No other area of education gets as much scrutiny as early childhood education. And it makes sense. If you’re a new parent trying to decide what’s right for your child, and how to put them on the path to success, you might have some concerns about whether preschool is right, and what your child will learn in early childhood education. In fact, there are some myths about early childhood education that might make you want you to keep your kids out of it. But keeping them out of education means not equipping them with essential life skills. Here are a few myths and facts, as debunked by the Official Journal of Childhood Education International, the Rivard Report, and Child Care Canada to help you make informed decisions.
1. Early Childhood Education isn’t just daycare.
It’s true that a preschool is a place you can take your children to while you’re at work. But they’re separate and distinct from babysitters or daycare. Early childhood education’s goals are completely different. For one thing, children being watched by specially-trained educators, like the ones we create at Centennial College, who put in the effort to teach them their earliest life skills through purposeful play. Similarly, rather than just being watched, kids are put into a structured environment that’s trying to stimulate and enrich their minds. Preschool classrooms are structured differently from those made for older children. They’re more freeform, allowing children to move about, and even play, because that’s how very young kids learn. In reality, they’re picking up the language, math, science and social skills.
2. Separating parent and child isn’t going to cause your child problems.
One version of this myth says that if a parent and child are frequently separated, the child will suffer negative social development, going so far as to say that their future learning will actually be impaired. This plainly isn’t true, and Child Care Canada has examined and debunked this, with research, in detail.
3. It’s not too early to educate your children.
Another myth is that Early Childhood Education puts kids into learning too early. The refrain is “let kids be kids,” and that they’re not ready to learn. But the fact is that young children are always learning, whether we intend them to or not, and absorb more when they’re younger. Their brains are literally more ready to learn than they ever will be, growing and developing especially quickly, and forging neural connections faster than in later years. So if they’re going to be learning anyway, it might as well be in an environment with instructors that know how to teach them properly, which is why early childhood education is so important.
4. They won’t forget what they learned.
Kids are assumed to have poor memories, so another myth is that by the time they reach grade three, the learning of preschool will have faded, and those children that attended will have no advantage over those that didn’t. Once again, the research mentioned here proves that this isn’t true, and early childhood education works because children retain the academic and social advantages throughout their education.
To be an Early Childhood Educator means you have a whole different skillset from other kinds of educators. In other words, you need a special program to teach you how. Early Childhood Education at Centennial College will make you into a leader in the career field, and turn you into an expert at providing high-quality care to both children and their families. What makes the program special is that, aside from practical and classroom education, you’ll learn through Centennial College’s two state-of-the-art early childhood education centres, where you can observe and practice in a high-quality childcare setting. If you're energetic, fun-loving, dedicated to your learning, and enjoy working with children and adults, then you can become one of the educators that makes all of the difference.
Written by: Anthony Geremia