We believe in Preschool Education

Acknowledging children as citizens

Childhood is among one of many times in the human life cycle and is a component of society.

Preschool education constitutes a sequence in the continual process of development and learning, set in motion at birth and that will last a lifetime. Having consideration for children is understand that they learn from the moment of birth. Not only are they beings in development, but they are preparing not only to become, but to have been and are. With this perspective, in preschool education, children are not there to prepare for school. They experience the complete development of their capacities for action; they learn to be citizens capable of thinking for themselves.

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Considering the children as educational partners

The children and the adults participate mutually and reciprocally in their respective development. 

The children know and know how to do things that the adult doesn’t know and doesn’t know how to do, and the adults knows and knows how to do things that the children don’t know and don’t know how to do. It is based on the awareness of these two unawareness’ that is founded the educational partnership of preschool education.

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Concerning oneself with the usual ways of being and acting of children

The appropriate approach in preschool education is developmental.

The children know and know how to do things that the adult doesn’t know and doesn’t know how to do, and the adults knows and knows how to do things that the children don’t know and don’t know how to do. It is based on the awareness of these two unawareness’ that is founded the educational partnership of preschool education.

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Concerning oneself with the usual ways of being and acting of children

With regards to children’s natural activity; that is development through play, the adult accompanying them in their growth...

may question the pertinence of remaining outside their game or rather being positioned inside the game (using a combination of proximity and enough distance to observe). Observing while participating allows the adult to experience events with the children as they take place, thereby allowing the adult to better understand the educational phenomenon taking place and grasp the facts without preconceived ideas via the perspective of the children.

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Tying together the different domains; physical, psychomotor, affective, cognitive and social of their development

The adult accompanying the children in their development tries to weave together the different domains of development (growth) which had been isolated in order to establish their definitions.

The unravelling of the domains of development is unjustified unless it is part of an educational vision of preschool education where links between domains are recognized and are not masking their global character. In order to respect the complex and global reality of child development, the adult proposes educational activities which tie together areas of development rather than isolating them. These would be integrated activities which favour the revelation of children in their totality which can cover and fulfill an ENSEMBLE of developmental needs. This allows them the possibility of experiencing activities which contain a large potential for the development of abilities across many domains as opposed to activities without any links which each address the development of a single ability.

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Taking into consideration the different contexts for child development

The adult participating in the development of the child places in his context all the information perceived...

ties it to the environment in which it presents itself, places it in a larger context where it is recorded. And in this sense, the information is comprehensive and qualitative, that is to say non-quantifiable, non-mathematical and incomparable. The visual and audio observation of the child result in the appreciation of what he is doing to develop his potential.

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Understanding the children rather than judging them

For example, if the adult sees the sadness of a child who is unable to complete a task, rather than making a judgement...

of comparability of the behavior of this child with another so called normal and expected behavior, the adult tries to identify his own childhood distresses and relate to the child and to themselves. The understanding ( cum-prehendere: bring with oneself) is a human quality that isn’t simple to develop as we have been trained in our role of educator-evaluator, to judge children rather than understanding them.

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Discovering the riches of children in their differences and helping them to develop their solidarity in their similarities

The vision of education that reduces to an objective of productivity and accountability the development of children...

pushes us to return to norms and judging children’s conformity to norms when the richness of children is found in their differences. Furthermore, if the children are very different one to another, we mustn’t lose sight that they belong to the same race, the human race. They are full of anthropological characteristics, historical and actual commonalities and these help them to become aware. Heightened awareness of the children and their resemblances contribute to the development of their solidarity.

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