocates support the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Developmentally Appropriate Practices. Universal Preschool is the notion that access to preschool should be available to families in a similar way as Kindergarten. There are different perspectives on priorities for access and how it is to be funded.

What is Early Childhood Education?

According to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), early childhood spans the human life from birth to age 8. Infants and toddlers experience life more holistically than any other age group. Social, emotional, cognitive, language, and physical lessons are not learned separately by very young children.Adults who are most helpful to young children interact in ways that understand that the child is learning from the whole experience, not just that part

File:Baby exploring books.jpg

A child picking up a book.

File:Baby exploring books.jpg

Infant playing with a book.

Early childhood education (ECE) is a pedagogical approach covering the education of children from the period from birth to six years of age.of the experience to which the adult gives attention.

Although early childhood education does not have to occur in the absence of the parent or primary caregiver, this term is sometimes used to denote education by someone other than these the parent or primary caregiver. Both research in the field and early childhood educators view the parents as an integral part of the early childhood education process. Early childhood education takes many forms depending on the theoretical and educational beliefs of the educator or parent.

Other terms that are often used interchangeably with "early childhood education" are "early childhood learning," "early care," and "early education." Much of the first two years of life are spent in the creation of a child's first "sense of self" or the building of a first identity. Because this is a crucial part of children's makeup-how they first see themselves, how they think they should function, how they expect others to function in relation to them, early care must ensure that in addition to carefully selected and trained caregivers, links with family, home culture, and home language are a central part of program policy. If care becomes a substitute for, rather than a support of, family, children may develop a less-than-positive sense of who they are and where they come from because of their child care experience.

Early childhood education or learning focus on children learning through play.

Child development

Baby being put on a keyboard by its parents

There are different developmental domains of children which all relate to each other:

• Physical development - Concerning the physical growth and the development of both gross(eg. walking) and fine motor(eg. finger movement) control of the body.
• Perception and sensory development - How a child functions using the senses and the ability to process the information gained.
• Communication and language development - Using visual and sound stimuli, especially in the acquisition of language, also in the exchange of thoughts and feelings.
• Cognitive development - Concerning how the individual thinks and react.
• Emotional Development - Concerning children's increasing awareness and control of their feelings and how does he react to these feelings in a given situation.
• Social Development - Concerning the child's identity, their relationship with others, and understanding their place within a social environment.

Recent studies on infant brain development show most of a person's neurons are formed from ages 0-6. If a young child doesn't receive sufficient nurturing, nutrition, parental/caregiver interaction, and stimulus during this crucial period, the child may be left with a developmental deficit that hampers his or her success in preschool,kindergarten' and beyond.

Worst-case scenarios such as those found in Russian and Romanian orphanges demonstrate how the lack of proper social interaction and development of attachement affect the developing child.^{[citation needed]} Children must receive attention and affection from their caregivers to develop in a healthy manner.Template:POV statement

Theory and curriculum

A wide array of educational philosophies circulate through the field. Some professionals adhere to more of a behaviorist theory as developed by John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike. Others hold to the more unstructured maturationist theory popularized by Jacques Rousseau and Maria Montessori. Additionally, stage theories such as those of Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson are used to look at social and emotional development.

Currently early childhood teacher education programs teach a mix of theories dominated by the constructivism (learning theory) theory as put forth by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.

Each philosophy forms the undergirding theory behind its own selection of school curriculum used throughout the world.

Behaviorist ideas dominate direct instruction methods (like DISTAR). Constructivist ideas dominate curricula like High/Scope and The Creative Curriculum. While maturational theory is the underpining for Montessori. A mix of maturationist and constructionist ideas supply the base theory for the Reggio Emilia approach.

The curriculum in a "Head Start" program is designed to meet the needs of each child. One goal is to build self-esteem that is seen as necessary to future success in school. Staff encourage self-confidence, curiosity, and self-discipline. A variety of learning experiences are designed to meet the children's needs in the various areas of development. Staff should work as a team to implement the new government issued curriculum and teach children, based on their interest and in a fun way.Template:POV statement Parent involvement should be the heart of the program. Preschool children must be provided with early literacy, awareness and intervention in order to perform better during the later years. This will lead the to success once they enter schools, and put them on the right track by being well prepared with the right and appropriate equipment.

Pedagogy

The philosophy of early childhood education is largely child-centered education. Therefore, there is a focus on the importance of play. Play provides children with the opportunity to actively explore, manipulate, and interact with their environment.

It encourages children to investigate, create, discover and motivate them to take risks and add to their understanding of the world. It challenges children to achieve new levels of understanding of events, people and the environment by interacting with concrete materials.

Hands-on activities create authentic experiences in which children begin to feel a sense of mastery over their world and a sense of belonging and understanding of what is going on in their environment. This philosophy follows with Piaget's ideals that children should actively participate in their world and various environments so as to ensure they are not 'passive' learners but 'little scientists' who are actively engaged.

Play is a very important and special part of childhood. It allows a child to experiment with the world around him and the emotional world inside him. To many it might seem like mere child's play but there is a lot of work going on behind the scene like skill building, problem solving, overcoming physical and mental challenges etc. Playing with products made especially for the preschool children helps a child in building self confidence, encourages independent learning and clears his concepts. For the development of their fine and large or gross motor movements, for the growth of the child's eye-hand coordination, it is extremely important for him to 'play' with the natural things around him. Sand/mud/clay and water play a very important part here.

Giving the child time and playing with him make him a confident human being. We as adults can enter his world of imagination and fantasy and let him control us. This generally helps in building his self confidence and he feels safe and secure with us. We tend to build his self esteem and morale when we give him time and attention. When a child realises that the things of his interest are important to us and that we appreciate his method of play and fun, he tends to get confident of himself. It also allows children to explore new friendships with those they interact with.

Day Care

Day care or child care can overlap with preschool in providing early childhood education, to children whose families use long day care to allow the parents to work. Many child care centres in Australia provide preschool and kindergarten early childhood education services.

Sawara-nursery-school, Katori-city, Japan

Nursery/Pre-School

A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of three and five, staffed by qualified teachers and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare. It is generally considered part of early childhood education. In some jurisdictions the provision of nursery school services is on a user pays or limited basis while some governments fund nursery school services.

Names

Other common names for nursery school are pre-school, playschool, playgroup and nursery. The German word kindergarten is also used in many countries to denote a form of pre-school education. However, in the United States, Canada and some parts of Australia kindergarten is instead the term used to describe the first year of compulsory schooling.

Advantages

In May of 2007, Slate Magazine published an article discussing the results of a working paper by Nobel Prize winner James Heckman of the University of Chicago and Dimitriy Masterov of the University of Michigan about the social and economics benefits of nursery school, claiming that more investment in children at an earlier age is needed to supplement the role of the family.

The reasons given include the importance of early years in cognitive development, the trouble many families have in providing adequate early-childhood nurturing, and the advantage such programs give students starting the next step in their education. The study considered a number of early childhood educational pilot programs for at risk children, similar to Head Start, but more intense, such as the Perry Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Over 40 years of the children's lives, participants showed greater literacy, higher grades, greater likelihood to graduate high school, higher post-high school employment rates, higher earnings, less need for welfare, committed less crime, and had lower rates of teen pregnancy. The rate of returns to the children was estimated to be 16 percent (about 3/4 of this is calculated from the decreased social cost due to lower crime and less prison spending).

The authors also propose that the return on investment declines with age. This study is significant because it advocates spending as an economic investment in a societies future, rather than in the interest of justice.

Cultural Variants

Kindergarten on the Ministry of Agriculture in Afghanistan

United Kingdom

In the UK, pre-school education in nursery classes or schools is fully funded by the government and is generally available to children aged over three. Pre-school education can be provided by childcare centres, playgroups, nursery schools and nursery classes within primary schools. Private nursery education is also available throughout the UK and varies between structured pre-school education and a service offering child-minding facilities.

England and Wales

Each child in England and Wales, aged three or four, is entitled to five two and a half hour sessions per week. This entitlement is subsidised by the government. Pre-schools in England and Wales follow the Early Learning Goals for education produced by the Department for Education and Skills which carries on into their first year of school at the age of four. This year of school is usually called Reception. The Early Learning Goals cover the main areas of education without being subject driven. These areas include

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Language, literacy and communication
• Mathematical development
• Knowledge and understanding of the world
• Physical development
• Creative development

Scotland

In Scotland children are entitled to a place in a nursery class when they reach their third birthday. This gives parents the option of two years of funded pre-school education before beginning primary one, the first year of compulsory education. Nursery children who are three years old are referred to as ante-pre-school whilst children who are four years old are termed pre-school. Pre-school education in Scotland is planned around the document "A curriculum framework for children 3 to 5," which identifies learning intentions around the following five areas of development:

• Emotional, Personal and Social Development,
• Communication and Language,
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World,
• Expressive and Aesthetic Development,
• Physical Development and Movement

Responsibility for the review of care standards in Scottish nurseries rests with the Care Commission.

United States

In the United States, nursery school is provided in a variety of settings. In general pre-school is meant to develop children through planned programs.

Pre-school is defined as: "center-based programs for four-year olds that are fully or partially funded by state education agencies and that are operated in schools or under the direction of state and local education agencies".

Pre-schools, both private and school sponsored, are available for children aged from three to five. Many of these programs follow similar curriculum as pre-kindergarten.

Head Start program

The goal of Head Start and Early Head Start is to increase the school readiness of young children in low income families. These programs serve children from birth to age five, pregnant women, and their families. Head Start was started by the Federal Government in 1964 to help meet the needs of disadvantaged pre-school children.

The office of Economic Opportunity launched Project Head Start as an eight-week summer program in 1965. It was then transferred to the Office of Child Development in the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1969. Today it is a program within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services. Programs are administered locally by school systems and non-profit organizations.

• Services provided by Head Start

1. Disabilities - All programs fully include children with disabilities
2. Education - The goal of Head Start is to ensure that those children enrolled in the program are ready to begin school. Activities are geared towards skill and knowledge domains.
3. Family and Community Partnerships - both groups are involved in the operation, governance and evaluation of the program.
4. Health - Health is seen as an important factor in a child's ability to thrive and develop. The program provides screenings to evaluate a child's overall health, regular health check-ups, and good practices in oral health, hygiene, nutrition, personal care, and safety.
5. Program Management and Operations - "focus on delivering high-quality child development services to children from low-income families."

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Babies: Should Under 3s Go to Nursery? ISBN 0-00-722192-4
• Herr, Judy. (2002). Working with Young Children. Tinley Park, Illinois: The Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc. ISBN 1-56637-822-2.
• Meisels, Samuel J. (1995). Performance Assessment in Early Childhood Education: The Work Sampling System. Urbana, Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

External links

• Montessori Preschool Information
• Los Angeles Universal Preschool
• Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (UK) – Guide to the Foundation Stage
• BBC Parenting Information pages about nursery school in the UK
• Early Years information at Learning and Teaching Scotland
• Office of Head Start (US)
• Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center

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