Pre- School Education Since 1900

The period between 1870 and 1900 was very significant in the development of pre- primary education in Britain.

 The education Acts of 1870 and 1880 stipulated the official school age at five. The schools which had separate floors for infants junior and old children were well patronized. By 1870 about a quarter of all the five years old were in school (Kent 1971). This marked the new beginning for early childhood education in Britain. By 1900 the public elementary schools and the private Nursery schools were admitting the three and five year olds hence the high increase in the number of such children in school. As you could expect, the large number of children created problems in the schools. The teacher/pupils ratio was as high as 1 to 6 in some schools for infant classes. This therefore rendered the teachers ineffective with the children rarely having any benefit from the system.


Therefore, as from 1905, the public schools started rejecting the pre-school children. As expected, the population of under five children in schools dropped. However, the policy of not allowing pre- school children in public primary schools gave rise to the establishment of private nursery schools as they were from then called. The Hardow report 1933 that most children would benefit from nursery education and that a nursery school could be of benefit to the primary school had great influence on the popularity of nursery education in Britain ever since. Although the report did not make nursery schooling compulsory, yet, it provided the necessary motivation for all those who are concerned with the education and welfare of children to take it more seriously.

Although there was not much attention given to pre- school establishment during the war, (1939-1945), by the government, yet government did not mean to destroy it. Many associations were formed which actually intensified the campaign for nursery school education. The efforts of the various associations such as the pre-school, Playgroup Association, the National Campaign for Nursery Education among others actually encouraged the establishment of as many 7000-play groups by 1971 (Meduewesi 1999).


It must be emphasized here that since the formation of the various associations for the promotion, of nursery school education, there has been a great awareness on the part of the people on the benefit of pre-school education. Thus, there has been a great demand for nursery education. The modern Socio — economic engagements of parents in modern societies, coupled with the number of immigrants into Britain must have somehow been responsible for the ever increasing demand for nursery school education.

CONCLUSION

The development, of pre- school education has come a long way in Britain to become very popular. From the ancient ideas of Plato to those of Calvin, Comenius, Lock, Rousseau Froebel and Montessori, the child has been accepted as a unique individual who can be educated. In Britain, the activities of individuals and associations have helped in making the Pre- school establishment very popular Government regulations from time to time have been issued to ensure that children are given the necessary health care and education in the nursery schools. There has for a long time been a high demand for nursery education in Britain as a result of the high level of awareness on the benefits of nursery school education to the child, by the parents, and invariably the society.

SUMMARY

In this unit, you have learnt how Plato who lived many centuries before the birth of Christ categorized education into the formal levels which we are still operating today. His ideas about why and how children should be educated early are still very valid today. Similarly, you have learnt how individuals in Europe helped through their ideas about how children should be educated to influence the teaching and learning activities in Nursery school. You also learnt in this unit how the various nursery school associations have helped to increase peoples awareness on the importance of nursery education in Britain. In the next unit we are going to discuss the origin of Western education in Nigeria.