I walk by a yard sign advertising a school for 20-month-old toddlers ‒ 4-year-olds. As I understand it, pre-kindergarten is for children aged 4-5 years old. Preschool is for those younger than 4. So, the Creative School advertised in the sign is a preschool. I do not remember attending a preschool as a child, although I do remember going to the Catholic kindergarten because it was the best school in town. At the time, my mother did not work outside the home. But, with the advent of women joining the workforce, I imagine preschool evolved. I do think it is important for children’s brains to be stimulated at an early age because so much of their brain has developed by age 5. How children are treated at very young ages can make a difference in the kind of adulthood they experience. I know some governments focus on early childhood educations. Let’s find out more about it.
According to Wikipedia, a preschool — also known as nursery school, pre-primary school or play school — is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school. It may be publicly or privately operated and may be subsidized from public funds.
Origins
In an age when school was restricted to children who had already learned to read and write at home, there were many attempts to make school accessible to orphans or to the children of women who worked in factories.
In 1779, Johann Friedrich Oberlin and Louise Scheppler founded in Strasbourg, France an early establishment for caring for and educating preschool children whose parents were absent during the day. At about the same time, in 1780, similar infant establishments were established in Bavaria. In 1802, Pauline zur Lippe established a preschool center in Detmold, Germany.
In 1816, Robert Owen, a Welsh textile manufacturer, philosopher and pedagogue, opened the first British and probably globally the first infant school in New Lanark, Scotland. In conjunction with his venture for cooperative mills, Owen wanted the children to be given a good moral education so that they would be fit for work. His system was successful in producing obedient children with basic literacy and numeracy.
Samuel Wilderspin opened his first infant school in London in 1819 and went on to establish hundreds more. He published many works on the subject, and his work became the model for infant schools throughout England and further afield. Play was an important part of his system of education. He is credited with inventing the playground. In 1823, he published “On the Importance of Educating the Infant Poor,” based on the school. He began working for the Infant School Society the next year, informing others about his views. He also wrote "The Infant System, for developing the physical, intellectual, and moral powers off all children from one to seven years of age."
He was born an only child in the district of Hornsey, London. Born into a Christian home, he claimed he acknowledged the existence of a superior being "a Maker, a Governor, and Protector of this world," not because of his parents but due to his own observation and intuition. He was homeschooled most of his childhood, as he claimed his parents taught him everything and gave him a foundation he truly appreciated though he also claimed to have "thrown much on my resources, early became a thinker, and contriver too". At the age of seven, his parents encouraged him to attend the public school system of education, subsequently encouraging him to withdraw. He was destined for business, however a series of events led him to teaching and furthermore initiating a system of teaching, The Infant System.
Wilderspin was apprenticed as a clerk in the City of London, but later trained in infant education. Through a New Jerusalem Church in south London, he met James Buchanan, a follower of Robert Owen who had recently set up an infant school at Brewer’s Green in Westminister. With his wife Sarah Anne, Wilderspin ran an infant school in Spitalfields, London, from 1820. This school particularly impressed Scottish educationalist David Stow, who invited Wilderspin to Glasglow to lecture on it.
The ideas current at this time on infant education went back to J.F. Oberlin and Robert Owen. Wilderspin's approach to schooling as necessary for a socially and morally prepared child was informed by his Swedenborgianism, a Christian denomination influenced by the writings of scientist and Swedish Lutheran theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).
When posed with the question "How came you to think of the Infant School Teaching System?" Wilderspin would simply respond, "Circumstances forced me to it." He claimed that existing infant schools were "simply dame-schools, with the hornbook for boys and girls, and perhaps a little sewing for the latter." He believed that the first seven years of a child are his/her golden years; these are the most important years of a child to build a foundation, and he vehemently admonished parents and teachers likewise to appeal to their senses.
Wilderspin developed four rules in teaching infants:
First ‒ to feed the child's faculties with suitable food.
Second ‒ to simplify and explain everything, so as to adapt it properly to those faculties.
Third ‒ not to overdo anything, either by giving too much instruction or instruction beyond their years, and thus over-excite the brain and injure the faculties.
Fourth — blend both exercise and amusement with instruction at due intervals, which is readily effected by a moderate amount of singing, alternating with the usual motions and evolutions in the schoolroom and the unfettered freedom of the playground.
Spread
Hungarian Countess Theresa Brunszvik (1775–1861), who had known and been influenced by Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, was influenced by this example to open an Angyalkert or “angel garden” in Hungarian on May 27, 1828 in her residence in Buda, Hungary, the first of eleven care centers that she founded for young children. In 1836 she established an institute for the foundation of preschool centers. The idea became popular among the nobility and the middle class and was copied throughout the Hungarian kingdom.
Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852) opened a Play and Activity Institute in 1837 in the village of Bad Blankenburg in the principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany which he renamed Kindergarten on June 28, 1840.
Women trained by Fröbel opened kindergartens throughout Europe and around the World. The first kindergarten in the United States was founded in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1856 and was conducted in German. Elizabeth Peabody founded America's first English-language kindergarten in 1860, and the first free kindergarten in America was founded in 1870 by Conrad Poppenhusen, a German industrialist and philanthropist, who also established the Poppenhusen Institute and the first publicly financed kindergarten in the United States was established in St. Louis in 1873 by Susan Blow. Canada's first private kindergarten was opened by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1870 and by the end of the decade, they were common in large Canadian towns and cities. The country's first public-school kindergartens were established in Berlin, Ontario in 1882 at Central School. In 1885, the Toronto Normal School or teacher training opened a department for kindergarten teaching.
Elizabeth Harison wrote extensively on the theory of early childhood education and worked to enhance educational standards for kindergarten teachers by establishing what became the National College of Education in 1886.
Head Start was the first publicly funded preschool program in the US, created in 1965 by President Johnson for low-income families — only 10% of children were then enrolled in preschool. Due to large demand, various states subsidized preschool for low-income families in the 1980s.
Developmental areas
The most important years of learning begin at birth. During these early years, humans are capable of absorbing more information than later on. The brain grows most rapidly in the early years. High quality teachers and preschools can have a long-term effect on improving outcomes for disadvantaged students.
The areas of development that preschool education covers varies. However, the following main themes are typically offered.
- Personal, social, economic and emotional development.
- Communication including sign language, talking and listening.
- World knowledge and world understanding.
- Creative and aesthetic development.
- Mathematical awareness.
- Physical development.
- Physical health.
- Play.
- Teamwork.
- Self-help skills.
- Social skills.
- Scientific thinking.
- Literacy.
Preschool systems observe standards for structure (administration, class size, student-teacher ratio, services), process (quality of classroom environments, teacher-child interactions, etc.) and alignment (standards, curriculum, assessments) components. Curriculum is designed for differing ages. For example, counting to 10 is generally after the age of four.
Some studies dispute the benefits of preschool education, finding that preschool can be detrimental to cognitive and social development. A study by UC Berkeley and Stanford University on 14,000 preschools revealed that while there is a temporary cognitive boost in pre-reading and math, preschool holds detrimental effects on social development and cooperation. Research has also shown that the home environment has a greater impact on future outcomes than preschool.
There is emerging evidence that high-quality preschools are "play-based," rather than attempting to provide early formal instruction in academic subjects. "Playing with other children, away from adults, is how children learn to make their own decisions, control their emotions and impulses, see from others' perspectives, negotiate differences with others and make friends," according to Dr. Peter Gray, Boston College professor and an expert on the evolution of play and its vital role in child development. "In short, play is how children learn to take control of their lives."
Preschools have adopted various methods of teaching, such as Montessori, Waldorf Head Stat HighScope, Reggio Emilia approach, Bank Street and Forest kindergartens.
Funding
While a majority of American preschool programs remain tuition-based, support for some public funding of early childhood education has grown over the years. As of 2008, 38 states and the District of Columbia invested in at least some preschool programs, and many school districts were providing preschool services on their own, using local and federal funds. The United States spends .04% of its GDP or $63 billion on preschool education.
The benefits and challenges of a public preschool reflect the available funding. Funding can range from federal, state, local public allocations, private sources and parental fees. The problem of funding a public preschool occurs not only from limited sources but from the cost per child. As of 2007, the average cost across the lower 48 states was $6,582. Four categories determine the costs of public preschools: personnel ratios, personnel qualifications, facilities and transportation and health and nutrition services. These costs depend heavily on the cost and quality of services provided. The main personnel factor related to cost is teacher qualifications. Another determinant of cost is the length of the school day. Longer sessions cost more.
Collaboration has helped fund programs in several districts. Collaborations with area Head Start and other private preschools helped fund a public preschool in one district. "We're very pleased with the interaction. It's really added a dimension to our program that's been very positive". The National Head Start Bureau has been looking for more opportunities to partner with public schools. Torn Schultz of the Bureau states, "We're turning to partnership as much as possible, either in funds or facilities to make sure children get everything necessary to be ready for school."
Advocacy
The Universal Preschool movement is an international effort to make preschool available to families, as it is for primary education. Various jurisdictions and advocates have differing priorities for access, availability and funding sources.
In the United States, most preschool advocates support the National Association for the Education of Young Children's developmentally appropriate practices.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children or NAEYC and the National Association of Child Care Professionals or NACCP publicize and promote the idea of developmentally appropriate practice, although many institutions have not taken that approach. NAEYC claimed that although 80% of kindergarten classrooms claim to be developmentally appropriate, only 20% actually are.
Curricula
Curricula for pre-school children have long been a hotbed for debate. Much of this revolves around content and pedagogy; the extent to which academic content should be included in the curriculum and whether formal instruction or child-initiated exploration, supported by adults, is more effective. Proponents of an academic curriculum are likely to favor a focus on basic skills, especially literacy and numeracy, and structured pre-determined activities for achieving related goals. Internationally, there is strong opposition to this type of early childhood care and education curriculum and defense of a broad-based curriculum that supports a child's overall development including health and physical development, emotional and spiritual well-being, social competence, intellectual development and communication skills. The type of document that emerges from this perspective is likely to be more open, offering a framework which teachers and parents can use to develop curricula specific to their contexts.
Preschools in China
The study of early childhood education in China has been intimately influenced by the reforms and progress of Chinese politics and the economy. Currently, the Chinese government has shown interest in early childhood education, implementing policies in the form of The Guidance for Kindergarten Education in 2001 and The National Education Reform and Development of Long-Term planning Programs in 2010. It has been found that China's kindergarten education has dramatically changed since 1990. In recent years, various Western curricula and pedagogical models have been introduced to China, such as Montessori programs, Reggio Emilia, Developmentally Appropriate Practice or DAP and the Project Approach. Many kindergartens have faced difficulties and challenges in adapting these models in their programs. Therefore, a heated debate about how the Western curricula can be appropriated in the Chinese cultural context has been initiated between early childhood researchers and practitioners.
Research has revealed that the most important aim for promoting curriculum reform is to improve kindergarten teachers' professional knowledge, such as their understanding of the concept of play and pedagogy and perceptions of inclusion and kindergarten-based curriculum. Furthermore, within the process of reform, family education and family collaborations cannot be ignored in child development. Early childhood education in China has made dramatic progress since the 1980s. The historical development of Chinese early childhood education indicates three distinct cultural threads, including traditional culture, communist culture, and Western culture, that have shaped early childhood education in China, as demonstrated in Zhu and Zhang 2008 and Lau 2012. Furthermore, currently, administrative authorities intend to establish an independent budget for the ECE field to support early childhood education in rural areas. A higher quality of educational provisions for children living in rural areas will be another goal for the Chinese government. Many researchers have detailed the important issues of early childhood education, especially teacher education. The exploratory study in Hu and Szente 2010 has indicated that Chinese kindergarten teachers hold negative attitudes toward inclusion of children with disabilities, as they do not have enough knowledge and skills for working with this population. This indicates that kindergarten teachers need to improve their perceptions of children with disabilities.
Furthermore, Gu 2007 has focused on the issues of new early childhood teachers' professional development and puts forward some feasible suggestions about how new teachers deal with key events in their everyday teaching practices. With regard to families' support of their children's early development at home, family education should be focused and the collaborative partnership between kindergarten and family needs to be enhanced. Teachers' attitudes toward family intervention are a vital aspect of teacher-family collaboration. Therefore, kindergarten teachers should support family members in their role as the child's first teacher and build collaborative partnerships with family, as presented in Ding 2007. Furthermore, kindergarten teachers should be considered as active researchers in children's role play. This supports the co-construction of their teaching knowledge in relation to children's initiation/subjectivity in role play.
Preschools in India
The preschool education in India is not yet recognized well by the government, although a complete draft of curriculum has been prepared — along with rules and regulations — and sent to states. Some state governments like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka have implemented it and started the registration of preschool. But in other states there are no clear rules about preschool education.
In India preschool, playschool and kindergarten are nowadays very high in demand. This industry is growing at the rate of 24.5 compound annual growth rate. But almost 70% of the preschool market in India is still unorganized and run by local people due to lack of government regulations. Franchised preschool chains account for 30% of preschools.
Preschool in Japan
In Japan, development of social skills and a sense of group belonging are major goals. Classes tend to have up to 40 students, to decrease the role of the teacher and increase peer interactions. Participation in group activities is highly valued, leading some schools to, for example, count a child who is standing still near a group exercise session as participating. Children are taught to work harmoniously in large and small groups, and to develop cooperativeness, kindness and social consciousness. The most important goal is to provide a rich social environment that increasingly isolated nuclear families do not provide; unstructured play time is valued.
Children are allowed to resolve disputes with each other, including physical fighting. Most behavioral problems are attributed to the child's inappropriately expressed emotional dependency. Remedies involve accepting the child, rather than treatment with drugs or punishment. Japanese culture attributes success to effort rather than inborn talent, leading teachers to ignore innate differences between children by encouraging and praising perseverance. They work to ensure that all students meet the standard rather than each reaches his or her own potential. Although preschools exhibit great variety, most target age-appropriate personal development, such as learning empathy, rather than academic programs. Academic programs tend to be more common among Westernized and Christian preschools.
Preschools in North Korea
Preschool education in North Korea is public and provides a variety of activities, such as dance, math, drawing and Korean, as well as basic abilities such as using a spoon and respecting elders. North Korean kindergarten education includes themes common to North Korean propaganda. Subjects include the life of Kim Il-sung, Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War. Children are taught to enjoy military games and to hate the miguk nom or "American bastards."
Preschools in the United Kingdom
In the UK, pre-school education in nursery classes or schools has some local government funding for children aged between two and four. Pre-school education can be provided by childcare centers, playgroups, nursery schools and nursery classes within primary schools. Private voluntary or independent nursery education is also available throughout the UK and varies between structured pre-school education and a service offering child-minding facilities.
Nursery in England is also called FS1 which is the first year of foundation before they go into primary or infants.
The curriculum goals of a nursery school are more specific than for childcare but less strenuous than for primary school. For example, the Scottish Early Years Framework and the Curriculum for Excellence define expected outcomes even at this age. In some areas, the provision of nursery school services is on a user pays or limited basis while other governments fund nursery school services.
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