As a parent I think this topic is underrated in modern society. When I was growing up there was not as much focus on Early Education as there is now. We have College programs that exist primarily for children under 5 years old that are new to the industry. Entire companies provide resources to start learning and social skills as a base for later life. While all of this is well developed underlying research is bare and not documented.
My approach would be using a very broad example of Social Change research on how varies programs are changing Early Education. My first reference is a 10-year project from Europe which will cover multiple “classes” of students across their first 3 years of learning. Areas are not limited to one group but rather very diverse. The point of allowing women to enter the workforce if they want is interesting from a choice perspective. (1)
Besides the formal aspects of education there are also social skills that are just as important. We learn these from our own family as well as outside of it. My second reference goes into details on Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory and how children are impacted by their relationships at an early age. This study is much more formal one than my previous reference and I feel they balance each other out.
Overall, this topic might be considered “dry” for some but once you have children it becomes all the more important. I’m glad to see an increase in resources for this field as well as better studies being produced. It even makes you wonder if these occurred earlier what changes would have occurred for previous generations?
References:
Hello,
You brought an interesting and important topic that is understudied and talked about. We have become accustomed to the culture of educating our kids (I say our kids because although I don’t have any children I treat every child that I encounter as I would treat a child of my own or that I care for). Continuing, we have placed our kids in education like settings at early ages due to many factors like two parents working, cost of living, the culture schooling becoming the norm vs homeschooling to say the least. Although, each family has their own reasoning, I am curious to know how much difference early placement in school vs delayed schooling has an affect on children.
I really like this topic as I actually work in childcare and often wonder about the difference between the qualities of various childcare facilities and how the quality affects child development. An article I read titled “The relation of child care to cognitive and language development. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network” builds on the association amongst various levels of cognitive subjects and looks into how childcare relates to both cognitive and language development. Children from 10 sites across the US were studied from birth to age 3 (“The relation of child care”, 2000). Income, gender, home environment, and maternal cognitive stimulation were all accounted for. They were studied at ages 15, 24, and 36 months. The assessments included family environment, cognitive development, and language development. Results found that differences depended on the quality of care (“The relation of child care”, 2000). Those at home fared better on language comprehension than those at low-quality care facilities. Scores were worse at age 2 for those at home compared to those at high-quality centers. Time spent at the child-care did not make a difference (“The relation of child care”, 2000).
I think this is a very important topic to study in order for us to understand how to best educate our future generations.
The relation of child care to cognitive and language development. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network. (2000). Child development, 71(4), 960–980. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00202