Early Childhood Education Issue
Early Childhood Education (ECE) can be defined as a branch of education that entails the formal and non-formal education of children from the time they are born to eight years. ECE is an integral aspect of any individual’s life as it entails what can be described as the holistic development of a person’s emotional and cognitive needs. Early childhood is also a delicate aspect of any individual’s growth as it forms the foundation upon which the individual’s perception about life and their environment is founded and nurtured. This stage however is directly influenced by several factors characterized within the individual’s environment. These factors may range from genetic factors where the individual is unable to properly develop in their emotions and cognitions to financial factors where the individual is hindered by economic factors from developing to become the best they can be. This paper explores the available sources in an attempt to identify the various financial factors that affect the early childhood development of an individual.
Poverty can be described as an individual’s incapacity to access proper essential needs such as clothing, education, and food. Poverty directly affects an individual’s quality of life from their education to their overall wellbeing. One of the areas that had been majorly affected by poverty is early childhood education. While teachers are at the center of the successful development of a child, the child’s economic capacity has more influence on the child’s development throughout the early stages of their life. Firstly, there are assistive tools that have been designed to help an individual develop in their education easier and faster (Duncan, Brooks‐Gunn, & Klebanov, 2014). There currently exist various childhood technological tools such as the E-books that are effective in helping an individual effectively develop better reading and interpretation skills. While such programs and software are effective in dealing with the educational needs of a child, most of them are expensive and hence inaccessible to most middle-income earners (Britto et al., 2017). Some of these programs can only be afforded at a subscription fee which to most Americans may be unaffordable. Also, most of these tools can only be best used in an electronic gadget such as a tablet or a smartphone most of which are expensive and hence unaffordable to most low-income earners.
Other than the use of assistive tools in learning, the early childhood development of a child can be affected by the type of school they are enrolled in. Children enrolled in better-performing schools tend to develop and perform better than children enrolled in poorly performing schools. Study findings have shown that private schools tend to perform better than public schools on standardized achievement tests. Study findings by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), indicated that scores in private schools were above those in public schools on the 4th-grade reading test and other technical disciplines such as mathematics and science (Britto et al., 2017). The disparity in the performance between the two types of schools can be ascribed to factors such as the class size and the curriculum model. Private schools have relatively more favorable class size and teacher to student ratio than public schools (Britto et al., 2017). The curriculum in private schools is also developed in such a fashion that the tutor is able to interact on a personal level with their students such that they can understand their academic needs and strength. While providing a better quality of education than public schools, private schools are usually very expensive costing a parent up to approximately seven thousand dollars per year in elementary school tuition. The high cost of private education thus impedes students from low-income families from benefiting from the advantages of quality education.
The disparity in the level of education between children from rich families and those from poor families is a significant issue that must be addressed by a collaborative effort of all the stakeholders involved. The biggest responsibility lies with the policymakers who can play a role in bridging the gap by raising the standard of education in public schools (Black et al., 2017). As part of the affirmative action, for example, policymakers can develop laws that will serve to enhance the classroom size while also improving the teacher to student ratio. By doing this, teachers in elementary schools will be able to have up close and personal contact with their students and thus addressing the various developmental needs of the early learners. Secondly, the responsibility also lies in the hands of the teachers who must conduct due diligence in their field of profession to ensure that children in public schools have an enabling environment that will boost their growth and development (Richter et al., 2019). Lastly, parents must make an effort to avail of the relevant tools to their children such that they are given a chance to develop. This may entail sacrificing to purchase even some of the expensive technological tools that can aid in developing a child’s reading and understanding skills.
References
Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., … & Devercelli, A. E. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. The Lancet, 389(10064), 77-90.
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., … & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102.
Duncan, G. J., Brooks‐Gunn, J., & Klebanov, P. K. (2014). Economic deprivation and early childhood development. Child development, 65(2), 296-318.
Richter, L., Black, M., Britto, P., Daelmans, B., Desmond, C., Devercelli, A., … & Lu, C. (2019). Early childhood development: an imperative for action and measurement at scale. BMJ global health, 4(Suppl 4), e001302.