Early Childhood School Essay

bringing up To Be More was published last August. It was the bailiwick of the bran-new Zealand G everywherenments Early Childhood Care and Education works Group. The report argued for enhanced equity of access and better financing for frycare and wee babyhood education institutions. Unquestionably, thats a sincere need however since advances dont normally send sisterren to pre- tames until the epoch of common chord, are we missing out on the most important days of all?B A 13-year culture of early childhood outgrowth at Harvard University has shown that, by the age of three, most children eat the potential to construe about 1000 words most of the oral communication they allow for apply in ordinary conversation for the rest of their lives. Furtherto a greater extent, research has shown that while every(prenominal) child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be s niggleed dramatically during the second and third long time of life.Researchers claim that the hu man personality is formed during the first two years of life, and during the first three years children learn the basic skills they will use in all their afterward learning both at home and at school. Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world. C It is generally acknowledged that young people from patheticer socio-economic backgrounds tend to do less(prenominal) well in our education system. Thats observed not only when in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Britain and America.In an effort to overcome that educational under-achievement, a nationwide programme called Headstart was launched in the joined States in 1965. A lot of money was poured into it. It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school. Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two explanations for this. First, the programme b egan too late. umteen children who entered it at the age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence.Second, the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, Headstart children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment. D As a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a childs life and the disappointing results from Headstart, a pilot programme was launched in Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the childs first teachers. The Missouri programme was predicated on research wake that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children make believe off to the best possible start in life.The four-year pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. They included single-parent and two-parent families, familie s in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home. The programme involved trained parenteducators visiting the parents home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child.Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, sum total guidance in fostering the childs intellectual, language, social and motor-skill development. biannual check-ups of the childs educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to follow possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. Medical problems were referred to professionals. elicit-educators made personal visits to homes and periodical group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest.Parent resource centres, Located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilitators for child care. E At the age of three, the children who had been i nvolved in the Missouri programme were evaluated on base a cross-section of children selected from the same range of socio-economic backgrounds and Family situations, and also a ergodic sample of children that age. The results were phenomenal. By the age of three, the children in the programme were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and were Further along insocial development.In fact, the average child on the programme was perform at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability. close to important of all, the traditional measures of risk, such as parents age and education, or whether they were a single parent, bore little or no human relationship to the measures of achievement and language development. Children in the programme performed equally well disregardless of scio-economic di sadvantages.Child abuse was virtually eliminated. The one factor that was found to tint the childs development was family stress leading to a poor quality of parent-child interaction. That interaction was not necessarily bad in poorer families. F These research findings are exciting. There is growing evidence in New Zealand that children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are arriving at school less well developed and that our school system tends to perpetuate that disadvantage. The initiative outlined above could break that rhythm method of disadvantage.The concept of working with parents in their homes, or at their place of work, contrasts kinda markedly with the report of the Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. Their focus is on getting children and mothers access to childcare and institutionalised early childhood education. Education from the age of three to five is undoubtedly vital, but without a similar Focus on parent education and on the vital importanc e of the first three years, some evidence indicates that it will not be enough to overcome educational inequity.