‘Building blocks’ of Early Childhood Education: Some reflections

By Dr. Siri Galhenage         

අල්ලට සිඟාවත් රස නැති කැවිලි                          කකා

වල් කොළ බිම අතුට නිදි නොලැබ දුක්                තකා

කල් ගිය රෙදී වැරලි ඇඳ දැලිකුනෙන්                  වකා

ඇල්මෙන් අකුරු උගනිව් ඉදිරි වැඩ                     තකා

The above popular Sinhala poem from ‘Vadan Kavi Potha’ [Poetry Book of Advice] emphasises the value we place on education as a nation: ‘learn your letters with love, to secure future benefit, despite having to endure hardship’: the word akuru [‘letters’] having a wider connotation than it literally means. That wider latitude to learning was provided by the village temple, in the days of yore, which promoted a cultural and spiritual nurturing, not limited to mere schooling.

In the modern times, the wider scope in education comprises the achievement of knowledge and skills, as well as the powers of reasoning and judgement, and the acquisition of values and attitudes, in addition to literacy and numeracy which of course are fundamental to the learning process. In addition, as its Latin root ‘educere’ implies, education is intended to ‘bring forth’ or enhance the personality characteristics such as self-esteem, interpersonal skill, adaptability and coping ability, needed for an operative existence.

 Critical period for learning

In infancy and childhood is laid the groundwork for an integrated personality in the making, in preparation for adaptation to the outside world. The malleability of the nervous system [neuroplasticity] as a result of its extensive growth during early childhood, considered to be the critical period for learning, offers the potential to bring about lifelong benefits in terms of social, emotional and intellectual development.

Early childhood usually covers the age range from infancy to about eight years of age, during which period most of the brain growth takes place. The prefrontal cortex of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions [eg. planning, decision making etc.] continues to mature into the mid-twenties. That isn’t to say that learning processes could not continue throughout life.

My goal in this brief article is to explore and reflect on the essential elements of education in early childhood which have the potential to generate positive outcomes in the long-term. It is intended to encourage conversation amongst the general readership of this important topic, especially the parents of young children, as learning begins at home.

Current community attitudes to Education

Let us first examine the current public attitudes towards education in general. Proficiency in reading, writing, math and science are regarded as the core academic literacies on which all other learning rests, and on which future success in life depends. The Arts and Humanities, a group of disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, are placed lower in the hierarchy in the academic curriculum and are often considered supplementary. Their value in enhancing human ideals is often ignored. In a technologically advancing world we live in, the contribution of the study of the arts and humanities towards boosting the economy is brought into question.

The above attitude has created a highly competitive, exam driven, and hence stressful, academic environment for our children in their formative years. There are excessive demands placed upon them to achieve academically, exacerbated by parental pressure – overt or covert. Attendance at paid ‘tuition classes’, after hours, to supplement learning at school is considered essential to gain higher grades at exams, in order to be competitive in entering tertiary institutions and in enhancing career prospects. The love of learning is lost.

Many children find no time for reflection, or to read outside the curriculum to broaden their understanding about life. There is a perception in the community of a decline in literacy and sensibility in the young and their tendency to lean towards much less civilising forms of entertainment and communication, which is at the root of most of our social ills, compounded by the economic ills that currently plague us.  Alarmingly, a recent survey by the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka has revealed that over 200 adolescents have committed suicide in 2024, which they, reportedly, attribute to their indulgence in social media. But at the heart of it is the breakdown of social order resulting in a lack of ‘meaning’ in life, as once postulated by the renowned French Sociologist, Emile Durkheim.

Family milieu

The developing child requires the provision of certain environmental conditions, based on common principles, to complement the innate biological drive which we call instinct. Of vital importance is the family milieu, its stability and its ability to meet the child’s emotional needs. From an emotional point of view, the child needs to feel safe, and experience the contentment in the parent’s inter-relationship, in order to set the ground for learning. In addition, it helps for the parents to model the love of learning and of knowledge through communication in words and in actions.

In an ideal world, a child’s parents and teachers ought to be equally committed towards helping the child develop a love of learning. In some instances a teacher must shoulder most of the work – for instance, when parents are busy making a living or have had a limited education themselves.

 Enrichment Strategies

Let us reflect on some of the enrichment strategies in early childhood education which would bring about a balance in the curriculum.

The Arts

“Engagement of children in the arts has the power to console, transform, welcome, and heal. It is what the world needs now” [Yo Yo Ma, Cellist]

The arts are commonly used as enrichment strategies in Early Childhood Education. They include music, dance, drama, and visual and literary arts. The strengths developed through the arts during the early formative years have the potential to enhance other spheres of learning, and performance in later life. By eliciting emotions in the listener, the arts, as both Aristotle and Freud asserted, has the capacity to be therapeutic by being cathartic.

Music

Neuroscientists have shown that, due to the plasticity of the brain in young children, music training tended to enhance the auditory [hearing] pathways in the brain, and hence, the development of phonological awareness [responsiveness to contrasting sounds]. Phonological awareness is considered to be an important precursor to reading skill and the ability to rhyme. In addition, ‘Music is the language of emotions’, encouraging children to gain awareness of their own emotions in addition to making aesthetic judgements.  

Drama

Research studies show that enacting stories in the classroom in comparison to dramatic performances on stage by children have several beneficial effects such as better understanding of the stories enacted and the appreciation of new stories. In addition, such classroom performances of stories enriched oral language development and reading skills, including an eagerness to read, and surprisingly, even writing skills.

Visual Arts

Engagement of children in visual art involves much more than learning the techniques of drawing and painting. Long periods of engagement in the craft provides a framework for enhancing thinking skills – to be more focussed and persistent in one’s work; to enhance the power of imagination; to generate a personal viewpoint or express a feeling state; and to encourage the child to reflect on and to make a critical judgement of their own work. Similarly, by entering into a conversation with the children after encouraging them to look closely at a piece of art, tended to heighten their observation skills. There is evidence that these habits of mind acquired from the engagement of children in visual arts could be ‘transferred’ to other areas of learning, and stand in good stead in employment in later life.

Reading

According to the British neuropsychologist, Andrew Ellis, the brain was never meant to read, in terms of human evolution: “There are no genes or biological structures specific to reading.” Reading had to be learned, requiring the integration and synchronisation of several systems of the brain acquiring a new neuronal circuitry for the purpose – perceptual, cognitive, phonemic, linguistic, emotional and motor. Reading, as it develops, aided by an environment that lures the child to read would lead to further enhancement of the cognitive capacity of the brain – an important dynamic in childhood education.

The more young children, are read to, and are engaged in conversation that flows on from stories read [‘conversational reading’], the more they begin to love books, increase their vocabulary and their knowledge of grammar, and appreciate the sounds that words generate – evidently, best predictors of later reading interest and critical thinking. Conversational reading is a technique where the parent or educator engages with the child in a conversation while reading a book, asking open-ended questions to encourage active participation and deeper comprehension, eg. entering into a dialogue about the story while reading it together.

In addition, reading enhances the child’s self-worth and personal identity [emotional experience of reading]. What better way for children to be introduced to the world that they are to be part of than be immersed in a story that is all about beings and the environment that surround them? What better way for children to learn about ideas and speech patterns, how people react and interact, and how dialogue reveals more about a person than what they say, and about interpersonal relationships. Sadly, children with reading disability have a greater tendency to develop emotional and conduct disorders needing remedial support.  

 Children’s Literature.

It is claimed that appropriate works of children’s literature, read or enacted, help the developing children build empathy and compassion - desirable human ideals that can persist through to adult life – by placing themselves in the shoes of fictional characters and simulating what the characters in the narrative are experiencing. One could argue that the same could be achieved in real life by interacting with others but does not have the advantage of having access to the inner lives of individuals as depicted in well-crafted fictional works.

There is no better way to convey moral instruction than by vicarious learning through reading. As the legendary Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, propounded in his popular monograph, ‘What Is Art?’, the value in a piece of literary art is to be judged by its ability to make the reader morally enlightened.

There is no better way for children, while gaining the aesthetic rewards of a narrative, to enhance their thinking and reasoning, generate creativity, and introduce them to a life rich in meaning.

“There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived fully as those we spent with a favourite book…they have engraved in us so sweet a memory, so much more precious to our present judgement than what we read then with such love…” [‘On Reading’, by Marcel Proust 1871-1922, French novelist and literary critic]

Children’s Poetry

We are endowed with a rich poetic tradition that extends as far back as the Sinhala language and its precursors. Over the centuries the lyrical content mirrored the changing socio-cultural and political landscape of our country. During the pre-independence era, there was a revival of lyrical output from men of vision aimed at enhancing the creativity and sensibility of the young, to prepare them for the challenges of a free nation, and enhance their sensibility.

Foremost among this group of poets were: ‘Tibetan’ [Sikkimese] monk, Rev. S. Mahinda, Ananda Rajakaruna and Munidasa Kumaratunga. Their poems that lured the children most were about nature. Simple and well crafted, they were designed to draw children to the lap of Mother Nature, to admire her beauty and to instil in them a lasting imagery and a feeling of tranquillity. Ananda Rajakaruna’s ‘Handa’ [the moon], ‘Tharaka’ [Stars], ‘Kurullo’ [birds], ‘Ganga’ [The river]; Rev. S. Mahinda’s ‘Samanalaya’ [The Butterfly], ‘Rathriya’ [The Night]; Munidasa Kumaratunga’s ‘Morning’, which captures the breaking dawn, ‘Ha Ha Hari Hawa’ [About the Hare], are amongst the most popular. They are best recited in the original language as any attempt at translation would seriously damage their musical and lyrical qualities.

Narrative art

Martin Wickremasinghe [1890-1976] was ahead of his time in recognising the importance of children’s literature and its positive impact on their psychosocial and intellectual development. He argued a case for establishing a tradition of children’s literature anchored in our heritage, and in keeping with the degree of maturity of the child; and that the work be presented in a simple and pleasurable form mixed with moral instruction in right measure.  He observed that a nation without children’s literature rooted in its heritage may face intellectual and moral decline. He asserted that children’s books should only be written by those who understood the developing mind.

In his publication, ‘Apey Lama Sahithyaya’ [Our Children’s Literature] Martin Wickremasinghe acknowledges past contributions to our children’s literature by prominent writers. Piyadasa Sirisena, Munidasa Kumaratunga, G. H. Perera and others transformed folk tales into prose and poetry for children. V.D. de Lanerolle was a pioneer in writing children’s stories for supplementary reading, naming his series, ‘Vinoda Katha’ [Pleasurable Stories]. Edwin Ranawaka translated children’s stories, from English to Sinhala, to suit the local readership. Martin Wickremasinghe’s own Madol Duwa, and G. B. Senanayake’s Ranarala and Surangana Katha were significant contributions to our children’s literature. Munidasa Kumaratunga took an innovative approach in producing ‘Hath Pana’ [Seven Lives], ‘Heen Seraya’ {Slow Pace], ‘Magul Kema’ [Wedding Feast] and ‘Haawage Waga’ [The Hare’s Tale] which gained immense popularity.

Despite the above, Martin Wickremasinghe argued that we have been slow in developing a children’s literature of our own, although such a literary genre has been established in the west, for example, the Aesop’s Fables and the Fairy Tales of  Hans Christian Anderson.

 Aesop’s Fables, thought to have been narrated by a slave who lived in ancient Greece [whose identity remains obscure in history], have survived the test of time as a conveyor of values and virtues for children to reflect on, and to generate a conversation facilitated by their teacher. The allegorical tales, much admired by children [and adults!], are aimed at both entertaining and imparting moral wisdom with the use of animal characters having human attributes [anthropomorphism] and their social interactions. The brief and lucidly told tales – 200 or more – laden with worldly wisdom, have the potential to generate a literate population, when introduced during early childhood. Let me remind you of few popular fables with their core messages: ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ [Slow and steady wins the race]; ‘The Lion and the Mouse’ [No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted]; ‘The Cock and the Jewel’ [The value of an object lies in the eyes of the beholder].

The Fairy [fantasy] Tales of Hans Christian Andersen [1805-1875] continues to feed the imagination of growing-up children through his portrayal of unique and unforgettable characters – witches, beasts and fairies – with features of human life. The tales of the Danish master storyteller, translated into many languages, have gained universal appeal amongst children as he weaves his vastly entertaining stories such as Thumbelina, The Tin Soldier, and The Emperor’s New Clothes etc. based on fantasies with a lesson to convey. In addition to entertainment and instruction, his tales portray universal human conditions such as joy, sorrow, fear, pride, abandonment, resoluteness etc. and allow children to recognise their own feeling states, which the psychoanalysts believe is therapeutic.    

The above shows that the east and west can meet on the ground of universal values, exemplified by the arts, and that human reason – the capacity of humans to think, understand and form judgement - is the true guide in life.

In sum, although reading, writing and mathematics in early childhood education are considered the core academic literacies on which other learning rests, and on which success in life depends, current research indicates that arts education through the development of certain habits of the mind could enhance academic achievement. It is thought that high arts involvement in children tend to augment their cognitive functions [eg. attention and concentration], thinking and imaginative skills, organisational skills, reflection and evaluation, which could be ‘transferred’ to other domains of the school curriculum, including science.  This is in addition to the role the arts could play in enhancing interpersonal skill and emotional well-being, in conveying moral instruction, and in the exercise of empathy. As such, one could argue a case for a well-rounded system of education incorporating the arts to be introduced during early childhood.

Desirable qualities of educators

The above ideal could only be achieved through greater investment in training competent teachers in early childhood education. What ought to be the desirable qualities of an early childhood educator? It is my view that the teacher should a] have a good understanding of childhood development – physical, psychological and intellectual - and have the capacity to appreciate individual differences; b] possess ‘age-related’ conversational skills with the children – to listen and to allow free expression, with the aim of encouraging self-exploration of their work; c] have the ability to enhance children’s self-esteem while being able to set limits when necessary, within a framework of caring; d] understand the need to liaise with the parents;  and, most of all, e]  have a passion for educating children.

Educational reform

As reported in the media, it was heartening to note that the present government has appointed a committee to develop a national policy on early childhood education as part of an overall plan on educational reform. It is expected that the committee will address a range of issues in planning of services: the inequity in access to Early Childhood Education; integration of early childhood education with the main stream educational facilities; quality assurance and monitoring; and most importantly, greater investment in training of competent instructors in early childhood education, and creating opportunities for the teachers to be engaged in continuing education and peer review. It is hoped that the committee will be able to create a framework for laying the groundwork for restructuring the education system – a worthy cause in nation building.

[The writer, Dr. Siri Galhenage MBBS, DPM, MRCPSYCH, FRANZCP, is a retired Consultant Psychiatrist in Adult General Psychiatry with accredited training in Child and Adolescent mental health. Domiciled in Perth, Western Australia, he is a former examiner to The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists]

sirigalhenage@gmail.com