UDC 373.2
Wang Yitao
EI “Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno”
Scientific supervisor – A.V. Chekina, PhD, Head of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Childhood, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno
PRESCHOOL EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON
Preschool education is a kind of education that parents and kindergarten teachers use all kinds of methods, objects, systematically, planned and scientifically to stimulate children’s brains and make the functions of various parts of the brain gradually perfect. Children are the basic stage of intellectual development in life and the fastest growing period. Proper and correct preschool education plays a great role in the development of children’s intelligence, psychology, physical ability and emotion. Based on the historical development of preschool education, this paper further analyzes the problems existing in preschool education through the combination of theory and practice to explore the future direction of preschool education.
Historical origin and development of preschool education. Preschool education was an independent science , first proposed by German educator Frobel .Believing that children’s development is a gradual process , education should be suitable for children’s development , and should be based on children’s independent activities. Under his proposal , playing on educational activities is the main way of preschool education. Since the 1980s, the goal of preschool education in some countries led by the Soviet Union has changed obviously, that is, from intellectual education center to overall development. It is realized that all kinds of early preschool education are interrelated, and social and emotional problems should be regarded as an important part of the development of early preschool education. After 1990, many countries realized the importance of environmental education to the growth of young children, and included interpersonal relationships and individual differences in the content of preschool education, which promoted the children to develop well in the atmosphere of innocence, lively and happiness.
Social situation and problems of preschool education. Nowadays, preschool education methods are more and more standardized and specific, and the teaching level of kindergarten teachers is constantly improving. However, the problem of intellectual education center has not been fundamentally solved. Because parents are eager for their children to become talented, society also requires high-level talents, adults still place too high expectations on young children. When children are very young, people educate them in a subject or aspect such as calculation, reading, gymnastics, ballet, piano, bodybuilding, martial arts, etc. This kind of single skill training has obvious one-sidedness, and in the teaching process ignores the children’s interest, compulsorily acts, is too formal and strict, brings the bad influence to the child’s personality development. Therefore, education experts in various countries believe that respecting, studying and understanding the characteristics of young children and providing education suitable for their development remain an important task before educators. They advocate that children learn spontaneously and autonomously through natural experience, social interaction and games.
Taking preschool education in China as an example, many kindergartens, in order to meet the educational needs of children’s parents, occupy children’s free activities and play time to add mathematics, Chinese, science and other intelligence courses. This preschool education not only deprives children of the freedom of all-round development, but also strikes children’s interest in learning, which will make children tired of learning and fear of going to school. Children’s attention to repeated learning is scattered in class, and it is easy to form the bad habit of unable to concentrate in class, which has a negative impact on the whole primary school stage in the future. Tao Xingzhi, a famous Chinese educator, once said: “The preschool education of young children should satisfy the integration of teaching, learning and doing” [2]. He opposed the excessive development of intellectual education for young children and the learning method of “dead reading”. In a word, early childhood education should combine theory with practice. Because children’s thinking is mainly concrete thinking and formal thinking, they cannot understand the structure of things from abstract books, so the practice of being close to nature and the development of practical ability are more suitable for children’s learning courses. Early childhood education is not only the cultivation of children’s learning ability, but also the shaping of children’s personality, interest, morality and physique.
Development of future preschool education in theory and practice. According to the “Guide to Learning and Development for Children aged 3-6 years” issued by the Ministry of Education of China on October 9, 2012, a “ruler” cannot be used to measure the whole of early childhood development [1]. The guide points out that early childhood development is a continuous and gradual process, but also shows certain stage characteristics. In the process of developing along a similar process, each child’s development speed and practice at a certain level are not exactly the same. Therefore, preschool education needs to be carried out at the same time by combining theory and practice with the following methods.
Developing children’s social learning . Education in the social field has the characteristics of imperceptibly, and the cultivation of children’s social attitude and social emotion should permeate into one-day activities. Creating a good environment that can make children feel care and acceptance, the common life, communication, exploration and play between children and adults and peers are important ways for children to participate in social learning.
The teaching content pays attention to close to the children’s life. Children have accumulated rich perceptual experience in life, and the educational content close to children’s life is easy to understand and accept. Children’s attention to unintentional attention, intentional attention gradually developed. Therefore, the educational content close to children’s life experience can meet their interests and needs, attract their attention, and stimulate their initiative and enthusiasm. It can enable young children to acquire various experiences and abilities related to life, thus promoting the formation and development of habits, personality and so on.
Correct understanding of the connection between kindergarten and primary school. First of all, kindergarten education is an important part of lifelong education, which should lay a good foundation for children’s lifelong development. Therefore, the connection between kindergarten and primary school should not be regarded as the transition of two educational stages, but should run through all stages of kindergarten education in time. The development of kindergarten and primary school convergence is long-term, not only for the late kindergarten class. Secondly, the connection between kindergarten and primary school is holistic rather than unidirectional. At present, kindergarten education mainly focuses on the education of «intelligence», so the cohesion work should pay attention to the overall quality education, from the moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic aspects of all aspects. Children have a healthy body, positive learning attitude, strong interest in learning, adequate self-control and interpersonal skills, which is very important for children to adapt to the life of primary school students smoothly.
Cooperation between young children’s families and kindergarten teachers. The participation of parents in preschool education is low, and most of them only stay on the surface. Although the parents entered the kindergarten, more visitors, less participants, more indirect participation and less direct participation. Parents’ understanding of preschool education only stays on participating in parent-child activities held in kindergartens, and the contents of family education and kindergarten education are out of touch. Therefore, preschool teachers should encourage and guide parents to participate in early childhood education, and help parents to establish a correct view of preschool education and educational methods. For example, to discuss teaching plans, participate in the curriculum, and so on, in-depth understanding of the child’s inner situation.
To summarise, the theory and practice of preschool education should attach importance to the wishes and interests of children themselves, and realize the diversity of education and the richness of teaching content. Preschool teachers should be collaborators and guides of early childhood education, pay attention to the different growth conditions of each child at the same time, and put forward reasonable suggestions in the game. Children get enough space for self-development, which is conducive to the cultivation of independence and autonomy, which is a qualitative leap for preschool education.
Bibliographic list
- Guide to learning and development for children aged 3-6 years / Ministry of Education of China. – Beijing, 2012.
- Tao Xingzhi. The popularization of modern life education and its programme. – China: Life Education Society, 1945.
