Early Child Education

Early childhood education describes any type of schooling given to children younger than kindergarten age. Early childhood education imparts a number of skills to children that aid them throughout their educational careers and beyond.

Benefits

Early childhood education provides children with foundation skills for reading and writing, such as knowledge of numbers, letters and patterns, and teaches them many basic concepts, such as colors and shapes. In addition, early childhood education helps children develop fine motor, gross motor, self-care and social skills.

Features

Early childhood education features a variety of activities around music, books, arts and crafts, and physical activities. In some cases, early childhood programs serve meals or snacks and give children the opportunity to take field trips.

Types

Preschools, nursery schools, daycare centers, pre-kindergartens and Head Start programs are all types of early childhood education. The majority of early childhood programs are privately funded, but some are provided through local, county, state and federal programs.

Employees

Teachers and teaching assistants provide education in an early childhood setting, while daycare workers help with self-care and supervision and typically have little or no training in education. In addition, administrators run early childhood education facilities and supervise all employees.

Regulation

State governments typically regulate early childhood education centers and schools to ensure that staff members pass required background checks and that the center meets curriculum and safety guidelines.

References

• Department of Education
• Early Childhood Career Information

Resources

• National Association for the Education of Young Children