Preschool is a type of early childhood education program designed chiefly for children 3 or 4 years old. Preschool helps children develop their intellectual and physical skills and learn to get along with others. The school also helps them develop good health and safety habits and encourages independence. The youngsters learn through a variety of play activities supervised by teachers. In the 1900’s, the term nursery school was often used for preschools, and that term is still used in the United Kingdom. Preschool education is also sometimes called a prekindergarten program.
Preschools may be privately owned and operated, or publicly owned and supported by the government. Community or church groups operate some privately owned preschools. Others are run by individuals or corporations for profit. A few private preschools are parent-cooperative schools, which are owned and operated by parents. The parents hire a teacher, and perhaps a teacher aide, and take turns doing the other work of the school themselves. The number of preschools supported by government funding is increasing. Many are part of public school systems. Most government-supported preschools serve children from low-income families or children with special needs, such as youngsters with disabilities.
Preschools differ from day-care centers, also called child care centers, which enroll older children—and sometimes infants—as well as 3- and 4-year-olds. Day-care centers chiefly care for children whose parents work. See Day care .
Preschool instruction
Teaching methods in preschools differ from those of elementary and high schools. The children in preschools spend most of their time playing or in activities they have chosen instead of doing work assigned by the teacher.
The classroom of a preschool also looks different. Instead of rows of chairs and desks, the room has areas called activity centers. Each center has different equipment and materials for the children to use.
Learning through play.
A preschool features long periods of play because young children learn best by playing. Preschool youngsters cannot grasp the meaning of words that represent unfamiliar objects or situations. As a result, these children learn better by direct contact with objects and other experiences than by using words alone. Preschool children learn the names, characteristics, and uses of things with which they play. The youngsters handle objects, compare them, count them, and move them around. These activities help children understand directions, distances, numbers, shapes, and sizes.
Preschool children also develop social skills through play. They learn to cooperate with others, to share, and to resolve difficulties in a friendly way. They also learn to express ideas and to listen to the ideas of others. As children play, teachers may make suggestions to encourage more complex play or may demonstrate problem-solving activities. Teachers ask questions to focus a child’s attention on important aspects of the activities.
A number of preschools use a teaching technique developed by the Italian educator Maria Montessori. The Montessori method involves special learning activities that children choose for themselves and work with individually. See Montessori method .
A preschool day
provides a balance of active and quiet experiences. The children begin a typical day with an indoor activity period. During this period, they work alone or in groups at activity centers, and the teachers give individual help. Examples of activities include building with blocks or experimenting with objects in a large basin of water. Some children may pretend to be parents, police officers, or other adults. Other children draw, paint, or work with clay. Still others look at picture books or listen to recordings of stories or songs. Children may participate in a variety of activities in a day.
After the indoor activity, the teacher and teacher aide help the children clean up the classroom and put away their materials. The class might then have a snack. Next, the children might sit on the floor or on low chairs and talk with the teacher. They might chat about recent experiences or about an object that the teacher or a child has brought to school, or they may listen to a story. The class might also discuss plans for the rest of the day.
Most preschools also have an outdoor activity period, which helps youngsters develop strength and coordination by climbing, jumping, running, and other forms of exercise. The outdoor area might have boards, boxes, and large, movable wooden or plastic shapes that can be built into ramps, enclosures, or structures and combined in different ways for play. Most schools have sandboxes, tricycles, wagons, swings, and a structure for climbing.
The day might end with a music and movement period, during which the children sing, dance, or move to rhythm. When they are ready to go home, they often take samples of their artwork.
The preschool teacher
The teacher’s role
is to provide education, care, and affection. The children receive some education directly, as when the teacher gives them information or tells stories. Other education comes indirectly, such as the creation of a learning opportunity that children can use on their own. Preschool children are so young that the teacher must provide physical care. The teacher must also establish a warm relationship with the children and help them feel good about themselves. Youngsters need much individual attention as well.
A person who wants to be a preschool teacher should like and respect children from all backgrounds. A teacher needs to be intelligent, well educated, and able to relate to young children with warmth. The teacher should understand how children develop and how to help them learn. He or she must know how to work with parents and other adults for the welfare of children.
Opportunities and training.
The number of preschools has increased greatly since the late 1960’s. Jobs for teachers are available, though many of these positions pay low salaries. Women far outnumber men as preschool teachers, but more men are entering the field.
Many people prepare for a career in preschool education by studying early childhood education or child development. Most colleges and universities offer four-year programs, and many community and junior colleges offer two-year programs. The programs include courses in teaching methods, the history of early childhood education, and student teaching. In student teaching, a student actually teaches in a classroom under the guidance of an experienced teacher.
History
Institutions similar to preschools were established during the 1800’s under the name infant schools. In the early 1900’s, two British sisters named Margaret and Rachel McMillan set up one of the first institutions called a nursery school. Located in an impoverished area of London, this school was designed to give children of poor families the benefits that wealthy children received in home nurseries.
Preschools spread to the United States by the 1920’s. Many colleges and universities established laboratory preschools. At these schools, faculty and students studied young children and tested teaching methods in addition to educating the youngsters.
During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the government supported preschools under a program called the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA preschools provided work for many teachers who had lost their jobs during the Depression.
The greatest expansion of preschool education occurred during the 1960’s, when the government established a program called Head Start. Head Start was designed to help children of low-income families prepare for school. Today, it also serves children with disabilities. It provides children with medical, nutritional, and social services as well as education.
Preschools in the United States
In all states of the United States, a state agency licenses and regulates preschools. Some states only require preschools to meet fire, health, and safety regulations to obtain a license. Other states have stricter standards.
Some states require a preschool teacher to have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a teaching certificate. Other states require little more than a high school education. Teacher aides, also called teacher assistants, do not need a certificate. The teacher aides help teachers with such tasks as caring for school materials and providing individual help for the children.
There are two organizations in the United States for preschool teachers and others interested in the field. These groups are the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Association for Childhood Education International.
