Reply to Help: What does "play-based" even mean?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Yes, ideally it is about balance. But if the preschool does not have properly educated/experienced staff, more damage can be done by pushing academics than in a play-based environment. I would steer away from an academic preschool unless I trust the competency of the staff. At least one person in a preschool should have early education credentials, and I know at least one preschool where that is not the case. 
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I actually disagree. My son is at a preschool with no staff with ECE credentials, and it is SO MUCH better in every way than the preschool that had credentialed staff.  In a best case scenario, long-time childcare workers without degrees are just good with kids (and, more importantly, managing classrooms competently.)  On the other hand, an indexperienced but credentialed teacher can be a nightmare.  And pushing "academics" at least means that the staff is engaged with the kids, as opposed to letting them go all lord of the flies.  [/quote]

Of course, it is not 100% one way or the other. Our experience with "academic" preschool was not engagement, more of pushing worksheets and not developing curiosity or learning skills, but drilling children specific assigned tasks, that seemed very inappropriate for preschoolers. We are in a play-based preschool now with staff mostly with no ECE credentials and it is fantastic. [/quote]

I don't even know how you get a room full of young 3 year olds to do worksheets, lol!  In the school that didn't work, it wasn't so much worksheets (although there was some of that) as tons expectations for kids to follow rules passively, like circle time, specific art projects, dance classes, science classes, etc.  [/quote]

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