The schooling of two-year-olds children in France

Résumé du document

Kindergarten is a fundamental step for a child, a transition between family and school system. In most cases, it also is his or her first confrontation to life in society. The question of the schooling of two-year-olds is thus not one to be taken lightly. What is the actual state of the schooling of two-year-olds nowadays in France? What are the advantages and the inconvenience of such schooling? After having answered those two questions based on secondary research, I have met the headmistresses of a nursery school and of a kindergarten, in order to have the direct point of view of people working on the field.

According to the law on education of the 10th of July 1989, every three-year-olds child has the right to have a place in a kindergarten, if its family asks so. Concerning the schooling of two-year-olds children, it is implemented in priority in schools located in low income areas. The report joined to the law explains in fact that if the benefits of an early schooling on the later success of the children is nowadays unanimously recognized and concerns all children, kindergarten plays an even more important role for disadvantaged children in the access to knowledge. As a consequence, their schooling at the age of two is a primary goal of education policies. So instead of the generalization of two-year-olds children schooling, an action targeted toward low income areas was promoted. Even with the intended corrective policy, the schooling rate of two-year-olds children has declined in low income departments, such as Seine Saint Denis, where it was 21.2 % in 1999, that it to say a fall of 10 points of percentage compared to 1989.

Extraits

[...] It's always better to stay at home, said Mrs Rivière, even in a 12 square meters room with a non-French speaking mom, than to be put at school in bad conditions, because the child has to learn stuffs that he won't learn at school and that, for its future development, matter more than codes and language A kindergarten that welcomes two-year-olds has to be adapted If you do put two-year-olds at school, then the kindergarten should be at least adapted. The first thing is to have trained staff. Teachers must have a formation about the psychological and physical needs of two-year-olds. And there must be other staff to take care of children, not just teachers. Then, since two-year-olds move a lot, the classrooms must be large. The children must also have more freedom, sleeping when they want to, making non-scholar activities like the cooking. [...]

[...] In order to have the opinion of professionals about the schooling of two- year-olds children, I interviewed the headmistress of a nursery school and of a kindergarten in the 18th district of Paris. The headmistress of the nursery school “Goutte d'Or”, Mrs Gaëlle Baranger, explained to me why she's opposed to the schooling of two-year-olds children A two-year-olds need qualified staff, adapted premises and schedule First, there aren't enough educators to take care of two-year-olds children in kindergarten. Nowadays in Paris, the rules in kindergarten are that there must be one adult for five children who don't walk and one adult for eight children who do. [...]

[...] There are two types of staff: the child care auxiliary takes care of the child' need (exchange, game ) and the young child educator focuses on the psychological development of the child There are no programs in nursery school In nursery school, the children learn a lot of things but it is less supervised. There is no official program like in kindergarten; there is no testing, no learning scale. The nursery school is organized around the child's autonomy and his or her development through games. [...]

[...] What is the actual state of the schooling of two-year-olds nowadays in France? What are the advantages and the inconvenience of such schooling? After having answered those two questions based on secondary research, I have met the headmistresses of a nursery school and of a kindergarten, in order to have the direct point of view of people working on the field. I. The actual state of the schooling of two-year-olds According to the law on education of the 10th of July 1989, every three- year-olds child has the right to have a place in a kindergarten, if its family asks so. [...]

[...] Out of children aged between three months and three years have their mono-parent or their both parents active[2], and have a parent who's inactive because of the difficulty of finding a way to personally care for their child[3], that is to says a total of places potentially required. The effective offer is places (guard at home, nursery assistant, nursery school and kindergarten). To face this issue has emerged the idea of a generalized schooling of two- year-olds children. Compared to nursery school, kindergarten first presents the advantage of lower cost. In 2006, the annual cost of a child in a kindergarten was 4660 compared to in a structure for young children[4]. [...]