The reality of children’s education today
We’re hearing more and more often: with each passing year elementary school children in Germany are becoming less able to read, write, and do maths. This is alarming – not only for parents and teachers – and has serious consequences for the children’s future education.
The trend towards out-of-family childcare
We are also aware of the current trend: More and more parents have their young children – even babies – cared for in the Kita (Kita is the name of the facilities for early childhood care and education in Germany). Parents have their reasons for doing so, and their decision should be respected.
Toddlers and preschoolers placed in Kitas sometimes spend up to 8-10 hours during the day there. That’s a long “training day” in the children’s very first “educational stage”, isn’t it?
Lack of comprehensive curriculum in Kitas
During my several years of working in German Kitas, there was one thing I sorely missed: a daily learning program.
The importance of the first five years of life
The children’s first years of life pass by. And they are so crucial…
- Fundamental developmental phase. The first five years of life are fundamental: the sensitive period and the most important window of opportunity for the development of basic motor, communicative, linguistic, and social-emotional skills.
- Happy learning phase. The first five years of childhood are also phenomenal and sensational: during the first months of their life, children learn so quickly, so much, and so sustainably, out of their own motivation and with such joy, as never again later in life.
Why are there no early childhood comprehensive curricula in German Kitas?
Why don’t the curious little researchers and explorers experience a professional early years learning program in the Kita every day, an educational program that truly deserves the name?
This used to be and remains my standard for family-supporting Kita educational work; and my professional expectation and demand on myself as an early childhood educator. I know there are parents and Kita professionals who feel the same way…
The “illusion” of self-directed learning
But children in German Kitas play “freely” all day long; and are supposed to learn independently and to acquire precursor skills relevant for school that way?!
Who learns a musical instrument, a craft, a sport or a profession without practice, targeted training and regular repetition if they want to perform well?
How are young children supposed to make progress, acquire school-relevant precursor skills, and be cognitively and socially-emotionally prepared for the transition to school without regular, step-based practice sessions? Through “Big Magic” or a sudden, super-fast “transformation” at the start of school?
This logic doesn’t fit together. What do you think as a parent or an early childhood professional?
The value of a structured Kita learning program
So why prepare children for school in the Kita?
I firmly believe that a daily learning program in the Kita can be both
- an additional developmental support for every child and
- a preventive measure
My understanding of family-supporting early childhood education in a Kita
Implementing a comprehensive curriculum for the early childhood years would promote the development of all kids, enabling children from different family and cultural backgrounds to confidently master the transition from Kita to school.
So that children of different temperaments, learning styles and cultural backgrounds can successfully master the big step and can find their way through the German school system.
The Kita years are the best opportunity to implement an early years learning program. Especially since young children are generally happy and enthusiastic when they receive attentive learning stimuli from outside. Children like to feel like “grown-ups”, to be able to learn and achieve something without anxiety or time pressure. All of this strengthens them and promotes their confidence, too.
I also imagine the relief and peace of mind parents from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds would experience when they leave their children full-time in the Kita. If parents knew their child receives more than just supervision and care in the facility. He/she experiences a family-complementing and family-supporting educational program that aims to strengthen school-relevant precursor skills and to prepare the child for the transition to school. That would be great for parents, wouldn’t it?!
Final thoughts
I firmly believe that out-of-family early childhood education can and should be a power for good; a power that can positively impact the youngest students. Because they will replace us and will be the designers, thinkers and inventors of the world of tomorrow.
And so an idea gradually developed…
As an educator, I find joy in serving children and their parents. This joy in serving, along with the need to offer support and to share with others, inspired me to create an early childhood educational format: a learning program for children ages 1,5 to 5 in Saarbrücken.
Because young children are curios, thirsty for knowledge and enthusiastic about learning. And they need more than just daily care, supervision, physical care and meals. Children need and deserve joyful learning adventures.
Feel welcome as a mom or dad and let your child join the fun of learning.
