What Do Children Learn in a High-Quality Preschool Programme?
It’s important to recognise that not all providers will necessarily have the same values and standards.
Although they might all consider they offer a “high-quality programme”, it’s necessary to look at the detail of what that means. You then need to match that to your child and what you know they respond to.
Some general points
Most pre-school children have relatively limited attention spans. Something that is the centre of their world for 10-15 minutes can suddenly become of no further interest whatsoever to them – they’re ready to move on.
So, flexibility and variety of activity, plus a big portfolio of such activities, are often key.
It’s also not usually sensible to try and “teach” them through the same methods you would adopt with older children. They typically require a much higher level of personalised attention – and they don’t respond well to lengthy group lectures!
These programmes also need to be participative, in effect, emulating play activities. Learning through shared play is a key concept and studies show real later educational benefits for children that did so in younger life.
What is learned?
It’s easy to associate the concept of learning with that of facts, such as dates and formulae etc.
For younger children, that is less important. The focus is more on helping them to discover things about the world around them and how they can influence it. That includes aiding them to understand the importance of building cooperative relationships with other kids in the same environment.
For example, a child can learn quickly the words “2+2=4”. That may sound impressive in younger children but learning to recite the words isn’t the real challenge or something that provides direct benefit.
What is more important is that through play, a child learns that taking things from one place and putting them in another changes the world around them. So, there are two more bricks in one pile but two less in the source pile. Counting the two piles before and after the action shows the real effect of numbers on the world and how they change depending upon our actions.
Find out more
It’s often much easier to demonstrate a good programme rather than to discuss it in abstract terms.
We’re proud of our skills and knowledge in this area, so why not contact us for an initial discussion of our early learning programmes or better still, pop along for a chat and look-see?
