AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
FACILITIES PROVIDING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CHILDCARE UP TO THREE
YEARS OF AGE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF ERUDITE EMPLOYEES
a
DUŠAN KOSTRUB,
b
EVA SEVERINI,
c
PETER OSTRADICKÝ
Comenius University in Bratislava,
Faculty of Education
Račianska 59, 813 34 Bratislava
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
email:
a
kostrub@fedu.uniba.sk,
b
severini@fedu.uniba.sk,
c
ostradicky1@uniba.sk
This publication originated as part of the project: KEGA No. 070UK-4/2016 Concept
of early childhood education.
Abstract: This scientific study presents the concept of qualitative research of early
childhood education and care (ECEC) in facilities providing childcare up to three
years of age. It focuses on caring of the youngest generation of children in the area of
children
's nursery centres, childcare facilities, where this care in its educational
component, is rather unintentional, involuntary. At the time of the information boom,
parents often have problems with choosing parenting strategies without any pedagocial
advice or educational programs for children. The current adult society places great
demands on active and significant life in society, but the issues of early childhood
education and care are not addressed with adequate attention and seriousness.
Keywords: focus group, qualitative methodology, facilities providing ECEC up to the
age of three, caregivers.
1 Institutionalized childcare at an early age of the child in
Slovakia
The ECEC in Slovakia is becoming increasingly important, as it
is in the case in other countriens of the European Union.
Currently, there are some international conditions and
specificities that characterize ECEC. These conditions are
detailed in a document published by the European Commission
in Brussels (2011) entitled 'Annoucment of the Commission:
Early childhood education and care is an optimal start for all our
children in the world of the future. The quality of early
childhood education and care is dependent on many of the
factors discussed in the above mentioned document. Factors that
improve the quality of early childhood education improve the
curriculum, staff, and overall management of early childhood
education and care. The aim of early childhood education is
primarily to educate, care, and encourage a versatile
development of an individual. Childcare facilities up to three
years of age must comply with the legal conditions applicable to
the Slovak Republic specified in Act No. 448/2018 Coll. on
social services, which is referred to as the so-called "Act of the
day nursery care centres". According to this law, it is concluded
that the main requirement for ECEC is the expertise of the
caregivers themselves. A caregiver in a childcare facility up to
three years of age who does not achieve the required education
cannot work in a facility of this type. Before adopting the current
legislation, the requirement of such education was not desirable
and the position of a caregiver in early childhood education and
care facilities could have been performed by an individual
without the required education. Fields of study that are suitable
for the practice of ECEC caregivers in Slovakia are defined as:
"educating-caregiver practice, teacher education for primary
schools and nursing, or medical assistant." The condition of
employee education, as well as other conditions, in the form of
strict criteria from the current "day nursery act", apply to the
facilities of state nurseries, as well as to other childcare facilities
up to the age of three, private day nursery centres, private centres
with kindergarten, etc. They are registered in the central register
of social services of the respective self-governing region.
Exceptions, are private day nursery centres, private children's
centers, civic associations and other private establishments, that
take care of children up to the age of three, and are not registered
in the register of social service providers at the higher territorial
unit of the region in question.
Regulation in accordance with the currently valid legislation thus
created two groups of facilities, namely, those that meet the legal
conditions and those that do not officially meet them. The "legal
guarantee" may or may not be decisive for the parent when
choosing a particular facility for his/her child.
1.1 Educational strategies, methods, principles and process
of raising children of an early age
The basis of success is a suitably chosen strategy as a certain
intended and applied approach (not an algorithm) to achieve
intentions and goals. The strategy framing the process, prevents
from diverting from the intention and goal, affects the content of
the proceedings and gives it a specific form. I. e., that each
strategy chosen produces different results. The strategy
incorporates several methods that complement each other,
linking them to the same purpose of use. A method is the way in
which goals and results can be achieved. An individual, through
his deliberate action, causes that the goals take on a particular
form, and the results are better demonstrated. The methods are
chosen with regard to the subjects (the children being educated)
because they are to be adapted to the level of development that
the subjects have. The caregiver thus chooses the appropriate
strategies and affects the whole educational process in the long
term. The strategy of an open educational process (with relevant
methods such as persuasion, etc.) is aimed at educating an active
and responsible citizen. Educational strategies correspond to
adult societies and their culture, which means that they are also
chosen with regard to the nature of life favored by the adult
society (children are brought up to the image of an adult
society). Educational principles determine educational behavior,
acting; they are its basic norm. Educational principles
systematize the educating of the child and establish the
caregiver's educational conduct, thereby make this behavior
intentional and less random. The caregiver is aware that he / she
carries out his / her educational conduct consciously,
intentionally, purposefully, and on the basis of educational
principles. Achievement of objectives is a systematic,
methodical - conceptually thought-out and continuous action,
taking place according to the chosen strategy, method and
principles, that exclude randomness, unpreparedness, deviation
from the set objective and so on. The educational principle is the
steady action of the caregiver. Educational principles influence
the formation, course and outcomes of education. Educational
situations are provided with educational principles, but they do
not have to be present, in everyday situations. Then it is
necessary for the caregiver to “draw” e.g., clarify what has
happened, with reference to educational links and consequences.
This is important because life, and action in it, is formed through
speech, which is to be accompanied by the caregiver's actions.
Educational principles become evident (understood) to a child
when educating is related to speech. Speech is justification of
proceedings. It thus makes it possible to put ideas into action.
People create things by action and words, so communication in
education is essential. It is also essential to not forget the forms
of education which are the external arrangement of space and
time, in which the content of education is organized. Part of the
educational process are the conditions that influence the
educating. The factors of education are all that enters the
educational process, and the children and the caregiver are
subjects of education. Educational acting is not a phenomenon
on its own, it is often embedded in a wider framework of adult
social behavior, which is a fact, and it is desirable that the
caregiver should be able to differentiate the boundaries of this
process and fully focus his/her attention on it. Educational
performing in the facility for the youngest population is a
continuous educational activity, i.e., it is such acting, which is in
its entirety controlled. Educational strategies, methods and
principles are the factors of controlled and systematic education.
The educating of the youngest generation is a responsible
activity that requires the integrity of the caregiver. The caregiver
should include knowledge of, in particular, the pedagogical
sciences (in close relation to other sciences), in order to be able
to plan,
to carry out, evaluate the educational process with
respect to the child / children being educated and achieve the
intended educational outcomes. The basic ideas that determine
and frame the caregiver's educational conduct are summarized
below:
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