Early childhood education – what does it mean?
Education is a word that automatically makes us think of hard work in the classroom and a lot of studying. Certainly as children grow up these may be important features of their learning curriculum. However, early childhood education is different. This is a time of life when children are able to learn lots of new skills, but they do so in a different way to older kids.
As the experts at staracademykids.com.au say, childhood is;
“A time for exploring, for creating, for discovering, for meeting the world, for learning how to learn and for being accepted. It is a time for growing and a time for being allowed the time to be a child.”
This ethos has to be at the center of your child’s early education, if you want the learning to be successful.
What are the fundamental basic elements?
One of the most important features of early childhood education is care. You have to be sure that whoever is teaching your child cares for them in a manner that suits their needs. You also need to ensure that an encouraging environment is present, where qualified professionals help children to use their in-built curiosity, and love of inquisitive play, to learn about social interaction and self-awareness as well as the basics of math and English.
Understanding how young children learn
It’s important that you understand how young children learn, in order to find the best learning environment for your child. In recent years, there has been a trend to adopt some of the learning techniques that apply to older children. This is not the best way forward, and adopting this method can actually be damaging to a child’s development.
Your child will learn best through hands-on experience and by being encouraged and supported. Good early childhood education focuses on various areas of development.
- Social emotional skills.
- Language skills.
- Cognitive ability.
- Physical skills.
Teaching methods should enable children to play and learn together, while also providing the opportunity for teachers to provide individual attention to a child when necessary.
If you are looking for early childhood education for your child, remember that it’s not all about academics. It’s certainly true that basic math and English skills can be taught as this age but the teaching should be done in a way that is suited to young children. The learning should be playful and engaging. It should also encourage your child to communicate with others and to be co-operative in group situations. As your child starts out on life these social skills are usually going to be more important than spelling and equations. They provide the foundations that your child needs to discover their own personality and gain confidence. Doing so gives them a better chance of being successful throughout their school and college career, and when they take on adult responsibilities such as a job, home and family. This may all seem a long way off but effective childhood learning is an important step on the journey.
