Abstract:

The analytical study argues the current conditions of upbringing and education of two-year-old children in kindergartens in the Slovak Republic with legislative regulations, statistical data and information from documents that are nationally valid. The study was developed in the KEGA project No. 001UMB-4 entitled Creation of supporting material for improving the conditions of upbringing and education of two-year-old children in kindergartens. The Education Act (2008) allows for the admission of two-year-old children to kindergartens, but research (Lipnicka et al., 2023) has shown that principals and teachers communicate the requirements for ensuring specific conditions for the upbringing and education of two-year-old children in kindergartens. The analytical study identifies existing conditions and suggests additional ones to be provided by the state. Three main requirements emerged from the research: for support staff taking into account the needs of children, methodological material for pedagogical work and an appropriate curriculum. Statistical data (2022) showed that of the total population of two-year-old children in the population, 4.5% were in kindergartens. Out of the total number of children in kindergartens (2022/2023), two-year-old children were 14%, which means that the issue needs to be addressed (Lipnicka, 2023). It is important to create conditions so that education and care in the school system are available also for two-year-old children if parents cannot use social services. One of the conditions is the creation of information and methodological materials at the state level in order to provide care and education in accordance with the needs and development of children in cooperation with parents. The issue should also be more widely implemented in teacher training.

Keywords:

Kindergarten, early childhood, care and education, school documents, education legislation.