Foundation Stones

Presented by:
Linn Benzone L. del Mundo
Sheery Ann Marin Merle
Menchee Llame
 Key figures who contributed as pioneers to the development
of early childhood education and care through their work in: child
development; philosophy; psychology; curriculum; pedagogy;
social policy; and different forms of provision of early childhood
education and care.
 • Born Athens, 469 B.C, Died Athens, 399 B.C

• Key contributions to early childhood education

Socrates According to Plato’s writings it is perhaps his
idea of teaching through the learners’ questions
which is most useful to early childhood
‘Wisdom begins in wonder’ education. He emphasized the importance of
philosophy and of talking with others about life’s
questions.
 • Born 28 March 1592,
Died 15 November 1670

• Key contributions to early childhood education

Jan Amos He believed in what is sometimes called a ‘holistic’
view of education, teaching that education begins in the
Komenský early days of childhood and continues throughout life.
(Comenius) He believed that teachers should understand how a
child’s mind develops and believed that all children
should receive the same education, whatever their
gender and social class. He promoted education that
was ‘thorough, natural and enjoyable’ and opposed rote
learning, and was also the first to encourage continuing
education, as well as equal education for all.
 ‘Teach gently so that neither the teacher
nor the pupils feel any difficulties or
dislike; on the contrary, both find it very
Jan Amos pleasant. And teach thoroughly, not
superficially, but bring everyone to a real
Komenský education, noble manners and devout
(Comenius) piety’.
(The Great Didactic, 1657)
 • Born 1712, Geneva, Died 2 July 1778

• Key contributions to early childhood education

Rouseau is best known for Emile, his work on
Jean-Jacques developmental psychology and its implications for
Rousseau education. In Emile, Rousseau details the growth of a
young boy under his care. In this largely fictional work
Emile grows up in what Rousseau saw as the natural
setting for a child, the countryside, where his education
is designed to help him learn how to live. Rousseau
discusses Emile’s development in three stages: up to 12
(a period which Rousseau characterized as more animal
like); 12 to 16 (the beginning of reasoned thought), and
16 onwards (the beginning of adulthood).
 ‘The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he
transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.’
(Rousseau, 1762)

‘Childhood is the sleep of reason.’

(Rousseau, 1762)

Jean-Jacques ‘I long remained a child, and I am still one in many respects.’

Rousseau (Rousseau, 1782)

‘Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.’ (Rousseau, 1762)

‘The training of children is a profession, where we must know how to waste

time in order to save it.’
(Rousseau, 1762)

‘The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but
the one with the richest experiences.’
(Rousseau, 1750)
 • Born 12 January 1746, Died 17 February 1827,

• Key contributions to early childhood education

In the history of education, the significant
contributions of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi are;
Johann Heinrich
Pestalozzi (1) his educational philosophy and instructional
method that encouraged harmonious intellectual,
moral, and physical development;

(2) his methodology of empirical sensory learning,

especially through object lessons; and

(3) his use of activities, excursions, and nature

studies that anticipated Progressive education.
 ‘Life for the young child should be happy and free,
and education in self-control should be gradual and
careful. Punishment and restraint should rarely be
necessary. Pressure to learn beyond the child’s
Johann Heinrich natural pace is harmful, and the denying of
opportunities to learn by trial and error retards the
Pestalozzi
development of character as well as of learning.’
(Pestalozzi, 1801)
 • Born 14 May 1771, Died 1858
• Key contributions to early childhood education
He opened Britain’s first infant school at New
Lanark Millsin 1816. In these schools corporal
Robert Owen punishment was avoided and the focus was placed upon
‘character development', with dancing and music also
being included in the curriculum. His clear enjoyment
of, and liking for, children showed in his views of how
they should be treated in school. As well as being
strongly opposed to corporal punishment, he believed in
rewarding cleanliness and good conduct. He insisted
that his teachers treated pupils well and did not instill
fear in them but promoted a love of reading and
learning.
 ‘...human nature is radically good, and is capable
of being trained, educated, and placed from birth
Robert Owen in such manner, that all ultimately ... must
become united, good, wise, wealthy, and happy.’
(Owen, 1920: 181)
 • Born 21 April 1782, Died 21 June, 1852,

• Key contributions to early childhood education

Froebel started a publishing business for play and
Friedrich Froebel other educational materials to stimulate learning
through well-directed play activities accompanied by
songs and music. His experiments at the
Kindergarten attracted widespread interest –
especially the use of ‘gifts’ (play materials) and
‘occupations’ (activities) – and other Kindergarten
schools soon became established.
 ‘The purpose of education is to encourage and
guide man as a conscious, thinking and
perceiving being in such a way that he becomes a
Friedrich Froebel pure and perfect representation of that divine
inner law through his own personal choice;
education must show him the ways and meanings
of attaining that goal.’ (Friedrich Froebel, 1826,
Die Menschenerziehung, p. 2)
 • Born 7 February 1812, Died 9 June 1870,
• Key contributions to early childhood education
Dickens’ concerns around education arise in
his writing about society and crime. His ideas
about education of the poor appear to stem from a
Charles Dickens view of crime prevention. He became involved in
Ragged Schools from 1843, and drew attention to
social issues and the effects of poverty on
children through his novels and in his letters. The
kindergarten movement was first mentioned by
Dickens in a letter written on 1 February 1855.
 ‘I think it is right that the State should educate the
people; and I think it is wrong that it should
punish ignorance, without enlightening or
preventing it. ... But I would limit its power and
watch it very carefully. ... I apprehend that there
are certain sound rudiments of a good education,
Charles Dickens and certain moral and religious truths, on which
we might agree. I would have those taught in
State Schools, to the children of parents of all
Christian denominations; favouring no one
Church more than another.’
(Letter to Edward Baines 7 June 1850 in Collins,
1965: 252)
 • Born 1 January 1842,
Died 16 January 1923,
• Key contributions to early childhood education
She developed a clear and distinctive
philosophy and wrote 20 articles on education
which became known by some as a Child’s Bill of
Rights. She established a teacher Training College
in Ambleside in 1892 which also had a Parents’
Charlotte Mason Union School, where young children could attend
without charge if their parents subscribed to the
monthly Parents’ Review journal, which Charlotte
Mason published to promote, her work on home
education through her home education network,
the Parents’ National Education Union.
 ‘Children have a right to the best we possess;
therefore their lesson books should be, as far as
possible, our best books.’
(Mason, 1923)

‘There is no part of a child’s education more

important than that he should lay – by his own
observation – a wide basis of facts towards
scientific knowledge in the future.’
Charlotte Mason
(on Nature Study Volume 1, Home Education,
1886)
 • Born 1861, Died 1925,
• Key contributions to early childhood education
Rudolf Steiner conceived of education as an
art – creative, progressive, social and individual.
Teaching is essentially vocation, a challenging
yet fulfilling task and teachers, in common with
Rudolf Steiner their pupils, remain learners. Not limited to
schooling, teaching and learning mean taking
one’s place in the world, working with
enthusiasm, acting with consideration, involving
oneself responsibly. Now an international
movement, Steiner-Waldorf kindergartens are
found in many countries, with over 40 in the UK.
 ‘You must teach and educate out of the very
nature of the human being, and for this reason
education for moral life must run parallel to the
Rudolf Steiner actual teaching ...’
(Steiner, 1995: 52)
 • 6 May 1856, Died 1939
• Key contributions to early childhood education
Freud’s theory on infantile sexuality and the
‘Oedipus complex’ has been used to interpret the
behaviour of young children. His identification of
three structural elements in the mind, id, ego and
Sigmund Freud super-ego has been used to understand and
interpret children’s behaviour.
 ‘Children are completely egoistic; they feel their
needs intensely and strive ruthlessly to satisfy
them.’
Sigmund Freud (The Ego and the Id, 1923)
Other Key Figures:
• Rachel McMillan
• John Dewey
• Margaret McMillan
• Maria Montessori
• Alexander Sutherland Neill (A.S.Neill)
• Susan Sutherland Isaacs
• Louis Christian Schiller
• Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky
• Donald Woods Winnicott
• Jean Piaget
Other Key Figures:
• Erik Erikson
• Carl Rogers
• Robin Tanner
• Burrhus Frederick Skinner
• Sir Alexander Bradshaw Clegg (Alec Clegg)
• Loris Malaguzzi
• Chris Athey
Book Reference:

Cathy Nutbrown & Peter Clough (2014)‘Early Childhood

Education History, Philosophy and Experience 'Second
Edition Chapter 2 pg. 20-74
Any questions or clarifications?
Thank you for your time and attention.