THE ROLE OF NURSERIES IN SUPPORTING EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT: PARENTS’ ASPIRATIONS, TEACHING

Abstract

This study aims to examine the role of nurseries in supporting children's early development through teaching and learning approaches, parents' aspirations and the challenges faced by educators. Qualitative research methods were used by conducting interviews with three nursery educators in Penang. The findings of the study show that the play-while-learning and multisensory approach is the main effective strategy in stimulating children's cognitive, language, emotional, social and fine and gross motor development. Parents' aspirations are focused on aspects of safety, care, health, as well as language and emotional development of children. To meet this expectation, the nursery implements two-way communication through progress reports in the form of pictures and videos, which have proven to increase parents' confidence in the nursery. However, several challenges were also identified including differences in children's developmental levels, negative behavior and unstable emotions. This study concludes that the role of the nursery is very important in providing a conducive environment for the holistic development of children and continuous improvement is needed to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning.