Benefits Of Schooling Children Before Three Years
Although experts have already determined that the performance of children under the age of three improves in areas such as math, science and language, there are not many public educational institutions that offer options for this stage of early childhood education. In the case of private education it is more or less the same, but with a little more options.
In this case, studies have determined that the rates of children in school at age three or younger are much lower, which is a reflection that for various reasons parents find it more difficult to take this initiative.
That is, although it is not a requirement for a child to be over three years old to start school, most families have followed this custom.
What was the study based on?
According to the National Institute for Educational Assessment, there are several factors that influence the effect education has on students when they enter school. Therefore, the study was based on the differences that children have regarding their cognitive maturation.
While it is true that children over three years old should have a higher level in terms of maturity, it is also known that younger children have developed and internalized very complex learning.
At this age, the child must master at least one linguistic structure and have lived with elements of space, time and numerical value since birth.
At three years of age a child is able to speak, understand and be understood ; can eat, has probably already left the diaper and, depending on the stimulus received at home, is able to identify shapes, colors and textures. In this sense, there are no marked differences between the closest previous age and the age used for schooling.
To obtain results for academic achievement, the researchers looked at small fourth-grade students who had been schooled before age three. The diagnosis revealed that they can have a superior advantage of up to forty points, which is the opposite in the case of children who are economically disadvantaged.
In this regard, the study evaluated about twenty thousand Spanish children in the fourth grade; the assessment focused on four general areas, such as mathematics, linguistics, social interaction and citizenship, and knowledge of the physical world. The analysis of the results led to the conclusion that the differences favored children educated before the age of three.
Is it beneficial to school children before the age of three?
According to studies in this regard, yes, it is beneficial to school children before the age of three. In this case, children who started attending classes from the age of three were at a disadvantage compared to those who had already started a cycle of non-compulsory early childhood education in private education.
This also shows that because of the lack of places to receive these young students in public education, those socio-economically disadvantaged children are also disadvantaged. Likewise, the study found that younger children do not quickly achieve the necessary skills. This implies, therefore, that it is up to them to deal with more complex proposals without any experience.
The benefits of early schooling focus on math and language skills, which increase the advantages in communication and development in the remaining areas. Therefore, it is an appreciable advantage in an individual way for the student, as in institutional education, because education raises their standards.
In this regard, experts advise increasing the number of places available for early childhood education and incorporating more advanced programs. That is, the contents of the first cycle of education must be modified to provide a basic level of math and reading instruction.
However, other factors can affect the acquisition or not of these benefits because the institution’s curricular structure, training and teaching methodology, as well as the quality of education in the school, can determine whether the child is favored in this first instance.
