Now that most schools are beginning to accept enrollees for next school year and classes are not yet full, it is a good time to start looking for the right preschool for your youngster. Fortunately, parents today have many learning centers to choose from. Early education, it seems, has become a common occurrence.
Some parents select the kindergarten next door, as convenience would dictate. Others make their choice according to certain personal standards such as the educational background of the teacher, the physical plant, and tuition costs. Still other parents look into the curriculum and philosophy of teaching. Of the latter, there is a variety to choose from — the Montessori, the “open” classroom, individualized instruction and the traditional set-up, among others. One can virtually shop for the school of their choice.
The question is, what makes a high-quality preschool? Visits to several preschools in Metro Manila show a trend towards the highly crowded classroom. There are usually 25-40 children to one teacher allowing little flexibility for children’s movement and participation.
It could be that these preschool administrators do not see a need for improving classroom conditions because they feel preschoolers learn the same way as those in the upper grades do. One might easily presume that these preschools have become nothing more than a good source of income for their operators.
A sound factor in selecting a high quality preschool is its student- teacher ratio. A justifiable proportion for children between the ages of 3 and 5 years would be a 10-15 students per teacher ratio. Why should this
be so? The children at this young age vary in their developmental
Some children may be ready to read, others may not be. Some may have higher level of energy and need time to settle down before working. 1’he teacher has to relate to these children on a one-to-one basis. Each one is growing and learning at his own pace and they cannot be taken as whole group and be expected to work as more mature and older children do.
Another factor to keep in mind is that children have to work with concrete materials in order to learn. A teacher cannot simply describe
how a lemon smells. A child has to see, taste, and touch the fruit to know just what it is like. This lesson can be extended to planting a lemon seed and seeing what happens.
The greater part of the preschool budget should go to materials. From paper to learning equipment all these should help the child recreate what he sees and what he is learning. Sadly, however, there are many preschools that do not have these learning materials and rely solely on the more traditional workbooks, notebooks, crayons, and pencils. In addition, at such a time when the child is still developing his eye and hand coordination Skills, he is expected to already read and write beautifully.
Another important consideration, which differentiates the high from low quality prescbool is its “physical plant”. A good school should be safe with well-lighted and wellventilated rooms, and sufficient number of toilets and wash basins for everyone.
Then there are the teachers who make the school. And the only way to find out how qualified they ate is to visit the place on a regular school day.
Since preschool is the beginning and the foundation of your child’s learning, parents should certainly take time to find out which one is best for his or her child.