e-Pedagogium 2016, 16(2):90-107 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2016.019

Development and Reflection on Early Childhood Education in U. S. Higher Schools

Shangwei Li
Mgr. Shangwei Li, Institute of Rural Preschool Education, Yibin University, Yibin, PRC, 644007, E-mail: 1967shangwei@163.com

Early childhood education at higher schools is a type of education to train early childhood teachers for children 0-8 years old that have developed very quickly and made a great progress in the United States of America. The paper is to introduce the developmental status and features of early childhood education at the U. S. higher schools. Investigation shows that there are at least 228 colleges and universities with early childhood education major, focusing on "higher educational level", "various major fields", "practicable degree plans", "diverse instructional methods", "strict teacher certification" and "networking". At meantime, there is a "confused professional boundary" about early childhood education at the U. S. higher schools, which has some negative influences on training early childhood teachers. We consider that "preschool education" is more suitable than "early childhood education" as a major paralleled with "elementary education", "secondary education" and "higher education" at higher schools.

Keywords: early childhood education; preschool education; teacher education; higher schools; United States of America (U.S.A.)

Published: April 1, 2016  Show citation

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Li, S. (2016). Development and Reflection on Early Childhood Education in U. S. Higher Schools. e-Pedagogium, 16(2), 90-107. doi: 10.5507/epd.2016.019
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