Structured Education in Early Childhood

Structured Education in Early Childhood

Introduction

According to the statement of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNCRC (1998), education is no longer a privilege for the minority. It is now recognised as an entitlement for all. UNCRC asserts education, especially the pre-primary and primary education, a right of every child. The pre-primary age of the child is crucial to the development. It is a period of immense significance and impact on the later years of the child's life. Besides the issues and concerns regarding the educational problems, this stage in a child's life is also greatly affected by various social and economic factors as human beings do not live in isolation, they are social beings who interact and communicate with the people and environment.

Discussion

Effective interventions for the young children should be targeted in the early stages of education because the quality of care and education provided in the early stages has a direct impact on the health and economic outcomes in the future life. Science proves that the children between age three to five have exceptional ability to learn new things, understand complex social, and cognitive abilities. Problem-solving and the literacy skills are also categorized as an essential learning part of the child's early development.

Responding to this scientific evidence, the makers of the educational policies have introduced various initiatives. In Netherlands, for instance, the age for starting the school is extended to age four and before that, provision of subsidised care for children to age three.

Structured and centralised system of education refers to the uniform formation of the curricula with respect to the varying needs of the population. Structured education is not according to the individual structure of the schools but what the central government or local authorities plan out for the educational reforms.

As guidelines for effective early education highlights, three points to be included in the structure of curriculum:

Starting ages and cut off points of intelligence for every child differs. The structure of education in a state should take into account, these differing points for every child.

Moreover, to match the different needs and abilities of children, the education should encompass all the varying types and kinds of activities required for a diverse group of children.

Teachers and students should learn alongside with activities and programmes, both indoor and outdoors.

Teacher-led or Education-focused Approach

According to the CfBT Education Trust (2010), countries such as France, Australia and United States follow the education-focused and teacher-led approach for the planning and executing their educational reforms and systems. In this approach, the curriculum is central, and it is in relation with the school readiness skills which include literacy and numeracy. In contrast, Scandinavian countries and a few European countries follow social pedagogic or practices directed by the child's needs as central to the policy.

Main Approaches to Early Education

Europe has proved to be a seat for novel and influential educational initiatives. The three best known approaches for early education are European originated which are, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia and ...