The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland Early Childhood Education - Research Paper Example

Abstract Early year education describes the pre-school education provided to children under the age of seven years and it is an important measure to the child’s learning activity. This assists the children who are disadvantaged and find difficulty in attaining education to be discovered at an early age. Through this they will be able to be educated and also become competitive in the market regardless of their status (Anning & Ball 2008, pg. 34). Through early childhood education most of the children are able to acquire the ability set to attain their goals in future. This is the key foundation which helps people to develop and exploit their knowledge and skills. Through this kind of education children are able to interact, socialize with other children as they are provided with suitable settings like the playgrounds and children centers which promotes their positive development. In this paper I will compare the early years education policies of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (ROI); in order to make this comparison I will cover aspects of the policies that include commitment, insufficiency, resources and diversity. Early childhood education policy in the early years of education has a great impact to the children, their families and also the society. This is because through proper early year education the children grow up to the benefit everyone as they are able to explore their ideas in their careers which make them be good thinkers (Kassai 1996, pg. 40). Through this policy each and every child is able to acquire proper treatment and education as there are professionals who understand the children policies and are able to assist them in their development. The United Nations is one of the body which promotes this policy as it promotes respect for children’s views, supports the children participation in their livelihood in their growth and also protects them against being discriminated that can be experienced through negative perception among others. The United Kingdom has an independent body known as the children’s commissioner for England which promotes the children and young people’s views like the Lord Laming’s awareness to protect children to be able to use mosquito devices. We will be able to discuss the comparison between the United Kingdom and the republic of Ireland on the factors relating to policy implementation and also the policies and practices related to early years. Historical Context Comparison of factors relating to policy implementation Culture can be seen in history as contributed to the lack of early year education to children in the Republic of Ireland. This is because education for infants was taken lightly as they believed children of should begin their classes in the primary school level they therefore were not taken to schools as they were home educated Although the state supported this kind of children they were focusing on the disabled children the others being left out causing lack of early childhood education to a majority. This can also be seen to have affected the United Kingdom as the early childhood education at the age of five mainly depended on the local decision as it was not compulsory. This can be seen from the involvement of the local authorities who provided education to the children as they set nursery schools and classes which were used in admitting children. Although some children attended private nursery schools which needed to be paid for, most relied on the voluntary sector because the price was affordable and could be supported by the community and volunteers which demanded little. Economic prosperity is another factor which affected both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom in the historic period. During these times most of the people were not able to acquire facilities and the private schools were much more expensive leading to those who were able to afford to only attend the classes. Most of the children like in Britain depended on voluntary people and organizations making it difficult for very child to be able to acquire education. People were poor and the fact that disabled children benefitted from it in England affected the other children. The urbanization as seen in Ireland is what led to the early childhood development in the country (OECD 2006, pg. 64). Through this we are able to see how the economy affects the education for a child from a tender age. This also led to the National childcare Strategy in 1999 in United Kingdom with the aim of enabling most of the children being able to get access to early year’s education. This also led to free education to children at the younger age as two which has really been able to cut across Britain. In Ireland the department of health in 1991 led to the development of the early child development schools which has grown over the years. Political factor is another historic factor which affected the early childhood hood education (Moss et.al 2004, pg. 29). This is because it depended on the type of government in place during the time in the historic period. Education for early children was not seen as important in both the countries which made the government to be adamant on supporting them. This thereby led to most of the children at an early age being left out while they wait for the primary level. In Ireland the Act in the white paper in 1991which reflects on education for the small children of the age three to six years is one way of showing how the change in government leadership affected the education system. In the United Kingdom part-time pre schools was introduced to four year old children in 1999 and in 2004 to the three year old children. Commitment Commitment as related to early year education in United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland has seen to have grown from the past years. The society has embraced this kind of education which was not considered as important to both the governments. The women in the Republic of Ireland were not allowed to be involved in working for the family which made it difficult for the father to cater for all the needs of the children. This later changed as everyone was involved in the workmanship as it made them to be able to work and provide for their families. Through this most of the children were able to be taken to schools like nurseries, Montessori, baby care which is an important measure to the child’s growth. The commitment of the families to support their children shows how education has grown as most of them are able to see the need of early education. The society change made it easier for the facilitation of education to all the children as through this most of the people were able to see the importance of early childhood education (Sylva et. Al 2001, pg. 45). The society of the people in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland were able to accept the system of the children to school which can also be seen to has grown across the European nation like the no child left behind act which makes it compulsory for all the children to get education. Most of the people are triggered by the society as they relied on their culture which made it difficult for urbanization.Apart from the commitment of the family, society and the government there are also private institutions and firms which have also supported the early childhood education (UNICEF 2005, pg. 16). Insufficiency Insufficiency to the early childhood development can be seen to have contributed to the fall of quality education to both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Financial stability is one of the major factors affecting education system in both the countries. This was caused by the poverty rate to both the countries which made it difficult for them to finance their children in schools including early child education. They were many problems and the large families made it difficult for the parents to sustain the needs of the families. Most of the people did not see the need of early childhood education as they believed that children at an early age can learn from their parents at home. The financial measures affect most of the families’ sustenance and education was not important according to the people and the United Kingdom and The Republic of Ireland which was not compulsory. Lack of information is also another factor that led to most of the families not to be able to see the importance of education to young children (Baldock et.al 2005, pg. 89). This was also because of ignorance as the culture they were in made them not is able to facilitate the proper education to the children. Through the emergence of supporting firms like volunteer groups the government and also the community, the schools were built up. This was in order to provide the childcare and also education to children from the disabled families. The government has been able to provide information to the public and educating them on the importance of education from the early age. Facilities were scarce at the early years which led to the children congestion in the few schools. This made it difficult for them to be taken care of as they were not financially stable in the early years. Through the support from the government to provide resources to school and its involvement it has led majorly to the improvement of not only the quality of education but also the number of schools set up increasing the rate of children inclusion to schools. The National childcare Strategy in 1999 in United Kingdom is one of the acts set to assist the child education. Through this act most of the children were enrolled in institution and also made it possible for those left behind because of financial problems to be able to access to education. Early childhood education professionals were few and so scarce in United Kingdom as well as the Republic of Ireland. This was caused by the government not being able to put the early child education compulsory. The schools offering this kind of education were few depending on the number of people who could be able to afford to pay for the management of the children (www.learning.wales.gov.uk). The institutions set up were few as thy depended on the support from the government. This has since improved as the number of professionals has increased enabling most schools are able to admit most children. Resources The Republic of Ireland at first did not provide resources to the children, this because they did not find it important. This changed due to modernization and its entry to the European Union which led to the government providing support to the children. Most of the children under the age of three were left to stay at home until they reach the age of attending primary school level. Poverty is also another factor which led to the people not to be able to afford the amount of money needed to the children and the upkeep. Women were not allowed to search for jobs as they had to take care of the families which caused poverty among the people. Through the department of health which was on the forefront for young children education, it led to the government being able to provide support to the country’s citizens. This not only was for the voluntary set up schools but also the private schools. This led to most of the children to be taken to schools as to the early age of two years as it was not education but children care (Simon et.al 2010, pg. 32). The resources provided also increased to the institution where people were able to be taught on handling of children and the professionals were able to be trained and also this led to them in different schools. The availability of resources can be seen to have grown over the years in the Republic of Ireland which has improved the quality of education provided. The United Nations have also be on the run of promoting proper care to children including education which has also been able to provide services like healthcare, home facilities and also supported the institutions by providing them with the education facilities. The United Kingdom early childhood education was not seen as important and thus not compulsory this is not because of ignorance but also the availability of resources. The government also did not provide proper education facilities to the children (Palaiologou 2010, pg. 44). The United Kingdom in the early years did not support the early childhood facilitation. By their interest in providing better facilities to cater for the children it has made it easier for most of them to be enrolled in institutions. The children need a lot of resources in order to survive these include better playground and the play structure. This cannot be easily attained by the institutions and so the government support in providing these facilities to children makes them not losing the interest of school at early years. Lack of resources in the early years is what led to most of the children to be left out from education. This is because of poverty among the people as they could not support themselves in educating the children. The resources could only reach to the few of a higher class in the United Kingdom (http://www.siolta.ie/index.php). Through the facilitation of resources among the people in the country most of the places were improved and also through the urbanization the involvement of people to education improved majorly. Diversity The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland early childhood education can both be seen to have diversified over the years. This is because at early years most of the children did not attend schools and those who attended were going to either voluntary nursery schools which were either supported by the community or the society or the ones who could afford could take them to private schools (Bell & Stevenson 2006, pg. 36). This was majorly contributed by poverty and culture which barred the children from attending classes among other factors. People in the rural areas were also not able to access schools and education and children attended classes from the primary level. The population increase also made people not be able to get access to the fewer facilities provided this is because of the congestion caused to the fewer facilities and also the services provided could not be able to help very child to get access to education. Through the acts put up like the white paper led by the government improved the quality of education as it supported the facilities for children and also increased the number of schools across the country. This led to the urbanization as people migrated from the rural to urban areas most of them being able to improve their livelihood (Penn 1997, pg. 18). Through the urbanization process and the government support in both the countries it led to education diversification among the people leading to most of the children being taken to schools at a young age (https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/01099-2009BKT-EN.pdf). In United Kingdom it was not compulsory at the historic years but it is now compulsory as there is the need of children undergoing this process as it helps them discover their skills and nurture their talents. The Republic of Ireland through the practice support and also policy development has also led to its diversification. Through the United Nations human rights most of the parents have been able to know their rights this includes the right to access to education. Most of the people are able to take their children to school at the early age as they have been taught on the importance of early childhood education. Education has since grown over the years and the quality of services has improved as more people have been trained to all the children including those with disabilities (Clark & Waller 2007, pg. 15). Although the government of Ireland provided early education to the disabled they were able to diversify the quality of education to be able to target all the children. This can also be seen from the United Kingdom as everyone is able to take their children at a younger age. From the above context we have been able to see how the early year education has grown over the years. Policies have been able to put up in favor of the early childhood education which has supported many institutions as most of the children who could not be able to acquire education have been able to provide with quality education (Penn 2011, pg. 56). Its diversification has also enabled most of the places being able to get access to early year education. Factors like the government change and culture has also been seen to have an effect to the early childhood education. This has thereby changed as most of the people in both the countries have embraced change which has enabled the early childhood development growth. The United Kingdom has made early childhood education compulsory among the citizens; through early year education most of the children have been brought up well. We have been able to see how the resources distribution has led to the diversification of education (Gearon 2002, pg. 47). Better care has been able to be provided to children which have improved over the years. The two governments in both the countries have been able to support the facilities which have made it easier for children to get access to education. References Anning, A., Ball, M., 2008, Improving services for young children, London: SAGE. Baldock, P., Fitzgerald, D and Kay, J., 2005, Understanding early years policy, London: SAGE. Bell, L., and Stevenson, H 2006, Education Policy: Process, themes and impact, Abingdon: Routledge. Clark, M. Waller, T 2007, Early Childhood Education and Care, London: Sage. Gearon, L., 2002, Education in the United Kingdom: Structures and organisation, London: David Fulton Publishers. Green, J. E. 2001, Education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation. https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/01099-2009BKT-EN.pdf http://www.siolta.ie/index.php Kassai, M.1996, Education Ireland, Dublin: International Education Board Ireland. OECED 2006, Higher education in Ireland, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Palaiologou, I. (Ed) 2010, The Early Years Foundation Stage: Theory and Practice, London: SAGE. Penn, H. 2011, Quality in Early Childhood Services: An International Perspective, Maidenhead: Open University Press. Penn, H., 1997, Comparing Nurseries: Staff and Children in Italy , Spain and the UK, Liverpool: PCP. Simon, C, A., and Ward, S., 2010, Does Every Child Matter? Understanding New Labour’s Social reforms, London: Routledge. Moss, P., Cohen, B., Petrie, P., and Wallace, J., 2004, A new deal for children: Re-forming education and care in England, Scotland and Sweden, Bristol: Policy Press. Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., and Taggart, B., 2001, Early Childhood Matters: Evidence from the Effective Practice and Primary Education project, London: Routledge. UNICEF, 2005, Report: Progress for Children, www.UNICEF.org Wales, www.learning.wales.gov.uk Read More