Betül S. – @ MAKALESKOP
It is really hard to call current early childhood education curriculum in Turkey as a kind of early intervention program since the philosophy behind it and its structure contradicts with the basics and fundamentals of “early intervention” from variety of perspectives. Intervention with the simplest explanation can be defined as intentionally being involved in a challenging situation to improve things or to prevent things from getting worse. When it comes to early intervention, it can be defined as supporting young children who are at risk of developmental delays because of various reasons including cognitive, physical, social, psychological, or environmental factors. Early childhood education on the other hand, aims to support children’s development through developmentally appropriate practices.
One of the important reasons that shows why we can’t accept early childhood education in Turkey as an intervention program stems from the philosophy they are built on. Regardless of any specific classification and framework all children are supposed to take advantage of early childhood education for healthy development in early years. Unlike early childhood programs, on the other hand, early intervention programs have more specific objectives to achieve. In intervention programs “who is eligible for this program?” comes at the top of the questions that is asked before implementing the program. In other words, questions like “you designed this program for whom ?”, “what are the needs of your target population and how will you support them through the programs and services you provide ?” are important. Therefore, I believe that since they have different dynamics and objectives in nature, it is really hard to compare early childhood education which is implemented nationwide with a intervention program unless the early childhood education is planned based on well-organized and multi-faceted principals which are flexible and adaptable according to the needs of children with different needs and backgrounds. And obviously, currently we don’t have such a planned program in Turkey.
According to Reynolds there are 8 principles for an effective early intervention program and “Target children and families who are at the Highest Risk of school difficulties” comes at the top of those principles. However, early childhood education in Turkey right now is not able to meet the primary requirement of an intervention program. Is early childhood education in Turkey financially and locationally accessible for all children especially those who are at risk in Turkey? Unfortunately, it is not. Today, the rate of children who can take advantage of early childhood education are not at desired levels. Around half of the children between age 3 and 5 cannot benefit from early childhood education and as age decreases the rate of children participate in early childhood education decrease accordingly. Right now, early childhood education in Turkey is not compulsory although it is supposed to be in 2020- 2021 education year. And to be able to go preschool you need to pay some school fee monthly. Unlike as Reynold specified in the first principle, early childhood education in Turkey is more accessible for those who are not in the risk groups. For those who live in cities and have financially better conditions, access to early childhood education is easier. And in parallel to SES, families can make children to get more qualified education if they want, since there are countless private school with different educational approaches. In addition to economic aspects of accessing education, another question that emerge is“how inclusive the early childhood education in Turkey is to be perceived as an intervention program?”. Does it serve and include children who are at risk of developmental delays and children with special needs? Unfortunately, with its current structure and facilities, access of those children to early childhood program that can serve as an intervention program for them is limited compared to their peers. So to perceive early childhood education as an intervention program, the curriculum must be designed based on needs of those children, it must be adoptable, flexible and available especially for children who are at risk of developmental delays. The content of program should correspond different needs of children with various backgrounds.
When we check other principles that Reynolds highlights for effective intervention program, you can see principles like small class sizes with suitable teacher-child ratio, child-centered education approach, multifaceted family involvement etc. However, current system needs improvement and change to meet those requirements. Number of early childhood education institutions should be increased across the country starting from poor neighborhoods and the content should be reconsidered and advanced with regard to needs of children and families and education should be free of charge. Otherwise, under current conditions early childhood education in Turkey does not constitute an early intervention program instead, it even increases the need for early intervention program since the gap between those who have access to early childhood education and those who don’t have access to early childhood education and are at risk of developmental delays increase.
Makaleskop 