The history of human development is a natural process that begins in the prenatal period and continues until the end of life, affected by many factors, has a cumulative structure and generally includes the same stages in all people, but is observed differently in each person. In this process, physiological and psychological factors often intertwine and affect the nature of development mutually. Preschool ages from birth to the end of six years are one of the most important critical stages in the life process. It is known that many deficiencies or glitches related to the development of the child are usually related to mistakes made in the preschool period.

What is Preschool Education?

Preschool education defined in different ways in various sources is defined in the Fourteenth National Education Council as “an educational process that provides rich stimulating and environmental opportunities in accordance with the development levels and individual characteristics of children in the 0-77 month group, supports their physical, mental, emotional and social development, guides them in the best way in line with the cultural values of society and prepares them for primary education, is located in basic educational integrity”. is defined.

0-6 years is the period when the development and learning of the child is the fastest. The foundation of human health and happiness will be laid in these years, the habits it will gain will affect its social behavior and personality structure[10]. This age from birth to the beginning of primary school is an educational process that provides rich stimulating environment opportunities suitable for the individual characteristics and developmental levels of children and guides all their development in the best way in line with the cultural values and characteristics of society.

What are the Purposes of Preschool Education?

The objectives adopted by the Ministry of National Education are stated as follows:

In line with the objectives and principles of turkish national education;

To help children develop their commitment to national, spiritual, moral, cultural and human values,
To enable children to develop physically, mentally, emotionally and socially, to gain basic habits, to prepare a common upbringing environment for children whose socio-economic conditions are unfavorable and for children from families,

To ensure that children speak Turkish correctly and beautifully
The universal purposes of preschool education can be grouped into three main headings:

• Social purposes: Supporting working mothers is a way for each child to take into account their individual differences and ensure that they are social, mental, emotional, physical, sexual, etc. to compensate for the gaps of traditional education in the stages of development.
• Educational purposes: To educate the child’s emotions and to improve the child’s sensitive behavior by communicating with their environment.
• Developmental purposes: Based on the natural development of the child, controlling his own body, performing his own control independently, speaking, learning, language, etc. to ensure the development of skills.

Importance and Necessity of Preschool Education

Research on the history of childhood shows that the first information about the preschool period being a different period of development was revealed in Ancient Greece. However, the reinvention of childhood and the interest of thinkers were 16–17. it started in the 19th century. In today’s educational literature, the concepts of “preschool, preschool education, preschool education institutions and preschool education programs” have become increasingly used. As a result of studies on child psychology in various countries, the idea that the effect of 0-6 years of age in determining the future of the person is accepted. The problem in these countries is no longer just that the age population benefits from preschool education, but that children are given better quality education.

From turkey’s point of view, it is noted that at the beginning of the century, the reasons for the emergence of institutional preschool education were especially related to the work of women. Today, especially in big city life, children’s shrinking playgrounds, limited movements and reduced opportunities to be with friends, parents becoming increasingly aware of the child’s early education have increased the demand for preschool educational institutions regardless of the mother’s work.

In families where the mother does not work; Mothers or adults often raise their children based on their educational experience. The educational experience of the adult is often inadequate according to the educational understanding of our age. Therefore, the importance of developing and disseminating preschool education activities becomes even more meaningful.

Preschool is a period when the child tries to research and get to know his environment, is willing to communicate with his environment, starts to gain the values of the society in which he lives and the behaviors and habits in accordance with the cultural structure of that society. In this period when the foundations of personality are laid, the child needs conscious guidance in home, school and social life. By providing appropriate educational opportunities in the early years, the development of children’s self-care, mind, language, social, emotional and motoryeteneks can be supported[1]. In addition, children have a number of basic needs during this period, which play an important role in the child’s personality development. The most important and most important tasks here fall to the educators.

In a preschool educational institution well prepared in terms of physical conditions and education program, the child learns to establish friend relationships, do things together, cooperate and take responsibility in public and fulfill his responsibilities and develops his skills. It is only possible to develop to the highest limits of human potential with the possibilities that can be achieved in very early years

Preschool Education since the Founding of the Republic

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