Early Childhood Education (ECE) can be traced back to the mid 1800s with the development of the private kindergarten in a home. Serious study into the cognitive development of children began in the 1920s with Jean Piaget's work in defining stages of development. Around the 60s, head start programs were developed with the help of Urie Bronfenbrenner to prepare children for kindergarten. The idea was to provide a quality early education that would encourage children's cognitive development by offering a low child to adult ratio with hands-on activities and a qualified staff.
Jean Piaget, who was originally a biologist, turned his attention to the development of children after assisting in the development of an intelligence test for a boy's school at which he taught. His theory was that children cannot perform tasks until they are psychologically mature. Piaget identified different stages of development; the second stage being early childhood, or as he called it, the preoperational stage from ages two to seven years. This stage represents itself in the classroom by a child's ability to learn language use and identify objects by images and words. In an ECE environment, children develop the ability to perform simple sorting and grouping tasks; they can single out all the triangles or blue objects in a group.
Another great contributor to early childhood developmental theory is Erik Erikson, whose philosophy was that the world seemingly grows larger as we grow and that failure has a snowball effect in our lives. He believed development was the result of our biological self, combined with our psychological self and our cultural influence. Early childhood was defined as from 18 months of age to 3 years. In this stage, children learn self-control, courage and will. In the ECE classroom, children in this stage begin to learn independence, how to walk, talk and go to the bathroom.
Urie Bronfenbrenner, a co-founder of the head start program, had a different theory on childhood development yet. Bronfenbrenner did not believe in the stages of development but that development was influenced by the child and his environment. His ecological systems theory labeled the different aspects that affected development, such as a child's microsystem or the immediate environment in which the child lives in to include their parents, caregivers or school. In his theory, how a child interacts with this system affects how the child will grow and learn.
The curriculum in any early childhood development program must meet certain requirements for the child's maturity level. It must promote interactive learning; build conceptual understanding; promote the development of higher order abilities; respect a child's psychological needs and promote a feeling of safety, security and belonging.