Psychology and Preschool Education

Abstract

The term preschool education has come to be used for almost all out-of-home provision for children under statutory school age. Psychologists among others are coming to realise the difficulties arising from the separation of care and education in this period of the child’s development, and are concerned with conditions of intellectual stimulation in infancy as much as emotional and social security for the toddler. It is likely that future development and research in the area of linguistic and cognitive development will lie in the direction of studying behaviour in contextual situation. It now appears that the identification of situations of “high” and “low” context is a first priority in order that we can enable the child to use his latent competencies in these areas. In addition a positive and enquiring attitude to groups of very young children has suggested that we re-examine the static concept of attachment and stranger-anxiety. All psychologists have a special interest in early child development, if only by reason of the importance of these early years for adult behaviour. Advances in this area are therefore of special interest, but the value system subserving preschool education should also be a matter for constant review by all professional psychologists.