PRED 101: FOUNDATIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Unit 1. Early Childhood Education: An Overview

1.1 TERMINOLOGY IN ECE

CHILD CARE & EARLY EDUCATION GLOSSARY

The child care & early education glossary defines terms used to describe aspects of child care and
early education practice and policy; the research glossary defines terms used in conducting social science
and policy research, for example those describing methods, measurements, statistical procedures, and other
aspects of research.

 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Program

- A federally funded grant program, originally authorized by Congress in 1994 through the ESEA,
that supports states to create community learning centers that provide academic enrichment
opportunities, educational services, and extracurricular activities to children during afterschool
hours. The program is designed to help low-income students from low-performing school districts
to meet state and local standards in core academic subjects.

 Accessibility
- Refers to the availability of child care when and where a family needs it. See related: Child
Care Access; Child Care Availability.

 Accommodation
- Refers to adjustments or adaptations made in standards and assessment tools to allow children
with Special Needs or English-Language Learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
Accommodations help provide children with equal access to education by meeting the child’s
individual learning needs and capabilities. For example, a test could be adapted for a child
with attention issues by granting extra time or could be administered to a non-English speaker
in the child's native language. Accommodation addresses how the child is expected to learn and
demonstrate learning, not what a child is expected to learn. Compare with: Modification.

 Accreditation
- A process through which child care programs voluntarily meet specific standards to receive
endorsement from a professional agency. The National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) and the National Accreditation Commission for Early Care and Education
Programs (NAC) are among the organizations that offer accreditation programs for child care.

 Adult-Child Ratio
- Refers to the number of qualified adult caregivers relative to the number of children in a child
care program. In determining the regulatory adult-to-child ratio, the ages of children served
are also considered. In high Quality programs, there is typically a low adult-child/staff-child
ratio.

 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)

- Refers to potentially traumatic events that can have a negative, lasting effect on an individual's
health and well-being. Adverse childhood experiences can include physical, emotional, or sexual
abuse to the death or incarceration of a parent or guardian.

 Affordability
- The degree to which the price of child care is a reasonable or feasible family expense. States
maintain different definitions of "affordable" child care, taking various factors into
consideration, such as family income, child care Market Rates, and Subsidy acceptance, among
others.

 After-School Program
- Programs serving school age children and older when they are not in school. Sometimes called
Out-of-School Time (OST) programs, after school programs may provide a broad range of
services and supports such as mentoring, academic support, youth development, arts, sports and
other forms of recreation.

 Approaches to Learning
- Refers to the ways in which children learn, including children's openness and curiosity to tasks
and challenges, task persistence, imagination, attentiveness, and cognitive learning style.

 At Risk
- A term used to describe children who are considered to have a higher probability of non-optimal
Child Development and learning. See related: Risk Factors.

 Attachment
- The emotional and psychological bond between a child and adult, typically a parent or
caregiver, that contributes to the child’s sense of security and safety. It is believed that secure
 attachment leads to psychological well-being and Resilience throughout the child's lifetime and
is considered a key predictor of positive Child Development and learning.

 Best Practices
- A term used to denote the "best" ways of delivering services, supports or information to achieve
desired outcomes as determined by research or experience. See related: Developmentally
Appropriate Practice (DAP); Evidence-based Practice.

 Bilingual
- Refers to an individual who can speak two languages with similar or equal proficiency. In the
U.S., bilingual education refers to instruction given in English, as well as another language, with
the goal of attaining proficiency and mastery in both languages. See related: English Language
Learner (ELL); Limited English Speaking/Limited English Proficiency (LEP); Dual Language Learner
(DLL).

 Blended Funding
- A Financing Strategy that combines funding sources to pay for an integrated set of program
services to a group of children. With blended funding, costs do not have to be allocated and
tracked by the individual funding source. Compare with: Braided Funding; Layered Funding.

 Braided Funding
- A Financing Strategy used to coordinate funds from two or more sources to support the total
cost of integrated services for individual children. With braided funding, costs must be attributed
and tracked by the particular funding stream. Cost allocation methods are required to assure
that there are no duplicate funding of service costs and that each funding source is charged its
fair share of program and administrative costs. Compare with: Blended Funding; Layered
Funding.

 Center Based Child Care

- Child care provided in nonresidential group settings, such as within public or private schools,
churches, preschools, day care centers, or nursery schools. See related: Community Cased Child
Care/Community Based Organization (CBO).

 Certification (Staff)
- The process by which an individual or institution attests to or is shown to have met a prescribed
standard or set of standards.

 Child Care Access

- Refers to the ability for families to find quality Child Care Arrangements that satisfy their
preferences, with reasonable effort and at an affordable price. See related: Child Care
Availability.

 Child Care Arrangement

- Refers to any combination of non-parental child care providers and/or settings that families use
for their children, often while family members are at work. Child care arrangements vary widely
based on a family's unique needs and circumstances. Arrangements might include: Center-Based
Child Care, Family/home-based Child Care, Informal Child Care, full-day Head Start or Pre-
Kindergarten programs at local CBOs, Drop-in Child Care, etc. Many families will also utilize
After-School Programs and services so that their child care arrangements can accommodate
their work schedules.

 Child Care Assistance

- Any public or private financial assistance intended to lower the cost of child care for families.
See related: Child Care Subsidy.

 Child Care Availability

- Refers to whether Quality child care is accessible and available to families at a reasonable cost
and using reasonable effort. See related: Child Care Access.

 Child Care Health Consultants (CCHC)

- Licensed health professionals with education and experience in child and community health as
well as in early care and education. CCHCs have knowledge of resources and regulations and
are typically helpful in linking health resources with child care facilities. See related: Early
Childhood Mental Health Consultation.

 Child Care Provider

- An organization or individual that provides early care and education services.

 Child Development
 - The process by which children acquire skills in the areas of social, emotional, intellectual, speech
and language, and physical development, including fine and gross motor skills. Developmental
stages describe the expected, sequential order of gaining skills and competencies that children
typically acquire. See related: Developmental Milestones; Approaches to Learning.

 Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential

- A widely earned Credential administered by the Council for Professional Recognition.

 Child Protective Services (CPS)

- An official public agency responsible for receiving and investigating reports of suspected child
abuse or neglect and for ensuring that prevention and intervention services are provided.

 Child
- For the purposes of this document, a “child” is defined as anyone under the age of 18, in line
with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

 Child Abuse
- According to the World Health Organization, “Child abuse” or “maltreatment” constitutes ‘all
forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment
or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health,
survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.’

 Child Participation
- Anyone below the age of 18 taking part in a process or playing a role in a process at his/her
level, according to their evolving capacities - children and young people thinking for themselves,
expressing their views effectively, and interacting in a positive way with other people; involving
children in the decisions which affect their lives, the lives of the community and the larger society
in which they live.

 Child Protection
- A broad term to describe philosophies, policies, standards, guidelines and procedures to protect
children from both intentional and unintentional harm. In the current context, it applies
particularly to the duty of organizations – and individuals associated with those organizations -
towards children in their care.

 Direct Contact with Children

- Being in the physical presence of a child or children in the context of the organization’s work,
whether contact is occasional or regular, short or long term.

 Indirect Contact with Children

- Having access to information on children in the context of the organization’s work, such as
children’s names, locations (addresses of individuals or projects), photographs and case studies.
- Providing funding for organizations that work ‘directly’ with children. Albeit indirectly, this
nonetheless has an
- impact on children, and therefore confers upon the donor organization responsibility for child
protection issues

 Coaching
- A relationship-based process led by an expert with specialized knowledge and adult learning
Competencies that is designed to build capacity for or enhance specific professional dispositions,
skills and behaviors. Coaching is typically offered to teaching and administrative staff, either
by in-house or outside coaches, and focuses on goal-setting and achievement. See related:
Consultation; Technical Assistance.

 Community-Based Child Care/Community-Based Organization (CBO)

- A nonprofit organization that provides educational or related services to children and families
within their local community. CBOs that provide child care may be associated with faith-based
organizations or other nonprofit organizations. CBOs are subject to section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. See related: Center-based Child Care.

 Child Protection Policy

- ‘A statement of intent that demonstrates a commitment to safeguard children from harm and
makes clear to all what is required in relation to the protection of children. It helps to create a
safe and positive environment for children and to show that the organization is taking its duty
and responsibility of care seriously.’

 Informed Consent
- Capacity to freely give consent based on all available information, according to the age and
evolving capacities of the child. For example, if you seek consent from a child regarding taking
their photograph and using it for publicity purposes, the child is informed as to how the
photograph will be used and is given the opportunity to refuse. If a child is invited to input into
 the development of a child protection policy, they must be made aware of the time it will take,
what exactly will be involved, their roles and responsibilities and only then will they be able to
give their “informed consent”.

 Competencies [refers to Workforce Knowledge or Core Competencies]

- Refers to the range of knowledge and observable skills that early childhood practitioners need
to provide effective services to children and families. Competencies, sometimes referred to as
"core competencies," are typically linked with states' early learning guidelines and provide a
framework for Professional Development at various career stages.

 Comprehensive Services
- An array of coordinated services that meet the holistic needs of children and families enrolled
in a given program, from health and developmental screenings to family literacy trainings and
parent education.

 Consultation
- A collaborative, problem-solving process between an external consultant with specific expertise
and adult learning Competencies and an individual or group. Consultation typically facilitates
the assessment and resolution of an issue-specific concern, a program-/organizational-, staff-,
or child-/family-related issue, or addresses a specific topic. See related: Coaching; Technical
Assistance.

 Continuing Education Unit (CEU)

- Refers to credits that early childhood professionals earn by demonstrating that they have
attended training/Professional Development and can understand and apply what they have
learned. CEUs are often regarded as a bridge between In-Service Training and college credit.

 Continuity of Care
- Refers to the provision of care to children by consistent caregivers in consistent environments
over a period of time to ensure stable and nurturing environments. Research shows that
maintaining continuity and limiting transitions in a child's first few years of life promotes the type
of deep human connections that young children need for optimal early brain development,
emotional regulation, and learning.

 Credentials
- Academic degrees, licenses or certificates awarded to individuals who successfully complete
state or national requirements to enter specialized roles in the early childhood Workforce. See
related: Certification (Staff).

 Cultural Competence
- A term that describes what happens when special knowledge about individuals and groups of
people is incorporated into standards, policies, and practices. Cultural competence fosters an
appreciation of families and their unique backgrounds and has been shown to increase the
quality and effectiveness of services to children.

 Curriculum
- A written plan that includes goals for children's development and learning; the experiences
through which they will achieve the goals; what staff and parents should do to help children
achieve the goals; and the materials needed to support the implementation of the curriculum.

 Developmental Domains
- Refers to the five domains of Child Development: Physical, the development and growth of the
child's body, muscles, and senses; Social, how the child relates, plays and talks to others;
Emotional, the child's awareness of self, how the child feels about himself, expression of feelings
and how he helps care for himself; Cognitive, the way children think, reason, solve problems,
and understand and use language and; Adaptive/Self-help, how children adapt to their
environments. Developmental domains are interrelated; what happens in one domain influences
development in the other domains.

 Developmental Milestones
- A set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that experts agree most children should be able
to do within a certain age range. Milestones enable families and professionals to monitor a
child's learning, behavior, and development and can signal when there might be a
developmental delay or cause for greater concern.

 Developmental Outcomes
- Describes the condition of a child's developmental health and life trajectory that can be
impacted by determinants such as: family income and education level, access to health and child
care services, choice of neighborhood, social support networks, and genetics, among others.

 Developmental Screening and Assessment

 - The practice of systematically measuring a child's development across multiple domains and
looking for signs of developmental delays. Screening and assessment tools are typically
administered by professionals in healthcare, community, or school settings with children and
families and can consist of formal questionnaires or checklists that ask targeted questions about
a child’s development.

 Developmentally Appropriate
- Practices, behaviors, activities and settings that are adapted to match the age, characteristics
and developmental progress of a specific group of children. Developmentally Appropriate
Practice (DAP) in early learning settings reflects knowledge of Child Development and an
understanding of the unique personality, learning style and family background of each child.

 Distance Learning
- A mode of education and instruction in which teachers and students are not physically present
with each other and communicate remotely. Distance education typically takes place online,
where teachers and students interact by way of email, video or other means of communication.

 Dual Generation Strategies

- An approach to stimulating young children's healthy development that includes promoting the
capabilities and resources of parents, families or caregivers. These strategies generally link the
provision of services for children, such as Quality child care, with services for their parents and
entire families, such as employment counseling or housing assistance. See related: Two
Generation Programs.

 Dual Language Learners (DLL)

- Refers to children under the age of five who have at least one parent or guardian that speaks
a language other than English at home and who are mastering their native language while
learning English simultaneously. See related: English Language Learners (ELL); Limited English
Speaking/Limited English Proficiency (LEP); Bilingual.

 Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

- A strategic intervention geared towards building the capacity of early childhood staff,
programs, families, and systems to prevent, identify, treat, and reduce the impact of mental
health problems among children from birth to age six. In a child-focused consultation, the
consultant may facilitate the development of an individualized plan for the child; In a classroom-
focused consultation, the consultant may work with the teacher/caregiver to increase the level
of Social-Emotional support for all the children in the class through observations, modeling, and
sharing of resources and information; In a program-focused consultation, the consultant may help
administrators address policies and procedures that benefit all children and adults in the
program.

 Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE)

- Specialized instruction that is provided by trained early childhood Special Education
professionals to young children with disabilities in various early childhood settings such as
Preschool, child care, Prekindergarten and Head Start, among others. ECSE is mandated by the
federal Part B of the IDEA.

 Early Head Start

- A federally funded program that serves low-income pregnant women and families with infants
and toddlers to support optimal child development while helping parents/families move toward
economic independence. EHS programs generally offer the following core services: (1) high
Quality early education in and out of the home; (2) family support services, home visits and
parent education; (3) comprehensive health and mental health services, including services for
pregnant and postpartum women; (4) nutrition; (5) child care, and, (6) ongoing support for
parents through case management and peer support. Programs have a broad range of
flexibility in how they provide these services.

 Early Intervention (EI)

- Services that are designed to address the developmental needs of infants and toddlers with
disabilities, ages birth to three years, and their families. Early intervention services are generally
administered by qualified personnel and require the development of an Individualized Family
Service Plan (IFSP). Early intervention is authorized by the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), Part C.

 Early Learning and Development Guidelines/Standards

- A set of expectations, guidelines, or Developmental Milestones that describe what all children
from birth until kindergarten entry should know and be able to do as well as their disposition
toward learning. These standards/guidelines must be developmentally, linguistically, and
culturally appropriate and cover all Developmental Domains.

 Early Literacy
 - Refers to what children know about and are able to do as it relates to communication, language,
reading, and writing before they can actually read and write. Children's experiences with
conversation, books, print and stories (oral and written) all contribute to their early literacy skills.

 Early Math/Numeracy
- Refers to the foundations of mathematical reasoning that are acquired in early childhood,
typically by way of number counting, measuring, sorting, noticing patterns and adding and
subtracting numbers.

 Educational Approach
- Refers to the educational philosophy, method and/or pedagogical style adopted by early
childhood providers. Examples of well-known and regarded educational approaches include
Reggio-Emilia, Montessori and Head Start.

 English Language Learner (ELL)

- Refers to a child who is learning English and comes from a home or environment where the
primary language is not English. ELLs are generally proficient in their own language but are
usually unable to read, write, speak or understand English at a level comparable to their English
proficient peers and native English speakers. See related: Dual Language Learners (DLL); Limited
English Speaking/Limited English Proficiency (LEP); Bilingual.

 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

- A 2015 federal law that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
and replaced key requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The ESSA includes
provisions to promote coordination in early learning among local communities; align preschool
with early elementary school; and build the capacity of teachers, leaders and others serving
young children to provide the highest-quality early learning opportunities. The ESSA also
authorized Preschool Development Grants to support states’ efforts to increase the number of
children accessing high-quality preschool.

 Evidence-Based Practice
- A practice, regimen or service that is grounded in evidence and can demonstrate that it improves
outcomes. Elements of evidence-based practice are standardized, replicable and effective
within a given setting and for a particular group of participants. See related: Best Practices.

 Executive Function
- A group of cognitive skills that contribute to the development of Self-Regulation. Executive
function skills include: cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch attention between different rules;
working memory, the ability to hold information in mind while working on a task; and inhibitory
control, the ability to resist certain impulses in order to complete a goal.

 Family (Parent) Engagement

- Refers to an interactive process of relationship-building between early childhood professionals
and families that is mutual, respectful, and responsive to the family’s language and culture.
Engagement in the early years prepares families to support their children's learning throughout
their school years and support parent/family-child relationships that are key to healthy Child
Development, School Readiness, and well-being. See related: Parent/Family Involvement.

 Family Child Care

- Child care provided for one or more unrelated children in a provider's home setting. Most states
have regulatory guidelines for family child care homes based on the number and ages of
children they serve as well as the number of hours their business operates. See related: Home-
based Child Care; Kith and Kin Child Care; Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) Child Care;
Informal Child Care.

 Family Child Care Networks

- Community-based programs that offer a menu of ongoing services and supports to affiliated
Family Child Care providers. Network services typically include some combination of visits to
providers’ homes to offer Technical Assistance (TA), Coaching or Consultation, training workshops
and peer networking opportunities. Networks may help new providers with Licensing assistance,
CACFP applications or acquiring start-up equipment; They may help more experienced
providers with specific supports for improving their practice, obtaining Professional Development
(PD), or attaining national Accreditation. Family Child Care Networks are primary funded
through CCDF.

 Family Literacy
- Refers to a continuum of programs that support literacy for all family members. Family literacy
programs are designed to help families overcome inter-generational cycles of illiteracy and
poverty by providing integrated early childhood education, adult literacy, and parenting
education in a unified program.
 Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) Child Care
- Child care provided by relatives, friends, and neighbors in the child's own home or in another
home, often in unregulated settings. See related: Kith and Kin Child Care; Informal Child Care.

 Financing Strategies
- Refers to funding mechanisms and approaches that support early care and education services.
Strategies typically include Blended Funded, Braided Funding and Layered Funding.

 Fine Motor Skills

- Actions that require control of the small muscles of the body to achieve skillfulness. Examples of
fine motor skills include drawing, cutting with scissors, handwriting, and playing a musical
instrument. Compare with: Gross Motor Skills.

 Global Quality
- Refers to the totality of features in an early childhood setting that affect children's development.
Global quality encompasses children's' interactions with caregivers and other children as well as
characteristics of the setting's physical space, furnishings and materials.

 Gross Motor Skills

- A child's development of large muscle movement and control. Examples of gross motor skills
include crawling, running, and jumping. Compare with: Fine Motor Skills.

 Head Start
- A federal program that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition,
and parent involvement services to low-income families. The program is designed to foster stable
family relationships, enhance children's physical and emotional well-being and support children's
cognitive skills so they are ready to succeed in school. Federal grants are awarded to local
public or private agencies, referred to as "grantees" to provide Head Start services. Head Start
began in 1965 and is administered by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

 Home Language
- The primary language that a child speaks at home. See related: Native Language.

 Home-Based Child Care

- Child care provided in a caregiver's home setting. Home-based child care may be regulated or
unregulated, paid or unpaid, listed or unlisted. Narrower terms for specific home-based Child
Care Arrangements might include Family Child Care, Informal Child Care and Family, Friend
and Neighbor Care.

 Home-Visiting Programs
- Programs that aim to improve child outcomes by helping high-risk parents who are pregnant or
have young children to enhance their parenting skills. Most home visiting programs match trained
professionals and/or paraprofessionals with families to provide a variety of services in families'
home settings. Examples of home visiting services can include health check-ups, developmental
screenings, referrals, parenting advice, and guidance with navigating community services.

 In-Service Training
- Refers to Professional Development that occurs outside of a credentialing program that early
childhood Providers take to enhance their skills and remain current regarding knowledge and
practices in the field. A certain number of in-service training hours are typically required for
early childhood professionals to maintain early childhood-related Certifications.

 Inclusion
- The principle of enabling all children, regardless of their diverse backgrounds or abilities, to
participate actively in natural settings within their learning environments and larger communities.

 Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

- Outlines the special education and related services that a child between the ages of 3 and 21
years must receive if they have been identified as having a disability. The IEP represents an
agreement between the school or child care provider and the parent/family and is required
based on the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B. A child has to be
reevaluated every three years to maintain eligibility and continue to receive support services.

 Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP)

- A written plan that outlines the special services children ages birth through two years and their
families will receive if found eligible for early intervention services. The plan is mandated by
the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part C. See related: Early
Intervention.

 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

 - A federal law enacted in 1990 that makes free appropriate public education (FAPE) available
to eligible children with disabilities. The IDEA, previously known as the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act (EHA), governs how states and public agencies provide Special
Education, Early Intervention, and related services to eligible infants, toddlers, children, and
youth with disabilities. See related:Part B of the IDEA;Part C of the IDEA.

 Informal Child Care

- A term used to describe child care provided by relatives, friends, and neighbors in the child's
own home or in another home, often in unregulated settings. See related: Informal Child Care;
Kith and Kin Child Care; Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) Care.

 Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA)

- Assessments developed by states and aligned with states' early learning and development
standards to assess what children know and are able to do as they enter kindergarten. KEAs
are sometimes referred to as kindergarten readiness assessments (KRAs).

 Kindergarten Transition
- Refers to a process or milestone in which a child moves from a Preschool setting to kindergarten.

 Learning Disability
- A general term that includes specific kinds of learning problems or impairments that affect one's
ability to learn and use certain skills.

 Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

- Refers to the legal requirement outlined in the IDEA of educating children with disabilities in
regular classes, with suitable aids and supports, to the maximum extent appropriate. LRE
requirements apply to all children with disabilities who are served under the IDEA, Part B. See
related: Inclusion.

 Limited English Speaking/Limited English Proficiency (LEP)

- Individuals who speak a language other than English as their first language and have limited
comprehension, and ability to speak, read or write in English. See related: English Language
Learners (ELL); Dual Language Learners (DLL); Bilingual.

 Linguistic Competence
- The ability of an organization and its staff to communicate effectively with, and provide
information to, people who may have limited English skills, low literacy, or disabilities.

 Mentoring
- A form of Professional Development characterized by an ongoing relationship between a novice
and an experienced teacher or provider to deliver personalized instruction and feedback.
Mentoring is intended to increase an individual's personal or professional capacity, resulting in
greater professional effectiveness. See related: Coaching, Consultation.

 Mixed Delivery System/Diverse Delivery System

- Refers to an integrated system of early childhood education services that are offered through
a variety of programs and providers (e.g., Head Start, Licensed Family Child Care, public
schools, and CBOs) and are supported with a combination of public and private funding.

 Mixed/Multi-Age Grouping
- Grouping children or students so that the chronological age span within a group is greater than
one year. Multiple age grouping is most prevalent in Family or Home-based child care settings.

 Modification
- Refers to a strategy that changes or modifies what a child with Special Needs is expected to
learn. For example, a child with a cognitive impairment may only be expected to learn and
demonstrate comprehension of a portion of the material taught to a Typically Developing Child.
Only children with IEPs are entitled to modifications. Compare with: Accommodation.

 Monitoring
- The process used to enforce child care providers' compliance with licensing rules and regulations.
States use "differential monitoring" as a regulatory method for determining the frequency or
depth of monitoring based on an assessment of the child care facility's compliance history and
other quality indicators.

 Native Language
- The language that a person learns at home as a child, typically from a parent. Native language
is sometimes referred to as one's "mother tongue" or Home Language.

 Nursery Schools
 - Child care programs designed for children ages 3-5 that typically operate for fewer hours/day
and days/week than other child care option and tend to have less regulatory oversight. See
related: Preschool, Pre-kindergarten.

 Observational Tools
- Refers to instruments that are used to observe aspects of the quality of a learning setting or
environment. Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) commonly use the Environment
Rating Scales (i.e., ECERS,ITERS,FCCERS, SACCERS) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring
System (CLASS) to measure and improve the quality of the learning environment and teacher
effectiveness, respectively.

 Parent Involvement
- Refers to active parent/family participation in a child’s care and education. To increase Parent
Involvement, child care providers will typically identify projects, needs, and goals and let
parents know how they can contribute. Parental involvement is often measured by metrics
related to attendance at school meetings, events and parent-teacher conferences; or by
volunteering or serving on a school committee. See related: Family Engagement.

 Parenting Education
- Instruction or information directed toward parents and families to increase effective parenting
skills.

 Part B of the IDEA

- A section of the IDEA that lays out the educational and funding guidelines and requirements for
children with disabilities from 3-21 years of age. Part B references requirements related to the
Individualized Education Program (IEP).

 Part C of the IDEA

- A section of the IDEA that lays out the educational and funding guidelines and requirements for
children with disabilities from birth through two years of age. Part C references requirements
related to the Individualized Family Services Plans (IFSP) and Early Intervention services.

 Play
- Voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities commonly associated with pleasure and enjoyment,
not for the purpose of meeting specific learning outcomes. Through play, young children engage
and interact in the world around them, developing new Competencies across Developmental
Domains. Types of play include dramatic/fantasy play, rough and tumble, and parallel and
cooperative play, among others.

 Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K)
- Programs designed for three and four-year old that focus on School Readiness. Though
sometimes used interchangeably with “Preschool” and "Nursery School," Pre-K programs are
typically government funded and stipulate compliance with quality and accountability standards
that exceed regulatory requirements for other types of early learning settings (e.g., by requiring
specific advanced qualifications for teachers). Pre-K programs are commonly operated in
conjunction with public school districts, but also exist in various early education settings. See
related: Mixed Delivery Systems.

 Pre-Service Education/Training
- The education, training and/or professional experiences that a child care staff member may
undergo prior to assuming a particular role or position within a child care program.

 Preschool
- Programs that provide early education and care to children before they enter kindergarten,
typically from ages 2.5-5 years. Preschools may be publicly or privately operated and may
receive public funds.

 Process Quality
- Refers to the features of an early childhood setting related to caregiver-child interactions that
affect children's development. Compare with: Global Quality; Structural Quality.

 Professional Development (PD)

- Refers to a continuum of learning and support activities designed to prepare individuals for
work with, and on behalf of, young children and their families, as well as ongoing experiences
to enhance this work. Professional development encompasses education, training, and Technical
Assistance (TA), which leads to improvements in the knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions
of early education professionals.

 Quality
- The characteristics of learning environments that promote the physical, social, emotional and
cognitive development of young children. High quality programs typically exceed state
 regulatory requirements, utilizing Developmentally Appropriate curricula and prioritizing
adequate teacher and administrative qualifications, ongoing Professional Development, and
Family Engagement strategies, among others qualities.

 Regulated Child Care

- Child care facilities and homes that are required to comply with either a state's regulatory
system or another system of regulation. There is considerable state variation in the characteristics
of the homes and facilities that must comply with regulations, as well as in the regulations
themselves. See related: Licensed Child Care.

 Resilience
- Refers to children’s ability to cope and develop in positive ways when faced with setbacks,
hardships or adversity. Resilience in children can be fostered at the individual, family and
community level. See related: ACE.

 Risk Factors
- Refers to circumstances that increase a child's susceptibility to a wide range of negative outcomes
and experiences. Risk factors for low school readiness may include parental/family
characteristics such as low socioeconomic status and education, children's characteristics, such as
whether the child has Special Needs, or community conditions and experiences, such as whether
the child has access to high Quality early care and education. Compare with: Protective Factors.

 Scaffolding
- Refers to a method of teaching new concepts that typically involves leveraging skills and
knowledge that children already have. An example of scaffolding might involve asking leading
questions to allow a child to come to the correct conclusion or outcome on his or her own.

 School Age Child Care

- Child care that takes place outside of regular school hours for children over the age of 5.

 School Based Child Care

- Child care programs that occur in school facilities.

 School Readiness
- A term to describe the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to successfully transition to, and
perform well in, the early school years. School readiness is typically determined based on
children's developmental status and progress in the following five domains: language and
literacy development, cognition and general knowledge, Approaches to Learning, physical well-
being and motor development, and social and emotional development.

 Self-Regulation
- The ability to control one’s emotions, behaviors, and thought processes in order to plan, focus
attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. Examples of self-
regulation in children include being able to wait a short time for something they want and
calming oneself down after becoming upset. See related: Executive Function.

 Separation Anxiety
- Anxiety or distress experienced by a child when separated from a primary caregiver or
attachment figure. Separation anxiety typically starts around 8-12 months when
infants/toddlers develop an understanding of object permanence (that things and people exist
even when they're not present).

 Sick/Ill Child Care

- Non-medical child care services provided to a child with mild, temporary illnesses, that prevent
them from attending regular child care programming. Sick Child Care is sometimes referred to
as "mildly ill child care."

 Social-Emotional Development
- Refers to the development process whereby children learn to identify and understand their own
feelings, accurately read and comprehend emotional states in others, manage and express
strong emotions in constructive manners, regulate their behavior, develop empathy for others,
and establish and maintain relationships.

 Special Education
- Instruction that is designed to meet the unique needs of children who have identified learning
differences or disabilities. To be eligible for special education services, the child's disability must
adversely affect his or her educational performance and require specially designed instruction
that cannot be addressed through general education classes alone, with or without individual
accommodations. Per the IDEA, special education and related services are provided at no cost
to families, and can include special instruction in the classroom, at home, in hospitals, or in other
institutions or settings. See related: IEP; IFSP; Special Needs; ECSE.
 Special Needs
- A term used to describe a child with an identified learning disability or physical or mental health
condition requiring Special Education services, or other specialized services and supports. See
related: Early Intervention (EI), IEP; IFSP; Special Needs.
 Strength-based
- An approach to equity in early childhood education that focuses on, and is responsive to,
children’s and families' unique strengths, diverse learning styles, interests, linguistic and cultural
backgrounds, etc.

 Structural Quality
- Refers to the features of an early childhood setting that affect children's development, which
can typically be regulated by licensing and regulatory agencies. Aspects of Structural Quality
include Adult Child Ratios, group sizes, and staff education and training requirements.

 Therapeutic Child Care

- Services or programming geared towards At Risk children, such as those living in homeless
shelters or victims of violence or neglect. Therapeutic child care is commonly an integrated
component of a well-structured treatment program in which services are provided by
professional and paraprofessional staff in a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environments.

 Toxic Stress
- A term to describe the kinds of negative experiences that can affect brain architecture and
brain chemistry, particularly in a developing child. Examples include strong, frequent/chronic,
and/or prolonged exposure to adversity such as physical or emotional abuse, neglect, violence,
and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship, without adequate adult support.

 Typically Developing Child

- Refers to a child whose development follows a predictable or "normal" course. The acquisition
of certain Developmental Milestones is often used to gauge such development. Typical
development is the most appropriate way to describe a child who does not have Special Needs.

 Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK)

- A movement within the U.S. education system to make access to Prekindergarten available to
all children and families within a given jurisdiction, regardless of the child’s abilities and family
income. UPK services can be offered in a Mixed Delivery System. States vary in what they
define as “universal” and in how far they have progressed, or desire to progress, towards
implementation.
1.2 KEY ELEMENTS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

All states have regulations or licensing standards that child care providers must meet in order to
legally operate in the state. These regulations provide a baseline standard and are primarily focused on
protecting children from harm rather than on advancing child development and early learning. While these
standards are critically important to children’s well-being—mitigating risks from inadequate supervision,
poor building and hygiene standards, and unsafe practices—they do not address the comprehensive needs
of young children. As such, meeting licensing requirements serves only as a baseline providing the
fundamental components necessary for operation rather than an indication of program quality. In addition,
states have varying requirements when it comes to determining exactly which providers need to be licensed,
often making exemptions for faith-based programs or based on the number of nonrelative children served.
As a result, significant numbers of children attend license-exempt programs that are not required to meet
even the minimum licensing standard.

Moreover, the key to a high-quality program is what happens inside the classroom or family child
care home, namely the interactions that take place between the teacher and child. In a high-quality program,
teachers engage children with learning strategies that are tailored to the age of the child and use an
appropriate curriculum to structure the learning experience. A variety of supports are needed to facilitate
these interactions so that high-quality teaching and learning can occur. As such, the quality of an early
childhood program is dependent on the following three key factors.

 Interpersonal interactions
The learning environment created by a teacher is critical to the quality of an early childhood
program. The experiences that a child has in their earliest years shape their development, and teachers play
an important role in creating those experiences. A well-trained and highly skilled teacher tailor their
interactions to fit the needs of the child—using responsive language, engaging all children in classroom
activities, fostering independence, and creating a language-rich environment. Effective early childhood
teachers proactively prevent and redirect challenging behavior and respond to children’s needs with respect,
warmth, and empathy. The experiences children have with teachers in their earliest years can also set the
tone for their interactions with teachers in later grades and thus are crucial to promoting positive attitudes
about school and approaches to learning.

 Physical environment
Children need a physical setting—both inside and outdoors—where they can play, explore, and
learn safely. The learning environment needs to include engaging and developmentally appropriate
materials and be arranged to promote independence and exploration based on children’s different stages
of development. For example, infants need to interact with their environment in a very physical way,
examining cause and effect relationships by touching and feeling objects. The environment should therefore
include toys made of different materials that are small enough to be picked up by an infant.
Toddlers and preschoolers use objects in more complex combinations and engage in socio-dramatic
play with one another. Their environment needs toys that spark the imagination, such as play kitchens, and
that can engage them in problem solving such as puzzles. Learning centers—clearly defined areas set aside
in a learning environment where children can have easy access to materials and engage in independent and
self-directed learning activities—can be an effective way to organize and support developing abilities,
encourage interactions, create opportunities for role playing, and promote literacy skills.
In addition to the indoor learning environment, children need access to outdoor space where they
can move and engage with the natural world. Outdoor play has positive impacts on health and has been
shown to combat childhood obesity and help develop stronger immune systems. Research also shows that
children who play outdoors regularly have more active imaginations, lower stress levels, and have greater
respect for themselves and others.

 Program support structure

A high-functioning operating environment is an essential element of a quality early childhood
program. This administrative operational support takes a number of forms. First, programs need effective
leaders who can provide instructional support to teachers as well as sound business management to the
overall program. These multiple leadership functions are complex and often need to be fulfilled by more
than one person. Second, external to the immediate program, programs need a series of structural supports,
including access to professional development, quality improvement resources, stable and sufficient funding
streams, and a pipeline of well-trained teachers. These external supports recognize that early childhood
programs do not operate in a vacuum and rely on the wider early childhood system.

All three factors need to be in place to ensure quality. A well-resourced classroom is not sufficient
without an effective teacher to harness those resources. Meanwhile, an effective teacher is not sustainable
without a support system to manage the business, support instruction, and provide professional development.

What components are necessary to achieve and maintain high levels of quality?

In addition to a core set of health and safety requirements, the three factors discussed above make
up the key elements of a high-quality program. In order to achieve and maintain these elements of high
quality, early childhood programs need access to a number of key structures and supports, many of which
can be aided by policy. While each program’s pathway to quality will be unique, the following six elements
represent the core components that are necessary for a quality program and are areas where policymakers
should look to be supportive.

1. Professional and stable teacher workforce

The workforce is the most critical component of quality in an early childhood program. All teachers
need to have a foundational knowledge of child development and be able to lead activities that promote
children’s learning at various ages. This important role requires that teachers have formal education and
training in early childhood education.
Moreover, the early childhood workforce needs compensation that reflects the importance of their
work and the expertise necessary to educate the nation’s youngest children. Providing professional
compensation and benefits, comparable to kindergarten teachers, helps recruit and retain effective and
educated teachers and promotes a stable healthy learning environment for children.
In addition, programs need to be staffed at a level that allows for teacher-child ratios that are
appropriate for the age of the children and the size of the group, such as those required for programs
accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Low teacher-child ratios enable
teachers to focus on the individual needs of the children and engage them in meaningful interactions. This
means having both an adequate number of teachers specifically assigned to a classroom, as well as
providing sufficient substitutes or floaters to cover for breaks, planning time, and paid leave.
The early childhood education workforce should also reflect the growing diversity of the child
population, ensuring that children have teachers they can relate to and role models that reflect their own
backgrounds.

2. Effective leadership
Early childhood program administrators are responsible for a broad range of tasks, requiring many
different competencies. First, programs need instructional leaders with a solid understanding of child
development and teaching and learning strategies. Instructional leaders support teachers with lesson
planning and curriculum implementation, behavior management strategies, and professional development.
Second, programs need leaders with sound business management skills. The majority of early
childhood programs are private businesses, and similar to any other small business, their long-term stability
is reliant on adequate business management and the implementation of good budgetary practices. Programs
require clear enrollment, financial, and personnel policies and need leaders who can implement these policies
in a fair and consistent manner.
Finally, program administrators must be skilled in organizational management and relationship
building. In addition to fostering relationships with families and the community, leaders play a key role in
creating a positive atmosphere inside the program, which can minimize teacher turnover, increase program
efficiency, and allow teachers to focus on the children.
These multiple administrative roles need to be staffed sufficiently, which ideally includes more than
one person, given the varied skill sets required. In smaller programs—with limited capacity to employ
multiple administrators—leaders need to be supported in their various roles through access to external
technical assistance, leadership resources, and targeted professional development.

3. Age-appropriate curriculum
All early childhood programs should adopt a research-based curriculum that is developmentally,
culturally, and linguistically relevant for all children. Curricula can provide a guiding philosophy for program
activities, including teacher interactions and the design of the physical indoor and outdoor environment.
Curricula also help teachers effectively structure and sequence classroom activities, target particular activities
to build skills or meet development milestones, and build on prior learning and experiences. Curricula provide
varying levels of flexibility to individual teachers; some provide highly structured models for teachers to
implement, while others offer guiding principles and expect teachers to determine the best way to implement.
There are a large number of curricula available for programs to choose from, with some of the best-known
models being the Creative Curriculum, High-Scope Curriculum, and Tools of the Mind. Research has found a
positive impact on early achievement scores and socioemotional behavior when programs intentionally apply
a curriculum that is supported by professional development, coaching, and sufficient resources. Programs
should adopt a curriculum that best fits their program philosophy and ensure teachers receive professional
development and ongoing support to adequately incorporate the curriculum into their practice. It is also
important that a curriculum is adopted for all age groups, not just preschoolers. Infants and toddlers need a
curriculum that focuses on their need to explore and discover the world around them, guided by supportive
and responsive caregivers.

Components of an effective curriculum

The National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning has identified 13 components that need to
be present in an effective curriculum:
1. Grounded in child development principles
2. Evidence-based
3. Shows effects on child outcomes
4. Comprehensive across learning domains
5. Depth for each covered learning domain
6. Specific learning goals
7. Well-designed learning activities
8. Responsive teaching
9. Supports for individualized instruction
10. Culturally and linguistically responsive
 11. Ongoing assessments
12. Professional development opportunities
13. Family involvement materials

4. Comprehensive family engagement activities

A high-quality program recognizes that families are essential to children’s educational success and
has policies in place to engage families in children’s learning. Programs need to develop family engagement
strategies that encourage families to participate in their child’s learning and promote two-way
communication, enabling parents to share with teachers the unique strengths and talents of their
child. Strategies must also be responsive to family needs, recognizing the increasing diversity of the child
population and the specific needs that arise as a result. Engaging with families in an inclusive and reciprocal
way can help providers understand a family’s culture and values, which can inform the development of
culturally responsive learning experiences.
Family engagement often involves providing feedback on children’s progress and discussing how
parents can sustain learning activities at home. This can take many forms, including regular parent-teacher
conferences; daily communications between teachers and families, for example through daily report sheets
and emails; monthly newsletters; parent-in-classroom events; family open nights; and other events intended
to build a community that includes children, families, teachers, and program leaders. High-quality family
engagement activities can help build trusting and positive relationships between teachers and families, which
can help address any concerns—such as behavior problems or developmental delays—and better
coordinate a response before issues become significant and affect children’s learning.

5. Multilevel continuous quality improvement system

Achieving high quality in an early childhood program is not a one-time milestone. Programs must
constantly monitor, reflect, and revise policies and practices to ensure that they maintain quality. In addition
to measuring children’s developmental progress, it is important that structures are also in place to assess the
overall program, individual classrooms, and employees, using data to inform positive and proactive
improvements.
Given that data shows many programs are not currently operating at high quality, it is critically
important that quality improvement supports are available to help programs increase and then maintain
quality. Quality improvement supports can take many forms—including formal training opportunities, mentor
programs, coaching, communities of practice, and informal networks of support—and can be accessed
through state or national technical assistance providers or by local networks. Most states have a QRIS, which
can be a mechanism for directing quality improvement supports. In many QRIS, providers can access
professional development and coaching opportunities and can receive financial incentives to purchase
materials or equipment. While QRIS offer a promising framework for accessing continuous quality
improvement supports, these systems are still in the formative stages and are often under-resourced, resulting
in supports being insufficient to sustain increased quality.

6. Sustainable and sufficient set of funding mechanisms

In order to support the highly qualified workforce, the safe and engaging physical and learning
environment, and the stable business infrastructure necessary to achieve and maintain high quality, programs
need to be able to access funding that supports the actual cost of operation. Many public funding streams
are insufficient to support the costs of high quality, and low- and middle-income families struggle to afford
the cost of tuition at high-quality programs. In order to ensure high-quality programs are available to all
children, public funding needs to be sufficient to cover the costs of quality and provide families with help to
afford the cost of private tuition.
In addition, funding needs to be stable so that programs can make staffing and other business
decisions based on anticipated income that is not subject to annual appropriations or fluctuations due to child
absences. The total funding available to a program therefore needs to be adequate to cover the actual cost
of operating at high quality and secure enough for programs to make plans beyond the short term.
1.3 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PERSPECTIVES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

It’s no secret that the face of education has changed dramatically over the past ten years or so.
Teachers across the country are working hard to equip children with the skills needed for success in the 21st
century world. In addition to instilling in students the flexibility to readily adapt to changing technologies,
teachers must foster learning environments that encourage critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving,
communication, collaboration, global awareness, and social responsibility.

The time to begin preparing children for the challenges and demands of the future is when they are
young. Children in the early years are curious and excited learners. It is our responsibility as parents,
educators, policymakers, and administrators to create learning experiences and environments that tap into
that natural curiosity and excitement. This includes not only supporting emerging skills in reading, math,
science, and social studies, but also most importantly, the 21st century skills of critical thinking, collaboration,
communication, creativity, technology literacy, and social-emotional development. Children need to begin to
develop the early foundational skills that will help them reason, think creatively, analyze data, and work
collaboratively in the future.

HOW CHILDREN LEARN 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Neuroscientists, educators, and early childhood development experts agree that early experiences
have a major impact on the development of the brain and learning as adults. The brain has the greatest
plasticity, or is the most flexible, during infancy through age five to accommodate a wide range of
experiences, interactions, and environments. For example, three-year old have twice as many brain
“connections” as adult. A young child’s experiences with parents and other caring adults, along with social
and physical environment, help to “prune” and “sculpt” these neural connections as they are used. The
connections become more efficient building a solid foundation for all learning. Thus, the development of the
young brain is cumulative layering of foundational skills influenced by relationships, experiences, and
environments. This is why nurturing emerging social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills in the early
years is critically important.

 Playful Learning
- Play is at the heart of how young children learn. Through play, children demonstrate what they
are learning, what they are interested in, and what they are concerned about. They test out and
practice actions to which they’ve been exposed. When we observe children at play, we begin
to learn more about what they understand and can identify the skills that need more practice.
This informs our efforts to guide them to the next level.
 Adult Interactions
- Adults, children’s peers, older children, and siblings are important and integral in the playful
learning process. Adults guide children and arrange environments to support the learning
process. Through materials and interaction, adults can help children identify associations with,
and make connections to, previously learned skills. This is often called guided play, a child-
directed process wherein adults build on children’s interests and extend what they are doing in
the moment to intentionally achieve additional learning goals. This authentic approach helps to
make the learning “stick” because it is more meaningful and relevant to the child. Adults can
“teach” self-regulation, for example, by instructing children to stand quietly and not move. They
could, however, stand longer and manage greater self-regulation by internalizing the purpose
when pretending they are soldiers guarding a castle. This illustrates the potency of playful
learning for building skills when children perceive it as fun and rewarding. It often pushes
children to engage in activities more fully. Educators in more formal learning settings, such as
preschools and child care centers, play a significant role in expanding learning through the
implementation of intentionally planned and developmentally appropriate curriculum. Such
programs should be designed to be responsive not only to the children’s interests, but include
learning objectives based on children’s skill levels and abilities. Structured activities involve daily
schedules with predictable yet flexible routines. Children thrive in environments where stress is
reduced through children’s understanding of expectations and what comes next. The schedule of
learning activities within the curriculum should include all areas of development: physical,
cognitive, social and emotional, language and literacy, and 21st century skills.
 Peer Interactions
- Peer interactions are another important context for learning. When engaged in peer play,
children observe others and will imitate or build on what they observe. They gain social and
emotional skills when they make efforts to create games and coordinate activities with each
other. For example, children learn self-regulation when they develop and play rule-based
games and they learn perspective when they negotiate the themes within dramatic play
activities with others.
 Learning Everywhere
- Playful learning occurs beyond the school or child-care setting. It occurs everywhere. It occurs
when parents are running errands, when children play with others in a park, or in after-school
settings. This type of learning is often described as informal learning. Children spend most of
their time in informal versus in more formal settings. Taking advantage of these opportunities
helps children make connections to the larger world. Children are inspired to learn because of
 the desire to know how to do something or engage with others. The reward is relevant and
enjoyable since it is based on the children’s real-time experiences.

TEN STRATEGIES TO HELP CHILDREN LEARN 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

These ten essential strategies help apply what we know about how children learn to support the
delivery of optimal 21st century early learning experiences—in school and beyond.
 Child-Centered
- Look for opportunities to focus on children’s interests. If children watch and show interest in a
plane flying over them, take the opportunity to explore flight, make paper planes, or soar
around outside pretending to be planes. Children are more likely to engage in child-led
activities and to concentrate on them through direct instruction.
 Whole Child Focus
- Provide opportunities to help children develop skills beyond early language, literacy, and
mathematics. Offer feedback and encouragement on a regular basis to reinforce skill
development in essential skills, social-emotional development, and to foster self-esteem.
 Play-Based
- Encourage all types of play within the learning environment—dramatic, constructive, creative,
physical, and cooperative play.
 Cooperative Learning
- Provide opportunities for children to play and interact with each other (e.g. dramatic play,
puppet play, rule-based games, etc.). Design activities where children have opportunities to
solve problems and innovate together.
 Blended Approach
- Connect online play with hands-on play. Provide opportunities for children to explore and test
skills online to create a more personalized experience allowing children to learn at their own
pace. Learning is enhanced if the hands-on playful activities are connected to what is learned
online.
 Flexible Attitude
- Be willing to change the plan. If the children are excited about a game they are playing, but it
is time to read a story in circle time, build on what they are doing, and ask them to talk about
their game or find a story that connects to the game.
 Differentiated Instruction
- Change it up. When guiding children, use different approaches and consider the learning styles
of each child. Some children need to be more active while others may prefer a calmer pace.
For example, in teaching children to count, have them sing out the numbers, provide materials
they can count when playing, or include counting as part of a story you read to them. This
approach offers multiple options for children to absorb information.
 Formative Assessment
- Observe children as they play. What skills have they developed and what are they just
beginning to learn? Use this ongoing feedback to adjust activities and the learning environment
to build on what they know and introduce new concepts and content.
 Consistency
- Create routines and expectations to help children feel secure, giving the confidence and
freedom to explore the environment. Consistency also supports the development of executive
function skills such as planning and organizing, and self-regulation.
 Combine Learning Domains
Offer learning experiences to help children develop the 4Cs—critical thinking, creativity,
collaboration, and communication—while developing content knowledge. This intentional
approach can be done while reading a story and discussing the characters or during a science
experiment through the problem-solving experience.

CREATING THE OPTIMAL 21ST CENTURY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

In addition to the strategies, the environment, whether in informal or more formal settings, has a
significant impact on the way children learn and develop. We know how much our environment affects our
mood, motivation, and the ability to focus. It is the same for young children.
A developmentally appropriate and engaging environment is one that:
 is safe and predictable
- Children thrive when they feel safe and know what to expect. Transitions should be smooth,
easy, and stress-free.
 nurtures children
- Create a welcoming environment where children are encouraged and responded to support a
strong self-image and positive interactions with others.
 focuses on the learner
- Display their work! Children’s work and projects should be posted around the environment to
inspire creativity and innovation. Commercial graphics and materials should be kept to a
minimum.
 provides a variety of materials
- Provide access to a variety of developmentally appropriate materials in the space where they
can use them independently.
 offers varying types of activities
 - Include a mix of activities based on children’s interests in a variety of experiences such as whole
group, small group, playing in pairs, or independent instruction to support problem solving,
collaboration, and communication.
 offers diversity
- Select materials and activities that reflect all cultures and families within the community to
support children in becoming global citizens. They should also reflect all types of learners and
children with disabilities.
 integrates technology
- Build an environment where children learn to use technology that is age-and developmentally-
appropriate, monitored, and contains educational and positive content to enhance creativity
and information gathering.
 allows for free movement
- Allow for children to move throughout a space and support them as they investigate their
environment.

IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

When families, schools, and communities work together, children do better academically,
behaviorally and socially. Family engagement is so important that it is part of the early learning standards
for the National Head Start Association and in other states. Policymakers should include family engagement
for all early learning programs.
Early learning opportunities are improved when combined within comprehensive services focused on
needs of the family. Families come in all forms and may include grandparents, guardians, foster parents,
aunts or uncles, etc. Comprehensive services, such as those found within Head Start programs across the
country, include health and wellness, mental health, nutrition, and access to other social services.
When children’s physical and emotional needs are being addressed, they are ready to function
fully, explore their environment, and build 21st century skills.
It is imperative that families, educators, caregivers, and other community members work together to
help children develop essential 21st century skills. Families are encouraged to communicate expectations
with educators and ask questions not only about what their child is learning, but how he or she is engaging
in the learning process.
Educators can engage families beyond the typical scheduled conferences and connect more
frequently about a child’s interests, provide suggestions for at-home activities, and share images of the child’s
work. They should seek family input and provide opportunities for parent education, support groups, and, if
available, home visitation. Museums, community programs, clubs, and other more informal learning
environments should thoughtfully and intentionally include parents and caregivers in their programs. These
types of connections have a strong impact on children’s success in and out of school.
Programs should be inclusive and respect the diversity within a community and the varying
approaches and expectations for early childhood. Various strategies will help connect with families such as
use of interpreters, cultural events, and bilingual materials.
A further impact that parents may have is to support opportunities for children’s learning as they
arise in the everyday routines of family life. Learning opportunities are everywhere! Parents, family
members, and caregivers can engage children while at the grocery store, in the car, and when visiting the
library. Visits to children’s museums, parks, or a sporting event all provide opportunities for learning.
Community programs and schools should provide families with supportive materials that offer them
tips, ideas, and resources to extend their child’s experiences.
1.4 GOALS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Early Childhood Care and Education term has been used to refer to group settings for children
approximately between three to five years of age which are deliberately designed to stimulate and support
their physical, mental, emotional, language, social development etc. It has been called by the psychologists,
educationists and policy-makers by variety of names such as nursery school education, kindergarten
education, pre-primary education etc., and the group settings in which Early Childhood Care and Education
is provided to children are known by variety of names such as nursery school, kindergarten schools, Shishu
Vihar, Sishu Vatikas. These settings are specially designed to provide care, supervision, stimulation and
education to preschool children outside their homes. These settings are included under the general term
entitled ‘Early Childhood Care and Education’ quite valid and have in common the fact that they serve
children before entry into primary schools.

1) Intellectual Development
“The most rapid brain changes and developments happen in the first five years of life. During no other time
will our bodies or our minds change as much or be able to take in as much learning. In fact, humans learn
more in the first five years then from the rest of our years combined!

Cutting-edge research is showing more clearly than ever as to how important the early years of your child’s
education and development matter. The time your child spends in the first five years will shape their
cognitive, social, and linguistic capabilities, which contributes to their academic and professional success for
the rest of their life.

Preschool programs give your child a head start. By the time they’re ready for kindergarten they can
already have a good grasp of basics like math, art, handwriting, the alphabet, reading, and more. Beyond
a list of subjects, early childhood education is also planned to awaken a love of learning in your child. Giving
them that extra educational boost will help develop their mind and teach them to push their understanding.

2) Physical Development
Adults have a host of physical abilities that we don’t even think about, and probably don’t even remember
learning. Many of these were learned during early childhood and these are the exact skills that are taught
in preschool.

This covers basic physical skills like balance, coordination, body awareness, and motor planning. But physical
development also includes fine motor skills and overall muscle control. For example, your child should learn
hand-eye coordination as well as how to master bathroom skills.

3) Emotional Development
Our emotional well-being is central to who we are and how we approach the world. Preschool and early
childhood education helps your child get a solid emotional base that will serve them well for the rest of their
life.

Main emotional goals include helping your child get a sense of self-respect, teaching them how to adjust to
new situations, and building a willingness to try new activities. For example, you and your child learns how
to emotionally handle separation from mom and dad in a safe and secure environment. Read these tips:
Morning Routine Tips for Kids with Separation Anxiety

The best way to teach these will vary from child to child, but experienced preschool teachers are more than
up to the task.

4) Social Development
We spend our lives with people in our family, community, and workplace, not to mention school. Early
childhood educators concentrate on goals like getting along well with others students, getting along with
adults, learning how to respect others, and thriving in an educational setting.

Preschool and early childhood education teaches your children the core social skills that will prepare them
for kindergarten and beyond. These skills will boost children’s self-esteem, increase their ability to build
healthy relationships with peers, and improve their flexibility as they adapt to new environments and
expectations.

NEED AND IMPORTANCE

1. The fast-changing living conditions have also necessitated that adequate provision be made for
early childhood care and education. Under financial pressure every member of the family seeks job.
They need early childhood care and education institutions where their children can be looked after.
2. Arnold Gesell (1925) began to study the learning habits of young children and suggested that early
childhood education may be as important as any that follows. He noted that the brain practically
reaches its mature bulk before the age of six and that the mind, character and spirit advance more
rapidly during the formative preschool period than during any other period of growth.
3. The preschool years represent a time of unprecedented growth and development, when skills are
acquired that provide the foundation for all subsequent learning. That is, the time when teachers can
 have the greatest impact upon a child and can reduce the potential effects of environmental
conditions upon a child.
4. Creativity peeks during the preschool years (Torrance 1963; Singh 1989;) and that creative abilities
not nurtured that time can become more difficult to express later.
5. Early childhood care and education prepares a sound base for primary education, thus reducing
dropouts, wastage and stagnation in primary education (Saxena 1971; Deenamal 1978; UNESCO
1974; Dass and Garg 1985; Lal 1986;)
6. Early childhood care and education serves to fulfill effectively all needs of the young children-
physical, social, emotional, mental, psychological and moral. Venkataraman 1984; Mohanty 1984;
7. Early Childhood Care and Education gives a child the time and the opportunity to express his
curiosity in questioning, in exploring, in experimenting.
8. Early stimulation and educational enrichment can promote creativity in young children. It was felt
that early educational intervention providing stimulation and instruction during the preschool years
would make a difference in the children’s school experience.
9. Early Childhood Care and Education helps to dispel the old belief that early childhood care and
education is injurious to children because it separates them from their family members, impose
structure upon them to early and hinder freedom and entertainment of the children.
10. Early Childhood Care and Education has changed the attitude of the parents. Now the parents have
positive attitude towards early childhood care and education. Sarojini (1971) determined the
attitude of parents towards early childhood care and education. The favorable parent’s attitude
towards early childhood care and education was found.
11. Benjamin rare family can provide early training for their young children. The preschool experience
may be speculative for some young children but great bulk of preschool children would be benefited
from early childhood care and education.
12. From the psychological, sociological and medical point of view early childhood care and education
is important. The role of Early childhood care and education in mental, physical, emotional, social,
language etc., development and in germination of readiness for the intellectual activities that will
come in later years is important.
13. The early childhood care and education is an arena of play and builds a foundation for primary
education.
14. Rose Mukerji (1965) believes that the early childhood years are the root years for learning about
self in relation to others, for concept formation, for language, and for creativity.
15. Education like medicine should be preventive and many learning problems in schools are the result
of inappropriate instruction or lack of experiences necessary to profit from instruction. Thus early
recognition of an individual child’s requirements for learning can preclude many unhappy events
during later years in schools.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

According to Miss Grace Owing, there are seven objectives of pre-primary education. Their
objectives are:
i. To provide continuous medical supervision.
ii. To give opportunity for the development of different interests and skills of various kinds.
iii. To give experience of social life, on a small scale where children work and play together.
iv. To provide a healthy, happy and regular life.
v. To establish real unity between external environment and home life.
vi. To provide healthy environment to the children like space, fresh air, light and sun shine.

Kothari Commission (1964-66)

Kothari Commission (1964-66) has also highlighted the following objectives for early childhood care and
education.
1. To develop in the child, good health, habits and to build up basic skills necessary for personal
adjustment, such as dressing, toilet habits, eating, washing, cleaning, etc.
2. To develop desirable social attitudes and manners, and to encourage healthy group participation,
making the child sensitive to the rights and privileges of others.
3. To develop emotional maturity by guiding the child to express, understand, accept and control his
feelings and emotions.
4. To encourage aesthetic appreciation.
5. To stimulate the beginnings of intellectual curiosity concerning the environment and help him to
understand the world in which he lives and to foster new interest through opportunities to explore,
investigate and experiment.
6. To encourage independence and creativity by providing the child with sufficient opportunities for
self-expression.
7. To develop the child’s ability to express his thoughts and feelings in fluent, correct and clear speech,
8. To develop in the child a good physique, adequate muscular coordination and basic motor skills.

Following are some other important objectives of early childhood care and education:
1. Early Childhood Care and Education provides children stimulating environment which helps to
develop curiosity among preschool children. Curiosity plays a very important role in the development
of creativity among preschool children. Therefore, the development of stimulating environment
among early childhood care and education institution should be the major aim of early childhood
care and education.
2. Acquisition of proper Health Habits and to build up basic skills necessary for the development of
good physique should be the objective of early childhood care and education.
3. The children like to play with friends; pictures etc., early childhood care and education not only
provide friends to the children but also develop social skills. Social development is very important
for adjustment in the society.
4. Poverty free society should be the aim of early childhood care and education. Pre-school is desirable
to all children but it is also necessary for disadvantaged children.
5. There is tremendous wastage and stagnation in India in classes I and II UNESCO (1974) pointed out
that about 74% leave school before grade VIII. This wastage and stagnation can be reduced if the
children who join class I are admitted to kindergarten or nursery school and will adjust better.
Therefore, to reduce wastage and stagnation should be the aim of early childhood care and
education.
6. The rate of cognitive, physical, emotional, social, language development is very fast at preschool
stage. Creativity development was found highest during 3 to 5 years of age. Therefore,
development of creativity should also be the aim of early childhood care and education.
7. Emotional maturity helps children to adjust in the environment. The child may be encouraged to
tolerate, to understand, to express and to build confidence. Self-control should be developed among
preschool children. They may be taught to cope with fears and angry feelings. Therefore,
development of emotional maturity should be the aim of education.
8. Language development among preschool children should also be the aim of education.
9. To encourage aesthetic appreciation among preschool children should be the aim of early childhood
care and education. The children should be motivated to observe natural phenomena such as plants
and animals.
10. To develop in the preschool children the ability to express his thoughts and feelings clearly and
correctly.
1.5 GOALS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS

School readiness is a primary objective of preschool. Preschool teachers need to have an expansive
knowledge of all facets of early childhood development so they can design a curriculum that makes a
difference. Establishing broad-based learning goals provides a framework for lesson plans and
individualized assessment strategies. Coordinating goals with age-appropriate content ensures that
preschool children will have the best opportunity for success.

 Physical Goals
Encouraging the development of fine and gross motor skills in preschool children is an essential goal for
preschool teachers. Preschool children need to be able to grasp and maneuver a pencil before they're ready
to go to kindergarten. Designing intentional activities that develop agile mobility helps preschool children
explore their environment and learn independence. Assessing children individually is critical to identify issues
that may require early intervention.
Examples:
 Teach and require children to fasten their own coats and tie shoes.
 Include crafting sessions that involve preschool children using scissors, writing utensils and paint
brushes.
 Teach each preschool child to write their name.
 Expose preschool children to large muscle development opportunities using balls, playground
equipment and blocks.

 Social and Interpersonal Goals

Developing the social and interpersonal skills of preschool children is an important goal for preschool
teachers. Referred to as social competence, social and interpersonal skills enable preschool children to
communicate effectively with their peers and function successfully in a school setting. There's a strong
connection between social competence and the ability for children to follow directions, maintain an attention
span and listen effectively.
Examples:
 Provide social competence activities to foster strong relationships with peers.
 Instill an expectation that preschool children show care and concern for one another.
 Include structured group play experiences to help preschool children learn to play well with others.
 Plan group projects to encourage preschool children to learn to work collaboratively.

 Teach preschool children to effectively problem solve interpersonal disagreements.

 Cognitive Goals
Preschool is an ideal time to stimulate cognitive development and help preschool children gain basic
competencies. Preschool teachers should infuse learning goals into their lesson plans on a daily basis.
Repetition of these skills will help preschool children feel confident as they go on to kindergarten. Cognitive
goals incite an excitement for learning and help preschool children become proficient in simple literacy,
problem-solving and other basic knowledge.
Example:
 Incorporate interactive activities to teach colors, shapes and letters.
 Mark lockers, table spots or coat racks with individual names.
 Facilitate simple math games to help children learn numbers and basic counting skills.
 Include puzzles as a weekly required activity.
 Help preschool children learn their name, age, phone number and address prior to kindergarten.

 Language Goals
Preschool teachers should emphasize language development as the main goal. Language development
brings learning to life for preschool children. As they develop an understanding of words, sounds, letters and
concepts, the ability to communicate and ask questions is paramount. Increasing vocabulary awareness and
stimulating interest in conversation should be included as a language goal for preschoolers.
Example:
 Encourage a love of reading and words by incorporating dedicated reading time each day.
 Teach letter sounds by beginning and ending each class with a group rhyming song.
 Engage in role play and dramatic play to help preschoolers develop their imaginations and provide
context for stories.
 Set individualized language learning goals for each child.
 Correct all inappropriate grammatical mistakes by repeating the correct phrases.

Some specific goals are:

1. BUILDING TRUST WITH YOUR NEW LITTLE STUDENTS
This is absolutely a top priority for early childhood educators—some would say, your most important
goal. If you're running a daycare or preschool, you'll be working with children as young as 3-6 months, and
as old as four or five. These are such impressionable years, where kids will decide how they feel about
schooling and teachers, and of course, when they'll be reaching some key cognitive, physical, and emotional
developmental milestones. ECEs must form positive relationships with their little students, ensuring this very
first classroom is a safe, welcoming, nurturing place. You'll be working hard to build rapport, establish
routines, and earn respect—which are essential for achieving your next 4 ECE goals...

2. HELPING KIDS MAKE FRIENDS & WORK TOGETHER

For most youngsters, daycare or preschool is their first opportunity to really mix with a lot of other
kids from different walks of life. In many ways, this is their first exposure to a real community (other than
their own families and close friends). They'll need a specific set of skills to integrate, make friends, and learn
how to work in pairs and groups.

Some of the most important social skills you'll be helping kids learn as an ECE include:
 how to share
 how to resolve conflicts
 how to express their thoughts, opinions, and feelings in effective ways
 how to solve problems in a group
 how to deal with bullying (and not be a bully themselves)

The basic communication and collaboration skills little kids make at this stage lay the groundwork
for how they'll fit into society later on. This is why early childhood education training always includes courses
in psychology and development, and a wide range of socialization techniques and activities for young
children. ECEs play a crucial role in teaching children to respect one another, and show kindness and
compassion—the building blocks for forming healthy relationships as they grow.

3. WORKING ON FINE & GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

There are also quite a few practical goals you'll work toward every day as an early childhood
educator. One of these is helping kids develop their fine and gross motor skills.

These are the skills they'll need to:

 tie their own shoes
 feed themselves
 zip or button their own coats
 climb on a play structure (coordination and balance)
 put together a puzzle
 grip small tools or toy pieces
 bathroom skills
 catch and throw a ball
 hit a target (eye-hand coordination)

Children reach so many important physical development milestones during the preschool years! It's
truly amazing how quickly they evolve. When ECEs plan activities for young kids, they are always thinking
about working on these motor skills—monitoring progress, and providing appropriate challenges for children
of different ages under their care. Something as simple as building with blocks, or drawing a picture helps
toddlers gain control over their bodies and improve coordination.

4. HELPING KIDS BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE & INDEPENDENCE

Self-confidence and independence are characteristics that develop slowly over time, in enriching
and supportive ECE settings. The more you offer your young students opportunities to grow and thrive, and
praise them for their efforts, the more those children will embrace new learning challenges. The goal is for
children to leave your care ready for the next stage of their development at kindergarten. This is a big
transition. To make it successfully, kids need confidence in their own abilities, and readiness to pursue new
adventures on their own. Early childhood educators are nurturing, and will hold a child's hand when
necessary—but they also encourage kids to become more independent and self-empowered each day. It's
a fine balance to achieve, and the mark of a truly skilled educator.

5. SETTING KIDS UP FOR FUTURE ACADEMIC SUCCESS

This last (but certainly not least) ECE goal includes academic essentials, like language, problem-
solving and basic math skills—but also the structures and routines kids need to get used to before starting
kindergarten.

For example, in a quality daycare or preschool, children learn:

 how to sit still and concentrate on a task for a set period of time
 how days are divided into work, play, snack, lunch, recess, clean-up, etc.
 how to listen to and follow instructions
 how to be apart from their families for much of the day
 to trust and respect teachers, teachers' aides, and their own classmates

These are all "readiness" skills—they combine to form the profile of a young child who is ready for
the next phase of academic and social development. Can you imagine a more important job? Apart from
parents and guardians, early childhood educators are the very first teachers a child knows. They set the tone
for an entire lifetime of learning, personal development, and relationships. This is why when parents find a
truly talented, skilled, and devoted ECE, they treasure that person—and recognize the huge impact this
teacher will have on their child's life.
 Unit 2. Historical Bases of Early Childhood Education

2.1 Importance of the Past

“The ancient historians are full of opinions which may be useful, even if the facts which they present
are false. But we do not know how to make any real use of history. Criticism and erudition are our only care;
as if it mattered more that a statement was true or false than that we should be able to get a useful lesson
from it. A wise man should consider history a tissue of fables whose morals are well adapted to the human
heart.” – an excerpt from “Emile”, by Rousseau

The education of the young mind is an important step in readying the child for future learning
experiences. The evolution of early childhood education has transformed how adults and parents view the
importance of offering stimulating and exciting opportunities to the very young. Early childhood education
offers toddlers learning experiences that benefit them throughout their educational career.

Learning the history of early childhood education will help you to understand how the past events
shaped the present ECCE systems, theories and related phenomenon in the area of teacher education in
particular and ECCE in general. Secondly, it will enable you to appreciate the importance of ECCE to
mankind since time immemorial across the generations. By so doing, you are will be able to critically examine
the fundamental part which ECCE plays in the transformation of society. Note that as a teacher, you are a
change agent so learning the history of it will prepare teachers in training to examine present trends and
dynamics in education, draw practical lessons from the past, avoid possible mistakes, and initiate more viable
plans for the benefit of Society.

2.2 Justification for the Field of Early Childhood Education

Why is early childhood education (ECE) important?

1. Investing in young children is both the right and the smart thing to do. Advocates argue, with
increasing evidence, that ECE should be a major priority on a country’s development agenda, a
major contributor to breaking poverty cycles as the Education For All (EFA) and Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) set out (Naudeau et al., 2011: xiv; UNESCO, 2011a: 29).
2. Learning begins before a child first walks into a classroom, and so can lifetime advantages and
disadvantages. Although early childhood is a period of great potential for growth and development,
it is also a time when children are especially vulnerable to being left behind. Such is often the case
in the poorest countries and the poorest social strata of even very rich countries (box 1.1). A child
born in the developing world has a four out of ten chance of living in extreme poverty, and relative
poverty stubbornly persists in a number of developed countries (UNESCO 2007: 12). In both
contexts, children from disadvantaged groups have the most to gain from ECE – and the most to lose
from being excluded.
3. Early intervention is crucial. The skills developed in early childhood form the basis for future learning
and labour market success, making early childhood a critical time of human capital accumulation
(Naudeau et al., 2011: xiii). Delays in cognitive and overall development well before a child enters
primary school often have long-lasting consequences for children, their families and society at large,
and they are more costly to remedy. Conversely, evidence from many countries shows that quality
ECE can narrow the “opportunity divide” and reduce poverty, ethnic and linguistic disadvantages
(UNESCO, 2010a: 49–50).
4. Despite the overwhelming case for building strong early foundations, ECE remains a peripheral
concern within education systems virtually everywhere, characterized by insufficient resources and
fragmented planning (UNESCO, 2011a: 37–38). Evidence strongly suggests that those who need
ECE the most, receive it the least. The majority of poor children in low- and middle-income countries
do not have access to high-quality ECE (Naudeau et al., 2011: xiv). Household poverty and low
levels of parental education are two of the most critical barriers to early childhood programs
(UNESCO, 2010a: 42, 48–49).
5. Too few countries, especially in the developing world, have made early childhood a priority. Only
a minority of countries provide early childhood programs to at least two-thirds of the population,
mostly developed or formerly centrally planned to market economy countries (UNESCO, 2007: 106).
Moreover, some developed countries do not provide universal coverage. In many developing
countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa, early childhood programs are available only to a small
fraction of the population, typically affluent urban families.
6. A major obstacle is the lack of consensus among policy-makers about the need for early childhood
programs compared to other key education goals such as universal primary education. The
UNESCO-sponsored World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education: Building the Wealth
of Nations (Moscow, September 2010) attempted to move ECE higher up on political agendas, in
line with EFA goals. The Moscow Framework for Action and Cooperation, adopted by the Conference
(UNESCO, 2010b), outlined a number of key challenges and policy solutions.
2.3 Influential People in the History of Early Childhood Education

In the ancient past, the family was the center of the child’s early education. “Paideia” (Greek term
for period of proper education) starts not until child was seven. Until then a child was brought up by his
mother or by a nanny. Aside from parents and nanny, many other adults contributed to child rearing: nurses,
tutors, companions, physician, academic teachers, athletic trainers, and military instructors. Child rearing was
an important sociopolitical aspect. The family was the primary unit of social and economic organization in
ancient Greece and Rome.

a. Ancient Influences
Early Greece and Rome (400 B.C. - 200 A.D)
Our current ideas of education are not 'new' by any stretch of the imagination. Most of our traditions
can be traced back as far as Ancient Greece, where children stayed home with their parents until around
age 7, after which they began special training for their future occupation...usually that of their parents or
another family member. Training was vastly different depending on your social standing and gender. The
basic ideas of a well-rounded, holistic, or humanistic approach to education can be traced back to ancient
Greece and its philosophers.
 Plato (428-348 B.C.) ~ First known philosopher to believe early childhood education shapes a child's
future social, cultural, and intellectual self.
 Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) ~ Believed in potential excellence of human beings and emphasized the
development of mind & body.
 Quintilian (A.D. 35-95) ~ Came to realization that play for children 7 years of age and younger,
benefit and need play

b. The Middle Ages and Renaissance (500-1450)

The Middle Ages, generally known as the time between the fall of the Roman Empire around the 5th
century and the Renaissance, lasted somewhere around 1000 years. During this time, books were scarce and
literacy uncommon. The only means of reproduction of written materials was by hand, a painstaking process
usually accomplished by monks in monasteries. Children lucky enough to be chosen as oblates were educated
by monks and were considered to be the future of the monastery. Their education was thought to be an
important element of the communities’ activities. Males and females were given the same education in
grammar as well as the liberal arts, however were educated separately. The psychology of young children
was understood and appreciated by their educators, giving way to the ideas of fostering a 'love of learning'
and the abandonment of harsh physical punishment. The monks included singing, laughing, and play in the
daily life at the monastery. Children were exposed to bright, colored manuscripts and were encouraged to
develop a sense of beauty and aesthetics. Later in the Middle Ages, some monks did not live on the
monastery, instead incorporating into the villages and working among the poor, often providing education
and care to orphans and abandoned children. In wealthy, noble families, boys were generally sent away
from home to work as servants, or pages, while the girls would stay home and learn domestic arts. In poorer
families, children as young as three years old learned to work, to tend the land and work in kitchens and
gardens, going on to formally learn their parents’ trades at around seven years old.

 Martin Luther Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Martin Luther’s perspective on the role of education in children’s lives:
 The primary role of education is to teach children to read.
 The ability to read was considered essential in acquiring knowledge of the Bible.
 The family plays the most important role in educating children.
 Communities played a critical role in ensuring all children were educated, and therefore in providing
parents with necessary supports.

Martin Luther Luther’s impact on education today…

 Contributed to idea that ALL children need to be educated (today referred to as universal
education).
 Contributed to view that learning to read is critical (today referred to as literacy).
 Shaped idea that parents are the child’s first and most important teacher.
 Contributed to viewpoint that communities play a critical role in ECE.

 Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus encouraged parents to use less harsh forms of discipline and punishments to
motivate their children, and both believed that children would want to learn if they found the content
enjoyable. One example is the letter-shaped archery targets More used to teach children the letters of the
alphabet. After More's daughter was able to speak fluently in both Green and Latin, Erasmus was so
impressed that he became a strong advocate for the equal, higher education of women along with men.

c. The Early Modern Period

 John Amos Comenius (1592-1670)

He was a Czech theologian, philosopher, teacher and writer who thought education could improve
society. He advocated universal textbooks and language and believed children would enjoy learning more
if they were methodically taught in early years. He thought instruction should move from general to specific,
from easy to difficult and believed to engage children with nature. He taught that education began in the
earliest days of childhood, and continued throughout life.
Comenius believed in four different ages: Nursery school – birth to 6 years of age, where hands-on
learning, active experiences and sensory learning are of importance.

 John Locke (1632-1704)

Locke’s perspective of the role of education in children’s lives:
 The environment determines children’s development and ultimately, who the child will become.
 Children are “blank slates” (tabula rasa) that the environment fills with knowledge.
 The quality of the environment will impact the quality of children’s learning and development.

Locke’s impact on education today…

 Contributed to the idea that early education is a means for compensating for an impoverished
environment.
 Emphasized the role of environmental activities and design in children’s success in school.
 Contributed to view that a well-developed sensory environment is essential.

 Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Rousseau’s perspective of the role of education in children’s lives:
 Children should be encouraged to develop their own strengths, in an environment that lacks
interference or restrictions (referred to as natural education).
 Education should support children’s happiness, spontaneity, and inquisitiveness.
 Children’s development occurs over time and in accordance with the child’s own innate timetable
(referred to as unfolding).

Rousseau’s impact on education today…

 Contributed to concept of readiness, where skills and knowledge are presented based on children’s
internal timetable.
 Supported present-day belief that children’s social and emotional development is an important part
of the ECE curriculum.
 Provided founding belief that the child should be the center of the educational curriculum and
responsible for shaping their learning path.

 Charles Perrault (1628-1703)

He is a French aristocrat, famous for his fairy tales and under the name Mother Goose. He served
as secretary for the newly-created Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres under King Louis XIV. During
those times, his favorite pastime was storytelling and he also wrote some light poetry and verse in the first
half of his life which was modest success.

d. The Kindergarten in America

 Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel (1782-1852)

Froebel established the very first Kindergarten program in Germany in 1837. Froebel's views on
education centered on the importance of play, games, and toys in the intellectual, spiritual, and social
development of children, as inspired partly by his study of Comenius. Eventually he developed a a
philosophy and program of education for children aged 4-6 that was meant to serve as a transition between
home and school, infancy and childhood. Since his philosophy was to nurture and protect children, shielding
them from outside influence (such as plants might be nurtured and sheltered in a garden), it was natural to
call his school Kinder-Garten...or literally, Children's Garden. To this day, programs for 5 and some 6 year
olds are called Kindergarten. Like his predecessors, Froebel believed children were social creatures, and
learning was the most natural and efficient through activity and play was an essential part of learning. He
believed that teaching methods between a younger and older child ought to be vastly different, and wished
for children to have the chance to explore their positive whims.
Froebel recognized three forms of learning.!. Knowledge of forms of life, including gardening, caring
for animals, and domestic tasks. 2. knowledge of forms of mathematics, such as knowledge of geometric
forms and their relationships, and 3. knowledge of forms of beauty, including design, color, shape, harmonies,
and movement. Play was teacher-guided, who facilitated sensory and spiritual development by providing
special materials, known as 'gifts.' These gifts included balls of yarn, wooden blocks and tablets, geometric
shapes, and natural objects. Froebel believed children were born with an inherent goodness, and like Plato,
with an inherent knowledge that just need 'reawakening' through education...in Froebel's case, exposure to
'the fundamental principles of Creation." p67(Feeny, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010). Kindergarten
curriculum included handwork called "occupations", including molding, folding, beading, threading, and
embroidery. Singing, games, finger-plays, and stories were utilized to encourage learning. Froebel insisted
that learning must start with the concrete and move to the more abstract, and that perceptual development
preceded abstract thinking skills.
Froebel encouraged young women to study to teach kindergarten. Women traveled from the United
States to German to study his methods, and brought their new knowledge home where they began their own
kindergartens, usually taught in their own homes, often by German women who had studied with Froebel.
The first English-speaking kindergarten was established in Boston, MA by a woman named Elizabeth
Peabody, and after studying with Froebel in Germany, founded the first Kindergarten teacher education
program in the United States. The first public Kindergarten opened in St. Louis, MO, in 1873 and was
followed by a rapid growth of kindergartens throughout the country over the following 27 years. Along with
the rapid growth of Kindergarten programs came the introduction of related professional associations. The
American Froebel Union, or AFU, was founded by Elizabeth Peabody in 1878, and the IKU, or International
Kindergarten Union began in 1892. The IKU eventually merged with the NCPE (National Council of Primary
Education) in 1930, and then became the Association for Childhood Education International, or ACEI, which
is still an active organization today. The NKA or National Kindergarten Association was founded in 1909
and disbanded in 1976.

Issues with the Kindergarten Movement:

Although Kindergartens were a radical change from the structured school system prior to the
Kindergarten's inception, the program has been criticized for being far more structured than the loose, free-
scheduled programs that would come to be advocated years later, and was a far cry from what we could
consider a developmentally appropriate program today. "Progressive educators expressed the concern that
kindergarten practices were rigid and didn't reflect their ideas about how children develop and learn. They
challenged supporters of Froebel's approach. By 1920, the progressive approach had achieved dominance.
The reformed kindergarten curriculum reflected many of Froebel's original ideas but added a new emphasis
on free play, social interaction, art, music, nature study, and excursions. New unstructured materials, including
large blocks and doll houses, encouraged children's imaginative play. Books and songs reflected children's
interests, rather than conveying a religious message, and activities were inspired by events in the children's
daily lives." p.69 (Feeny, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010) Patty Smith Hill (1868-1946) founded the
Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia University Teachers College, and brought innovation to
Froebel's Kindergarten when it was attacked and criticized for being too rigid and teacher-dominated. She
blended ideas from various approaches and helped push kindergartens into a direction that was more
compatible with the more progressive ideas of the time. She went on to found the National Association for
Nursery Education (NANE) which is now known as the National Association for the Education of Young
Children, or the NAEYC.

 Margarethe Schurz
In 1856 Margarethe Schurz (pictured above) started the first kindergarten in the United States.
Schurz used the German language in her kindergarten, probably because kindergarten originated in the
German language. This school impacted early childhood education by opening the door to an education
for America's young children.

 Elizabeth Peabody
In 1860 Elizabeth Peabody (pictured above) was responsible for the first kindergarten in the United
States that used the English language. This allowed more children to understand what was being taught and
opened the door for more young children to learn and to go to school.

 Susan Blow
Susan Blow (pictured above) opened the first public kindergarten in the United States in 1873. This
school was in St. Louis, Missouri. This school impacted early childhood education by introducing kindergarten
to the public school system.

The 1800's

 Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827)

A Swiss educator influenced by the Romantic movement and views of Rousseau. Pestalozzi played with
Rousseau's ideas while educating his own son, but when his son could still not read at the age of 11, Pestalozzi
decided that Rousseau's methods were ineffective and developed his own methods instead. These methods
and ideas laid the groundwork for education reform later on in the 19th century, and had a huge impact on
the development of Progressive Education in the US and Europe. Pestalozzi believed that all children had
the inherent right to education as well as the capacity to profit from that education. He went on to focus on
education, primarily working with the poor and orphans, establishing schools where he could implement his
ideas. Pestalozzi believed education had the power to awaken the potential in each child and could
eventually lead to social reform. He proposed individualized curriculum, based on a child's interests, abilities,
and developmental stage. He ignored the idea of memorization and embraced sensory exploration as the
primary way of learning, and believed that children had the ability to self-pace their learning, working from
simple to complex, concrete to abstract. He also emphasized social interactions and human relationships,
striving to 'awaken a feeling of brotherhood [and] make them affectionate, just, and considerate." (Braun &
Edwards 1972, 52).

 Robert Owen (1771-1858)

Welsh Industrialist and Social Reformer. A disciple of Pestalozzi, Owen was primarily concerned with the
families who worked in the cotton mills during the Industrial Revolution. Working in labor practice reform
and the establishment of schools in hopes of improving the lives of factory children, who were forced to work
long hours in the mills from the tender age of six. Owen started the first "infant school" in England for children
aged 3-10, offering a nurturing, emotionally secure setting. Owen did not endorse pressuring children to
learn or punishing them, instead choosing education through natural consequences, believing this would
ultimately teach children right from wrong. The infant school's curriculum included sensory learning, singing,
dancing, stories, nature, and physical exercise. However, his ideas were deemed 'extreme' and did not
survive in England. Owen moved his program to the US, hoping to be better received there, where he was
a founding member of "New Harmony", a Utopian community in Indiana. His schools did not survive, many
of his ideas are still found in today’s early childhood programs, including large blocks of free-play and a
caring, respectful environment.

e. The Child Study Movement

Child study, also called “paidology or experimental pedagogy”, was the attempt to apply the methods
of modern science to the investigation of children in order to discover the laws of normal child development.
The child-study movement arose in the last decade of the nineteenth century in several Western countries and
was inspired by a number of social reform movements that aimed to improve the health and welfare of
children. The connection between child study, schools, teachers, and movements for educational reform was
particularly strong, because many reformers viewed the educational system as the most promising avenue
to improve the conditions of children and to create the conditions for a better and more just society. They
became convinced that scientific insights into the nature of children would aid their efforts. Initially, the child-
study movement was inclusive: teachers, parents, ministers, psychologists, educational administrators,
physicians, psychiatrists, and others concerned with the welfare of children participated in its research. After
the turn of the twentieth century, psychologists and physicians aimed to make child study scientifically
respectable by excluding lay researchers. In their hands, child study became the science of child development
and developmental psychology. Consequently, research into child development became a field of academic
inquiry and lost its ties to social and educational reform.

Educational reformers viewed the school as providing the means for improving social conditions and
fostering the moral progress of society. They were inspired by a variety of ideologies, such as the social
Darwinism of the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), which emphasized free competition as
the prime condition for social betterment. In this view, a proper education equipped children with the tools
for self-improvement and success in modern society, and would thereby help them lift themselves out of
poverty. Other educational reformers were guided by the ideas of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712–1778) and the educationalists Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), a Swiss, and
Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (1782–1852), a German. These thinkers embraced romantic idealizations
of childhood as an innocent and untainted period of life and wanted to re-create the educational system to
provide a stimulating environment for free play and exploration.

Despite the variety in their philosophies and political orientations, educational reformers agreed in
their attempts to reform old educational practices that relied on rote learning, character education, the
training of mental discipline, and an academically oriented curriculum. Educational reformers argued that
this curriculum was irrelevant for most children. According to them, education should become more practical
and help children take their place in society. They proposed the introduction of project learning and practical
and vocational training, and advocated the establishment of kindergartens.

 The Beginnings of Child Study

The psychologist G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) initiated the child-study movement in the United States
in the 1880s. Hall was influenced by the evolutionary theory of the nineteenth-century English naturalist
Charles Darwin and adhered to the recapitulation theory, which states that children repeat in their
development the physiological and cultural development of the species. Hall was also inspired by
developments in psychology and education in Germany, where he had spent several years studying
philosophy and psychology. His organizational efforts in the child-study movement stimulated and
consolidated existing interests and activities in several countries. In 1882 Hall introduced a course in child
study at Clark University, advocating child study as the core of the new profession of pedagogy. He became
a prominent member of the National Education Association, where he found an enthusiastic response for his
plans. Hall invited parents and teachers to participate in child-study research and sent out hundreds of
questionnaires to collect observations of children. Hall used the results of this research to provide arguments
for educational reform. In 1904 he published Adolescence, which he described as a period of life bestowed
with special challenges and in need of special consideration. This book became very influential with parents,
teachers, and individuals involved with child welfare agencies.

In 1891 Hall founded the Pedagogical Seminary, which became the most prominent outlet for
research in child study worldwide. (The journal was renamed in 1931 the Pedagogical Seminary and Journal
of Genetic Psychology and in 1954, the Journal of Genetic Psychology.)

Participants in the child-study movement investigated a wide range of topics, including the physical,
cognitive, and moral development of children, health and hygiene, fatigue, educational practices and their
effect on learning, the interests and imagination of children and the nature of their religious experiences,
and children's attitudes toward various matters. A wide variety of methods were used: undirected
observations of children at home and at school; personal letters or journals by children; quantitative and
qualitative answers to a variety of questionnaires; observations of concrete behavior; measurements of
weight, physical growth, and mental growth; results of a variety of special tests; diaries by mothers and
teachers recording children's behavior; and autobiographical statements by adults reflecting upon their
childhood.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, a number of psychologists and physicians argued
that research in child study had resulted in vast amounts of incoherent data based on free observation under
unspecified conditions, unguided by theories and hypotheses, and collected by untrained observers. They
urgently advocated lifting the scientific standards of child study through more rigorous, laboratory-based
research by qualified scientists. There were two approaches to doing so. The first one was advocated by
education psychologists, who stated that pedagogy was the application of psychological knowledge that
was based upon laboratory research or extensive psychometric testing. According to them, teachers and
educational administrators needed to inform themselves about psychological research and apply its results.
A number of educators and pedagogists advocated a second approach: they proposed the establishment
of experimental schools and pedagogical laboratories to conduct educational research. They were convinced
that pedagogy or the science of education could not be reduced to psychological research.

Psychologists made two contributions to educational research: they developed mental testing and
investigated the fundamental laws of learning. The first intelligence test was developed in 1905 by Alfred
Binet (1857–1911), who had been associated with the French Society for the Psychological Study of the
Child (Société libre pour l'étude psychologique de l'enfant) and the educational system in Paris. For Binet,
the intelligence test was an individualized diagnostic tool to diagnose pupils with mental retardation or
learning disabilities in order to place them in appropriate classes. The test was graded in terms of the age
at which normal children would be able to solve a number of tasks. Psychologists in the United States and
the United Kingdom found new uses for mental tests and developed the psychology of individual differences.
In addition to developing mental tests, behaviorist psychologists investigated the laws basic to all learning
and claimed that educational practices needed to conform to these laws in order to optimize learning in
schools.

 Germany
Research in child development in Germany started with the publication of Die Seele des Kindes (The
mind of a child; 1882) by the physiologist William T. Preyer (1841–1897), which was based on extensive
physiological and psychological observations collected during the first three years of the life of his son.
Preyer was influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution and proposed a developmental scheme in which
instinct and reflex were gradually replaced by language and purposeful action. According to Preyer,
scientific insights could be gained only through the continuous observation of a great number of healthy,
normally developing children. He therefore encouraged mothers to observe their newborn babies by
keeping diaries, starting at birth, making observations for several hours a day. Preyer's work suggested
ways in which child development could be investigated scientifically, and it stimulated wide interest in the
possibilities for such research.

The General German Society for Child Study (Allgemeiner Deutscher Verein für Kinderforschung)
and the Society for Child Psychology (Verein für Kinderpsychologie) were founded in 1889. The latter society
published the Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie (Journal for pedagogical psychology) in 1905, and
the journal Die Experimentelle Pädagogik (Experimental pedagogy) commenced publication that year as
well. Initially, German child study was dominated by the activities of teachers, who were active in a variety
of associations and institutes. The methods of research were as eclectic and varied as those adopted by the
American child-study movement, although German teachers were more interested in research conducted
according to hermeneutic methods, which aimed at acquiring an intuitive understanding of how children think
and learn, instead of quantitative research, which provided indications of the abilities and achievements of
groups of children.

The different approaches of Wilhelm August Lay (1862–1926) and Ernst Neumann (1862–1937),
two pioneers in pedagogical research in Germany, illustrate the development of experimental pedagogy
or paidology in Germany. Both Lay and Neumann attempted to make child study more rigorous and
scientifically respectable. Lay started out his career as an educator and conducted his research from the
perspective of teachers. He advocated the establishment of experimental schools and viewed them as the
ideal places for pedagogical research. Neumann was a psychologist who viewed education as a field in
which psychological insights could be applied. The difference between these perspectives indicated the
increasing tension between teachers and psychologists in their attempts to control the development of
experimental pedagogy. Eventually, psychologists came to dominate the field. In Germany, however,
pedagogy as a field remained influential within the educational system.

After World War I (1914–1918), German research on child development succeeded in acquiring a
permanent place in the universities. The psychologist William Stern (1871–1938) had kept, with his wife
Clara, detailed diaries of the psychological development of their three children. Stern later published his
work on language acquisition and development of memory in young children based on this material. Other
influential psychologists were the Austrian couple Karl (1879–1963) and Charlotte BÜhler (1893–1974),
whose maturational and life-course psychology became very influential. Charlotte Bühler's research was
based on guided observations of children, intelligence tests, the interpretation of diaries, and experiments
with free play. She aimed to develop a unified scheme of psychological development from birth to early
adulthood and focused on cognitive and personality characteristics of developmental stages.

 United Kingdom
Child study in the United Kingdom followed developments in the United States and Germany,
although it never reached the same level of activity. Interest in children and education grew when, during
the 1890s, several medical surveys of schoolchildren, particularly those from poor working-class districts,
revealed that many pupils were in poor health and suffered from malnutrition and a range of medical
problems, including what was then called mental deficiency. In 1913 the Mental Deficiency Act was passed,
mandating the proper treatment and care of individuals with this condition. Furthermore, philosophical
psychologists in England had written several books on educational reform, educational philosophy, and the
importance of modernizing the curriculum. And there were widespread calls for educational reform in order
to increase national productivity through a better educated labor force and calls to make education child-
centered.

In 1898 the British Child Study Association was established by a number of individuals who had
become acquainted with Hall's work in the United States and who wished to organize child study in England.
The association started publishing the journal The Paidologist one year later (in 1908 the name was changed
to Child Study; it ceased publication in 1921). In 1911 the rival Journal of Experimental Pedagogy
commenced publication as well (it was renamed the British Journal of Educational Psychology in 1931).

Initially, educational psychology in England focused on the construction and administration of mental
tests. Research into the nature of intelligence had been the lifework of Charles Spearman (1863–1945),
who had analyzed a wide range of test results with a statistical technique called factor analysis and
concluded that all intelligence tests measured a stable and inherited quality of general intelligence. In 1912
the psychologist Cyril Burt (1883–1971) was appointed as psychologist at the London County Council, which
was the central educational authority in London. In this position, Burt tested children recommended for special
or remedial schools and classes. He also developed mental and diagnostic tests. In “The Backward Child”
(1937), Burt argued that pupils who could not do the work of the grade they were supposed to be in on the
basis of their age often suffered from environmental handicaps such as poverty, poor health, and inadequate
housing. Despite that, he also believed that the majority of these cases were irremediably backward as a
result of the general inferiority of their intellectual capacity, which, according to him, was inborn, hereditary,
and therefore unalterable. According to Burt, the existing class structure was justified because it was based
on innate differences in intelligence. Because he was convinced that intelligence did not improve because of
education, he advocated the establishment of special educational tracks for children to match their innate
general cognitive ability.

 United States of America

At the turn of the twentieth century, psychologists criticized the child-study movement for the lack of
scientific rigor and inconclusive nature of its research and the lack of clarity in its basic objectives.
Consequently, the movement lost its momentum. In particular, educational psychologists attempted to make
research into child development scientifically respectable. They aimed to provide teachers and educational
administrators with the scientific tools to rationalize and improve educational practice. The Journal of
Educational Psychology, which published their research, commenced publication in 1910.

According to the psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1947), educational psychology could
provide normative standards for the rational organization of educational practice. Thorndike promoted the
widespread application of intelligence and achievement tests to make the work of schools visible in a
numerical way: the statistics generated by these tests made classes, grades, and schools comparable, which
made it possible to evaluate performance. In particular, educational administrators found this type of
numerical information useful. Apart from developing psychometric tests, Thorndike presented the laws of
learning as a rational foundation for educational practice, as behaviorist psychologists had formulated them.
His most influential and controversial contribution was his opinion that there was little or no transfer of training
between learning in different areas. This statement was used as an argument against the classical curriculum,
in particular the teaching of Latin in high schools. After all, if the mental discipline acquired through learning
Latin had no ramifications for learning in other areas, it became very difficult to defend teaching the subject.

The use of mental tests in education was promoted by Lewis M. Terman (1877–1956), a member of
the faculty at Stanford University who had translated Binet's intelligence test into English and published it as
the Stanford-Binet test in 1916. Terman's version of the intelligence test could be administered to groups.
According to Terman, intelligence, often expressed in the form of the intelligence quotient, or IQ, was a
relatively stable and inherited quality. To accommodate students with a wide variety of intellectual ability,
he proposed that schools organize different educational tracks suitable for different levels of mental ability.
Similarly, Terman was convinced that modern society was essentially meritocratic in nature: intelligent
individuals would naturally enter into the more desirable occupations. In his view, differences in income and
socioeconomic status are based on intelligence rather than on differences in educational opportunity or the
effects of discrimination, exclusion, and deprivation. Terman's views were very influential among
psychologists and educators throughout the twentieth century.

Child Development Research in the 1920s

 Report Advertisement
In the early 1920s, research into child development was a modest endeavor. It occurred on a small
scale at a number of universities and received small amounts of funding. Researchers were engaged in
research on different aspects of child health, child welfare, and educational research. The decisive impulse
to make child study an area of scientific research came from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial (LSRM),
which, starting in 1924, funded interdisciplinary research at a number of research centers devoted to child
development in the United States and Canada. As a result, child psychology or developmental psychology
was transformed into a respectable profession with professional societies, journals, and university-based
research and training centers. In 1925 the Committee on Child Development was founded by the National
Research Council to coordinate research activities.
 According to Lawrence K. Frank (1890–1974), who initiated this program within the LSRM, most
research involving children had focused on delinquency, abnormality, and pathology. Relatively little was
known about normal children and normal child development, knowledge of which he considered essential for
guiding educational and child-rearing practices. Because the first years of life were essential for the
formation of personality, Frank thought it essential that these would become the object of scientific research.
The centers for research on child development funded by the LSRM generally opened a laboratory nursery
school where children from the age of about twelve months could be observed for longer periods.
Researchers often had associations with elementary schools and high schools to investigate child development
in its later stages. At several research centers, longitudinal research projects, in which individual children
were followed for several decades to study their development, were undertaken. Other studies involved
observational studies of children and the measurement of individual differences in intelligence and ability.
According to Frank, research in child development needed to be closely associated with the popularization
of its results. He insisted that every center for child research institutionalize programs for public education.
He also initiated the establishment of Parents Magazine in 1926, a popular magazine with child-rearing
advice for parents.

One of the first institutions to receive funding was the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station, which
had opened in 1917. Researchers there developed measurements of physical development and investigated
the importance of nutrition. Several observational studies were undertaken in a laboratory nursery school
and at an adoption agency. Researchers at Iowa concluded that the IQ of young children could be highly
variable: the IQ of children attending nursery school and adopted children generally rose several points.
These conclusions were repeated by Helen Thompson Woolley (1874–1947) of the Merrill-Palmer school in
Detroit but were contested by other researchers, in particular Lewis Terman and Florence Goodenough (1886–
1959), who worked at the Institute for Child Welfare at the University of Minnesota. At his Yale University
laboratory, Arnold Gesell (1880–1961) investigated the physical growth of children. According to Gesell,
maturation and growth entailed the unfolding of inborn traits, which could be delayed by environmental
deprivation. Gesell designed a number of normative scales measuring levels of mental and motor
development in children. At the University of Toronto, several longitudinal research projects investigating the
social behavior of children were undertaken. At the Institute of Child Welfare at the University of California
at Berkeley, a similar research project was initiated. Researchers there also doubted the invariable nature
of IQ scores in individuals. At the Child Development Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University,
family relations and the personality development of children in nursery schools were studied. The research
centers on child development provided career opportunities for women, who were excluded from most other
fields of scientific research.

As a consequence of the funding provided by the LSRM, research in child development became
scientifically respectable. Over time, researchers became less interested in public education activities, which
were often discontinued. The association of research in child development with educational reform became
increasingly tenuous over time as well. The research had developed a momentum of its own and lost its
association with movements for social change

f. University Laboratory Schools

 Progressive Education

Using science and reason, progressive theorists sought to improve mankind. One part of this effort
was the implementation of progressive education, beginning in the late 19th century. A combination of the
works of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel as well as from 19th century social reform movements,
Progressive education evolved, growing on the findings of past educators and contemporary ideals. In order
to institute changes in society and allow people to live to their full potential, progressives looked towards
making fundamental changes in their schools. Shying away from the dreary, skill-based, drill-and-recite
curriculum, they wanted something more engaging, more relevant, that would unlock this potential in students
and essentially, the future.
 Laboratory School
School operated by colleges and universities that usually serves children of students and faculty and
also acts as a model of excellent education for student teachers.

 John Dewey (1859-1952)

Dewey was not the founder of the progressive movement, but easily the most influential
spokesperson for the movement. After teaching high school, Dewey studied for his doctorate of philosophy,
then teaching at the University of Chicago and later moved to Columbia University in New York City where
he wrote about education and philosophy. Dewey's ideal school was one where children could grow
physically, intellectually, and socially, as well as be challenged to think independently. Dewey wanted
classrooms to be places where children could investigate the world around them, engaged in subject matter
which would expand on their natural curiosity. He believed that schools should mirror society and that
education ought to be viewed as the life of the child in the present and not just focused on preparation for
the future and for adulthood. Dewey also believed that in addition to facilitating learning, schools should
provide help to immigrants adapting to a new culture. Progressive educators advocated methods of
instruction that are based on individual interest, hands-on activities, acknowledgment of individual
differences, and child-initiated activity whenever possible.
 According to Dewey, schools should offer children opportunities to practice the democratic practice
in a group setting and learning through interesting and meaningful activities. Despite the Froebelian materials
in the University of Chicago Laboratory program, the materials were put to use in different ways. Dewey's
approach to education placed emphasis on greater freedom and spontaneity in play, as well as involvement
in the social life of the classroom. Still used to today, children work through collaborative projects in small
groups related to their own interests. Holistic "whole-child" education is key to the progressive movement.
Addressing physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development, progressive programs focus on learning
by doing, learning by experimenting and experiencing with real, raw materials and self-directed, self-
paced activities. Despite the seemingly 'free' curriculum, Dewey clarified that enjoyment and fun were not
legitimate educational purposes, that educational activities always needed to support children's learning
and development.

The role of the teacher in a progressive education program is to provide a carefully designed
environment and curriculum ripe for learning, and to prepare children to be members of a democratic society.
The curriculum would include "real experiences" like carpentry, weaving, cooking, and the study of local
geography. Teachers duties included observing children, and according to their observations, ask questions
and provide experiences designed to integrate different subject and interest areas to assist children in
expanding and exploring their world. Teachers were seen as guides, not instructors or disciplinarians.

g. The Nursery Schools and Child Care Movement

 The Nursery School

Margaret McMillan (1860-1931) and sister Rachel McMillan (1859-1917) were social reformers in
England tackling the problems of poverty as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The sisters were born in the
US, but after the death of their father, they moved back to Scotland, their family's original home. As adults,
Rachel and Margaret moved to England in search of work. They began to visit the homes of the poor, leading
them to lives of social activism, focused on improving the lives of the "slum child." They advocated for school
meals and open one of England’s first school-based health clinic. In 1911, they began the Open-Air Nursery
School and Training Centre in London, which was attended to by 30 children between 18 months and 7 years
old. A play-oriented, open-air environment was born out of their response to health problems they were
witnessing in poor communities and was meant to be a model for other schools as well as a training center
for future and current teachers.

They called their program a "nursery school", to demonstrate their care and concern with nurture as
well as learning. They recognized that many poor children in England were lacking both care and education
in their most formative years. The school had its foundation in the work of Darwin, Plato, Rousseau, Froebel,
and Owen (Feeney, Mravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010). Besides providing care and education, the program
was designed to identify health problems before they entered into formal schooling. The sisters focused on
education via a child's 'sense of wonder' and believed teachers must know what attracts children and
engages their attention. They also wished to help parents learn how to interact in a positive manner with
their children.

 Early Nursery Schools in the US

As kindergartens were growing and expanding quickly across the US, nursery schools gained speed
in efforts to meet the needs of children younger than kindergarten-age. Inspired by the English nursery
schools, they were also influenced by Freud's ideas about developmental psychology and progressive
education philosophy. One of the very first nursery schools in the US was the City and Country school, opened
in New York City in 1913 by Caroline Pratt. Three years later, the Bureau of Educational Experiments
opened a laboratory nursery school under the direction of Harriet Johnson. Nearly a decade later, other
nursery schools were popping up throughout the United States, including Patty Smith Hill's program at
Columbia Universiy Teachers College in New York City, as well as the Ruggles Street Nursery School and
Training Center in Roxbury, MA, directed by Abigail Eliot. Eliot studied with Margaret McMillan and
observed her London school, and returned to Boston in 1922 where she continued her education. 8 years
later, she was one of the first women to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. Eliot's Ruggles Street
Nursery School followed the McMillans example of providing full-day-care for working families, but did not
have the same focus on the physical health of the children, rather focusing on creating an intellectually
stimulating, child-centric environment and involving parents (many of whom went on to become teachers) in
the program.

In 1916, parent-cooperative nursery schools began with the creation of the University of Chicago
Cooperative Nursery School. Similar to traditional nursery schools in that they provided supervised learning
and socialization opportunities, they were different in that they were operated by parents and a teacher
together, with parents being required to assist in the execution of the daily program. This benefited families
by providing low-cost childcare, more free time, opportunities to work with young children and learn about
child development, a sense of community, and of course, a way to be with their children during the day
without staying home.
 Meanwhile, child-study institutions with laboratory schools were being founded. Yale University's
Clinic of Child Development, The Iowa Child Welfare Research Station, and the Merrill-Palmer Institute, in
Detroit, Michigan. After visiting the McMillan's England Nursery School in 1921, Edna Noble White
established her Merril-Palmer Institute. Interested in more than providing care for the children, Edna
extended her mission by providing "motherhood training" and would later become world-famous as a center
for parental and pre-parental education. During the 1920's and 1930's, college home economics
departments included nursery schools to train future homemakers and to serve as research centers. Early
nursery schools focused on the 'whole' child, incorporating social, emotional, and physical development,
paying less attention to the intellectual and more attention to free-play, plenty of outside play, and a
learning environment that was designed with children in mind.

Today's nursery schools still reflect the basic principles of earlier nursery schools. Childern are still
seen as learning through interactions with people and with their environment. "The role of the school is to
keep the paths of exploration open so children can develop in their own unique ways." (Feeney, Mravcik,
Nolte, Christensen 2010). Daily schedules are generally large blocks of time where children are free to
choose their activities and engage in them for long stretches of time. Classrooms are divided by area, with
spaces for block construction, dramatic play, arts and crafts, sand and water tables, science centers, math
centers, and language centers. The teacher's role is to facilitate an environment that fosters learning, supports
the child’s emotional development, social development, and provides children with the tools they need to
explore and experience their environment.

 The High/Scope Program

Designed in the 1960's, the High/Scope program was designed to relieve the effects of poverty
affecting child development. David Weikart and colleagues, drawing inspiration from Piaget, studied this
approach in two studies funded by the US Government in the 1960's. The first of these two studies, "Planned
Variation" focused on Head Start programs, and the second study, "Follow Through" studied the effects of
continuity in educational programming from preschool to third grade.

The High/Scope program was primarily focused on key experiences relating to the acquisition of
organizational concepts like classification, seriation, numbers, time, and spatial relationships. These events
provide the foundation for organizing and manipulating the learning environment and helped with decision
making regarding instructor-led activity and assessment of progress. In a High/Scope Classroom, students
are engaged in learning 'centers', including building, dramatic play, math, reading, music, writing, art,
science, and motor development. The environment is planned in such a way to allow children to manipulate
and explore the materials and then to later reflect and demonstrate what they have learned in the process.
The teacher's role is designing the environment and as a support to students. Focus is on providing materials
and activities that allow children exposure to these key experiences. An example might be providing several
sizes of the same object (wooden spoons or cups, for example) to help children understand the spatial and
serial relationships between the objects.

A typical day would demonstrate a three-part process: "Plan-Do-Review." Beginning with planning,
the class and teacher gather to discuss and create plans for a certain play period. Children go about their
various activities, (Do) while teachers observe and offer support. The "review" process takes place after the
play period, where students and teachers gather to discuss what they have found. It is thought that this helps
children understand their own actions, and enables connections between action and language. Children's
work is proudly displayed on the walls of the classroom. The remarkable aspect of the High/Scope program
is the amount of research it has conducted. Since the 70s, up until present day, long-term studies have shown
the impact of these quality ECE programs on its students far into adulthood. One 30-year follow-up group
study reported that students of the High/Scope program earned higher monthly incomes, owned more homes,
had completed more schooling, received fewer social services, and had fewer arrests than a control group.

 The Developmental-Interaction Approach

Many pre-schools, kindergartens, and elementary schools today employ the ideas of progressive
education. One example is Bank Street School for Children in New York City. With its roots in progressive
education, the Bank Street School also drew inspiration from child development theory including the work of
Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, Barbara Biber, and Jean Piaget. The school is still in operation today, as well as
the Bank Street College of Education. The founders of the Bank Street School emphasized, like others before
them, the education of the 'whole' child, as well as the interactions between child and environment and the
child with other people. The name of the approach changed from "The Bank Street Approach" to the "Direct-
Interaction" Approach, sometime in the 1970's, to shift the focus on the basis of the approach rather than the
location of its origin.

In 1916, Harriet Johnson, Caroline Pratt, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell formed the Bureau of
Educational Experiments in New York City, which was the predecessor of the Bank Street College of
Education, both institutes for research in child development. Mitchell, who was deeply dedicated to children's
learning, directed the Bank Street School. Her book Young Geographers introduced the study of geography
to young students through direct experiences within their own communities. She and her colleagues believed
that children learned the best when "the classroom allows for the social experience of living within a
democratic community" (Feeny, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010). They believed that children should be
actively engaged in thinking and reasoning, relating to real life experiences in their communities and extend
outwards. The DIA classroom is representative of general society, using social studies and field trips as the
core experiences of the curriculum. Children learn through exploration of their own communities in places like
bakeries, grocery stores, the harbor, and more. Children learn through direct experience with their subject
of study, and then enrich that experience with follow-up activities in the classroom. The DIA classroom is set
up with centers where children make independent choices about activities and learning. There are class
meetings and facilitated group activities, but there is plenty of independent play. Play is considered an
essential part of the curriculum, particularly dramatic play and block-building, as these activities allow
children to express their understanding of the world around them. Those educators who support this method
advocate the importance of the child as a member of society, of the group. Teachers facilitate a democratic
community, as well as serve as sensitive interpreters and facilitators, responding to the needs of the individual
child. Emphasis is not on the "how", but rather on the "why?"

 The Waldorf Schools

Founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the Waldorf approach got its official start in 1919 as a
school to serve the workers of the Waldorf Astoria Cigarette factory's children. Steiner was an academic,
holding a doctorate in Philosophy, and a strong interest in the intersection of science and spirituality. As the
founder of a school of philosophy called "anthroposophy", he explored the role of spirituality in
contemporary society, and was deeply interested in the search for self and development of human potential.
In relation to childhood, Steiner believed that childhood is important in its own right, and that human
development is based on 7-year-long cycles that combine periods of physical, mental, and spiritual
development, and he emphasized balanced development, creativity, and imagination. His schools were
created to promote healthy, unhurried opportunities for learning based on an individual child's stage in
development. Steiner stressed the development of the child's body, mind, and spirit. Like other programs,
the focus was on educating the 'whole' child, because Steiner believed that engaging a variety of academic,
artistic, and handicraft subject areas would equalize the human aptitude for thinking, feeling, and will. He
also believed that the first 7 years of a child's life were the most important to the child's body and inclination
to activity, and that educational activities should be practical, imitative, and hands-on.

Steiner's kindergarten includes ages 3-6, and consists of storytelling, puppetry, arts and crafts,
imaginative play, and practical work like knitting, gardening, cleaning, and baking. Steiner felt it was of
utmost importance that children feel warm, secure, and safe in their environment, so classroom settings were
designed as an extension of home. They featured soft colors, natural materials, and simple, homemade toys
made from cloth and wood (no plastic, battery operated toys), that encouraged imaginative play.
Classrooms are designed to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Children in Waldorf schools are allowed
to remain 'childlike', under the belief that there is a time for every aspect of development, and that children
ought not to receive formal education until after the age of 7. While children in Waldorf programs do not
usually read as early as some of their peers, Waldorf advocates maintain that they do catch up by 2nd or
3rd grade. Teachers in Waldorf programs stay with their groups of students for three years, allowing
teachers to offer continuity, build trust and relationships, and build a community within their classroom.
Teachers are there to provide an optimal learning environment, nurture students, and provide a positive role
model, encouraging children to serve as role models for younger children as well. The focus in the Waldorf
classroom is on sensory exploration and self-discovery rather than formal instruction and merit, helping
children develop a sense of compassion and responsibility.

 The Montessori Method

In 1896, Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was one of the first women in Italy to receive a medical
degree. Early in her medical career, she developed approaches for teaching children with serious
developmental delays, children who were previously considered 'unteachable.' She founded the Casa dei
Bambini in 1907 in Rome, where she applied and experimented with these methods with children without
these cognitive delays. Maria Montessori believed, based on her observations, that a child's intelligence
was not fixed, that learning could be stimulated or stifled by the child's individual experiences, and that
children learned best through their own direct sensory experiences of their world. She believed that children
went through periods of heightened sensitivity during which their capacity for learning and personal interest
in a subject would facilitate rapid and self-driven motivation to learn. She trusted children's instincts about
what they were ready to learn and experience, and valued the development of independence and
preserving the dignity of the child.

The Montessori approach centers on a child-sized classroom, full of specially designed and
sequenced learning materials that were progressively complex. The teacher's role was not that of a teacher,
but that of an observer and a guide, hence Montessori teachers are often referred to as directors or
directress. The Montessori classroom is divided by 3-year age groups; 0-3, 3-6, and 6-12. Children learn
through experience, by observing and doing. They practice practical life skills like buttoning, zipping, cutting,
and gardening, enabling children to care for themselves as well as their environment, building skills that will
stay with them throughout their lives. Learning in the Montessori classroom is cumulative, constantly building
on what was learned prior. Activities are primarily individual, and children move around the classroom freely,
choosing their own activities. Children develop respect for each other and their classroom, placing items back
on shelves before reaching for new ones. Concepts are taught singularly, to avoid confusion with other
concepts that might distract or confuse the development of understanding of one specific concept. Activities
are 'self-correcting', which lets the child know through positive feedback if they have mastered the activity
or need to continue to work on it. Their work is taken seriously, and not regarded as play. Children are
expected to respect someone's concentration and not interrupt someone during a task. They are able to
move about the room and are not rushed through an activity, but are expected to complete activities in-
sequence.

 Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is both a city in Italy and a school of the same name and locale. Built in 1948 in post-
WW2 by parents who hired an educational innovator named Loris Malaguzzu as its director. By 1963, the
single school had become a government-funded system of Early Childhood programs throughout Italy. By
the 1980's and to this day, educators from all over the world visit the Reggio Emilia to observe their methods.
The schools are characterized by a set of philosophies and values based in constructivist theories and the
progressive education movement, and by a deep commitment to honor the rights of parents, teachers, and
children. The philosophies key concepts are that children are strong and competent individuals with the right
to the best education available, that education is based on relationships, and that education is based on the
interaction of children working and playing together in small groups. The school is seen as an amiable
community where teachers dialogue with children, each other, with the greater community, and with families.
The curriculum is not planned in advance but is created spontaneously according to the children's intellectual
curiosity, social interactions, and interests. Curriculum goals and planned projects are based on teachers
observations of the children, not on a pre-made plan with defined, specific goals in mind. Teachers are
viewed as 'partners in learning' and work with the children to 'co-construct' understanding and discovery.

The Reggio approach fosters intellectual development through a focus on symbolic representation.
The primary curriculum is in-depth project work based on the interests of the children. Children are
encouraged to express themselves through 'natural languages', including drawing, painting, working in clay,
sculpting, constructing, conversing, and dramatic play. Reggio educators believe these languages are to be
cherished, celebrated, nurtured, and documented, and provide children with a wide variety of materials to
explore the possibilities of expression with. The environment is equally important, referred to as 'the third
teacher', because of how children construct knowledge by their interactions with said environment. The
classroom is set up to promote partnerships, social interaction, and constructive learning. Key elements of the
classroom include the atelier (art studio), and the piazza (central gathering area). Schools are built with
skylights and plenty of floor-to-ceiling windows to flood the space with natural light and provide
transparency, allowing children to see throughout the school walls. Mirrors reflect light, plants bring nature
inside, and children are provided with high quality art supplies, recycled materials, and natural objects,
arranged on open shelving within reach of the children. Children's work is proudly displayed, and the
environment celebrates the child's right to a beautiful, functional space to work and play.

Teachers in Reggio programs regard themselves as researchers, constantly observing and

documenting the child's experience, work, and study to better understand children, curriculum planning,
teacher development, and communication with families and the community. Photographs of children and
transcriptions of their questions and conversations are kept in portfolios for parents to examine.

 Childcare in the United States

Prior to the Industrial revolution, most women were able to keep children close to home to help with
domestic duties or the family trade or business. Children helped with farm work, or in some occasions were
sent to a "dame school", a place where an older woman would gather children to teach them their three R's:
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. As the Industrial Revolution changed the landscape of America, so too did
the needs for childcare, especially for poor working families. Since many women were forced to choose
between leaving children home alone or not working and seeking charity from the community, the need for
childcare rose, as people in many communities chose not to give money or food any longer. Many women
were given no choice but to enter into the work force, working in work-houses, factories, or in some cases,
caring for wealthier families children, sending their own children to work as indentured servants for other
families, or left their children on the streets or even locked up indoors during the day.

Quaker women in Philadelphia offered a solution for some of these women and children, by founding
the Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor. A house was built by the society that would provide
religious education for children while their mothers worked in another section of the house. The Boston Infant
school is another early example of the convergence and application of ideas related to childcare and
education in the US. Modeled after Robert Owen's British Infant Schools, philanthropist women provided care
to children of working mothers. In the 1830's, several other schools opened up throughout the US. By 1850,
h0wever, the idea that women should stay home with their children had permeated societies beliefs, ignoring
the reasons the schools were in place to begin with. Though the schools did not last, the schools offered help
to the thousands of new immigrants arriving in the United States. The New York Nursery for Children of Poor
Women's mission was to provide care for the children of women forced to provide for their families. These
were privately run programs that allowed new immigrants working in urban families to keep their families
together. Most of the workers in these programs were untrained and worked long hours with many children,
but were still a better alternative than leaving children at home or worse, on the street. The goals of these
programs were focused on the general health of the children and not the intellectual development or
education.

Inspired by the American Kindergarten movement, Pauline Agassiz Shaw established a day nursery
with an educational focus in 1878 Boston. Many other centers followed Shaw's example, providing care for
long hours with educational activities, comprehensive services, family education and training, and counseling,
although most did not service the very young children. In the 1880's, Frances Willard attempted to meet this
need by establishing the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Her day nurseries were offered free of
charge to poor mothers, but were not open to all racial and ethnic groups and never to children of unwed
mothers. This discrimination left many mothers with no other option than to send their children to orphanages
or in unsatisfactory arrangements in strangers’ homes. The 1890's ushered in the National Association of
Colored Women, which established day nurseries serving urban African American families and children. The
1800's saw a number of experiments in childcare, enabling many women to avoid the depths of poverty by
working outside of the home. Childcare was generally regarded as a last-resort measure only to be utilized
in the direst of emergencies and circumstances.

During the Great Depression, the US government operated federal childcare centers, providing
relief work for teachers, custodians, cooks, nurses, and others who had lost their jobs and desperately needed
employment. Unfortunately, these programs ended as soon as the Depression lifted. Similar programs re-
emerged again during World War II, when many of the nation's women began working in the factories
supporting the military stationed overseas. The Lanham Act of 1942-1946 provided federally funded child
care centers in 41 states. Similar to the employer-sponsored childcare systems of Europe, programs like the
Kaiser centers, which provided childcare for employees of the Kaiser shipyards in Portland, Oregon provided
comprehensive, high quality services and care to children aged 18 months to 6 years old. Kaiser made a
commitment to providing the best services possible to both children and families. Louis Meek Stolz, an Early
Childhood Expert who directed the Child Development Institute and Columbia University was hired as a
director, and James L Hymes Jr., a graduate of the Child Development Institute was hired as the manager
of the Kaiser programs. Specially trained early-childhood teachers were hired, and the building was even
specially designed by an architect to serve young children. The centers were open 24 hours a day, 364
days per year (save for Christmas), and included an infirmary, provided meals for mothers to take home,
and offered other services to families who worked in the defense industry. During their short span of service,
Kaiser served nearly 4,000 children.

Once the war ended and women returned home with their children, the centers closed down, but
their example hold strong today. A common post-war belief that women and children belonged at home
and that children of working mothers suffered from a lack of maternal care slowly began to change when
the landscape of the 'typical' American family began to change around the 1950's and 60's. As families
moved further away from their own extended families, divorce became more and more common, and women
began finding meaningful work outside of the home, the face of childcare began to slowly change into what
we now have today, a merging of both care and education.
2.4 The History of Preschool Education in the Philippines

SPANISH REGIME
Started formally in grade one with Christian Doctrine Predominantly religious utilized certain
textbooks as cartilla and pagina de la Infancia (contains alphabet and prayers) Young Filipinos mostly coming
from the “bourgeois’ illustrado class

Pre-schooling was unorganized the more educated adults in the community became lawful “preschool
teachers” Usually handled on one to one basis and lasting for no less than 30 minutes per session (Estolaz &
Nunez,1974)

The regular schooling in the cartilla lasted for 3 to 6 months depending upon the child’s capacity to
learn This particular schooling facilitated the entry of the child into grade one although it was not necessarily
a requirement.

In 1924, the opening of kindergarten education at Harris Memorial School Manila (Harris Memorial
College) pioneered preschool education Under directorship of Miss Mary A. Evans

INITIAL ATTEMPTS
A class was established by Mrs. Brigida Fernando after her training at Columbia University Teachers
College.

Interest in kindergarten movement was picked up by other private schools and grew succeedingly
well among the religious schools both Catholic and Protestant Similar interest motivated civic groups to help
children.

In 1935, the National Federation of Women’s Club (NFWC) became the forerunner of nursery
education the process of getting government recognition didn’t come after 16 years.

In 1940, The Bureau of Private Schools had authorized 129 kindergarten classes getting an
enrolment of 6,449. The World War II disrupted the growth of the program to the point of closing almost
all schools.

The year immediately ensuing liberation had demonstrated a renewed interest in preschool
education Out 129 government recognized kindergarten schools in 1940, a total of 61 schools with 3,172
enrolment started in operation in 1945-1946.

POSTWAR INTERESTS
Private individuals had shortly joined this bold start The NFWC continued to have its nursery classes
one in Sampaloc and in Tondo, Manila

In 1948, HARRIS MEMORIAL SCHOOL initiated another big step by obtaining a government
recognition to confer the degree of JUNIOR TEACHER’S CERTIFICATE to Graduate in kindergarten education
This was the first recognized course in kindergarten education offered in the Philippines Other colleges and
universities attempt to emphasize kindergarten teaching by giving special training on the area, either part
and parcel of B.S in Education or in Home Economics.

Preschool education in the country has almost remained to be associated with Bureau of Private
Schools, especially with the religious groups.

1950’s through the effort of Dr. Miguela M. Solis, then the Superintendent of Teacher education in
Bureau of Public Schools, preschool education started in the government regional –training schools
Pangasinan Normal School was the first to take advantage BREAKTHROUGH IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

Followed by Zamboanga Normal School In 1964, a year after establishment of National

Coordinating Center for the Study and Development of Filipino Children and Youth (NCCSDFCY) which Dr.
Solis was the director, the Children’s Village was opened to admit kindergarten children, marking another
milestone in the public sector.

The growth of Philippine preschool education had been so slow when this is compared to those of
the other countries Though slow, the regular yearly increment in kindergarten enrolment in both private and
public schools had increased.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: A JOINT CONCERN

The major portion of preschool children were consistently in the private schools with its yearly
increase remaining constant Until that there are too many children for every teacher. Sending pre-school
aged children to private kindergarten is expensive. The need for nursery schools that could cater to the
lower income families was then felt
 A number of national offices and civic organizations have responded to the need to extend
appropriate education The NFWC who has started only with two schools has expanded to 251 classes mostly
located in the less chance areas like Tondo, Sampaloc, Paco and others.

In 1956, the Manila Health Department introduced the concept of modern preschool “play centers”
in Manila It was Dr, Demetrio Belmonte the assistant city health officer who had a trip from different countries
like Europe and USA and observed the operation of modern and scientific preschool

With the assistance of Dr. Evangeline G. Suva, returning grantee on programming preschool play
centers and Mrs. Isabel Santos, a social worker of the Ladies’ Association worked hand in hand to put up the
first modern fully equipped play centers at the KAPITAN ISIDRO MENDOZA HEALTH CENTER.

Meanwhile various civic organization have similarly taken bold steps in support of the program.
Some of them are Young Ladies Association of Charity, The Rural Improvement Clubs, The Philippine Women’s
Medical Association In mid-1960’s the Department of Social Welfare had started the inclusion of nursery
and kindergarten education in its program.

1970’s to 1980’s
The government’s intensified interest in the welfare of the Filipino child resulted in the signing of P.D
603 PD 603- known as CHILD AND YOUTH WELFARE CODE in 1974” 1979- UNESCO (United nations
Educational Scientific Cultural Organization) declared as the International Year of The Child.

1977 to 1987
The Philippines declared DECADE OF THE FILIPINO CHILD This marked the increased of number of
preschool children and also the establishments both in private and public schools

1978 to 1989
DECS encouraged the operation of preschools in public elementary schools with MEC Order No. 24
s.1978 and DECS Order No. 107, s.1989 (Soliven et.al,1997) 1993 to 1994- There were 1,892 DECS-
recognizes and registered private schools in the country with 416,894 enrolled preschoolers

1995 to 2000
Three reform programs were initiated in response to the need of rising numbers of preschoolers:
EDUCATION FOR ALL CONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION ON EDUCATION Implementation of LOCAL
GOVERNMENT CODE
 Unit 3. Philosophical Bases of Early Childhood Education

3.1 Pragmatism

3.2 Gestaltism
3.3 Humanism
3.4 Realism
3.5 Educational Implications

REFERENCES
 https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/school-readiness/article/approaches-learning
 http://www.healthofchildren.com/C/Cognitive-Development.html
 https://cmascanada.ca/2012/01/27/constructive-play-in-early-learning-environments/
 https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/dap-introduction
 http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=751
 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201110/self-
regulation
 https://dartcenter.org/resources/glossary-terms-early-child-development
 www.battelleforkids.org