Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education

 Early childhood education is essential for both the child and the entire community. It is clear that when children develop in the right way, they will always acquire the right skills as they grow to throw the stages. When developing a curriculum, therefore, the child should be the focal point or center of attention. Notably, children demonstrate various abilities as they grow through the stages in a normative child development approach. As such, the curriculum should allow children to understand and utilize their strengths in every step. Currently, the curriculum is introducing science education to kids while exposing them to an integrated curriculum. Another current trend in early childhood education is the incorporation of early literacy. These trends prepare the children for advanced learning in the future through the K-12 environment.

While the curriculum is an institution for guiding the behavior of individuals in terms of feeling, actions, and talking, it is critical to focus on every aspect of growth in a child. Although early childhood educators have significantly embraced this modernist or enlightenment approach to child development- that focuses on science, it is also essential to give some considerable attention to the traditional educational curriculum mainly present in both elementary and secondary institutions. In the modern world, many parents are increasingly becoming aware of the positive effects of improved and quality programs in early childhood education.  In light of this, these parents expect early childhood education institutions to employ competent and qualified teachers while increasing the attendance of both the learners and teachers.

However, some people do not adhere to the normative child development prospects for particular reasons. Notably, prescriptive approach is a value-based strategy for building the learners. It grounds on the assumption that all individuals want to succeed in life, have a purpose, and need to belong to a group. While these assumptions are indeed strong, some people have different abilities and capabilities. As such, grouping all the children with these assumptions disadvantages other kids. The curriculum appears to have two tiers. One tier is for the poor and disadvantaged in society, while the additional layer is for the wealthy and privileged families.

Often, some people feel that normative development increases social distinctions, including racism and poverty levels. Also, because the normative approach emerged from the early philosophers of the 18^th century, some people view it as a masculine approach. Some parents claim that the system depicts some gender imbalances primarily because of the abilities among people of different genders. They claim that the approach forces the female gender to fit in the male world.

Head start programs are the federal government’s projects that aim to prepare and enhance preschool children’s success through their early learning programs. Typically, these programs target children of ages between three and five years coming from low-income backgrounds. Children attending these programs engage in different educational activities. As such, the purpose of these programs is to help the learners break the poverty cycle by providing these kids with comprehensive educational programs that meet their psychological, nutritional, emotional, health, and social needs.

In light of these, head start programs have a significant influence on a child’s development. Many children from impoverished backgrounds struggle to get food and clothing, among other basic needs. By ensuring these kids are well clothed and get adequate food, the program reduces challenging thoughts, and hence the kids can concentrate on education. Besides, these kids can establish some form of equality and equity while making sure that they excel in breaking the cycle. The head start program also allows the kid to develop a sense of belonging and value for life. Usually, children from impoverished backgrounds start developing some anxieties because of what they encounter daily, including hunger, family conflicts, and other social needs. Therefore, this program helps the child usually develop and hence possible success for the child and the community or society at large.

Preschool education involves various activities, including verbal and symbolic plays. In a child-centered learning environment, games provide critical development to the child. Firstly, plays allow the child to forget some of the bad experiences, perhaps in their families (Cannella, 1997). As earlier highlighted, some children come from families that frequently engage in conflicts. From a health perspective, these conflicts between the parents develop anxieties and stress among the kids, and thus the learners are not able to concentrate on learning. Therefore, plays are significant for children in any child-centered learning environment. For this reason, curriculum development must focus on the needs of the child and provide some solutions.

When providing early childhood education or in other engagements, professionalism is essential. Professionalism has both challenges and influences. Firstly, professionalism allows learners to understand and meet their needs by concentrating on professional teachings and engagements. Secondly, professionalism increases confidence in learning as the learners and the teacher can tolerate each other without undue conflicts. Professionalism helps the teachers to guide the learners in the right social and ethical paths. Although determining the rightness and wrongness of action differ depending on the interpretation of society and other elements, professionalism defines a particular way of doing things. As such, educators are limited to teaching in a specific framework.

There are different areas of considerable significance to early childhood education, yet they miss in the current curriculum or early childhood philosophy. Children should be aware of their rights. However, the current system does not emphasize this critical element. Learners should learn how to distinguish between rights and privileges in their tender ages. When the system enhances the teachers by motivating them to ensure that the kids understand their rights, children can become more enlightened because the entire system is sees meaning in such an element. Another critical facet of importance that the current learning environment is pure ethics. Usually, educators concentrated on academic excellence as well as the inclusion of traditional curriculum into the contemporary early childhood education approaches.

According to Cannella (2018), changes in education increasingly devalue teaching as an intellectual practice. Instead, the system replaces pedagogical intellectual and moral dynamics with classroom centered management and simplified contents. Besides, teacher training centers on skill enhancement while abandoning social needs that determine growth of the child and the educator. While the reforms in education system have significantly improved education across the United States and other nations, improved gender balancing without prejudice and perceived racial discrimination can greatly inform and prevent the leaners from engaging in unwarranted social behavior. These elements of the discourse are critical not only to early childhood learners but also to the trainers. In light of this, these aspects have been underrated despite their critical influence on child development

References

Cannella, G. S. (1997). Deconstructing Early Childhood Education: Social Justice and Revolution. Rethinking Childhood, Volume 2. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 275 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001.