Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education is designed to prepare students to enter a number of fields related to the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual care and guidance of children or to prepare them to continue their education in elementary or special education, physical or recreational therapy, social work, and paediatric nursing. Early childhood educators nurture youngsters whose parents are at work or cannot be with them for other reasons.

A child's needs at this period are different from those of older schoolchildren, because early childhood sees the greatest growth and development, when the brain develops most rapidly, almost at it’s fullest. It is a period when walking, talking, self-esteem, vision of the world and moral foundations are established. The early years of life are critical to the development of intelligence, personality and social behaviour. 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.

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 facilitates 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.

According to UNESCO ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) Unit, Early childhood is defined as the period from birth to 8 years old. The terms preschool education 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 Childcare do not embrace the educational aspects. Many childcare centres are now using more educational approaches. They are creating curricula and incorporating it into their daily routines to foster greater educational learning. The distinction between childcare centres 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. Care should support families rather than be a substitute for them.

If a young child does not receive sufficient nurturing, nutrition, parental 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. These are the underlying facts taught in primary teacher courses.

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 yields greater benefits for the 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 outcome especially if this means the young child is missing out on other experiences and family contact.

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