Hi! My name is Larissa, I’m a professional snot-wiper (preschool teacher). Let me explain how dealing with tantrums and nursery songs has become my passion, and why I think quality preschool education can save the world.

Why Preschool Matters

Quality early childhood education is seen by experts as the leading preventative (besides good parenting) to an array of social problems, including incarceration, mental illness, truancy, teenage pregnancy, divorce and unemployment. A study conducted over four decades by David P. Weikart, founder of the International High Scope Preschool Program, and Larry Schweinhart, High Scope’s current president, examined the impact of quality early childhood education in low socio-economic areas. They found that for every tax dollar invested in preschool education, $16 were returned to society.

This study is one of a legion reporting similar outcomes. Providing that preschools were of high quality (which is to say, high standards of teaching, curriculum, environment and resources) noticeable patterns occurred: as attendance went up, particularly in disadvantaged areas, economic and social problems frequently decreased in later years.

So what do (quality) preschools do that’s so important?

A copious amount of knowledge is learnt in the first few years and for starters, preschool provides a period of time in which children are allowed to develop a range of skills away from the academic restraints of the school system.

Ideally, one of the most important assets one gains in early childhood is a positive identity as a learner. This means approaches to learning, such as curiosity, creativity, imagination and problem solving, are fostered and praised. Because unique strengths are recognized, the likelihood of children seeing themselves as competent learners increases. This is much different from formal education, where standardized testing can lead to feelings of failure; children’s unique talents often don’t fit a prescribed checklist.

Other areas of learning in preschools include building respectful and reciprocal relationships with peers and teachers, being guided into positive behavior and discovering unique talents and how those talents might contribute to society. These fundamental skills are best developed in the first five years of a child’s life, as children are less likely to have fixed identities around achievements and behavior and are more malleable in discovering their authentic selves- 80% of the brain’s ‘wiring’ happens in those first five years, after which it is far more difficult to unlearn certain behavior.

Many skills learnt at preschool also carry into academic learning. A key role of the early childhood teacher is looking out for learning dispositions and building upon these. For example, if a child is building a sandcastle in the sandbox, and tries again and again to get the perfect shape, the disposition might be ‘persistence’. It is the teacher’s job to build upon persistence. The teacher may encourage persistence in different activities: finishing a puzzle, for instance, or baking, or building a high lego tower even if it continuously falls to the ground. As the child grows up, he or she can use the disposition of persistence at school to stick with difficult subjects, or later to persist at work, or in relationships etc. Furthermore, activities which may seem to be just ‘passing time’, such as baking, playing, singing, dancing, etc, are in fact extremely important in planting seeds in further academic learning. For instance, baking means measuring ingredients (maths) mixing (science) then combining mixture and heat to gain results (science). Baking in groups also helps children learn essential social skills such as sharing, turn-taking and communication. Dancing to music allows children to ‘feel the beat’, the rhythm of which links into maths, while having a good time. Climbing trees outside isn’t just fun, it develops gross motor skills while encouraging risk taking and estimation (“how far can I go until it becomes dangerous?”) These skills are important assets to becoming a competent member of the workforce and of society. Entrepreneurship — a career pathway which will grow as computers are rapidly replacing traditional jobs- thrives on dispositions such as perseverance, risk taking and communication.

Despite study after study showing clear evidence of early childhood education’s positive impact on society, the sector often goes unappreciated. On a macro level, early childhood centers are constantly battling with governmental funding cuts. On a micro level, ECE teachers are often labeled ‘babysitters’; people seem surprised when I tell them I studied ECE at university.

What We Can Do

I worry about the future of early childhood education if governments don’t start to prioritize the sector. One particularly frustrating spin off from funding cuts is preschools’ hiring of non-qualified (read: cheaper) teachers. Studies have shown that children taught by qualified ECE teachers learn a vast amount, whereas unqualified teachers have little impact and sometimes even stunt children’s development. It is in training that teachers learn the fundamentals of pedagogy and human development. We would never allow an unqualified person to teach high school- why preschool, attended by society’s most vulnerable?

Unfortunately, we have little control of governmental priorities. We can protest and vote but as always, our most significant vote comes from the direct actions we take. When choosing a nursery, preschool or kindergarten for your child, I suggest checking:

Are the teachers qualified?

Do teachers use a combination of firm boundary setting and patience when working with the children?

Is the environment safe with interesting resources?

Which philosophies underpin the center’s practice? (I recommend researching ‘Early Childhood Education Philosophies’ and choosing the one most appropriate to your personal beliefs.)

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Globally, we are facing a multitude of issues, economically, socially and environmentally. More than ever, we need to ensure that the next generation has the mental tools to problem solve creatively if we are to save the world from it’s own destruction.

Early childhood education is not the only sector to have an impact on our planet’s future, of course, but developing fundamental skills in people’s most formative years may play (literally!) a part in re-constructing how we live. And that is worth paying attention to.