Abstract:

This article explores the contrast of global and area-specific developmental approaches in early childhood. In this stage of life, children must resolve many developmental tasks. It is important to know that development and education in early childhood significantly influence children´s future lives.

Many studies underline that kindergarten has a positive effect on children’s development. On the other hand, it is known that the educational system in early childhood is not able to countermine the effect of parental care. Nevertheless, kindergarten can diminish parental influence in the social, emotional and cognitive developmental areas; therefore, early childhood education becomes a key role in children`s development and socialisation. Several studies demonstrate the benefits of kindergarten in different areas of education and competencies such as movement, communication, music and science learning. How are these changes caused by kindergarten and parental care explained? Many current findings suggest that development is not a global process, as Piaget mentioned, but an area-specific one. In contrast, more biologically oriented educational psychologists consider that maturation of the central nervous system (i.e. maturation of frontal lobes and the development of executive functions) in addition to experiences has a crucial impact on learning processes. Such maturation changes learning processes globally.

In this article, we discuss some typical fields of area-specific and global developmental processes and examine the possibility that socio-emotional steps in development are intertwined with area-specific developmental steps such as language, mathematics, science and movement learning. This literature-based reflection provides important indications for early childhood education.

Keywords:

Area-Specific Development, Global Development, Early Childhood Education.