What Do You Expect From Your Child's Preschool

Linda, an undergraduate, dropped me a note and invited me to participate in this survey. She gave me a link to Parenting Times and I thought I would give my opinion and hopefully it will help Linda.

Here goes:

1. Do childcare and preschool sound different for parents?

It sounds different to me. Preschool refers to education provided to children before they attend primary school. According to Wikipedia, children aged 2 to 5 attend preschool. In Malaysia, usually children aged 3 to 6 attend preschool. Childcare basically means babysitting where the care provider would see to the child’s basic needs. In other words, the care provider takes the role of the child’s parent while the child’s real parents go to work. Nowadays, the role of childcare is slowly taken over by preschools which provide after school care to children whose parents have to work.

2 Will parents choose childcare instead of preschool, or vice versa, by knowing that preschools offers more educational services, while childcares are more custodial and most of the time offer full-day service that benefit the working parents?

If I am a working mother, I would send my children to a preschool when they are old enough to attend one and let them stay on for childcare in that very same preschool.

Especially, for Question 3 and 4, Please sort out the options provided, from the most important to the least. In which, the inclusion of some justification and additional important points will be greatly appreciated.

3. What are the requirements that can make up a quality preschool?
- Well-managed curriculum
- Facilities (e.g Library, playground, teaching materials)
- Quality educators
- Learning environment
- Others ___________

I think the most important element in a preschool is the management team. If the management team is strong, they would equip the preschool with good learning environment and good facilities. They would ensure that the curriculum is structured with some element of fun and they would pick and choose quality teachers who are able to understand children and early childhood education. A good management team would also see to the safety of the children and the whole system of the preschool which includes operation, payment of fees, traffic flow, commencement and dismissal, etc.

Learning environment is important to create the atmosphere for learning.

Structured curriculum with some element of fun is also important to ensure children absorb better and to increase their interest in learning. Homework and exam should be introduced to six year old children to prepare them for primary school but it must not be too much as to create pressure among children.

Quality educator is a must in any preschool.

A preschool would not be a quality preschool if any of the above is lacking.


4. How would parents define “quality educators”?
- A degree holder
- Training certified person
- Patience in dealing with the children
- Others ___________

A good teacher should be one who loves children and one who is able to make children love learning. He / she should be patient, kind and sensitive to children’s needs and emotions. He / she need not be a degree holder but should be a person who has undergone certain training or has certain knowledge about early childhood education.


5. Would you, as parents, allow your children to be exposed to technology in their preschool age (3 to 5 years old) as supportive tools in their learning process? Such as: computer interactive game help in the building of creativity, letters introduction with the use of computers, access to internet, etc. (any example of any kind of technology that have helped your children to learn might be helpful)

I would want my children to attend a preschool that uses technology as supportive tools but technology should not be the only tool in the school. Children need other teaching aids besides visual and audio aids because some children learn best when they touch and feel while some others learn best when they move. Different child has different intelligences and aptitude.


6. Finally, any opinions to point out and expectations to be expected from a preschool, please do clarify it further.

Good system (refer to Q3), mainly to ensure a safe environment for children.

So, I’m calling all parents to help Linda by participating in this survey and drop MG a line here. She will link your post to hers to enable Lisa to find your post easily.