Preschool
In 1779, Johann Friedrich Oberlin and Louise Scheppler founded in Strasbourg an early establishment for caring for and educating pre-school children whose parents were absent during the day.
[7][8][9] In conjunction with his venture for cooperative mills Owen wanted the children to be given a good moral education so that they would be fit for work.
Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852) opened a Play and Activity institute in 1837 in the village of Bad Blankenburg in the principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Thuringia, which he renamed Kindergarten on 28 June 1840.
That same year the educator Emily Ronalds was the first British person to study his approach and Fröbel urged her to transplant his concepts in England.
Canada's first private kindergarten was opened by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1870 and by the end of the decade, they were common in large Canadian towns and cities.
High quality and well trained teachers and preschools with developmentally-appropriate programmes can have a long-term effect on improving learning outcomes for children.
The effects tend to be more marked for disadvantaged students i.e. children coming from impoverished backgrounds with very little or no access to healthy food, socialization, books and play resources.
[22][23] Preschool systems observe standards for structure (administration, class size, student–teacher ratio, services), process (quality of classroom environments, teacher-child interactions, etc.)
[19] There is emerging evidence that high-quality preschools are "play based," rather than attempting to provide early formal instruction in academic subjects.
[31][32] Research by the American Psychological Association indicates that preschool attendees tend to achieve higher scores in cognitive and language assessments, demonstrating the positive impact of early education on intellectual development.
[35] Preschools have adopted various methods of teaching, such as Montessori, Waldorf, Head Start, HighScope,[36] Reggio Emilia approach, Bank Street and Forest kindergartens.
While a majority of American preschool programs remain tuition-based, support for some public funding of early childhood education has grown over the years.
[43] Proponents of an academic curriculum are likely to favour a focus on basic skills, especially literacy and numeracy, and structured pre-determined activities for achieving related goals.
[44] The type of document that emerges from this perspective is likely to be more open, offering a framework which teachers and parents can use to develop curricula specific to their contexts.
Most significantly, preschool is universally expected to increase the young child's ability to perform basic self-care tasks such as dressing, feeding, and toileting.
[46] The study of early childhood education (ECE) in China has been intimately influenced by the reforms and progress of Chinese politics and the economy.
In recent years, various Western curricula and pedagogical models have been introduced to China, such as Montessori programs, Reggio Emilia, Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), and the Project Approach.
Therefore, a heated debate about how the Western curricula can be appropriated in the Chinese cultural context has been initiated between early childhood researchers and practitioners.
Furthermore, currently, administrative authorities intend to establish an independent budget for the ECE field in order to support early childhood education in rural areas (Zhao and Hu 2008).
The NEP 2020 has placed a great deal of importance on early childhood care and education, advocating that the foundational stage (3 to 8 years) is critical and requires official/formal intervention.
The government soon realized that a large number of children were having trouble in their first years of primary school and parents were having to stay home becoming jobless.
Children are taught to work harmoniously in large and small groups, and to develop cooperativeness, kindness and social consciousness.
Japanese culture attributes success to effort rather than inborn talent, leading teachers to ignore innate differences between children by encouraging and praising perseverance.
Although preschools exhibit great variety, most target age-appropriate personal development, such as learning empathy, rather than academic programs.
According to the 7th article of the Law, "the purpose of pre-school education shall be to help a child satisfy inherent, cultural (including ethnic), social and cognitive needs."
Preschool education in North Korea is public and provides a variety of activities, such as dance, math, drawing and Korean, as well as basic abilities such as using a spoon and respecting elders.
[citation needed] In the UK, pre-school education in nursery classes or schools has some local government funding for children aged between two and four.
Many nurseries have the facilities to take on babies, using the 'Early Years Foundation Stage', framework as a guide to give each child the best possible start to becoming a competent learner and skilful communicator.
In Scotland a voucher system for part-time pre-school provision was introduced in parallel with England and Wales under the Major government, but with a strong emphasis on age-appropriate education rather than simply childcare, and avoiding the use of reception classes in primary schools.
Self-expressive language skills are emphasized through informal interactions with teachers and through structured group activities such as show and tell exercises to enable the child to describe an experience to an adult.
