I saw this post at MG’s blog and thought I shall put my 2 cents here.

I will copy and paste MG’s reader questions here .

1. Do childcare and preschool sound different for parents?

Yes, they are definitely different. A childcare caters to children from birth to age 4. The service is mainly for working parents who do not have other alternatives to take care of their children in their absence during the workday. Preschool/kindergartens are for those aged four to six, which follow the National Preschool Curriculum but incorporate their own teaching learning methodologies into it.

2 Will parents choose childcare instead of preschool, or vice versa, by knowing that preschools offers more educational services, while childcares are more custodial and most of the time offer full-day service that benefit the working parents?

Parents are left with no choice. Refer to answer no 1.

Especially, for Question 3 and 4, Please sort out the options provided, from the most important to the least. In which, the inclusion of some justification and additional important points will be greatly appreciated.

3. What are the requirements that can make up a quality preschool?
- Well-managed curriculum
- Facilities (e.g Library, playground, teaching materials)
- Quality educators
- Learning environment
- Others ___________

-Quality educators. The attitude of the educator , the educator’s understanding on child development is very important.
- Learning Environment – The teaching approach. I will not go for those very structured, result and academic orientated pre-school and I also will not choose school that give drills through test and homework. I believe in learning through play.
- Facilities – A prepared environment to meet the child’s needs for self construction.
- Well-managed curriculum


4. How would parents define “quality educators”?
- A degree holder
- Training certified person
- Patience in dealing with the children
- Others ___________

-Someone who really loves children
-Someone who see children as individuals
-Interested in humanity
-Has patience
-Someone who is train in early childhood education, if not a degree, at least a diploma or at least understand child development

5. Would you, as parents, allow your children to be exposed to technology in their preschool age (3 to 5 years old) as supportive tools in their learning process? Such as: computer interactive game help in the building of creativity, letters introduction with the use of computers, access to internet, etc. (any example of any kind of technology that have helped your children to learn might be helpful)

I will not stop my children from being exposed to the computer, but it will not be a main tool for their education. TV, VCD, Computer only promote passive learning which I will try to minimize and limit the use of it.

Maria Montessori recognized that children as they develop, do not simply increase steadily in size and mental capacity, instead they grow in brief spurts followed by long planes of development. In different planes, children have very different characteristics and we cannot look for just one answer to our computer issues to fill all ages.

Children at age 3 – 6 , needs multisensory experience. They need experiences involving eyes, hands and mind, like building the tower, they see the size of the cube, they feel its weight and dimensions and understand the gradation. For letters, there’s movable alphabet which the child can feels its shape, hears its sounds and understands its meaning. A computer does not provide such integrated experiences. It’s rather an abstract medium.

Children need to move, the learning in early childhood is not simply a matter of accumulating information. Sitting in front of the computer/TV does not give the child an opportunity to move around

Chidlren needs activities that promote discovery and experimentation. Even the best computer games for young children involve element of “guess and test”. To do well at the games, children have to learn how the game programmer wants them to respond rather than to the logic of the material being explored or the child’s unique responses to information..

6. Finally, any opinions to point out and expectations to be expected from a preschool, please do clarify it further.
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