GLOSSARY

Glossary

Glossary

Introduction

Early childhood education refers to a range of programs and services that support young children within the context of their family. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), considered to be the leading organization in the education of young children, identifies birth through 8 as the age span that comprises early childhood. The goals and purpose of the field have changed throughout history to reflect the concerns of the society at the time. Planning of childhood education has been under discussion throughout the 20th century between those who hold that work with young children before school age must be taken as child care and those who see it as education (Wenner, 2009).

Discussion

Today, the importance of quality early childhood education has been recognized as a critical element in closing the racial and economic achievement gap and also as a route to educating more effectively for the global economy of the 21st century. This entry explores some of the critical reform issues associated with the field of early childhood, including the shift to Early Care and Education; the role of brain development research (Torkildsen, 1999).

Curriculum

Curriculum is the conventional term used in education as a path of training that is derived from Latin word, “a racing chariot and a race course”, Jackson (1992). The use of a curriculum in early childhood programs is considered to be essential to determine program content. This program is very dissimilar from what it is used in early childhood. First, for early childhood education no state in the US, Australia and few countries in the world there should be exist a worldwide political support and systematic vision of the curriculum. Another, there is a vast change in a child's structural behavior from the period of birth to 8 years of a child ...