Early Childhood Education in UK in Comparison to Italy - Essay Example

 Comparison of Early Childhood Education from 0-8 years Comparison of Early Childhood Education from 0-8 years Introduction In modern world, the stability of a country is based on intelligent, competitive and capable individuals. A country which is striving to sustain economically with good margins need to focus on its youth. If the government focuses on the children of 0-8 years, then it would be easier to direct the children to correct path in their career and to build a socially and morally strong nation. Comparison of Policy in Italy with that of England: The constitution of Italian republic assigns the legislative rights to the senate of elected members by the people and the executive rights to the Government. But the Government can also exercise the legislative powers, under the delegation of senate, due to some necessity. In Italy, the state, having acknowledged the importance of pre-school education (preparatory school to primary education), took over the complete responsibility in 1968 with the Law no. 444. With Law no. 444, pre-school, with the passing of time by, by gaining educational value and didactical autonomy, became a part of educational system. Currently Law no. 53 of 28 Mar 2003 and delegated decree no. 59 of 19 Feb 2004 provide for the full introduction of pre-schools in the education system. Due to the anticipated enrollment in pre-schools, all efforts are now directed to open pre-schools to children who reach three years of age. As far as primary education is concerned, in Italy, The Casti Law (1859) provided the establishment of compulsory lower primary school (including 1st and 2nd class) and higher primary school (including 3rd and 4rth class). Municipalities had to take care of this and by 1861 this establishment is extended to whole Italy. Currently with the approval of Legislative decree 59/2004, primary school education is now composed of 5-year primary school and 3-year lower secondary school education. After the approval of decree no. 59, the debates are going on how teachers are going to Draw-up portfolios of children and communicate with the families Counseling, coaching and holding pupils Plan learning units regarding every pupil requirements Lastly, the 1994 consolidation act, with all the previous introductions of laws like Law 820/1971, Law 477/1973, Law 517/1977 and Law 148/1990, have brought innovations in teaching methodologies like: Supplementary activities and special teaching classes (music, drama, etc) are introduced. The participation of parents and pupils in planning school activities. Special focus on teaching planning, monitoring and assessment of individual pupils, teamwork among teachers and co-ordination of various classes, integration of disable pupils in ordinary classes. Modular organization of classes i.e. 2 classes with 3 teachers and 3 classes with 4 teachers. Introduction of compulsory foreign language. UK Government consists of Legislature, the Executive and the judiciary. The parliament consists of Queens, the appointed house of Lords and the elected house of Commons consisting of 659 members. Parliament passes laws, monitors government policies. The Executive cabinet consists of 20 ministers, usually head of government departments, appointed and chosen by Prime Minister. Before school standard and framework act 1998, Local Education Authority (LEA) gave provisions to children aged between 2 to 5 years having some Special Education Needs. The 1998 Act imposed a duty on LEA to provide pre-school education in their area. By Apr 2004, LEA has provided free places for two and half hours of pre-school five days a week to all 3-year and 4-year old children. Over the recent years, publicly funded early years education is now being expanded and developed by the cooperation of private and voluntary sectors, which receive government funding, subject to meeting certain conditions and requirements. Under the education act 0f 2002, the foundation stage of education (3-year to 5-year) becomes a statutory part of national curriculum and measures have also been taken to integrate the pre-school with the primary education. Currently department for education and skills (DfES) has opted a strategy in which all the children between 3 to 4 years are entitled for pre-school education, and the children would be give 20 hours of education for 38 weeks per year. As far as primary education is concerned, DfES, after May 2003, have started focusing on the improvement of teaching and learning in primary school. Focus would be given on teacher assessment regarding children aged between 5 to 7 years. Analysis Theorists have emphasized on the need pre-school education as it becomes a very vital building block for the child’s abilities, culture sensibility and careers. “To be prepared for the 21st century, early childhood teacher educators, educators of child care personnel, and early childhood practitioners need an expanded conceptualization of infant care giving. Instead of preaching “universals” exclusively, cultural relativism should be an equally strong focus when preparing practitioners to work in multiple settings (e.g., early intervention programs, parent-infant centers, parent education programs, infant group care and family child care).” (Navaz, Janet, 1997:1). Pre-school education helps children to have better narrative capabilities. Jerome Bruner described narrative as “among the earliest powers of mind to appear in the young child and among the most widely used forms of organizing human experience” (Burner, 1990: 9). Through narrative, individuals imbue experience with meaning and impose order on otherwise disconnected events by sequencing them in time and rendering them from a particular point of view (Bruner, 1983, 1986, 1990). Considering the theorists concepts and ideas and considering the policies of Italy and UK, we will come up to the fact that Italy is putting more effort in children education (0 to 8 years) than UK. Italy government is implementing the policies on state level though out the country uniformly while UK has started focusing on regional basis. Comparison of Provision in Italy with that of England: Italy: In order to protect the right of Italian women workers several laws have been passed out of which two laws had important implications for child care and early childhood education: Law 1204: This law passed in 1971 provided for protection of women during pregnancy, for 12 weeks of paid leave at 70% of earnings and a further 6 months of leave at 30% of earnings. The leave could be extended up to the time that the child reaches her first birthday with job guarantee, and there was also paid leave to care for sick children. Although maternity and parental leave are not childcare programs, they provide government support for parents (usually mothers) to be with their children full time during the first year. Law 1044: also passed in 1971, recognized the right of any mother, working or not, to use state supported nurseries for their children who were less than 3 years of age. The state was to play an active role in setting up these nurseries (asili nido) with a goal of serving 7% of the children of this age range in five years. (Rebecca, 2001) In Italy at pre-school level, there are no fees to be paid. Families pay a small contribution, from which low-income households are exempted, towards transport and canteen services. The same is true for primary education facilities. England: The most outstanding concern of today’s Britain Labor Government is to provide high-quality childcare at an affordable cost which, it has fulfilled to some extent by introducing a new Childcare Tax Credit expected to provide tax relief to low-income working parents of young children, although it is dependent on the cooperation of employers. According to it children from 0 to 8 must be in the registered care. The maximum amount of the credit is 70 pounds per week for one child and 105 pounds per week for two or more children. As the OECD background report on the U.K. states, “Current provision of education and care for the under 3s in the U.K. is uneven, of mixed quality, and in short supply.” A 1997 report estimated that 93% of the cost of childcare in England was incurred by parents which are among the highest in Europe. Children’s participation in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system increases with age, with children of different ages in different types of care settings. (Lubeck, 2001) In pre-school education sector, despite of some of the private institutions who charge the parents of children below compulsory school age, Government gives funds to private and voluntary sectors so that they can provide free pre-school education. All free nursery (pre-school) education places are funded from Formula Spending Share, which is provided by the local LEA. In primary education sector, having backed by Education Act 1996 Section 450, the education must be delivered free. School may ask for voluntary contribution to school funds, but the school authority must make them clear their child would not be deprived of any facilities if they were not willing to give funds. Analysis Piaget’s observational studies suggests the process by which a child must be “ready” to move on to the next developmental stage and cannot be forced to move to a higher level of cognitive functioning. (Kwon, 2002) By analyzing the provisions of both the countries, it can be seen that Italy portrays infants and children, in a more sensitive and constructive manner than England. I think this is due to the fact that quality education in England is not easily accessible to a common man; on the other hand Italy’s emphasis has always been on equal wealth distribution. Comparison of Practices in Italy with that of England: Italy: The pre-schools in Italy are required to foresee a timetable of 875-1400 hours yearly. The schools define weekly and daily timetables on the basis of their educational projects. Teacher of specific class is liable to filling out the portfolio of the pupil during pupil’s study path. It includes learning times, methods, interests, attitudes and aspirations. The pre-school gives an educational environment where children can make real experiences thus depicting their way of thinking, expressing and communication sense. These schools avoid early disciplinary and perspective methods in favor of system based on activities. The method, which is adopted in these schools are based on importance of games, exploration and research as well as social life. The pre-school foresees the occasional and systematic observation of children as well as the documentation of their activities in order to evaluate their needs, to make balanced educational proposals according to the quality and quantity of their answers and to share them with their parents. In primary schools, the compulsory teaching hours are 891, subdivided into 33 weeks of teaching. Besides compulsory teaching hours, 330 annual hours are destined to meals and recreational activities. General objectives of the educational process is to exploit of the child’s experience; physically as a value; and mentally to express ideas and values of the experience; from formal and casual categories; from ideas to life: the international comparison; the difference of people and cultures as a richness; to practice personal commitment and social solidarity. The portfolio of a pupil is divided into two parts. The first part is destined to assessment results and the second part is for guidance that can have comments from the teacher, parents and pupil himself. Regarding evaluation, a regulation framework that foresees a stronger responsibility of schools and teachers concerning evaluation; they are now responsible to individuate evaluation criteria and procedures. Government has adopted two main approaches to staffing: a split system, with a group of highly trained teachers working in the education system with children older than 3 or 4 and lower-trained workers providing other services or an integrated system, with pedagogues trained to work with children from birth to age 8. Staff members with the lowest levels of initial training tend to have the least access to in-service training. In addition, low pay, low status, poor working conditions, and limited career mobility are concerns, particularly for staff members working with young children in infant/toddler, out-of-school, and family day-care settings. Systematic policy development and implementation calls for a clear vision for children, birth to age 8, and coordinated policy frameworks at centralized and decentralized levels. (Benette, 2001) England: In pre-schools, under the arrangements for the payment of government funding for free places for 3 and 4-year olds, early years providers should offer all eligible children nursery education sessions for a minimum of 33 weeks of the year. Many providers, however, offer longer hours (8 am to 6 pm) than the minimum required for government funding and parents are paying fees for this kind of additional service. Due to the guidance of Educational Act 2002, pre-school cover different development areas like: Personal, emotional and social development Communication, language and literacy Knowledge and understanding of the world In the government funded pre-schools, head teacher and staff are free to decide on the teaching methods and materials, which they purchase from their budget. LEA can advice but has no power to enforce a particular curriculum. A foundation stage profile of pupil has to be maintained by his teacher. This profile contains the observation and knowledge of the whole child. The teacher has to keep on updating the profile for every child as the child progresses. In the English preschool, play is an integral part of the curriculum, as according to Froebel, play is “the work of the child” and a part of “the educational process.” (Kwon, 2002) In primary schools, 1981 Regulations require schools to be open for 380 half-day sessions per year. The teaching hours for a child of 5-7 years are 21 hours per week. The teaching methods and learning materials are usually decided by the class teacher, in consultation with the head teacher and subject leaders, in other words, they are not officially prescribed. Analysis By looking very closely to the practices of Italy and UK educational institutes we arrive at the conclusion that the teaching methodology is centralized and more structured in Italy as the Italian Government believe to have uniformity in education system, where as in England the teaching methodology is at the discretion of the head teacher and the teacher. Not having uniformity in teaching standards may generate varying caliber students in future. Conclusion The education systems of the two countries are different in various areas. Hence in the long run each country is going to have a different caliber nation. Also the difference in teaching methodologies in various regions of country may cause problems to a child who shifts from one school to another. As education system is the most sensitive sector for any government, so the government has to give primary importance to this sector and provides free, easily accessible and uniform-structure education through out the country. 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