What does preschool mean
Preschool Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
1 of 2
pre·school ˈprē-ˌskül
(ˌ)prē-ˈskül
: of, relating to, or constituting the period in a child's life that ordinarily precedes attendance at elementary school
preschool
2 of 2
pre·school ˈprē-ˌskül
: a school for children usually younger than those attending elementary school or kindergarten : nursery school
Synonyms
Noun
- crèche
- day nursery
- nursery
- nursery school
- pre-K
- prekindergarten
See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus
Example Sentences
Noun children excited about starting preschool
Recent Examples on the Web
Horne’s opponent is the Democratic incumbent, a thirty-six-year-old speech-language therapist and onetime preschool teacher named Kathy Hoffman who wants to—wait for it!—raise school budgets and teacher salaries, and lower class sizes. Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 9 Nov. 2022 Before holding the office, Hoffman worked as a preschool teacher and a speech therapist. Tirzah Christopher, The Arizona Republic, 27 Oct. 2022 Hayes married his high school sweetheart, makeup artist Colby Taylor, in 1994 — shortly after starting to make music with Jones while working as a preschool teacher during the day. Jack Irvin, Peoplemag, 7 Oct. 2022 Shuronda Hill, a preschool teacher in St. Petersburg, spent the day battling crowds to try to prepare for the storm. Alyssa Lukpat, WSJ, 27 Sep. 2022 In February of 2021, Whitmore invited them to share child care at her home as part of a pod school with a preschool teacher. Julia O'malley, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Sep. 2022 She was first hired as a preschool teacher at Kindercare Learning Center in March 2021. Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 13 Aug. 2022 The North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois, said that Sundheim was a lifelong congregant and a member of staff, having worked as a preschool teacher and events coordinator. Gregory Krieg, CNN, 5 July 2022 On Monday morning Spencer Torkelson woke up in a room decked out in San Francisco Giants gear, complete with a mural of Pac Bell Park — now known as Oracle Park — painted by his preschool teacher. Kikue Higuchi, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 June 2022
Grande came to the Alaska Literacy Program as a family literacy coordinator and preschool teacher four years ago. Anchorage Daily News, 17 Nov. 2022 The family established a preschool at Congregation Beth Israel Church in Scottsdale and created a scholarship fund at Midwestern University, Steven Chanen said. Corina Vanek, The Arizona Republic, 17 Nov. 2022 McGarvey plans on carrying those same ideals to Congress, touching on goals like affordable health care, addressing climate change and expanding preschool during his victory speech. Olivia Krauth, The Courier-Journal, 8 Nov. 2022 Marchiel said the preschool’s leaders have security concerns about opening the space to the public when school is in session. Nora Mishanec, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Nov. 2022 The preschool features four spacious classrooms and an age-appropriate outdoor playscape for free and imaginative play time. Laura Groch, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Oct. 2022 At the same time, the country spends far less on social services, such as housing subsidies, job training, unemployment benefits, preschool and income support, than those countries. jsonline.com, 15 Sep. 2022 Two of the strikes hit near a preschool and a multistory residential building. Ian Lovett, WSJ, 30 Aug. 2022 First founded as a free-standing preschool, Goodtime has expanded to include pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and after-school services. oregonlive, 9 Oct. 2022 See More
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'preschool. ' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Word History
First Known Use
Adjective
1914, in the meaning defined above
Noun
circa 1925, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of preschool was in 1914
See more words from the same year
Dictionary Entries Near
preschoolpreschedule
preschool
preschooler
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Cite this Entry
Style
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“Preschool. ” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preschool. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
preschool
1 of 2 adjective
pre·school ˈprē-ˌskül
: of, relating to, or being the period in a child's life to the age of five or six that ordinarily precedes attendance at school
preschool
2 of 2 noun
: a school for children usually younger than those attending elementary school or kindergarten : nursery school
More from Merriam-Webster on
preschoolNglish: Translation of preschool for Spanish Speakers
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
Examples of preschool
preschool
But they can both teach preschool and baby-sit him, too.
From Slate Magazine
But this year may be the last for the preschool yearbooks.
From Huffington Post
District 200 has about 13,600 students in 20 schools from preschool to high school.
From Chicago Tribune
Sometimes the programs offered at a preschool influence a choice, or how well a preschool's hours match up with parents' work schedules.
From cleveland.com
The community garden lets kids put their hands in the dirt, which reinforces the science being taught from preschool through high school.
From CNN
They sold their home and now have "no income, no health insurance" and no preschool for their son.
From Chicago Tribune
So she sends her husband to drop off their son at preschool.
From Chicago Tribune
People were telling them that you have to sign your kid up for preschool before they are born, which is completely not true.
From Huffington Post
In the experiment, an experimenter shows preschool-aged children this toy.
From Huffington Post
They pushed, pushed, pushed their children to get into the right child-care center, the right preschool, the correct grade school, and the right secondary school.
From The Atlantic
What is not mixed is what universal, affordable preschool offers working parents.
From Slate Magazine
They mean to restore what was a norm several years ago, until schools and preschool got terrified of lawsuits after even the smallest accident.
From CNN
Preschool children develop this awareness through both small-muscle activity, like getting both hands to work together, and large-muscle activity, such as walking, running and climbing.
From CNN
Preschools will open at seven academies to make sure kindergartners are ready to learn.
From Plain Dealer
In early 2013 they started a pre-school, and that summer added special needs children to the rolls.
From Huffington Post
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Translations of preschool
in Chinese (Traditional)
學齡前的,入學前的, 幼稚園…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
学龄前的,入学前的, 幼儿园…
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in Spanish
preescolar, de edad preescolar, jardín de infancia…
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in Portuguese
pré-escolar, de pré-escola, pré-escola…
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in more languagesin French
in Norwegian
maternelle [feminine]…
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førskole [masculine], barnehage [masculine]…
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What is preschool education | Education and study
Not everyone is worthy of teaching and that education and teaching should be something professional, this is very satisfying to the person who transmits it. The purpose of early childhood education is nothing less than the education of boys and girls from 0 to 6 years of age. It's really nice to be able to contribute to the learning of toddlers.
In the next article we will talk to you in more detail everything that includes pre-school education and why it is worth learning and practicing.
Index
- 1 What is preschool education?
- 2 Why is it so important to work in early childhood education
- 3 Qualities of a good early childhood teacher
- 4 What job opportunities does early childhood education offer?
What is preschool education?
Pre-school education is the first stage of the educational system. . This is followed by primary and secondary education. Pre-school education includes the education of children from 0 to 6 years old and includes three types of well-differentiated areas: autonomy, knowledge of the environment and optimal language development.
Pre-school education will be divided into two cycles: the first is held in kindergartens and is aimed at children up to 3 years of age. The second cycle is taught at school and is aimed at children from 3 to 6 years old.
The task of the teacher is nothing more than ensuring the autonomy of children in matters of hygiene or food intake. In addition, the professional influences certain types of learning, such as language or psychomotor skills. To work as a child educator, you need to earn a degree related to early childhood education and have received appropriate training in the field of education and upbringing of children.
Why is it so important to work in early childhood education
To properly enjoy and engage in this profession, you need to have a calling. . This is the best university degree for those who feel passion and dedication to little ones. Few things in life are more rewarding than being able to teach and teach young children who are eager to learn.
It's true that not everyone is worth it, because dealing with children is not an easy task. A professional must be very patient and able to calm down in delicate moments. However, by seeing how children learn and develop in the learning process, manages to cover the most complex and difficult aspects of this profession.
The early childhood teacher observes from the first person how children can do certain things on their own and how they begin to develop language, which is key when communicating with other people. As if that wasn't enough0005 the teacher has very good job opportunities and it is easy to enter the market.
Qualities of a good early childhood teacher
- When you work as a teacher, many qualities are expected. The main one is, undoubtedly, dedication and dedication to children.
- The second quality is patience and self-control. Children are not easy to get along with, and a good teacher must be calm enough to understand and understand the little ones.
- The teacher should also be an organizer who knows how to lead a class of 20 to 25 children. . It is very important to organize a class, to specifically monitor each child, or to know how to convey a series of values that are key to adult development.
What job opportunities does preschool education offer?
Pre-school graduate offers many job opportunities. It is normal to be an early childhood education teacher in public or private kindergartens or schools. Other possible sources are those associated with educational research or collaborations with well-known NGOs.
In addition to working in a school or educational centres, a teacher can develop in other areas such as hospitals or juvenile centres. The preschool teacher will also open his own business and work in private academies, helping children learn outside of school. As you can see, there are many job options offered by a graduate of early childhood education.
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Photos: Depositphotos / Illustrations: Yulia Zamzhitskaya
Candidate of Psychology, co-author of the Instrument for Independent Assessment of the Quality of Preschool Education (NQC DO) in Moscow Elena Yudina reflects on where to develop preschool education in Russia.
Pre-school education should not consist of “preparing for school”
Pre-school childhood is a period in a person’s life that is incomparable with any other in terms of the intensity of its development: a child actively learns about the world, himself and other people, learns self-realization. However, this happens only if we orient the child's development towards solving problems of preschool age, without replacing them with problems of other, older ages.
The Soviet Union favorably differed from many countries in the systematic organization of education for children from one to seven years old. We got a good infrastructure, traditions of systemic state financing, social support for weak families and much more that can ensure the successful functioning of modern preschool education. Nevertheless, the USSR was characterized by an attitude towards the “preschool” as a predominantly performing function of preparing children for school.
For those who love and know how to communicate with children, but have no experience in pedagogy, the Educational Center of the Teachers Council offers to learn the profession of an educator.
Training includes three areas:
– Psychological and pedagogical,
— legal,
- medical (first aid in emergency situations).
After completing our vocational training course (750 ac.h.), you will be able to work in a preschool.
Upon completion of training, a standard diploma is issued.
Installment available.
Find out more
The main task of this period of a child’s development was considered to be to ensure a trouble-free, ideally absolutely smooth fit into the school environment (easy adaptation), quick and clear fulfillment of the teacher’s requirements from the very beginning of education in elementary school and subsequent “success” throughout the period of schooling.
This dominant (although never the only one and having many opponents in the person of psychologists and teachers of the Vygotsky school) view of the tasks of preschool education changed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries after the works of the Nobel laureate in economics James Heckman received deafening popularity.
These papers in the language of finance demonstrated what the educational community has always tried to convey to politicians and officials: the preschool period in a child's life is not just preparatory to school; he solves his important tasks in the development of the child.
Economists have shown that preschool childhood is that period in a person's life, investment in which cannot compete with any other investment in human capital, in terms of the rate of return. It has become clear to many politicians, financiers and other "stakeholders" that preschool education has an independent value; this was the beginning of the "preschool boom" in many countries of the world.
Preschool education in countries that have never paid serious attention to this age is gradually turning from disparate services into a system, the coverage of children with this level of education is increasing, and its funding is noticeably increasing. At the same time, the need to revise its main tasks, the need to “pivot” the system of preschool education on the child, and to recognize the inherent value of preschool childhood as one of the key periods in the development of the child is increasingly felt.
Play should be the basis of preschool education
Another of the main problems of modern preschool education is the disappearance of children's play both from kindergartens and from the family.
The role-playing game disappears from a child's life. Unfortunately, this is a worldwide trend. Children have almost stopped playing - to such an extent that voices are often heard: perhaps modern children do not need this? However, practice shows that if given the opportunity (at least to provide enough time and space), children begin to play with pleasure, leaving all other activities for the sake of role-playing. But the game will not arise by itself if we do not take special care of it.
We conducted a study of the educational priorities of families with preschool children and teachers working with preschool children. Unfortunately, according to its results, the game consistently ranks last in the ranking of tasks that, from the point of view of our respondents, preschool education should solve - and this applies to both parents and teachers. This is a very dangerous trend. In addition, it turned out that the point is not only that the task of preparing children for school “pulls” time and all other resources onto themselves: parents do not consider the task of preparing for school to be the most important, it is approximately in the middle of the list of priorities. However, the game consistently ranks last on this list, parents do not understand why children need to play. It is especially bitter to realize this because it is the domestic school of psychology and pedagogy - the school of L.S. Vygotsky - discovered the importance of children's play for the development of a preschool child and thus made a significant contribution to the world of psychological and pedagogical science.
Why does play take such an important place in a child's life? The fact is that it is in the game that the child is the master of his activity. He himself comes up with and embodies his plan, he enters into communication with other children, communicates with them “out of role” and learns to negotiate from his real position, learns to accept the rules, he develops speech, imagination, thinking and many other functions that are important for this age. Nothing can replace play for children's development.
HP Vygotsky and his collaborators and followers (D. B. Elkonin, A. V. Zaporozhets, L. A. Venger) defined the role-playing game as the leading activity in preschool age. This means that only in the game does the development of the basic, most important abilities of this age take place in preschool children, the acquisition of the basic competencies necessary for further development.
As long as our children do not play, this reflects very badly on their development. If we want children to be developed, inquisitive, communicate well, learn about the world, be able to make their own decisions, we need to help them develop the game, create conditions for playing with peers, older and younger children so that they can share their gaming experience with each other, educate gaming communities and just enjoyed the game.
Pre-school education should be child-centered
It is very important to understand that one cannot simply focus on the development of a pre-school child without paying attention to the quality of pre-school programs and being guided only by the desire to “start as early as possible”. Early development will solve the problems of preschool age only if we use quality programs.
We see how pre-school education is booming all over the world, but one of the most serious problems is that the child is not considered the subject, the master of his education - he actually never has the opportunity to choose. There are a relatively small number of educational programs that assume that the child, together with an adult, decides what and when to do it, which partner to choose, what materials to use, and so on. Such preschool education requires completely different forms, methods and programs than those with which teachers in our country are accustomed to work.
However, there are several child-oriented programs that exist in Russia. The preschool project of the "Rybakov Fund" developed the "PROKids" and "Discoveries" programs. "PROchildren" relies on a cultural and historical approach in education, uses original methods for developing children's thinking, self-regulation, initiative and independence, social and communicative competencies, and all this in the context of a role-playing game. Many kindergartens are already operating under the Discovery program.
There is the famous Italian program Reggio Emilia, presented in our country rather as a philosophy and the presence of some educational technologies. This is a very good program, but it seems that it cannot be accurately reproduced in other places, since this educational project is quite strongly tied to the place where it originated and where it still operates on a citywide scale, creating an open educational space for children of preschool and school age.
The emergence of new information technologies is fundamentally changing approaches to education, including preschool education.
We live in an era of civilizational change, information technology has made the modern world changeable and changing extremely quickly, and therefore with a high degree of uncertainty. Even now it is difficult to be confident in the future, and in the future, the trends of uncertainty will only increase.