“Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five.  If we don’t begin thinking about education in the early years, our children are at a risk of falling behind by the time they start kindergarten”. – Robert L. Ehrlich

Many parents struggle with the amount of choice and decisions needed to be made for their little ones before Big School. Dubai has even more choice in comparison to many expats' home countries. Our international schools here range from one curriculum to another with school system options such as British, American, Canadian, Indian, Arabic, Australian or French.  Each of these systems may offer a different prime language with lessons in French, Arabic, Russian, German ... and the list goes on.  So how do we choose a nursery when we aren’t even sure what school our child will attend?

Nurseries may offer Reggio Emilia, Montessori or the British EYFS program (Early Years Foundation Stage). Some nurseries may even follow their own philosophy or a combination of all or some.  Every country has a different approach to educating the under 5’s, but it is each individual parent's opinion and decision of how they believe their child will learn best.

Montessori education is an educational approach developed by an Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori and focuses on independence, freedom within limits, and the respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical, and social development. Often Montessori nurseries will combine larger age ranges as the belief from this philosophy is that children will learn from each other. The younger will learn from the older children and the older children will nurture the younger. This educational approach allows each individual child to develop at their own rate, pace and allows each child to lead in their own development. Basically this means that if a child has high interest in an area of learning, that child will have the freedom to develop their interest freely. This framework is also more of a discovery model where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instructions and the children can explore the play options freely without interruption.

Reggio Emelia is another approach and in some ways is similar to Montessori. However, Reggio Emelia has a higher focus on the principles of sensory learning, respect, responsibility, and community. This is learned through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum. The teacher’s role in this nursery is in more a way of researcher, a resource and guide to lend expertise to children. They carefully listen, observe and document the children’s work and the growth of their classroom. There is also a unique theory within Reggio Emelia on art and design and the idea that children know a hundred languages and it is the responsibility of the teacher to guide children how to use this in everyday life. They acknowledge that children are extremely expressive, with an enormous capacity for sharing feelings and emotion, and that imagination plays a key role in the child’s search for knowledge and understanding.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the mandate for Learning and Development requirements in the UK. This system of learning is target oriented, but how it is implemented takes ideas and philosophies from both Montessori as well as Reggio Emelia.  It is based on prime and specific goals for children.  The prime goals are Personal Social and Emotional (PSED), Physical Development (PD), Communication and Language (CL) and the specific goals are Literacy, Maths, Understanding of the World, Art and Design.  It is understood that teachers will present their learning activities to the children within these areas of learning and observe and record their learning process.  Each prime and specific goal has areas where the children will learn, develop and grow and their progress is documented as emerging, expected or exceeding.

For parents who are looking to make a decisions on which philosophy or curriculum will best suit their child, spend some time in each potential center to see how their child acts and reacts. Most importantly though, ensure you are comfortable with the nursery and ask a lot of questions. Look at the planning and ensure what is planned is what is happening and that your child is given choices within their day and the curriculum that is being offered.