Explainer | What are the hallmarks of a high-quality kindergarten education? And what should children be learning at preschool in the first place?
- A good kindergarten blurs play and academics, serving as a bridge from home or preschool education to learning in a more traditional classroom setting
- Kindergarten should also help children learn how to be independent and develop healthy relationships, besides imparting basic academic skills like counting and reading
In Hong Kong, it is not unusual for parents to feel anxious about giving their children a head start in education, right from kindergarten. Although preschool education is not mandatory in Hong Kong, most parents enrol their children in an early-learning programme because of the city’s competitive educational system and the high expectations that accompany children’s preparations for formal schooling.
Getting your child into a good kindergarten is paramount, so the thinking goes, because it can lead to admission to a respected primary/junior school, and then to a competitive secondary school and, eventually, to a top university.
Although the curricula in kindergartens can vary from one institution to another, most aim for similar goals – most importantly, to serve as a smooth introduction to primary school for any child. The Hong Kong government encourages kindergartens to take the child-centred educational approach when teaching children how to be socially aware, to cultivate good habits and be curious about their surroundings.
However, what children learn during their years at kindergarten is often the centre of scrutiny. There has been criticism that some kindergartens subject kids to too much schoolwork, often with little exposure to physical education or arts, music and science.
In the more academically inclined institutions, children are also subjected to rote memorisation or taught through drill and practice, and expected to be able to do things by the time they leave preschool that some – perhaps even many – are not developmentally prepared to do.
So what are the hallmarks of a high-quality kindergarten curriculum? This begs some questions. And what should children be learning at kindergarten in the first place?
Early childhood educators say kindergartens should help form the building blocks of physical, social and emotional development in youngsters. As such, some academic learning – the basic concepts of mathematics such as counting, recognising shapes and reading time – are necessary, and so are literacy, critical thinking and honing cognitive skills.
