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The Early Years Revolution -
Learning to know, to do, to be, to live together
and to transform society begins at birth.
Bernard P.Y. Combes
Early Childhood and
Family Education Unit, UNESCO
Paris, France
Introduction
The learning capacity and value orientations of children are largely determined by
the time the child reaches the age of formal schooling. The early childhood years
provide the basis for learning life-long skills and attitudes. Well conceived early
childhood programmes help meet the diverse needs of young children during the
crucial early years of life and enhance their readiness for schooling. Early
childhood care and education is an integral part of basic education and
represents the first and essential step in achieving the goals of Education-for-All1.
The Jomtien World Conference on Education for All in 1990 was a major boost to
the field of early childhood. During the conference the vision of "basic education"
was expanded to include meeting basic learning needs in the earliest years. This
expanded definition reflected a recognition that early development provides the
foundation for learning in primary school and for productive social contributions in
later life. It also highlighted the need for learning to be personally empowering
and enriching. This basic idea was further developed and supported by the Delors
Report2, which highlighted four 'pillars' or fundamental types of learning: learning
to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together. To these four
pillars, a fifth3 can be added: learning to transform oneself and society. It is during
the early years that children develop their first concepts, values and attitudes,
principles and skills to become lifelong learners.
It is a tremendous revolution that is only just beginning. A revolution in
knowledge about the early years, from before birth and up to the first few
years of life. Decisive years, in themselves constituting a revolution in the
development of the human being as no other period of life will ever do so
1 See Paragraph 20 of the Jomtien Framework for Action which states that the pre-conditions for educational
quality, equity and efficiency are set in the early childhood years, making attention to early childhood care
and development essential to the achievement of basic educational goals.
2 For more details, see Delors J. et al. (1996). Learning: The Treasure Within, Report to UNESCO of the
International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
3 The addition of this fifth pillar was suggested by UNICEF during its own analytical process of the
recommendations of the Delors Report. (Black, 1999: 9)
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again. Years that see the acquisition of the major stages of learning and
the formation of each personality. Years that are still too often neglected
and underestimated with regard to what is individually and collectively at
stake. (Editorial, Label France 2001:1)
Today, research in every field, from psychology to neurology through neonatology,
forces us to accept the fact that "the baby is a person"4, a sensitive being, highly
receptive to its environment, able to form relationships and communicate, to learn
from the time of its gestation. This is a challenge to a long past of medical, social
and parenting practices based on the adult's power over the child, and a
revolution in mindsets, a move to recognising the child as a subject to be
respected from its earliest years, and as an active and creative lifelong learner.
Learning begins at birth5 and sets the stage for further learning. Thus, from the very
beginning of their lives, young children learn to know, to do, to be, to live together
and they learn to transform themselves and others. Young children learn to know
using every senses available to them; they also learn how to learn about the world
around them. They learn to do, to smile, to eat, to drink, to kick their legs and
wave their arms around. Young children also learn to ‘feel’ what others do to
them and to each other. They learn to be, to be a child, unique and an individual.
They thus learn about their identity – to be who they are and valued for who they
are. They learn about living together, about belonging to a family, about living
with others and the world around them. They learn also about respecting the
environment, the need for solidarity and for non-discrimination. In summary, as
soon as they are born young children learn that they are a child, an individual, a
citizen in a world of many people and many cultures.
Learning begins at birth or even before
The beginning is the most important part of the work. (Plato)
The very early foundations of learning are formed during the prenatal period.
Scientists say that about three weeks after conception, the brain forms into a large
mass of neurons. How the parents, in particular the mother, arranges the prenatal
environments during this period therefore afects the course of development of the
foetus. It has been shown that unsafe use of drugs, smoking and drinking alcohol
can cause birth defects and have other long-term harmful effects.
A baby’s five senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch - are all working from birth.
And from birth, a child begins learning about the world. From birth, one of the
greatest needs of all children is to be talked to, touched, cuddled, hugged, to see
familiar faces and expressions and to hear familiar voices, and to see that others
will respond to them. Children also need new and interesting things to look at,
4 This phrase is a summary of Françoise Dolto's thoughts, and also the title of a documentary that marked a
turning point for the general public in France in recognising the importance of early childhood.
5 refers to Article 5 of the Jomtiem World Declaration on Education for All
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listen to, watch, hold and play with. This is the beginning of learning, as learning is
an interplay between the child learner and his/her learning environments.
Learning begins at birth, as the young child starts:
· Learning to know, so as to acquire a taste for learning
throughout life and for understanding the world.
· Learning to do, so as to be able to deal with many situations,
and be an actor as well as a thinker.
· Learning to be, so as to better develop one's personality and be
able to act with greater autonomy, judgement and personal
responsibility.
· Learning to live together, so as to develop an understanding of
other people and their history, traditions and spirituality, in order
to participate and co-operate with others in all human activities.
· Learning to transform oneself and society, so as to develop
respect for the environment, for social solidarity and for a nondiscriminatory,
gender-sensitive world.
Learning to know
The infant is equipped with sensory capacities which enable him or her to
explore and learn about his or her social and physical surroundings.
(Durkin, 1995: 57)
A baby is born with the reflex actions he needs to survive (such as sucking and the
ability to find his mother's nipple when he lets go) and with the capacity to
develop his knowledge and skills.
A baby can see.
A two-day old new-born can distinguish between his mother’s face and any other
face. The vision of colours will only be perfect at four months. He essentially sees
the world in grey. The colour perceived at birth is blue. At two months come
green and bright red. At six months he sees pastel shades.
A baby can hear.
Sounds already reach him in utero, particularly his mother’s voice. At birth, he
reacts more to high pitched sounds than to low ones. At four days he can
distinguish his mother tongue from another language.
A baby can recognize the voice of his mother.
He can recognize at birth familiar sounds heard during pregnancy. He is more
responsive to his mother’s voice than to that of others.
A baby can differentiate between savoury and sweet.
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He can differentiate sweet from other tastes. However, he cannot well
differentiate between savoury and others. Sweet and bitter tastes seem to be
better perceived.
A baby can smell.
He can recognize smells. He will thus show his appreciation of sweet smells, and his
dislike of unpleasant smells. He prefers his mother’s odour to that of other women,
and the smell of the breast of a breastfeeding woman to that of a woman who is
not breastfeeding.
A baby can have a first sense of touch.
It is the most important sense in the life of a newborn, in particular focussed on the
mouth. A new-born can strongly grasp any object put in his hand. It is the
grasping reflex. The eye-hand coordination will only appear around four and a
half months.
A baby can walk.
He can walk if he is held by the armpits, the sole of his feet touching a flat surface.
It is a so-called primary or archaic reflex.
A baby can understand the relationship between cause and effect.
He has a notion of permanence that allows him to know that an object
disappearing from his field of vision continues to exist. It is the beginning of the
concept of cause and effect.
A baby can remember events.
He has a memory of recognition of things seen, heard or touched, but it is a fragile
memory a bit like the random access memory of a computer. He also has a
memory of events. You stick your tongue out to a six week old baby, he responds
by sticking his tongue out. The next day he will spontaneously stick his tongue out
to you.
And from then on, a young child's practical knowledge constantly increases. The
child's learning, growth and development go on continuously. There are no set
periods for learning; nor are there set places. There are no set topics or actions for
the child's learning; everything can be part of his/her curriculum.
Learning to do
The child must be the protagonist of his education and of his protection6.
(Ségolène Royal, French Minister of State for Family and Childhood)
6 translated from French: L'enfant doit être acteur de son éducation et de sa protection.
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Child development and growth are complementary but they are not the same.
Growth is characterized by progress in size, height or weight, etc. Development is
a process of change in which the baby learns to master increasingly complex
levels of movement, thinking, feeling and socialization. Development is a journey
of discovery through the senses, in which the child takes in and thereby creates,
establishes and confirms connections and paths in the brain. The dimensions of
this development process are all related one to the other, the emotional affecting
the cognitive and the physical and vice versa. It is a multi-faceted and multidimensional
process involving aspects of health, nutrition, hygiene, emotion and
intellect.
By the time children reach the age of two, their brains contain as many synapses
and use up as much energy as the brain of the average adult. Development in
the child is a complex process and it lies at the very heart of every human being
and his or her learning process, beginning at birth and even before, in utero. The
implications of this on society, and the way children are taught, are enormous and
necessarily mean that the importance of the first few years of life is increasingly
being stressed by educators. Scientists now know that experiences after birth
rather than innate elements are actually responsible for wiring the brain together.
Brain development before the age of one, researchers say, is, in fact, much more
rapid and extensive than was previously imagined. For example, the amount of
connections between nerve cells in an infant's brain grow more than 20-fold in the
first months of life. Cell formation might be practically complete before a child is
born but the actual maturation of the brain continues after birth. Over the course
of childhood, the synapses in the brain proliferate, rewire and are cut away and
this whole process is governed by experience.
It is evident that it is within the crucial first early years, when experience is moulding
the brain, that the foundations for learning are also set. A person's ability to learn
and his or her attitudes towards learning stem from their early years. A stimulating
and receptive context can set a young child on the path of discovery, openness
to the outside world and the capacity to integrate information. The brain is never
as elastic again as it is in childhood, in terms of receptivity and vulnerability. Early
childhood experiences are the building blocks of this development and the child is
architect of his or her own brain, piecing together the puzzle and reacting to the
outside world. It is the sensory experiences of the child which play on the brain,
creating and setting out a functioning mind. Unfortunately, experience is not
necessarily limited to positive events. It can come in many and varied forms. It
can mean intense joy and interaction in a mother's arms but also sickness,
malnutrition or neglect. The type of experience, then, is decisive in mapping out
the attitude towards learning that will develop in the child.
Early stress can influence brain function, learning, and memory negatively and
permanently. Studies of chronic stress in children have shown that development of
the limbic system, frontal lobes and hippocampus is hampered when stress occurs,
leaving these parts of the brain, used for attention focusing, vigilance and
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memory, particularly vulnerable. But stress does not have to be chronic to have a
detrimental effect. Less extreme forms of emotional stress, such as arguing
amongst parents or parental depression can also lead to children being a greater
risk from depression and learning difficulties. A child deprived of experience and
use of the senses will undoubtedly suffer. Researchers have proved that children
who do not play a lot or who are rarely cuddled and touched by parents or
caregivers develop smaller brains. On the one hand, a wealth of experience can
produce a powerful brain and, on the other, traumatic experience can lead to a
greater risk of a variety of later cognitive, behavioural and emotional difficulties.
One of the basic motors for learning is curiosity and babies and young children are
extremely inquisitive. If their thirst for knowledge is not satisfied, it will shrink away.
The simple example of the baby's visual system speaks for itself: unless a baby's
eyes are stimulated, exercised and constantly used they will not develop to their
full capacity. So it is with the brain and, by extension, the learning process.
If a child's environment is conducive to discovery, new emotions and
communication, then the process of learning is naturally enhanced. There are key
stages in this development, as one new discovery leads to another, and the
willingness to learn is fed by the power of an experience and a hunger for more.
The skills for building knowledge are reinforced through practice and lead, in turn,
to a search for new skills. If one is to try and identify what it is in the development
process that stimulates learning then it is important to have a vision of how children
learn. Toddlers, for example, are not ready to assimilate abstract signs such as
letters or numbers but learn through concrete, tangible ways such as discovering
or touching an object. Learning methods should build on these natural desires
and processes. A child, for example, will naturally pile up bits of wood and then
separate them but will not spontaneously enjoy reciting the alphabet or counting
objects.
One of the guiding principles of holistic childhood development is that it is the
unfolding and progress of learning that is important rather than the product. That
means that it is the approach to, and process of, learning that stimulates a
willingness to learn rather than the simple ingesting of facts and figures. Pushing
children to absorb facts and knowledge will not increase their desire to learn. It
will, in fact, be to the detriment of the child's later development and ability to learn
effectively from the facts of life. Learning by doing and the very basic need to
know seem to be the main motors in stimulating children.
Learning to be
The 21st century baby is no longer really a baby. It is no longer even an
infans - he who does not speak - he is a person endowed with a thousand
abilities, a real scholar, a being of desires and words, who only asks to be
treated with care, respect and love, in its true sense. (Patrick Ben Soussan,
Label France 2001:15)
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Children have a natural need and desire to experiment and will do so
independently of adults. Leaving children to discover for themselves is one of the
best ways to open up their minds to the joys of learning and knowledge. Just
simply reaching for an object helps the child's brain develop hand-eye coordination.
Without encouragement by parents or caregivers, children will want to
experiment, will naturally learn through their mistakes, interact with other children
and come to understand conflict, sharing and how to deal with feelings. Play, for
instance, stimulates imagination and creativity and helps children work out the
adult world with its contradictions and rules. As said before, the complexity of the
development process and the discovery in the child of the pleasures of learning
call for a total or integrated approach to early childhood. What happens at one
moment or age of development influences the next and so on, so forth, both
positively and negatively. This process might begin with awareness, move to
discovery, exploration, testing, inquiry and finally use. The cycle can be observed
in the simple movements of the body which allow the child to understand cause
and effect and then allow him/her to move on to more complex ideas through
mastering the body.
Here, it is important to mention children with special needs. Research shows that
early childhood interventions can mean greater stimulation for children with
special needs and give parents space to reflect and create better support to
overcome their difficulties and limited knowledge of their children's possibilities.
Furthermore, early childhood provides a perfect entry point for acting with children
with difficulties. It is the period in children's lives when caregivers and parents have
the greatest possibilities to channel energy into the individual needs of the child
and when the emphasis on the all-round holistic development of the child can be
the most effective in surmounting learning difficulties. Intervention at an early age
is also a chance for many families to become more involved in developing their
child's potential by reaching a better comprehension of their role in helping to
realize it.
Once the ball of learning is rolling, the child's discovery of life will flourish if the
environment is responsive and supportive without being imposing. Language skills
will graft onto previous skills through interactions with adults and children will
become aware of themselves within a wider social environment, coming to display
emotion and understanding its effect on the community or family. Child
development is, therefore, multi-faceted, physical, emotional, mental, social and,
even, spiritual with an in-built domino effect, in which change creates change.
The skills that are at the foundation of knowledge construction are reinforced and
improved through practice. It is the child who constructs his or her own
knowledge.
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Learning to live together
Everyone is born egocentric. But from early childhood, each human being
gradually realizes that he or she has to live together with others in order to
survive. The constraints arising from the egocentric nature of human beings
give rise to many difficulties, conflicts, frustrations and even hatred against
others, including family members, but the fact remains: everyone has to
learn to live with others. (Myong Won Suhr, Delors Report: 235)
Young children are born with the innate ability to interact with others. Through this
process, which begins soon after birth, the child's personality develops. Social and
personal development go together. By interacting with the environment in
general, and other people in particular, the child becomes aware of his/herself as
a person, and also learns to adjust his/herself to others and become an accepted
member of a social group.
Research has shown that young children have many different capacities for
attachment, as well as an innate skill at socialising, and socialising encourages
acquisition. The younger a child is, the more its capacity for perception, reasoning
and learning depends on the quality of the relationships the child establishes with
its environment. Thus community life extended beyond the family to attentive and
affectionate professionals is an important factor in intellectual and emotional
enrichment.
It is during the early years that children build their own value-systems and selfesteem.
They develop the ability to relate with others, to express themselves, to
communicate, to listen, to settle conflicts and quarrels amicably, to be reconciled
and to forgive. Self-esteem is necessary for anyone to care for others. A young
child cannot be compassionate towards others unless he/she is secure about
his/her own self-worth. Self-esteem is needed to be able to deal with others, to be
tolerant of other’s opinions and differences, whether racial, physical religious,
social, economic or political. Self-esteem begins with the development of trust in
oneself, and in significant others, acceptance of one’s feelings and inadequacies,
learning to deal with emotions of fear, anger and jealousy positively,
communicating in verbal and non verbal language, listening patiently and
actively, acquiring autonomy and responsibility. (Quisumbing, 2000)
Young children understand each other; they play and make spontaneous
contact, hardly conscious of cultural, religious or ethnic differences. That changes
as they grow up, particularly if educators, parents, or even older children
emphasize the differences. Only then do young children become aware of these
and learn to connect them with the concepts of "better than" or "worse than", of
"us" and "them". If a young child experiences discrimination of any kind (based on
race, colour, sex, religion or anything else) it makes it hard for them to grow up in a
way that helps them achieve all that they could achieve. It also sets them apart
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from everyone else. Thus, where children of varied social and ethnic backgrounds
are brought together, as they are in many early childhood settings and learning
environments, mutual tolerance and understanding can be cultivated.
A child's first experience of cooperation or rivalry, jealousy or sharing, takes places
in the home. Families provide the greatest learning environment of all and have a
tremendous impact on young children's daily experiences. It is through the family
that the child first learns about values, rights and obligations, and about sharing,
solidarity and responsibility. Unfortunately, in too many cases, it is in the family that
children also learn and suffer isolation, violence, pain, poverty and discrimination.
Many families live under tremendous economic stress, and more and more young
children are growing up in poverty both in developing and industrialized countries.
Many children suffer from family social disintegration, family instability (separation,
divorce, or unwanted pregnancies), and adverse parental behavior (depression,
alcoholism or violence). In such situations, the provision of a caring environment
quickly disappears.
Learning to transform oneself and society
It is by methodically and unflinchingly educating for freedom and liberty
that you will bring up free individuals.7 (Pauline Kermogard)
Children can help build a better future for everyone but we must respect their
rights to express themselves and we need to listen to them. Young children's
voices must be heard. As they grow and develop, children must be encouraged
and supported to get involved in decisions that affect them. We need to help
them make the best use of their energy and creativity and to gain knowledge and
learn skills to deal with the demands of life. What children need is the ability to
cope with a rapidly changing environment, and reach an understanding of others.
Young children learn about the world by actively exploring, experimenting,
discovering and creating. They need the possibility to make their own choices and
decisions, they need to be empowered and feel part of a democratic society.
Democracy in education results in a sense of empowerment by the children. The
freedom to make meaningful choices regarding their daily lives and future helps to
improve children's self-esteem by naturally fostering a feeling of competence and
independence (Erwin, 1994). In addition to learning about themselves through a
democratic approach, children learn first-hand about social and group dynamics.
Young children have no conception of international problems. They know no
racism, no nationalism and no exploitation of others. We are challenged to allow
the natural openness of the young child towards his/her environment to become
7 translated from French: C'est en faisant méthodiquement et sans défaillance l'éducation de la liberté que
vous élèverez des êtres libres.
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transformed into conscious commitment to the world and others. In this
perspective, early childhood needs to be viewed as a true and real necessity for
the viable future of the next generations. Indeed, many of the world's hopes for
overcoming conflict, environmental degradation, illiteracy, poverty, exclusion and
inequality could well remain vain unless we invest adequately in programmes for
the early development of children, in holistic interventions for all children and
families, and in actively engaging and encouraging young children to participate.
Research confirms the importance of the early years to positively influence
children in a long-lasting way; and to help empower them, by enabling them to
initiate and carry out their own learning activities and make independent
decisions. The value orientations of children are largely determined by the time
they reach the age of formal schooling. The first steps towards a lifetime of
peaceful, non-violent activities, of respect for one-self and others, of nondiscrimination,
and of appreciation of diversity may be taken during early
childhood, as children begin to mature and put into place their cognitive and
affective frameworks. Discussions about potential values education for young
children have centered around several themes, for example:
· respect for self and others, fostering co-operation and conflict resolution skills;
· appreciation of diversity, global awareness and multicultural education;
· practical implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as a
set of values universally accepted as essential for children to be able to fulfill
their potential;
· stimulation of the child's imagination through creativity;
· establishing multi-cultural programmes that help young children integrate
spiritual / religious with secular learning, or bridge the gaps of experience
often faced by multiple language or multiple cultural groups.
Making a difference: What can we do?
To consider every child as a unique individual, to establish a relationship
with it based on mutual trust and to allow the children to discover, to unfold
and to rightly enhance their capacities and potentials: .... this is the way
which will prepare our children to live in the world of tomorrow.
(Federico Mayor, Göbel, 1996: message of greetings)
The current early childhood context
The majority of the world's young children are at risk of failing to thrive and failing
to achieve their potential8. This is true, despite the fact that within the past 30
years many interesting and well-conceived programs for children have come and
gone all over the world. There is still a lack of true commitment to early childhood
in many countries. Expansion of services and programmes has been hindered by
an absence of leadership and/or vision, and by what are considered as more
8 for more details, see the State of the World's Children 2001 report on early childhood development at
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urgent social and economic issues. The EFA 2000 Assessment shows that of the
more than 800 million children under 6 years of age in the world, fewer than a third
benefit from any form of early childhood programmes9. The challenge is thus
enormous, made more difficult by the demographic pressures and increased
urbanisation, increased social exclusion and poverty, great numbers of out-ofschool
children, the alarming progress of AIDS and the impact of globalization that
most countries experience. Yet, efficient and low-cost options for early childhood
exist, and are adapted to the needs of children, the life conditions of families, the
different cultures, values and resources of countries. Their implementation
depends more on creating adequate political and social will than on any other
factor.
Attention to early childhood is not a luxury or speciality topic - it should be the first
step in any effort to invest in children. Research has shown that for children, the
greatest represent windows of opportunity10 to develop basic physical, mental,
social and emotional capacities are found within the first eight years of life. During
this time, not only are crucial brain structures and cognitive patterns established,
forming a basis for all future ability to learn, but also children and families learn
social, linguistic and behavioural patterns which can determine their social
participation or failure. Early childhood is thus the time to explore, experiment and
master change but also the crucial period when children may develop positive
attitudes towards learning and a desire to participate in the world. The wealth of
current experiences provides an effective choice of models and the hope of
results at relatively low-cost in terms of human resources and infrastructure. Thus for
social planners, parents, community developers, governments and professionals,
early childhood programming offers a significant window of opportunity to make a
difference in the lives of children and their families, to build the foundations for
sustainable human development and to provide entry points to respond to the
challenges of our world.
Responding to the irreducible needs of young children
In their new book "The Irreducible Needs of Children", Doctors T. Berry Brazelton
and Stanley Greenspan argue that all young children have seven irreducible
needs. Taking these into account, we can make a difference and help create a
"world fit for children"11.
1. Ongoing nurturing relationships: Every baby needs a warm, intimate
relationship with a primary caregiver over a period of years, not months or
weeks. This is far more important to emotional and intellectual development
that early cognitive training or educational games. If this relationship is absent
or interrupted, a child can develop disorders of reasoning, motivation and
9 for more details, see the Early Childhood Care and Development Thematic Study and other documents on
the Education for All Dakar Forum website at
10 A window of opportunity is a time when the conditions are right for action, for realizing potential, for making
an effort, for achieving a plan or goal.
11 Title of the Outcome Document for the upcoming UN Special Session on Children, for more information
consult
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attachment. Infants, toddlers and preschoolers need these nurturing
interactions most of their waking hours.
2. Physical protection, safety and regulation: Both in the womb and in infancy,
children need an environment that provides protection from physical and
psychological harm, chemical toxins and exposure to violence.
3. Experiences tailored to individual differences: Every child has a unique
temperament. Tailoring early experience to nurture a child's individual nature
prevents learning and behavioral problems and enables a child to develop his
or her full potential.
4. Developmentally appropriate experiences: Children of different ages need
care tailored to their stage of development. Unrealistic expectations can
hinder a child's development.
5. Limit-setting, structure and expectations: Children need structure and
discipline. They need discipline that leads to internal limit-setting, channelling of
aggression and peaceful problem-solving. To reach this goal, they need adults
who empathize as well as set limits. They need expectations rather than labels,
and adults who believe in their potential but understand their weaknesses.
They need incentive systems, not failure models.
6. Stable, supportive communities and culture: To feel whole and integrated,
children need to grow up in a stable community. This means a continuity of
values in family, peer groups, religion and culture, as well as an exposure to
diversity.
7. Protecting the future: Meeting all these needs should be our highest priority. If
we fail, we will jeopardize our children's future.
The role of parents and caregivers
Every child is born with a great potential to grow and develop but this potential
can go in any direction either negative and positive. The choice is, basically, up to
parents. Conditions and expectations of parents, however, are changing rapidly.
The hands-on training that many parents used to receive from the extended family
or from the community is largely unavailable to contemporary parents. For this
reason, many parents are more hesitant about employing their instincts and tend
to have more faith in professional caregivers and programmes. Parents are the
child's first educators, companions and playmates. Children need to interact with
them and other adults to take on the structure of the world around them, and to
observe behaviour. It is this interaction that is fundamental to the effectiveness of
learning. Support to parents in this respect is important in enhancing a young
child's learning as it is strongly believed that attachment to a caring adult is a prerequisite
for balanced development. Caring is the key in the creation of a
supportive environment, and is the integrated set of actions that ensure for
children the synergy of health, protection, nutrition, psycho-social and cognitive
aspects of development.
Some measure of predictability in the adult environment is necessary to support
the child adequately. Swings in adult receptiveness can offset the child and deter
him or her from the path of learning which relies so much on parental support. It
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requires considerable work to set up learning situations in which each child can
progress at his or her pace and it is not realistic to expect parents or even childcare
staff to be able to do this without some form of adapted training. It is obvious
that a child's well-being is inseparable from the state of the family, which may
include a mother, father, sister or brother, and siblings or those who fulfill the caregiving
role.
Not all parents are sensitive to their young children's needs. It is important that
they are made to be aware of the different stages of a child's development and
the appropriate responses at each stage of growth. Sensitivity in parents is a key
factor in a child's learning process. If they can correctly perceive and interpret
children's signals, and respond appropriately, then the child will develop in
confidence. The most effective adults are those who refuse to stereotype their
children, believe in their freedom to learn and do all they can to avoid inequality
between their different children. Parents should be able to see a child's increasing
needs and assist the child in its advances. Domestic events such as washing,
cooking or cleaning can be used to introduce children to the use of objects and a
sense of the environment. Daily occurrences can become exploratory activities,
moments to play and find out new things. Learning materials are all around. There
is no need for sophisticated toys. Not all parents realize, for example, that the very
basis of learning is the act of exploring and discovering on one's own. The role of
parents or caregivers is to comprehend the natural process of learning which the
child is undergoing and to work with it, not against it.
It is not only parents who look after and nurture young children. In many countries,
the wider community, the extended family and outside caregivers also play a
crucial role. Beyond the attachment to parents or a single caregiver, support in
the wider community also helps the child discover and accept society's patterns
and rules and see the importance of strong and healthy social relations. All types
of caregivers can stimulate and observe the children's development. All are
responsible for paving the way for learning in a child's mind. But whether it is a
caregiver or a parent, and whether it is in Africa, Asia or Europe, one of the most
important skills to nurture as a caregiver, educator or parent is the ability to
recognize and capitalize on "teachable moments" in everyday life. A teachable
moment can happen almost anywhere - in the supermarket, when picking your
child up from school, when walking through a store or setting the table for dinner.
Chances are that many of the valuable moral lessons that you learned from your
parents as a child were not consciously taught at all. They were rather learned in
the midst of casual moments of real life, just as our children’s real lessons come
from being, living and interacting with us in a hundred different ways we could
never predict in advance. (Carr Reuben, 1997).
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Six keys to recognizing teachable moments
1. Recognize that children often learn moral lessons
unconsciously, in casual moments.
2. Be aware of situations that represent moral choices.
3. Talk with children about the ethical challenges represented in
everyday situations, the media and popular culture.
4. Praise children for their ethical choices.
5. Point out ethical behavior in others.
6. Let children see your own thought processes regarding ethical
decisions.
Towards child friendly learning environments
The International Initiative on Early Childhood and Values Education12, launched in
early 2000, lead to the elaboration of a harmonized and common framework to
integrate values in early childhood programmes and services by involving policy
makers, community leaders, trainers, caregivers, families, parents, children and
calling for increased awareness of:
· the need for a "flexible, creative, communicative and supportive" learning
environment for a young child,
· the impact of a value-based child-friendly learning environment where
each child can express its creative and communicative skills,
· the importance of surrounding the child with human core-values from an
early age,
· the ways of implementing values-based early childhood approaches for a
better social, emotional, academic and spiritual development of the
young child.
As a result of discussions that took place since the initiative was launched, some
conclusions have appeared which may constitute a challenge for parents,
educators, and countries:
· Education is about relationships, life (action), memory (experiences),
imagination (creativity), and most important the quality of listening (or intuition).
Listening is needed from every "agent" of education, i.e : educators, parents
and every adult surrounding the child, and from children themselves. This kind
of listening (to the needs/wishes of the child) is especially crucial in early
childhood.
12 This initiative was launched by UNESCO's Early Childhood and Family Education Unit jointly with the
Living Values Educational Program (a network of educators in some 66 countries) in response to requests
from countries on the issue of values education for young children at the UNESCO 1999 General
Conference.
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· Everyone learns from everyone. The educator is the child's student and the
parents have to be ready to switch role with their child, etc. Adults and
children discover values together. Human values go beyond notions of space,
time, age, social and cultural contexts.
· Values-based education in early childhood is there already. It just needs to be
looked at from a different angle. For instance: in rural areas, parents tend to
call their children back from school at the time of harvest because they need
extra hands to help do the work. Harvest may not necessarily be hard and
boring. It is up to the adults to make it a values-based educative activity. Thus
values-based education becomes an adapted way to share education in dayto-
day life and in a specific socio-cultural context.
· The whole idea of values-based education is about adults looking at
themselves first. You cannot teach values, you have to "live" and experience
them. Educators and parents need new "reflexes", new ways of doing things,
new ways of thinking, new ways of looking at what they do and its purpose.
· The most difficult thing for countries to accept will be the simplicity of valuesbased
education. It is not about a new programme or a new methodology per
se. Countries, educators and parents already "have" everything to give a
better quality of education to their young children. Everything is there, it is only
a matter of approaching it in a different way.
Early childhood and family education programmes can assist in that effort by
strengthening parenting skills and by providing environments within which children
can grow, play, learn and give attention to culturally desirable values.
Conclusion
To reach real peace in the world, we will have to begin with the children.
(Gandhi)
A child's mental and physical development are most rapid in the early years. It is
at that time that a child learns to move, coordinate, communicate, interpret and
cope with its environment. A young child's development does not occur in
isolation. It is strongly affected by family and community factors, which continue
to influence the child's later learning achievement in terms of enrolment, progress
and performance in school. The care and education (including health, nutrition,
attention and stimulation) a young child receives from birth depends very much
upon parents, family and community. This depends not only on availability and on
parents' and caregivers' abilities, but also on access to services that can help the
child and support parents in their role and function of parenting.
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The first steps towards children learning to be themselves, to know themselves, to
make sense of their own world, to make sense of the world around them, to serve
others and be stewards of their environment13 must be taken during early
childhood, as children begin to mature and put into place their cognitive and
affective frameworks. Thus, in the framework of UN resolutions and of the
International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of
the World (2001 - 2010), we should take into account the following 8 criteria in our
actions to help young children "learn" (UN General Assembly, A/55/377) :
· Respect for all life: respect the rights and dignity of each human being;
· Non-violence: reject violence, obtain justice by convincing and
understanding;
· Sharing: develop attitudes and skills for living together in harmony, ending
exclusion and oppression;
· Listening to understand: give everyone a chance to learn and share
through the free flow of information;
· Preserving the planet : make sure that progress and development are
good for everyone and for the environment;
· Tolerance and solidarity: appreciate that people are different and that
everyone has something to contribute to the community;
· The equality of women and men: ensure an equal place for women and
men in building society;
· Democracy: everyone participates in making decisions.
All this is necessary for professionals in their work, for educators in their interactions
with children, and for parents in their job of parents, to enable them to help young
children benefit from good starting conditions in life and become active and
responsible citizens. All children are born with the capacity to learn and that is the
most solid base on which any society can build. All too often, children are cast
away from their potential discoveries and lose their motivation for learning. We
can no longer afford to ignore the needs of young children, and, by extension,
what research is telling us. We need to provide young children with the ability to
enjoy respect, protection, health and learning opportunities in their early years, to
cope with a rapidly changing world, and the tools to tackle life and be able to
carry the world into the current millennium.
13 for more details, see Williams P. (2000). Child Friendly Learning Environments for All? First thoughts.
Kuwait American School.
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------------
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