It’s far too early to know whether education for pre-primary schoolchildren improves their life chances. Think 20 years ahead. How many children now aged four are not going to need the services of a therapist or counsellor?

In 1962 I began work as an educational psychologist in Sydney. I was able to visit the homes of the children who were referred to me and get to know the family well. What puzzled me was why it was that very often, in a group of siblings, only one child was having difficulties.

I would inquire about the life history of each of the siblings, and I would find that the untroubled children had, at an early stage in their life, enjoyed some advantage that the troubled child had not. It might be that the older children had been born before the father had become unemployed or the mother become chronically ill. It might be that that some of the children had spent part of their time with a loving grandmother, while the troubled child had not…

The educational initiatives for pre-primary school children aim to do more than teach cognitive skills. They try to give the children the time and space to think and explore, to be creative and act upon the world. All the time they are surrounded by adults who give them affection, encouragement and praise…

Source: Guardian Unlimited, UK
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dorothy_rowe/2007/08/early_learning_.html