Free public lectures by Early Childhood Specialist from UK, 29 June 2012 and 3 July

If you are interested in finding out what the early childhood scene is like in UK, do visit SEGi College Subang Jaya on 29 June and 3 July 2012. We have an early childhood specialist with over 30 years of experience who will share her knowledge and experience with us. She will look at working with young children and training of adults in early childhood education at the University of Greenwich on 29 June. On 3 July, she will introduce the High/Scope approach and share her personal experiences with this method. Do register early for these events.

Free Talk by Ms Jill Harrison at SEGi Subang Jaya

 

Respecting the Individuality of the Child

Montessori always highlighted the need for us to respect the individuality of the child.

This is particularly relevant in the early years when the children are engaged in self-formation. A myriad of factors impacts upon this formation and on their understanding of the world. We can truly appreciate the complexity of each child’s world when we study Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological or systems theory.

We looked at this topic last Saturday during our session on Home-School partnerships. Early childhood professionals need to be mindful of the different worlds that our children bring into our classrooms. Our curriculum, lesson plans and teaching strategies need to take into account this wonderful diversity.

The traditional approach of mass teaching discounts this diversity to assume that all the children have the same interest in as well as knowledge and experience of the topic taught. Just think of what great injustice we do to the child’s developing sense of self when such teaching strategies are employed in the early years.

At an age when the child is different due to the different interactions he or she has with his or her environment, it is important for us to validate what the child brings into the early years setting. Does our educational system in the early years celebrate this diversity or have we reduced education to, say, one huge photostating machine, and the children who pass through our hands become no more than carbon copies of the educator?

While we advocate for the right of the child “to be” or “to become”,  this freedom must always be within the limits of socially acceptable behaviour. The rights of the others in the communitiy must be upheld.