If you are contemplating whether your child needs a preschool education, especially during a pandemic, you are not the only one. Many parents are anxiously rethinking ways to protect their children during the pandemic.
However, as preschool classes are opting for virtual learning, making safety a priority, you might want to rethink your decision.
Research shows that a good-quality and early education provides a child with a strong foundation, which makes them more efficient in their later school years. Preschool learning provides children with an opportunity to explore, engage, and learn, and what they learn now sets the foundation for the next phase of learning.
As a parent, you might feel anxious and protective over your child going back to school during a pandemic, and having to socially engage with other children. It is understandable, but you can’t stop your child from learning or being a child.
Education experts share how preschool education helps your child in the long run.
1. School-readiness
Behaviour management forms a major part of preschool learning, and while at preschool, children learn how to be learners. Children learn patience, how to raise their hands and take turns. Children also learn how to share the teacher's attention.
2. It gives your child structured learning
According to early child development experts, the curriculum framework of early learning nurtures a child’s everyday experiences, which in turn promotes their learning. A preschool curriculum is designed to identify a child’s way of learning – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic – and preschools make the learning highly organised. Thematic topics and everyday activities have skill-based outcomes, while also reinforcing concepts through repeated play.
3. Cognitive development
Cognitive development affects how children think, explore and figure things out, and is the knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to think about and understand the world.
“As learning occurs in a step-by-step manner over a defined period, a well-designed preschool curriculum would encourage a child’s natural curiosity. They would explore, interact, ask questions, solve problems, and try to comprehend the logic. Slowly, understanding how things work,” says Flintobox, an education platform in India.
4. Contributes to their emotional growth
A preschool education will enable your little one to explore the world around them and learn. From baby to toddler, your child’s needs were understood and attended to, a preschool education will help them to be emotionally independent.
It will also help your child to become more confident with their emotions and be empathetic.
5. Improves their communication
As your child grows, they curiously begin to express their needs and will eventually begin to expand their vocabulary. Communication is important and when a question is asked, they must respond and listen to what is being said. With preschool, children will engage in nursery rhymes, storytimes, learning the alphabets and many fun activities that will require their participation.