What is Early Childhood Education?
Early childhood education is a unique education field that refers to all aspects of learning from birth to approximately age 6. (Note that this age range varies slightly in different jurisdictions.) It is an integrated time of development that takes place within a child’s family, with their friends, their caregivers, and through centers for learning. The years between birth and age six are formative years and set the learning course for children. There is a popular saying that indicates everything we ever need to know, we learned in Kindergarten. This refers to the idea that we all need to learn how to: interact with others, play with friends, regulate our behavior, listen, express ideas, and develop a love of reading, math, and science. These are learning skills upon which the rest of our learning is based. It is based much more on learning behaviors rather than academic knowledge and skills.
Key principles of early childhood education include:
- Early child development sets the foundation for lifelong learning, behavior, and health. Every experience in a child’s early life has an impact on his or her development now and in the future. Parents and family provide the child’s first and most critical influence on their learning and development. There are critical developmental stages through which young children typically pass. These early stages, from birth to about age 6, actually create the neural pathways that we rely on for learning the rest of our lives.
- Partnerships with families and communities strengthen the ability of early childhood settings to meet the needs of young children. Families and close community members create an anchor for early child development. Participation in community programs by these caregivers and their influences reap powerful benefits.
- Play is a means to early learning that capitalizes on children’s natural curiosity and excitement. Play provides a holistic approach to children’s development in all of the critical areas: social, emotional, communication, cognitive, and physical development. Children use a variety of developing skills as they engage in creative, problem-solving play such as building a tower with blocks. Using and demonstrating learning in all areas of development are all a part of this simple activity.
- Social development: the ability to play cooperatively with another child
- Emotional development: regulating behavior when negotiating actions such as taking turns and sharing material with others
- Communication Skills: communicating by using specific mathematical language (higher, taller, five) or cooperative language (Can I build one too? I think we should bring some more blocks);
- Cognitive development: creating imaginative storylines (This is going to be a big castle)
- Physical development: using eye-hand coordination to balance the building
- Programs must demonstrate respect for diversity, equity, and inclusion. All children have a right to live and learn in an equitable society. Community settings can plan for meaningful, engaging, and equitable outcomes for all children. By taking into account the differences each family brings to the program, children and their families are respected and celebrated. Young children with different abilities, challenges, resources, and cultural backgrounds come together in early childhood settings. Honoring children’s diversity is a prerequisite for honoring children’s rights, optimal development, and learning.
- Creating a holistic approach: We are born with great potential but we are not able to actualize our potential without learning opportunities. Early brain development takes us from helpless infants to curious babies. Each time infants are listening, making cooing sounds, being nourished, or held tenderly, their brains are firing and new neural pathways are being formed in the brain. These pathways carry information and make connections when the learning opportunities are engaging, pleasurable, interactive, and social. Young children want and need to be able to vocalize, move, and share thoughts about what they are doing or learning. It is how they learn. This has strong implications for their educational needs.
