Of the tomes of research written on this topic, the consistent thing which has been made evident is the amazing capacity and enthusiasm preschoolers have for learning.
A well-known Psychologist and Philosopher, Jean Piaget, says about learning: Knowledge arises neither from objects nor the child, but from interactions between the child and those objects. From this we can see that learning, like so much of life, is centered on relationships: child/object; child/child; child/teacher/parent and so on. A preschooler already has a well-developed, inquiring mind which has navigated big life changes in a few years. The talk of the parent and educator is to forge a good relationship with a child; model lifelong learning; and offer age-appropriate material and objects for a child to interact with.
Parents are the first educators of their children. Our role is to listen, to help our child learn from their life experiences and relate them to previous experiences and future expectations; and to support and gently lead them on to a lifetime love of learning.
Features of a quality formal Education program include:
- Attending to the needs of the whole child – mental, physical and intellectual.
- Cultivating good relationships between children and teachers: – good relationships enable the teacher to better direct and encourage the child’s learning.
- Appropriate child/teacher ratios.
- Good preparation and planning and a high quality program which exercises and challenges children’s capacities
- Provision for quality training and support for the teachers.
Angel’s Paradise Early Education Centre is an Adaptive Montessori preschool and day care. We pride ourselves on creating unlimited opportunities for infants, toddlers and preschoolers to learn and develop through imagination, creativity and play. We believe that by providing a safe, nurturing, supportive, stimulating and fun environment to explore and discover the world, we help children to grow and express themselves to their full potential.