Philosophy

Life is all about having a healthy and peaceful co-existence. Unfortunately due to economic disparity there are billions of people living in a state of poverty, starvation and deprivation in developing countries particularly in backward and rural areas. Developed countries benevolently donate millions to developing countries to help eradicate the situation. But donating alone cannot address this grave issue of poverty as it does not tackle the root cause of the problem. Besides, monetary aid there is a genuine need for access to sustainable means by which they can earn and learn about how they can improve their living in the long run. Everybody is different and unique, with different needs and concerns, hence the approach to resolve this grave issue of poverty and deprivation needs to be geared accordingly.

Sadly enough, those who are badly affected due to poverty and deprivation are the children as they grow up in these unfavourable circumstances and then, without any recourse to sustainable means of livelihood, end up in poverty during adulthood and finally have their own children who again grow up in no better circumstances than their own. This is a 'vicious circle', which can be broken by strengthening proactive and positive parental involvement in their children’s upbringings. What happens in the early years of a child’s life is critical for their development at the later part of their life. “Today's children shape tomorrow's world”. Hence, it is crucial that a robust foundation for education and personal development is available to all children including those who are deprived and disadvantaged helping them to shape a bright future ahead. br>
Developed countries have recognised the importance of a strong foundation for children’s education and welfare. In recent years, those countries have invested a huge amount of resources to research how children think and learn and the way in which their brain works. It is now proven that no longer is it enough to see our children as empty vessels to be filled up with facts, skills and knowledge. Instead researchers now believe that children are like unlit fires just waiting for us to spark the touch paper and ignite an interest in thinking about how and why the world around them works. The education must teach children more about how they learn and encourage them to use approaches and strategies for thinking that really work for them. This helps to put them on the right path to lifelong learning. Whatever subject or problem they come up against in the future, they can apply the thinking strategies necessary to help them understand and progress. The term 'thinking' can cover a whole range of skills, strategies and approaches. Teachers should teach the children how to reason and apply logic to a problem. Elders should encourage them to take imaginative and innovative approaches to a creative endeavour. We also need to encourage them to develop the skill of meta-cognition. Simply put, this means teaching them to have an awareness of their own thinking processes, so that they can develop and extend these for themselves.

Good quality childhood and early education can have a positive effect on outcomes, boosting cognitive development, and improving social skills and confidence. A constructive early start education after age two is linked to better performance across the range of child outcomes, with links to positive intellectual development and improved independence, concentration and sociability. The quality of pre-school experiences is directly related to the intellectual, social and behavioural development in children. R1

Growing up in a work-less household and/or in poverty can have a significant negative effect on a child’s development. Differences between advantaged and disadvantaged children’s social and cognitive development are evident as early as 22 months. Parental employment can bring benefits to the adults involved through increased self-esteem, extended social networks and a greater sense of control and reduced mental health problems all resulting in knock-on benefits for children.R2

Disadvantaged children are more likely to have adverse social profiles at age three and school entry, and the increased risk of anti-social or worried behaviour. The primary responsibility for bringing up a child must lie with parents. R3

Parental interest in children’s learning has a key role in children’s educational attainment. Research evidence shows that a child’s risk of educational failure is increased by a lack of parental interest in school; and that parental involvement between the ages of seven and 16 has a greater impact than family background, size of family and level of parental education. R4

Every child is unique with their own characteristics and temperament. Development is a continuous, complex interaction of environmental and genetic factors in which the body, brain and behaviour become more complex. Early relationships strongly influence how children develop and having close relationships with family, society and community is very important.

All children are different in nature as they carry different combination of characters from their parents. It's really a wonder of nature and that's the reason every children of even same parents are different. It is very vital to understand that each child's progress is unique and that different children develop at different pace. A child does not suddenly move from one phase to another, and they do not make progress in all areas at the same time. The purpose of the programme is to define a development passageway which will enable the teachers and child-carers to help the children grow in such a way through natural flow of learning by playing along with their physical growth and mental development.

During 0 to 60 months children starts developing all the basic natural and behavioural skills in different stages which creates biometric inscription on their character and progressive skills which they carry for rest of their lives. However as stated before that all children are unique and their skills development varies depending on their environment and auxiliary factors. Timeframe of these stages overlap as learning mechanism works in a progressive way. Throughout lifetime all living creatures learn to adopt life-skills and human beings are not different but during childhood these learning experiences and changes are very apparent. These apparent stages can be drawn but slight overlapping is obvious. In these formative years, kids learn and develop skills depending on their physical development as well. However these stages can be defined as kids development stages.

Timeframe of theses stages overlap as learning mechanism works in a progressive way.

STAGE- 1
(0-11 Months)
STAGE- 2
(8 to 20 months)
STAGE- 3
(16 to 26 months)
  • Develop skills in moving their hands, feet, limbs and head as they gain increasing control of their muscles which helps them quickly becoming mobile and able to handle maneuver objects.
     
  • Develop the sense of smell and sound
     
  • Start developing the bond with the special person who provides the comfort
  • Children become mobile
     
  • Start seeking new opportunities for exploration.
     
  • Showing Initiative to communicate and Start Developing their Communication skills and learn a few simple words for everyday things and people
     
  • Start developing a sense of self and are more able to express their needs and feelings.
     
  • Start developing a sense of self and are more able to express their needs and feelings
     
  • Develope non-verbal way of communication.
  • During this phase children become very proactive by nature.
     
  • Children are also learning about boundaries are how to handle frustration
Auxiliary Factors

In this stage close care and immediacy helps developing the foundation of assenting behavior. Mostly parent's proactive but balanced approach like response to children's growing physical and emotional needs, helps to build secure attachments to special people such as parents, family members or careers Regular, though flexible, routines help children to gain a sense of sequence and rules and to anticipate events A wide variety of experience and activity , which involves all the senses, encourages learning and an interest in the environment
A safe and interesting environment, with age appropriate resources helps children to develop curiosity, co-ordination and physical abilities

This is a time when children can start to learn the art of self-control and how to relate to other people. In this stage children children can be encouraged to develop their social and mental skills by people to whom they have a positive attachment.

With encouragement and plenty of interaction with carers, children's communication skill grow and  their vocabulary expands very rapidly during this period.
In this natural proactive stage requires careful support to help them to learn basic behavioral skills, Growing physical strengths and skills mean that children need active time for intellectual activities. Playing with other children is a vital area for learning. This helps children to enhance understanding of other people' s  thoughts and feelings, and to Learn how to co-operate with others.

With positive prop children learn to respect and instinctive sharing. Exploration and simple self -help builds a sense of self-confidence. Play with toys that come apart and fit together encourages problem solving  and simple planning. Pretend -plays help children  to learn about a range of possibilities. Adults are seen as important source of security, comfort and guidance.
 

STAGE- 4
(22-36 Months)
STAGE- 5
(30 to 50 months)
STAGE- 6
(40 to 60 + months)
  • Start developing creative and replication attitude
     
  • Start understanding physical surrounding and nature's factors.
     
  • Start enjoying making marks, using a variety of materials, looking at picture books and listening to stories, important step in literacy.
     
  • Continue developing physical skills
  • Start realising meaning of possession and belongingness.
     
  • At this stage children are becoming more aware  of their place in a society.
     
  • Language start becoming more compound and complex, as many become adept at using longer sentences.
  • During this period children are now building a stronger sense of their own identity and their own identity and their place in a wider world.
     
  • Children start recognising the importance of social rules and customs to show understanding and tolerance of others and to learn how to be more controlled in their own behavior.
Auxiliary Factors

In this stage with adults active engagement, encouragement and continual mental support helps children to develop confidence and understands meaning of independence. With adults' support and encouragement children start mastering their daily activities such as eating dressing and toileting, Praise for new achievements helps to build their self-esteem  . In this phase children's language develops rapidly and many begin to put sentences together. Joining in  conversations with children is an important way for children to learn new things and to begin to think about past , present and future

Developing physical skill mean that  children can now usually walk, climb and run, and join in active play with other children. This is an important time for learning about dangers and safe limits.  
An increased interest in joint play such as make believe, construction and games helps children to learn the important social skills of sharing and co-operating.

By constructive guidance children also more about helping adults in everyday activities and finding balance between liberties and complying with the wishes of others. Children still need the comfort and security of special people.

With close warm relationships and emotional bonding helps children to understanding their own good such as encouraging children to make healthy choices in food and exercise. Literacy and numeracy can develop rapidly with the support of wide range of interesting materials and activities

Conversations with adults become more important source of information, guidance and reassurance.
 
Learning and playing in small groups helps to foster the development of social skills. ChIldren now become better able to plan and undertake more challenging activities with a wider range of materials for making and doing.

In this stage children learn effectively in shared activities with more able peers and adults.

Literacy and problem solving reasoning and numeracy skills continue to develop. Children's developing understanding of cause and effect is encouraged by the introduction of a wider variety of equipment, media and technologies.

As describe in the above table there are mainly six broad developmental areas. Early childhood is a time of vital importance in children’s development. It is widely known that the quality of care that children receive in their early years makes a real difference to their development and later outcomes. Parents want the best for their children, and parents have by far the biggest influence on children’s lives. Methodical learning environment only can build the firm foundation which gives child a reassured adulthood with multifaceted adoptive nature which is the key to sustainable achievement.
 




R1: EPPE findings on quality are consistent with other large-scale longitudinal research including the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Development) and CQO (Childcare Quality and Outcomes) studies in the USA. R2: Mental Health and Social Exclusion, Social Exclusion Unit, June 2004. R3: Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy for childcare December 2004 Crown Copyright R4: Childhood experience and the risk of social exclusion in adulthood. Hobcraft, CASE Briefing 1998.
 
 
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