Preschool Education of Children

Whether pre-scheduling is or not important to young children crosses the minds of many parents in the moments they realize that their children are getting fit for publicity to education. Early childhood education is a very crucial program in a child’s lifestyles regarding emotional, physical, mental, intellectual and social development. However, it is important for the parents to take a keen note on the age at which their children have to start attending such programs, what they should and should now not be taught, and who should handle them.
Often, parents are now not able to distinguish between childcare centers and preschools. The former is an option for the mother and father who would want care and the necessary support for their toddlers and babies while they are in their workplaces. Preschools are centers, which offer early-childhood education programs. Most childcare centers, however, provide early-childhood education since this is one of the major programs under childcare. Vast of research has revealed that many benefits accrue to children who attend preschools. They are introduced to shapes, numbers, and letters and most importantly, they gain knowledge on how to interact and socialize with their fellows. This paper analyses the benefits that children get from attending preschools.

Pre-schooling is a favorable chance for children to grow socially, mentally as well as acquiring lots of experience. They learn the aspect of sharing, follow instruction and set the foundation that will be fundamental to their elementary education. Sarıkaya & Coşkun (2015) suggested that children who get have gone through preschools enter kindergartens when they are ready in terms of mastery of vocabularies, richer reading skills and stronger math skills as compared to their counterparts who do not. According to the scholars, these children also have better individual versus group experience than their fellow counterparts (Sarıkaya & Coşkun, 2015).

Alongside gaining the strong sense of socialization skills, problem-solving skills, and respect for others, pre-schooling enables children to strengthen their confidence, explore and sense of self. However, there is a big compromise on what should be taught in preschools. According to Sandseter (2009), adulthood and adolescent problems can be traced back to back to risk factors at early stages. Externalizing problems such as aggressiveness, defiant characters, and disruptive nature, and internalizing problems such as depression and anxiousness in early stages have strong correlation with the varying range of negative impacts in adulthood (Sandseter, 2009).

Preschool is a preparation for kindergarten children. Kindergartens, being a rising academic center for children, parents seek to expose their children to the path of success (Arteaga, Humpage, Reynolds, & Temple, 2014). Moreover, parents may be anxious on the contemporary matters to lay focus on pre-literacy skills and pre-math in the preschools. Most caregivers tend to think that this accelerates the growth of children and cuts into the playtime of the children, which is a risky practice in children’s health. Conversely, quality preschool offers preparation for kindergarten as well as providing time for the child to play. Therefore, the parents need not worry about either. To be able to do this, parents only need to identify preschools with high-quality staffs who understand the development and the learning of young children. A preschool staff, which is in a position to organize time, space and activities to suit the child’s physical abilities, cognitive, emotional, and social aspects can be of great importance to a child’s development.

Pre-schooling also enhances the development of emotional and social learning. For learning to take place, small children need to feel secure with their teachers and the caregivers. By so doing, these children can spend a good time distant from their parents and construct a lively and stable relationship with the nonfamily members. Behavior develops through continuous interaction between an individual and his environment (Fridin, 2014). Quality preschools build a loving relationship between teachers, children, and parents. The personal relationship between the teacher and the child helps children to thrive when there is a well-defined care between school and home. Such children acquire emotional self-control and social skills in “active time.” It is at the age of three or four that children can learn through experience. At this stage, teachers identify the right time to teach and guide children on anger and frustration management alongside determining the most appropriate time that the young children enjoy learning session. However, according to Arteaga et al. (2014), observing, predicting and assessing teacher-child relationship below the age of three years old is difficult and unreliable. Hence, one should be extremely careful when evaluating this relationship.

Preschool provides a structured environment for children to make decisions. A well-structured school environment makes it possible for children to learn and create good rapport for playing with his fellows. Besides, a well-spaced classroom enables children to move around and make friendship. Children also have different choices to make on activities to join. Teachers at preschools are sensitive and can identify depressed children and encourage them to join activities of their choices by offering them suggestions (Fridin, 2014).

Pre-schooling exposes children to self-care and care for others (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). As young children socialize with their calibers, they learn to take care of themselves and helping others as well adequately. They develop a sense of self-worth and competency. The teachers engage these kids in class by appealing to their desires. They are encouraged to take part in class activities and lead their fellows. Preschoolers are expected to participate in co-curriculum activities; they are encouraged to handle their personal items safely, clean their hands before and after their meals, raise their hands before answering questions, and turn takings. During these years in preschool where learning occurs in groups of peers, children are taught essential conducts in kindergarten such as focusing attention on teachers during learning sessions.

Attending pre-school enhances cognitive development and language development. Preschool is an environment rich with language hence, a better place to nurture child’s language and skill development. Teachers assist children in expanding their language skills, and so they learn to construct new, longer and complex sentences. This is done mainly through the conversations between the teachers and the children. The cognitive skills are broadened by engaging these children in activities that pose challenges to them (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). They try them by themselves without the help of their teachers. They are then able to generate ideas and find ways of approaching such problems. The teachers are also able to identify what should and should not be taught to the young children since they know how logical these kids are.

The curiosity of children is well nurtured in preschools. Through observation and asking of questions, a teacher can know what is cooking in the mind of the child. The teacher then, based on the idea and interest in the mind of a child, can motivate and nurture the curiosity of the child by creating an activity that suits the child’s idea, which usually turns out to be the most exciting moments for the child to learn. Teachers are aware that, for children at preschool age, the line between fantasy and reality is not so distinct and so, these active minded fellas learn by make and believe means. Of course, this imagination accelerates their learning. A high-quality preschool creates a super fantastic playground with fully stocked costumes for the preschool age.

Preschool is a conducive environment to better literacy and pre-math skills. Young children reveal an interest in literacy and pre-math skills (Melhuish, 2011). Teachers provide various activities and games that assist in the acquisition of these skills. For instance, following alphabets in a book alongside singing the sound of the same creates awareness in the child’s mind on the connection between the letters and their sounds. Loud, group reading of a passage or an interesting story encourages listening among the children, language skills expression and comprehension. Matching, sorting, counting and boarding of games boost number, sequence and category understanding, which aids in later math learning. To achieve child’s motivation and excitement in learning, childcare programs, and quality pre-schooling is necessary. However, it should be maintained in the context that is meaningful and exciting to children.

Preschools assist in the motor development of children. High-quality preschools provide vital programs with varied opportunities for children to improve their motor abilities. Physical education to these children such as running and playing active games boost their motor skills. Through these skills, children are challenged to take part to participate in at least either.

Parents should put into consideration several factors before choosing the school to take their children (Şahin & Sak, 2013). It is also imperative for caregivers and teachers to have a broad knowledge of literacy, language, and the cultural supports for the children they are serving. Teachers need to have valuable guiding skills and lead small groups to which these children belong to provide this literacy and language efforts. In addition, while helping the most active children, they also need to focus their attention on the less participating ones. For a preschool’s program to be effective, the curriculum must be structured in a careful manner with three major stands. These includes appropriate content matching several levels of the kid’s needs, having planned and purposeful activities which, provide opportunities for learning both indoors and outdoors, and be in a position to provide different starting points for different age brackets.

Concisely, pre-schooling is fundamental to children as it provides a range of importance to young children on reaching kindergarten and their elementary schools. Pre-schooling helps young children in promoting social and emotional development, giving them a favorable chance to grow mentally, physically and socially, enabling children to develop a sense of self-awareness, and improving their cognitive skills. However, parents should be concerned with what their children are being taught in these schools and be able to evaluate the efficacy of taking their children to such schools. It is important for every parent who wants his or her young scholar become successful to enroll him or her in pre-schooling programs.

References

Arteaga, I., Humpage, S., Reynolds, A. J., & Temple, J. A. (2014). One year of preschool or two: Is it important for adult outcomes? Economics of Education Review, 40, 221–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2013.07.009

Fridin, M. (2014). Storytelling by a kindergarten social assistive robot: A tool for constructive learning in preschool education. Computers and Education, 70, 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.07.043

Melhuish, E. C. (2011). Education. Preschool matters. Science (New York, N.Y.), 333(6040), 299–300. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1209459

Morgan, H. (2011). Early childhood education: History, theory, and practice. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.

Şahin, B. K., Sak, R., & Şahin, İ. T. (2013). Parents’ Views about Preschool Education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 89, 288–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.848

Sandseter, E. B. H. (2009). Affordances for risky play in preschool: The importance of features in the play environment. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(5), 439–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-009-0307-2

Sarıkaya, M., & Coşkun, E. (2015). A New Approach in Preschool Education: Social Entrepreneurship Education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, 888–894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.368

Yoshikawa, H., Weiland, C., Brooks-gunn, J., Burchinal, M. R., Espinosa, L. M., Gormley, W. T., … Zaslow, M. J. (2013). Investing in Our Future : The Evidence Base on Preschool Education. Society for Research in Child Development, (October), 1–24.