Preschool
A preschool, also known as pre-primary school, play school, or nursery school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school. It may be publicly or privately operated, and may be subsidized from public funds. The typical age range for preschool in most countries is from 2 to 6 years.
Terminology
Terminology varies by country. In some European countries the term "kindergarten" refers to formal education of children classified as ISCED level 0 – with one or several years of such education being compulsory – before children start primary school at ISCED level 1.The following terms may be used for educational institutions for this age group:
- Pre-primary or creche from birth to 6 years old – is an educational childcare service a parent can enroll their child in before primary school. This can also be used to define services for children younger than kindergarten age, especially in countries where kindergarten is compulsory. The pre-primary program takes place in a nursery school.
- Nursery school from 0 months to 5 years old – is a pre-primary educational child care institution which includes Preschool.
- Daycare from 0 months to 2½ years old – held in a Nursery School, but can also be called "a child care service" or a "crèche".
- Preschool from 2 to 5 years old – held in a Nursery School; readiness has to do with whether the child is on track developmentally, and potty training is a big factor, so a child can start as early as 2 years old. Preschool education is regarded by many as important and beneficial for any child as it may give the child opportunities for new social interactions. Through cognitive, psychosocial and physical development-based learning a child in preschool will learn about their environment and how to verbally communicate with others. Children who attend Preschool learn how the world around them works through play and communication.
- Pre-K from 4 to 5 years old – held in Nursery School and is an initiative to improve access to pre-primary schools for children in the US. There is much more than teaching a child colors, numbers, shapes and so on.
- Kindergarten from 5 to 6 years old – held in a Nursery School and/or some primary elementary schools; in many parts of world it refers to the first stages of formal education.
History
Origins
In an age when school was restricted to children who had already learned to read and write at home, there were many attempts to make school accessible to orphans or to the children of women who worked in factories.In 1779, Johann Friedrich Oberlin and Louise Scheppler founded in Strasbourg an early establishment for caring for and educating pre-school children whose parents were absent during the day. At about the same time, in 1780, similar infant establishments were established in Bavaria In 1802, Pauline zur Lippe established a preschool center in Detmold.
In 1816, Robert Owen, a philosopher and pedagogue, opened the first British and probably globally the first infant school in New Lanark, Scotland. In conjunction with his venture for cooperative mills Owen wanted the children to be given a good moral education so that they would be fit for work. His system was successful in producing obedient children with basic literacy and numeracy.
Samuel Wilderspin opened his first infant school in London in 1819, and went on to establish hundreds more. He published many works on the subject, and his work became the model for infant schools throughout England and further afield. Play was an important part of Wilderspin's system of education. He was recognized for inventing the playground. In 1823, Wilderspin published On the Importance of Educating the Infant Poor, based on the school. He began working for the Infant School Society the next year, informing others about his views. He also wrote "The Infant System, for developing the physical, intellectual, and moral powers off all children from one to seven years of age".
Spread
Countess Theresa Brunszvik, who had known and been influenced by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, was influenced by this example to open an Angyalkert on 27 May 1828 in her residence in Buda, the first of eleven care centers that she founded for young children. In 1836 she established an institute for the foundation of preschool centers. The idea became popular among the nobility and the middle class and was copied throughout the Hungarian kingdom.Friedrich Fröbel opened a Play and Activity institute in 1837 in the village of Bad Blankenburg in the principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Thuringia, which he renamed Kindergarten on 28 June 1840. That same year the educator Emily Ronalds was the first British person to study his approach and Fröbel urged her to transplant his concepts in England.
Later, women trained by Fröbel opened Kindergartens throughout Europe and around the World. The First Kindergarten in the United States was founded in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1856 and was conducted in German. Elizabeth Peabody founded America's first English-language kindergarten in 1860 and the first free kindergarten in America was founded in 1870 by Conrad Poppenhusen, a German industrialist and philanthropist, who also established the Poppenhusen Institute and the first publicly financed kindergarten in the United States was established in St. Louis in 1873 by Susan Blow. Canada's first private kindergarten was opened by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1870 and by the end of the decade, they were common in large Canadian towns and cities. The country's first public-school kindergartens were established in Berlin, Ontario in 1882 at Central School. In 1885, the Toronto Normal School opened a department for Kindergarten teaching.
Elizabeth Harrison wrote extensively on the theory of early childhood education and worked to enhance educational standards for kindergarten teachers by establishing what became the National College of Education in 1886.
Head Start was the first publicly funded preschool program in the US, created in 1965 by President Johnson for low-income families—only 10% of children were then enrolled in preschool. Due to large demand, various states subsidized preschool for low-income families in the 1980s.
Developmental areas
The most important years of learning begin at birth. The first three years of a child's life are critical for setting the foundation for language acquisition, socialization, and attitudes to learning. During the early years and especially during the first 3 to 5 years, humans are capable of absorbing a lot of information. The brain grows most rapidly in the early years. High quality and well trained teachers and preschools with developmentally-appropriate programmes can have a long-term effect on improving learning outcomes for children. The effects tend to be more marked for disadvantaged students i.e. children coming from impoverished backgrounds with very little or no access to healthy food, socialization, books and play resources.The areas of development that preschool education covers varies. However, the following main themes are typically offered.
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication, language, and literacy
- Mathematical development
- Knowledge and understanding of the world
- Physical development
- Creative, expressive, and aesthetic development
Some studies dispute the benefits of preschool education, finding that preschool can be detrimental to cognitive and social development. A study by UC Berkeley and Stanford University on 14,000 preschools revealed that while there is a temporary cognitive boost in pre-reading and math, preschool holds detrimental effects on social development and cooperation. Research has also shown that the home environment has a greater impact on future outcomes than preschool.
There is emerging evidence that high-quality preschools are "play based," rather than attempting to provide early formal instruction in academic subjects. "Playing with other children, away from adults, is how children learn to make their own decisions, control their emotions and impulses, see from others' perspectives, negotiate differences with others, and make friends," according to Peter Gray, a professor at Boston College and an expert on the evolution of play and its vital role in child development. "In short, play is how children learn to take control of their lives."
In 2022, 68% of 4-year-olds in the United States attended preschool, with 32% not participating.
Research by the American Psychological Association indicates that preschool attendees tend to achieve higher scores in cognitive and language assessments, demonstrating the positive impact of early education on intellectual development.
The Economic Policy Institute reports that pre-school programs provide long-term economic benefits; investments in preschool lead to higher earnings, increased tax revenues, and a reduction in social costs.
Preschools have adopted various methods of teaching, such as Montessori, Waldorf, Head Start, HighScope, Reggio Emilia approach, Bank Street and Forest kindergartens.