The Importance of Early Childhood Education

  

Benefits of Early Childhood Education

A high-quality early childhood education offers children numerous academic and social-emotional benefits that echo through the child’s life for decades to come. When selecting an Early Childhood Education Program for your child, look for programs that focus on creating a supportive, engaging environment in which students can develop essential competencies, explore, create, and express themselves, while learning to take healthy risks, and developing the frameworks for essential social, emotional, and academic skills.

A program that is capable of reaching these positive, development goals will have an essential understanding of early childhood development, the enormous potential in early years learners, as well as the risks and benefits associated with early childhood education.

A child’s cerebral development begins in utero, and their development in the first eight years of life establishes the foundation for future health and well-being. The rapid cerebral growth and development in childhood is partially driven by a child's “acquisition and integration of skills across many developmental domains” and a responsive, engaging, and supportive environment in which the child can live and learn.

Although education at all stages of development is enhanced by a strong school-family partnership, this is especially true of early childhood learning and early years development. The environment is a key component of early childhood education, and creating a “consistent, responsive caregiving relationships and supportive community” can drastically limit the potential for detrimental factors like neglect and chronic stress which can hinder a child in reaching their full potential. It is critical to develop a learning environment where students in the early years are supported, cared for, encouraged, and nurtured as they explore the world around them.