Early childhood education

Early childhood education is the formal teaching and care of young children by people other than their family or in settings outside of the home. 'Early childhood' is usually defined as before the age of normal schooling - five years in most nations, though the U.S. National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) instead defines 'early childhood' as before the age of eight.

Background

A child's needs during early childhood are different from those of older schoolchildren, because early childhood sees the greatest growth and development, when the brain develops most rapidly, almost at its fullest. It is a period when walking, talking, self-esteem, vision of the world and moral foundations are established.^{[citation needed]} The early years of life are critical to the development of intelligence, personality and social behaviour. Research on brain development attests to the importance of key mental, physical and social capabilities. If these fundamental capabilities are not well established from the start, and especially if neurological damage occurs, a child's learning potential could be adversely affected.^{[citation needed]} As such, education in early childhood must have its own specific practices and issues.

For programming purposes, it has been decided to extend the concept of early childhood to about 8 years of age. This age range provides the opportunity to reinforce the view of the development as a continuum. It will facilitate the interaction between the pre and initial school years. The concept of basic education calls for the inclusion of early childhood and the key "survival" grades, that is, the first two or three grades of primary education.

Early childhood education often focuses on children learning through play.^[1][2]

According to UNESCO ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) Unit, Early childhood is defined as the period from birth to 8 years old. A time of remarkable brain development, these years lay the foundation for subsequent learning.

The terms preschool education and kindergarten emphasize education around the ages of 3–6 years. The terms "early childhood learning," "early care," and "early education" are comparable with early childhood education. The terms day care and child care do not embrace the educational aspects. Many childcare centers are now using more educational approaches. They are creating curricula and incorporating it into their daily routines to foster greater educational learning.^{[citation needed]} The distinction between childcare centers being for care and kindergartens being for education, for example, has all but disappeared in countries that require staff in different early childhood facilities to have a teaching qualification. The ChildForum early childhood education national organisation highlights that while this can uplift the overall quality of children's learning a primary purpose of all early childhood programmes is nevertheless to provide a high standard of care and nurturance due to the young age and emotional and physical needs of children. However, it is necessary to distinguish between nurturance and locomotive learning. One implies the development of vestigial implements of characterized babies, the other refers to hand-eye co-ordination.

Researchers in the field and early childhood educators both view the parents as an integral part of the early childhood education process.^[3] Often educators refer to parents as the child's first and best teacher. Early childhood education takes many forms depending on the beliefs of the educator or parent.

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} For this reason, early care must ensure that in addition to employing carefully selected and trained caretakers, program policy must emphasize links with family, home culture, and home language, meaning caregivers must uniquely care for each child using Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Individually Appropriate Practice and Culturally Appropriate Practice. Care should support families rather than be a substitute for them (see a review of research on the role of parents and families in early education)

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 orphanages demonstrate how the lack of proper social interaction and development of attachment affect the developing child.^[4] Children must receive attention and affection to develop in a healthy manner. While in developed nations today such scenarios are fortunately rare there is a danger of a false belief that more hours of formal education for the very young child = greater benefits for the young child than a balance between formal education and time spent with family. A systematic review of the international evidence suggests that the benefits of early childhood education come from the experience itself of participation and that more than 2.5 hours a day does not greatly add to child development outcomes especially if this means the young child is missing out on other experiences and family contact ^[5]

Developmental domains

Further information: Child development

There are five different developmental domains of children which all relate to each other. They are easily referred to as the SPICE^[6] of life:

• Social - Refers mostly to the ability to form attachments, play with others, co-operation and sharing, and being able to create lasting relationships with others.
• Physical - Development of Fine (small) and Gross (large) Motor Skills.
• Intellectual - The process of making sense of the world around them.
• Creative - The development of special abilities creates noteworthy talents. Music, art, writing, reading, and singing are some ways for creative development to take place.
• Emotional - Development of self-awareness, self-confidence, and coping with feelings as well as understanding them.

Psychosocial developments

• Cognitive Development - According to Jean Piaget, there are four major stages of cognitive development:

1. Sensorimotor Stage. This stage occurs between the ages of birth and two years of age.Sensorimotor (infancy): During this stage, which includes six distinct substages, intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity with limited use of symbols, including language; the infant’s knowledge of the world is primarily based on physical interactions and experiences.
2. Preoperational Stage. The second stage occurs between the ages of 2 – 7 years. During this stage, intelligence is increasingly demonstrated through the use of symbols; memory and imagination are developed as language use matures; thinking is nonlogical, nonreversible, and egocentric.
3. Concrete Operations Stage. Occurring between ages 7 and about 12 years. During this stage—characterized by conservation of number, length, liquid,mass, weight, area, volume—intelligence is increasingly demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols relating to concrete objects; thinking is operational, reversible, and less egocentric.
4. Formal Operations Stage. The final stage of cognitive development (from age 12 and beyond). During this final stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts; thinking is abstract, hypothetical, and early on, quite egocentric; it is commonly held that the majority of people never complete this stage.

• Emotional Development - Concerning children's increasing awareness and control of their feelings and how they react to these feelings in a given situation.

• Social Development - Concerning the children's identity, their relationships with others, and understanding their place within a social environment

There are many other reformers of education that have contributed to what early childhood education means today. Although Piaget had a great impact on early childhood education, people like John Locke, Horace Mann and Jane Addams contributed a lifetime of work to reform education and learning in this country. The information presented is a starting point for educators to better understand the development of children.

Benefits of early childhood education

Chicago’s publicly-funded Child-Parent Centers have served almost 100,000 3- and 4-year-olds since 1967. Researchers tracked 989 of those children and 550 similar children not in the program for 14 years. The children who did not participate were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18. This program also cut child abuse and neglect. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families who were randomly assigned to a group that did not receive preschool who were five times more likely to have become chronic lawbreakers by age 27 than those who were assigned to the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation’s Perry Preschool program.^[7]

The first-ever Conference about Early Childhood Care and Education took place in Moscow from 27 to 29 September 2010, jointly organized by UNESCO and the city of Moscow.

The overarching goals of the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (WCECCE) are to:

• Reaffirm ECCE as a right of all children and as the basis for development
• Take stock of the progress of Member States towards achieving the EFA Goal 1
• Identify binding constraints toward making the intended equitable expansion of access to quality ECCE services
• Establish, more concretely, benchmarks and targets for the EFA Goal 1 toward 2015 and beyond
• Identify key enablers that should facilitate Member States to reach the established targets
• Promote global exchange of good practices

See also

• Baby video
• Charles Eugene Beatty
• Behavioral cusp
• Bright from the Start
• Compensatory education
• Elizabeth Harrison (educator)
• Head Start Program
• Montessori education
• Playwork
• Preschool Curriculum
• David P. Weikart

Notes

1. ^ Wenner, M. (2009). "The Serious Need for Play" - Free, imaginative play is crucial for normal social, emotional and cognitive development. It makes us better adjusted, smarter and less stressed, Scientific American.
2. ^ Gray, P. (2008-2009). "Social Play and the Genesis of Democracy", "The Value of Play I: The Definition of Play Provides Clues to Its Purposes", "The Value of Play II: How Play Promotes Reasoning in Children and Adults", "The Value of Play III: Children Use Play to Confront, not Avoid, Life’s Challenges and Even Life’s Horrors", "The Value of Play IV: Play is Nature’s Way of Teaching Us New Skills", "How to Ruin Children's Play: Supervise, Praise, Intervene", Psychology Today.
3. ^ Early Years Framework. Scottish Government. 2008. ISBN 978 0 7559 5942 6. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/257007/0076309.pdf#page=9. 
4. ^ Groark, Christina J., et al. (2008) Infant Mental Health Journal - Volume 29, Issue 4, Special section on Russian orphanages. Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
5. ^ Farquhar, S.E. (2007). Assessing the Evidence on Childcare/Early Childhood Effects. Published by ChildForum, New Zealand. http://www.childforum.com/research/effects-childcare-parents-working-a-needs/128-assessing-the-evidence-on-childcareearly-education-effects.html
6. ^ Leisure and recreation management, George Torkildsen, 1999 (page 27).
7. ^ "Lifetime Effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40". HighScope. 2005. http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=219. 

http://posts.fanbox.com/86v34

External links

• Choosing Early Childhood Education
• Video on Early Education Service options
• Early Childhood Education Certification Schools
• World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, Moscow (Russia), 27-29 September 2010
• ChildForum Early Childhood Education Networks
• UNESCO Early Childhood Care and Education
• National Institute for Early Education Research
• Chicago Longitudinal Study
• National Education Association's Position on Early Childhood Education
• National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC)
• New Zealand Research in Early Childhood Education Journal
• Heckman Equation for Investing in Early Human Development
• International Montessori Index
• American Education: Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education