Early childhood education: Encyclopedia II - Early childhood education - What is Early Childhood Education?

Early childhood education - What is Early Childhood Education?

Early Childhood spans the human life from infancy to Age 8. “early childhood education and care” or “early care and education” often act as interchangeable terms with early childhood education. It emphasizes (1) the focus of academically, socially, emotionally, and physically preparing a child during this age range and (2) the focus of protecting and caring for the child in the absence of his/her primary care giver. Programs that provide early childhood education go by many names: (1) early childhood programs, (2) child development programs, (3) children’s centers, (4)preschools, (5) kindergartens, (6) primary schools (which includes kindergarten through grade three leveling), and elementary schools (which includes pre-kindergarten through grade five leveling). The teachers of early childhood education often hold the titles of early childhood professional, early childhood teacher, early childhood educator, early childhood practitioner, early childhood provider, or early childhood caregiver.

Recent studies on infant brain development show most of a person's neurons are formed from ages 0-5. If a young child doesn't receive sufficient nuturing, nutrition, parental/caregiver interaction, and stimulus during the crucial ages of 0-5, the child may be left with a developmental deficit that hampers his or her success in kindergarten and beyond.

The first national goal focuses directly on the early childhood years: "By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn." We believe that from the time of birth, all children are ready to learn. However, what we do or don't do as individuals, educators, and collectively as society can impede a child's success in learning. For example, if we do not provide adequate health care and nutrition for our youngsters, those children entering the public schools will already be behind their healthier, properly fed peers. The current educational practices of testing children for kindergarten entry and placement, raising the entrance age to kindergarten, adding an extra "transitional" year between kindergarten and first grade, and retaining children in preschool, kindergarten, or first grade are attempts to obtain an older, more capable cohort of children at each grade level. These educational strategies suggest that current curriculum expectations do not match the developmental level of the children for whom the grade is intended. In effect, these strategies blame the victims, the children, rather than confronting the real problem--an inappropriate curriculum.

The focus of this program, therefore, is to address curriculum and assessment issues related to the education of young children and discuss ways schools can change to become ready for children. Information that follows has been excerpted from position statements and guidelines developed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE) for appropriately educating young children, ages 3 through 8.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "What is Early Childhood Education?", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki