2019, 1
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the leap from kindergarten to primary school level of education. Different approaches to understanding the indicators of successful transition have been considered. As the most relevant condition and experience of children concerning occurring changes and new environments, expectations and activity of parents, quality of cooperation with family, educational and public organizations, quality of preparation of teachers come to the fore.
The transformation of ideas about factors influencing the well-being of the transition has been analyzed. The conclusion about the need for a comprehensive consideration of the role of early educational experience of children, their preparation to school, the continuity of the content and methods of education, the involvement of parents and the quality of interaction between all participants in the transition process has been drawn.
Some of the transition strategies have been considered, in particular, from the point of view of the purposes of support of this process, the basic regulatory documents, the most widespread ways of working with children, families, educational and public organizations, as well as challenges and complications.
Cases from Japan, Finland and Australia have been considered to illustrate possible areas of work to improve the transition between preschool and primary education. These countries are implementing significantly different strategies and tactics, while recognizing the need to improve the transition process and appreciating the role of early learning experiences. Japan’s approach is more oriented towards the creation of detailed regulations and the organization of interaction between teachers. The creation of a common methodological framework for early childhood education is relevant for Finland, and the particular implementation of innovations in transition is delegated to the educational institutions themselves. Australia is primarily focused on working with children in the preparatory stage, as well as on informing parents and encouraging them to engage proactively with children, teachers and each other.
This paper features the results of theoretical research of the problem of education and development of a preschooler as a behaving actor in a preschool educational organization, conducted by the Early Childhood Education Department of the Institute for Childhood of the A.I. Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia for several decades. The purpose of this study is to define conceptual approaches to the education and development of a contemporary child as a kindergarten behaving actor.
Axiological understanding of the child as an actor capable of authorizing, entering and developing activities in accordance with its own idea, vision, image and result, as well as the ability to evaluate and change it has been applied. The basis of the research was outlined by the ideas of personality-centered and developing education, approaches of actor-oriented and non-linear construction of educational content and forms of support for preschoolers in the educational process.
The result of the study reveals the initial idea about the child as a behaving actor of a preschool age, developed by the St. Petersburg scientific school of preschool pedagogics, the provisions of the collective actor, the principles of education and development of the child as a behaving actor, the principles of updating the content of preschool education and age-correlated methods of its learning by children, the principles of personally-oriented interaction between the teacher and children, event-based, unusual and situational approaches to education. The new competence of a contemporary early childhood education teacher shall be efficiency, flexibility and variability in the organization of the personalized educational process. The conducted research allows to see the necessity of changes in early childhood education based on the changes that have occurred in the childhood over the last decade.
This paper represents the views of academics of the St. Petersburg scientific school on the place and role of the object environment in the development of preschoolers from the moment of the foundation of the Early Childhood Education Department of the Institute for Childhood of the A.I. Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia to the present day.
The purpose of this paper is the study of tendencies in the development of the idea of arrangement of the kindergarten during the last century on the basis of comparison of the ideas of famous scientific figures who were at the origins of the Early Childhood Education Department and academics of the Early Childhood Education Department who represent contemporary preschool pedagogical science.
The main method of research is a comparative analysis of scientific research of academics of the St. Petersburg scientific school in historical retrospective. The study topic is the phenomenon of object and space environment, assessment of its significance and content for the development of children of early and preschool age in different historical periods.
As a result of the study, the tendencies of changes in the understanding of the object and space environment as a condition and means of development of children before the school have been defined, the sustainable approaches in the organization of the environment in different historical periods have been revealed, the interrelations between the method of transformation of pedagogical reality dominating in a certain historical period and the character of the created environment in the kindergarten have been established.
Paper describes the main approaches to the social and personal development of children of preschool age. The main attention has been paid to the fact that a kindergarten group, as a genetically early stage of social organization, creates the necessary conditions for the development of children’s contacts in the process of an independent and joint activity, the acquisition of communication skills with peers “on equal terms” in a variety of educational situations necessary for the development of a child’s personality.
The methodological basis of the study is the concept of child development as a subject of a child activity and behavior (T.I. Babaeva, A.G. Gogoberidze). Theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem of the social and personal development of a child, analysis of PhD dissertations, defended at the Early Childhood Education Department of the A.I. Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia from the second half of the 20th century to the present was applied as an objective analytical tool.
The main directions of social and personal development of preschoolers, the personal characteristics in the interaction of preschool children with peers have been described. The indicators and conditions for the development and upbringing of the independence of preschool children have been revealed.