Methodology. This paper presents the results of reflection on the assumptions for the development of science and practice of child-rearing based on the review of activities of the public movement on the organization of the early childhood education at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries.
Methods and organization of the study. The paper is based on the review of the records of the Early Childhood Education Department and the Museum of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia and historical articles on the formation of the early childhood education. A narrative method has been used to highlight the activities of public movements in support of the early childhood education. The comparative method has been applied to identify the general activities of the public movement in the city of St. Petersburg in support of the initial child-rearing. A retrospective analysis revealed the assumptions for the development of the Russian system of the early childhood education.
Results. The activities of the following public movements have been described: the Movement for Promoting Initial Education (hereinafter the International Froebel Society, IFS), Movement for Early Childhood Education and Movement for Free Education. The ideas of teachers who are participants of various public movements standing by the creation of the system of national childhood education and setting standards for training specialists for work with children have been highlighted. The role of a public movement in the development of the theory and practice of the childhood education has been explained.
Conclusion. A review of the activities of the public movements in support of the childhood education helps to understand the basic assumptions for the development of academic insights related to the upbringing and development of a child and to reveal the traditions of national experience in preparing the kindergarten specialists that originated from the public movement at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries and which were crystallized in the activities of the Pedagogical Institute of Early Childhood Education.