The Importance Of Early Childhood Education

Early childhood is a time of curiosity, a time for play, and a time of rapid development. Every child is unique and deserving of an early childhood education that facilitates academic, social, and developmental growth through a variety of enjoyable experiences. Differentiated instruction adapts content, products and processes to meet the diverse learning needs and preferences of students (Thousand, Villa, & Nevin, 2007). Friedrich Froebel, the creator of Kindergarten, believed that children grow and learn as they play (Bruno, 2009). Play-based instruction not only enables young learners to have fun, but it also encourages interactive and cooperative learning, passion for discovery, and a foundation for later learning experiences

Early Childhood Education illustrates the teaching and care of children in other environments outside of the home. Early childhood centers on the development of all children no matter their gender, race, abilities, or ethnic orientation and gives knowledge of early childhood learning process, which entails values, culture, desires of parents for their children, and especially a child’s need for knowledgeable functionality in society.

Health promotion is very important to early childhood education to improve the well-being of children and parents’ health and behaviours. “It is important for early childhood educators to recognized their essential role as health promotors” (Pimento & Kernested 2015, P. 4). There are 12 social determinants in daily life for childhood programs, however I have identified that social support networks are most important determinants of health. Likewise, educators and families are both mutually directly and indirectly supporting children to improve their healthy development and education (Pimento & Kernested, 2015, P.34). In early childhood, educators have very important role in daycare which is communication. That means, that we need to communicate with family (parent, grandparent), children and coworkers to share the daily basic tasks and any other ideas or information for improving environments and supports. It is especially important that we support mothers who have very limited knowledge about their first-born baby, such as lack of information about breastfeeding, sleeping routine, formula ratios, nutrition, healthy eating habits, or any parental skills. Not only that, we can also help parents to get benefits and support from the government such as financial support, subsidized daycare, and community information resources on healthy nutrition food.

“Early roots of play as a best practice for early learning was documented by Plato, a Greek philosopher, who insisted that play is considered a natural activity of childhood.”(Ingrid Crowther, 2011, Pg. 2) Early Childhood Education is a term that refers to educational programs that are devoted to children from birth to the age of eight. “Children of this age learn by exploring and investigating; therefore, their environment should support and encourage this process.”(Rebecca Isbell and Betty Exelby, 2001, Pg. 11) Early childhood environments should be attractive and exciting. These environments should allow children to work and play using proper resources, materials, and tools.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children NAEYC) recommendations emphasize that early childhood programs are accountable for creating a welcoming environment. The environment should respect diversity, supports children’s ties to their families and community. It should also support both second language acquisition, children home language, as well as cultural identities. Linguistic and cultural diversity is an advantage, not a deficit, for young children. As stated in the DEC/NAEYC joint position statement, the inclusion contributes to how every child with or without disabilities is developing and learning to reach their full potential. However, this can benefit to young children and their family to experience

The first section of the textbook provides stories from service providers who have worked with and interacted with families of diverse cultures. These stories are great and provide an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others. In Section 2 the authors describe the Diversity Wheel and how it can be used to improve cultural sensitivity and awareness about diversity. The Diversity Wheel is a tool that can help to clarify the many factors that define an individual's uniqueness. This tool lists seventeen factors which relate to the service provider's or family's identity (Gruber). The Diversity Wheel allows the service provider to gain an understanding of the basis for expected behaviors within and outside the service provider's own cultural group. This model of developing an awareness and knowledge gained through self reflection can be generalized across various cultures.

Julie- educator 2 is a white Australian female in her late 20’s. She is a qualified group leader currently working in a Kindy room with children aged 2.5- 2.5 years; she is also assistant director (2IC) of her centre that she has worked at for the past ten years. The interview was a one on one scenario, conducted in her staff room after work, the interview was recorded. Both educators signed a letter of consent to participate in this research project, allowing the interviewee to explore the educators’ experiences and personal beliefs in relation to diversity and difference with the families and children in their centres.(As seen in Appendix 1 & 2). Key aspects and issues in relation to families, diversity and difference were considered essential data to be analysed for this research report.

The NAEYC statement on developmental practice indicates change and continuity and change in the early childhood education field is vital due to the fact that their main commitment is excellence and equity. Nevertheless, all new knowledge gained over time has been advanced and increased. This means that with understanding, it has allowed us to revise and refine ideas for promoting children's development and learning. With developmentally appropriate practice, meeting and enabling the children are required. This means that teachers should get to know them well and push them to reach goals that may be a challenge but are achievable for them.

Over the past century, the role of education has greatly increased in areas all over Canada. It has grown in not just in the number of students attending, but also in the ways it has been offered. Before the 1960’s, the education of children consisted solely of parenting done at home (Molnar, 2002, p. 2). Over time, due to the growing importance of education, schools have slowly begun to target younger and younger generations. As a result, non-parental education has become the norm of today’s society starting for children as early as ages three to four (Molnar, 2002, p. 2). Over the last century, a larger percentage of mothers are choosing to remain in the work force (Khanna &

Thesis Statement: Early childhood education has many benefits and there is the potential for many significant outcomes if universal preschools were put into place.

Every child is unique in their own way. Each child grows at their own developmental level and each child comes from a family that has their own beliefs and values. As an E.C.E I believe it is our responsibility to understand the child and base our curriculum per the child’s needs. As educators, we should set up a high-quality classroom environment where the child can grow, learn, and explore at his or her own developmental level. I will be talking about the goals of teaching and ways to accomplish them. As well as what I feel is the true meanings of pedagogical processes & inclusion. My philosophy will talk about what kind of teaching style I feel is the best.

First, taking ED580 and spending time with the children has made it clear to me that early childhood (bilingual) education is what I’d love to pursue as a future career. Actually, I have long been interested in early childhood education and was intended to choose that as my major for graduate school; however, my parents urged me to choose a “broader” major such as TESOL so that I can have more career choices after graduation. Although I was not willing to, I finally compromised not to my parents, but to the reality. In China, people have the deeply-rooted misunderstanding that preschool teachers are just babysitters; as a result, the requirement of educational level for preschool teachers is rather low, namely vocational high school. It may sound crazy if someone with a mater degree wants to be a preschool teacher. Thus, preschool teachers together with early childhood education are largely undervalued in China. I always know that it is silly to undermine the importance of early childhood education, but I do not have powerful evidence to back me up to change people’s thought. Now, I think I can confidently explain to others that because human development is accumulative and progressive, early inventions on the children’s dysfunctions may have the power to change their life trajectories and their fates. Keeping in mind how powerful early childhood education is and how influential preschool educators can be, I become clearer about on what I’d love to devote my time and effort

Today’s classroom is very diverse and the activities should represent the classroom culture. The development of children is centered on what is taught in the classroom. Therefore, the language, intellectual, personality, social and moral, and aesthetic and creative development of preschool age children should be enhanced through multicultural activities and lessons.

Early childhood education has not always been the top priority in the education world. Although, research has proved that it should be the top priority as the benefits of Early Childhood Education are innumerous. Extensive neuroscience research has discovered that the brain is build over time and it is built from the bottom up. Early childhood experiences directly affect the quality brain development. Establishing a sturdy foundation through a high quality early childhood education experience, will dramatically develop child's brain. As a result, they will have a brighter future. In this essay, I will propose a plan for the children of 2020 and how to ensure the best early childhood education experience. I personally believe that racially, culturally, linguistically and developmentally responsive practices parental involvement are critical to the sturdy foundation that is essential to the positive early childhood experience.

Early childhood education is for children from the ages three to eight years old. In this field there are four learning goals that early programs have for a young child.