THE SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Scientific thought builds on what’s gone before, building on the existing body of knowledge and proven theorems in any field. Any new ideas are just hypotheses, in need of being proven or disproved. Here there’s no room for emotional attachments or beliefs, it’s the facts that count.

Now let’s relate this to the discipline of Early Childhood Education (ECE). Practitioners of this discipline are without a doubt sincere, and have the best interest of children in mind when they develop their perspectives, but my question is: what are the facts they base their theories on?

In my opinion existing theories from many educators are built on a small set of observations which have been formulated into a perspective or theory. In part some understanding or thought from prior theories might have been incorporated into it.

What I see as a specific complication here is that as adults we try to understand and relate to a period of life which none of us can remember. We therefore have to rely on observations, both our own and those of others.

I believe that in this discipline we have a hard time defining observations on the basis of solid scientific principles. We don’t collect observations in a systematic manner, spanning multiple countries, and using a variety of sources. Observation gathering is often local and not done at an academic level. There is no universally agreed upon methodology that can be followed in observing children.

A good teacher is aware of these limitations. He/she is aware that ultimately we just do not know how children think – even though we were all children once, we no longer have access to our unconscious childhood era, we have lost that connection.

I have found that the principles and method laid out by Maria Montessori over a period of more than 40 years come closest to adhering to the principles of scientific thinking. What has happened over the years, however, is that her thoughts and theorems were ‘interpreted’ and expanded on by many, and her method has been diluted as a result. The principles and methods of early childhood education systems such as Reggio Emilia and Waldorf were developed right after the First and Second World War, in part as an attempt to soothe the damaged souls of children, and many other methods were developed using these as their foundation.

Personally I like the combination of all of them, with Montessori as a fundamental core, having the child build himself, while the other methods give the child unlimited options to create on top of what is built with Montessori. For example, within the Montessori method a child is taught how to create a firm hand, a flexible wrist and a sense of color, and this evolves within the Reggio method into a way to express their creativity and inner development. Waldorf is a perfect method for teachers to observe children in an outdoor environment.

As in my opinion it’s not feasible to build an ECE method that is based on a sound and universally agreed upon scientific set of principles, at least on the short term, I focus on educational methods that are geared towards the child individually, based on his on her specific needs and capabilities. Here they have a chance to show what they’re worth without taking a standardized test.