The main aim of any preschool is to foster the development and education of children in a play-based, child-centred environment. There are a variety of curriculum approaches that you can follow to achieve this.
The best preschools create a curriculum by understanding various early childhood approaches and developing an individualised curriculum that follows the best interests and needs of children. Most preschools in Singapore do actually do this, even if they do not officially claim to be focusing on one particular curriculum over another.
And to help better understand them, we break down the different types of preschool curriculum that you should know about, especially for 2022.
Types Of Preschool Curriculum: What Parents Should Know
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“It’s very important that the curriculum responds to the children in the room. They should take a bit of this and a bit of that and put it together,” says Alexandra Senanayake, whose two-year-old has recently started preschool. “It was important to me that the curriculum was developed taking different approaches into consideration as all children learn differently.”
Preschool curriculums encourage the teacher to not only understand educational approaches but also to foster the child’s development within the educational framework in a manner that best suits the individual child and the group as a whole.
“A preschool is only as good as its teachers,” says Ms Lim, a parent who decided to change her child’s school. “It’s not just about the curriculum but also the delivery. I didn’t feel like the teaching methods suited [my child’s] way of learning.”
Searching for a preschool for your child can be a rather daunting task. From locations, costs and waiting lists to truly understanding what makes one stand out from another, there is a rather large amount of information to understand.
As we step into different learning centres, we quickly realise that there appears to be an alarmingly varied number of curricula, all of which aim at bringing out the best in our children. But how does one choose?
Different Types Of Preschool Curriculum In Singapore
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There are six main curriculum approaches available in Singaporean preschools. Here are the different types of preschool curriculum they have to offer:
- Montessori: This curriculum teaches children five key areas: Practical Life, Sensory, Mathematics, Language and Cultural Studies. It is a more holistic, self-paced and experiential approach to learning.
- Waldorf Steiner: Developed by Rudolf Steiner, this curriculum focuses on teaching kids that they are humans comprising a body, soul and spirit. It is a unique strategy that offers a broad curriculum.
- The Play-Based curriculum: To learn more about the world around them, children are taught skills through play. This includes developing social and cognitive skills.
- The Reggio Emilia approach: This is a more educational philosophy and pedagogy approach to learning for students in preschool.
- The High Scope Method: This curriculum encourages children to construct their own learning. Children do so by being actively involved while equipped with materials and working with people as well as ideas.
- The Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Each child has a different way of learning and that there are multiple intelligences they can use.
In addition to these, a newer curriculum approach is now becoming more widely available. It’s the “whole-brain learning” concept that’s now available through schools such as MindChamps.
Choose a preschool whose curriculum aligns with your educational beliefs
While most schools follow child-centred curriculums, each one has a unique approach in its teaching methods. That’s why parents need to understand the key principles of each curriculum when finding a preschool. This will ensure that they choose one whose philosophy and educational beliefs are in line with their own.
There are different types of preschool curriculum. At the end of the day, you do not want the dissatisfaction of putting your child in a school that does not resonate with your little’s one requirements. This only puts unnecessary pressure on your child and could prompt a rather difficult experience of changing schools.
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