Preschools maximize potential learning

Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High/Scope Indonesia School, Jakarta

The other day, I happened to be talking to a couple of friends who have two small children, the oldest of which is now attending preschool.

It was quite surprising how flippant and even dismissive they were regarding their child's attendance of a small preschool-playgroup, which was being run from a large converted house conveniently located in their neighborhood.

Effectively, they seemed quite unconcerned about whether or not their daughter was having an educationally valuable experience, within this playgroup.

It seemed as though they were only mildly interested in finding out what their child was doing at playgroup. Of course, their own very busy lives had a part to play. Both of them are important figures within their respective companies, they have little time to review their child's activities, or even attend the preschool.

The father said, with very open honesty, that as long as the child was safe, and did not get hurt clambering over the various climbing frames available in the small playground, then "we (the parents) feel comfortable that she is being kept busy, happy and safe throughout the day, while we are busy."

It is not difficult to see, then, that for this couple, the notion of a playgroup-preschool environment is little more than a convenient babysitting and time-filling facility for busy parents with young children. They, by their own admission, have given little thought to the educational value of what is happening at the preschool. It was, therefore, with some surprise and concern that they listened to, really quite basic thoughts, about the educational value and worth of carefully considering preschool activities, and how significant preschool life can be to a child's development.

It is true, that even with a quite basic appreciation of early learning one can come to a quite critical recognition of the value of care when thinking of preschools. For example, the early education experiences that a child has can be hugely influential in the patterning of a child's ability to think, which can have long term implications for thinking skills right through into adulthood.

A significant, and by now quite large, library of research has been built up, which indicates the importance of early childhood educational experiences to the development of a person's ability to enter into higher levels of thinking.

A number of research projects have proposed indicators that show a link between early educational encounters and later abilities; or rather shortcomings in ability, where a child has not had good early learning experiences, which highlight the critical nature of careful thought being applied to early childhood education. For example, it has been proposed that a child that is allowed to remain confused and even discouraged in an early childhood education environment -- particularly when it comes to thoughts of a mathematical nature -- is likely to grow up to be someone who is anxious and lacking in confidence when it comes to dealing with numerical data and coping with other forms of abstract thought.

It seems that educational experiences in early childhood can be profoundly determining factors for future abilities, development and intellectual growth. Patterns formed early on in life are likely to be the templates of future intellectual and psychological performance. It has been shown that a small child that has encountered difficulties in dealing with numerical data grows up to have an overt dislike for both mathematics, and indeed technical subjects of all kinds.

This highlights the critical need for a preschool learning environment that is both well-designed -- to provide the right kind of experiences for the child -- and capably managed, in order to achieve a comfortable and appealing learning environment.

Such positive early learning experiences include a supportive program of learning, in which the child is exposed to things that can stimulate intelligent and thoughtful behavior. A quite simple example has been used to illustrate how seemingly small, insignificant and even obvious things can be highly formative and productive for a small child.

Many people will be familiar with the notion of reading story books to small children, but, perhaps, fewer people will realize that with just a little extra thought the reading of a story book can become a highly stimulating and developmentally beneficial activity.

A child of three or four years of age can 'read along' with the story. Although the child cannot yet really read, by having the child look at the printed words on the page while the story is being read the child will begin to realize that there is a link between those printed words and the words that he/she is hearing from the reader.

This can form a highly beneficial pre-reading skill that will make it easier for the child to truly start reading. There are also a variety of other pre-reading activities that a child may be exposed to at preschool that can prove beneficial. For example, the staff at a preschool can involve the children in reading by entering into a discussion of the story, through which they are encouraged to think about the plot, characters -- likes and dislikes -- and sequencing of the story. Remembering something that happened in a story can engage a child's mind in reading. Also, songs involving sequences engage, as do nursery rhymes.

Obviously, the above are just some examples of how little children may be stimulated and encouraged to take pleasure in, (what might otherwise in our modern world be considered a rather mundane activity, such as), reading. It is probably true to state that an activity, such as reading, is particularly challenging for children today, given the extent of televised entertainment. However, this only adds to the critical nature of a good preschool learning environment.

It is too easy to think of preschools as time-fillers or places at which little children will merely play. Preschools can, and probably should, provide a place of learning that will help children succeed in their school lives and beyond. The kind of stimulation and thinking practice that can be formulated at this early stage is not something that should be underestimated.