Early Childhood Learning and Development: Perspectives and Theories

This essay delves into the contemporary perspectives of learning and development in early childhood, emphasizing the critical importance of early childhood education for children's brain development and future success. It highlights the role of educators and the influence of various theories, including developmental, socio-cultural, socio-behaviorist, and post-structuralist theories, in shaping teaching methods and understanding children's learning processes. The essay discusses key theorists and their contributions, such as Vygotsky, Skinner, and Piaget, and categorizes the main theoretical approaches used in the field. It stresses the significance of early childhood interventions and the rapid brain development that occurs during this period, emphasizing the lasting impact of early experiences. The paper also touches upon the need for educators to understand the stages of language development and the importance of creating supportive environments for children's growth. Finally, the essay concludes by reinforcing the significance of early childhood as a foundation for future development and the critical role it plays in a child's life.

Running head: LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
Contemporary Perspectives of Learning and Development for Early childhood
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to prioritize the issue that the quality of the lives of young
children should be enhanced through various initiatives and development of program dedicated
for the brain development and learning purpose of the children in their early childhood. What I
strongly believe is that the educators who have specialized on providing early childhood
education are actually on the same page with the scholars who has provided various perspectives
and learning theories for the young children. It is seen that the theories are a compilation of
various ideas or notions in a collective manner that aims to describe a specific topic that is
present in the domain of early childhood learning. The theories are prepared with utilizing
various rational forms of generalized and abstract thought process. Apart from that, it can be said
that the theories in this field are often developed by some general principles that are most of the
times independent from what is being explained with the help of the theory.
Discussion
The theories regarding early childhood learning actually leaves the young children and
their learning process in a way that have consequences for the ways of teaching learning and
also to understand how the learning of the young children can be developed. It can be said
that there are numerous courses, which are developed for the betterment of the early
childhood learning (Dinehart, 2015). Some of the significant theorists in this subject hailing
from the western world are Vygotsky, Skinner, Chomsky, Rogoff and many more. These
philosopher’s or theorist’s theories are important in guiding and helping the professionals
who educate the children in their early childhood. Had it been there inadequate theories in
this field, it would have been majorly difficult to learn for the young children.

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It is seen that the educators who provide education to the children who are in their early
childhood, they tend to develop a series of beliefs that gets passed down from one
generation to another by various training and developmental programs and classroom
teaching. The most important thing in this context is that the until and unless these theories
provided by the theorists are tested and examined, they do not become as helpful as they
might appear; though there are ample theories and beliefs that are somewhat taken for
granted and they require critical evaluation (Blair & Raver, 2016).
In this regard, it is worth mentioning that there are a variety of theories that inform the
approaches to the learning and development of the children, and those can be labeled or
categorized into five chief categories. Those categories are
1. Socio-cultural theories
2. Critical theories
3. Developmental theories
4. Socio-behaviorist theories
5. Post-structuralist theories
The developmental theories were developed with the contribution of Piaget, Steiner,
Gardener and Montessori. The focus of developing the developmental theory is to emphasize
on the continuous and discrete stages of development of the children in their developmental
early childhood (Maloney et al., 2015). In contemporary times, the educators are largely
dependent on the developmental theories and they respond and plan their course of actions
according to the theories in relation to their stages of development.

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Theorists like Vygotsky, Malaguzzi, Rogoff, Bruner and Brinfenbrenner developed the
socio-cultural theories. They emphasized on the fact that learning and development takes
place in the context of the communities of the children in their early childhood. The
contemporary educators scaffold and transform the learning in accordance with the response
to the pupil’s prior understanding.
Habermas and Freire developed critical theories of early childhood learning. The
focus of their study was on the issue that the curriculum might have various aspects hidden
that can frame specific point of views and generally ignore other views. In today’s world the
educators tend to challenge the assumptions regarding query and curriculum that are taken
for granted in early childhood education or learning (Waniganayake et al., 2018).
Skinner, Pavlov and Bandura developed the socio-behaviorist theories, and they
put focus on the role of experience to shape the behavior of the children in their early stages.
Nowadays various activities that are directed by the educators are coupled with
reinforcements and rewards.
Finally, it can be said that the post structurist theories were developed by canella,
Bordiu and Foucault and they knew and shed light on the fact that there are a range of forms
of knowledge and thus it can be said that there are no such things like absolute truth. In
contemporary times, the early childhood educators explore various ways to exploit the power
relationships that are embedded in their practice that can provide privileges to a specific
group of children over the others (Bredekamp, 2016).
It is a matter of fact that to make sure that implementation of any programs serving for
the children in their early childhood implementation of the theories mentioned above are

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important (Maloney et al., 2015). In this regard, it can be said that the requirements of each
pre-school are unique in nature and in many cases the pupils need interventions of the
educators to support and guide for the gradual progress of their education. The standards of
preschool education can shed light on the development of the education plans for each
student. In the public schools, the population of the learners of English language has
experienced a gradual growth in last decade being comprised of various linguistic and ethnic
groups (Hair et al., 2015). I believe that, the teachers and the administrators of the
preschools should attain knowledge regarding all the stages of language development and
utilize various theories, techniques and learning materials to teach the learners in the
early childhood. I have seen that a strong connection at home, school, and in the community
can build a sense of respect and appreciation among the pupils that help them to get more
opportunities to learn (Waniganayake et al., 2018).
It can be said that the early childhood education is rich with a range of values and
beliefs over a wide range of generations of the educators and most importantly theorists.
Most of the notions are also present in the contemporary times and are also followed by
many educators (Dinehart, 2015). A contemporary can surely trace the long held traditions
and views from the eighteenth century though process regarding the pedagogical play. These
incorporates the notions of Rousseau related to the innocence and protection of the children.
In contemporary times, Vygotsky understands regarding the social meditation of knowledge
and learning poses a context for interaction of the adults that has become interestingly
evident in approaches to early childhood education (Gehris et al., 2015).
It is seen that in early childhood the development becomes a key to attain a
productive and positive future life for the child as well as for the nation as the children are

5LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
the future generations. I strongly believe that the early childhood stage is a critical time for
the children as in that phase the foundation of the child’s future gets formed. This paper
shows how important early childhood is for the development of the children. It is seen that
early childhood interventions generally have a significant impact on the development of a
child (Elango et al., 2015). It is a fact that the rapid development of children’s brains in
prenatal stage and it continues after the birth of the child. Generally a child when born seen
to have 100 billions of cells in its brain and the maturation of the brain along with the neural
pathways leaves an impact to determine how the central nervous system and the brain
develops together at the early childhood (Bredekamp, 2016). It can be said that the
environmental effects on the children’s brain in not at all the sole connection among all the
neural and brain to get wired. The process in which excess neurons are eliminated and
synapses from the dense and immature brain continues to the time of adolescence. That is the
most turbulent time of the human beings. Various results of scientific experiments seem to
show that children’s brain does not receive proper stimulation at that phase and it seems to be
difficult to rewire the brain later on.
It is seen that in the age group of 2 to 5 the children enjoys learning new skills and they
get more control in their limbs and tend to act more independently. In this time more
inclination towards making choices and engaging in solving puzzles are seen among the
children (Blair & Raver, 2016). On the other hand, in the age group of 2 to 5 years the
children seem to develop an attention span usually longer, they are seen to converse a lot, and
they become more curious about the surroundings. At that point of time, the children develop
motor skills easily and by talking and singing they increase their language skills. Little

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bit of teamwork and a developed sense of personal level of competence is also seen in the
children of this age group.
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, in my opinion early childhood is a very important phase in the life of
the children as in this particular phase the brains get developed in a rapid manner and the
children gets exposed to the greater world and learns some basic skills that help them to grow
and develop further.

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