Two Early Childhood Education Services in Your Community Essay Example for Free

Two Early Childhood Education Services in Your Community Essay Identify TWO early childhood education services in your community. Briefly explain their history and then compare and contrast their philosophies, educational goals and the strategies employed to achieve these goals. Kangaroo Kids education limited (KKEL) and Indian Montessori Foundation(IMF) are two organisations providing early childcare services in Mumbai, Maharashtra. W hile KKEL represents a more contemporary approach based on student-centric experiential learning processes, dynamic curriculum and stress-free environment that meet the ‘best practices’ and international standards of education (KangarooKids Education Ltd. [KKEL], n. d. ), the IMF, a long existing organization was setup with the vision of enabling children to reach their full potential through the principles of Montessori Education leading towards a more harmonious and peaceful world. (Indian Montessori Foundation. (IMF). n. d. ) The KKEL Vision as stated above, is to wholeheartedly serve children and make every learning moment a joyful, effective and meaningful one. Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd (KKEL) has brought about an alternate system of education which is a stark contrast to the widely prevalent ‘learn by rote’ methods of learning. The emphasis is on active learning and on providing a system that leads to the acquisition of both knowledge and skills. Today, KKEL supports 80 schools in India that are operating in 17 cities and has an international presence in Dubai and Maldives and is still growing rapidly. (KangarooKids Education Ltd. [KKEL], n. d. ) In contrast, the central principle in the Montessori Approach is that of using education as an aid to life. This approach comes from the fact that the principles of the Montessori Approach go hand in hand with the child’s own natural development stages. Montessori classrooms are referred to as prepared environments which provide children an atmosphere where they can choose the work they wish to pursue and allow them the freedom to develop at their own pace. In this work, the children are guided by a trained adult. The IMF aims to achieve the above goals by nurturing Montessori principles in schools, supporting AMI Montessori training, bringing together AMI Alumni, Promoting research and development of all aspects of Montessori Education and expanding the awareness of Montessori Principles in society. (Indian Montessori Foundation. [IMF]. n. d. ) The approaches of these organisations are perhaps most significantly different in terms of the philisophical underpinnings. W hile KKEL seems to derive from the experiential aspects largely contributing to the specific knowledge and skills the IMF instead relies on providing an understanding of universal principles of peace and harmony. Additionally their strategies seem starkly different, while IMF is focussed on engaging the community as a mode of sustaining, KKEl appears to be a promotion driven organisation. Finally and most crucially while their systems might seem quite different it would be fair to say that KKEL is perhaps an evolution of the IMF model, which while based on modern demands of cutting edge education solutions seems customised and contemporary but still aims to develop a child skills in manner broadly the same but specifically different. 1 BEd110C5: Introduction to Early Childhood Education – International 20110503 Namrata Sharma 2.