Managing Preschool Program

Dr. Maria Martha Manette A. Madrid
Professor, College of Teacher Education
Panpacific University North Philippines
Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

Early preschool started in the 70s with Harris
Memorial School as pioneer.
Private individuals and organizations later put
up preschool classes.
Teacher Education institutions put up
laboratory classes for the potential teachers
of preschools in 1956 with Dr. Pedro Orata
putting up barangay preschools.
Each preschool did its own thing and
observed its own philosophy and draw up the
curriculum , they were free to select the
practices they wanted to preserve.
As a result, a preschool practices
mushroomed everywhere.

Former DECS Sec. Lourdes Quisumbing intended
the organization of a council of preschool
specialists from both private and public sectors
to coordinate preschools all over the Philippines
Quisumbing issued DECS Order 329 in 1987,
creating CONCEP formerly defined as
CECEP(Council n Early Childhood Education in the
Philippines). It was define as consultative,
initiating, planning, organizing, recommending,
advocating, implementing, supervisory,
monitoring and information disseminating body.

Three reform programs:
1. World movement Education for All (EFA)
◦ inspired by the research finding and recognizing
the importance of the early childhood learning, our
government embarked in a program which
happens to institutionalize Early Childhood Care
and Development as a basis service for all children
in the country.
◦ it also hopes to observe two guideposts of
egalitarianism and humanism in developing
preschoolers in promoting the different aspects of
development among the preschoolers 0-6 year
olds.
◦ these can be realized by using all the intervention
programs that may be implemented namely:
center-based, community-based, school-based and
clinic-based preschools.

2. Reform proposed by Congressional
Education Commission (EDCOM):
◦ “An Early Childhood Care and
Development Act”-which will focus on the
child’s total development. It also proposes
that as part of non-formal education,
ECCD should use culturally indigenous
learning materials and the child’s first
language as the medium of instruction.
◦ The gov’t also hopes to provide incentives
for private initiatives in the establishments
and operation of ECCD centers in
industrial plants as cooperatives as well as
for the training of parents and community
leaders as facilitators.

3. Implementation of the Local
Government Code
◦ Under this code, a day care in every
barangay is provided for: and
maintenance and operational needs
become a built responsibility of local
government.

In the early ’80s a substantial agreement has
merged about the characteristic common to
effective schools.
Duttweller’s (1998-1990) reviews of the more
recent literature reveals a comprehensive picture
of what constitute an effective school namely: it
should be student-centered; it should offer
academically and socially rich programs coupled
with enriched environment through a variety of
options; have an extra active co-curricular
program; it should also provide instruction that
promotes student learning. The programs are
designed to ensure the total development of the
child.

Effective school must have a sense of order,
purpose, and direction fostered by
consistency among teachers and an
atmosphere of encouragement in which
student are praised and rewarded.
Effective schools are contributory partner to
the community they serve which involve
variety of methods for communication as well
as working with parents and community.

Laws pertaining to minors are important to
the operation of a school for young children.
Laws which directly affect the treatment of
children to the care of someone other than
their parents. Others laws related to
education of children and to parental
responsibility.
◦ “No person may commit sexual acts upon or in the
presence of children”.
◦ Other acts such as molesting, selling drugs or
alcohol or involving a minor to criminal acts.

Law concerns abuse of or injury to a child.
Neither the parent nor another person may
willfully injure a child in the case of abuse by
the parent; the child may be removed from
parental custody. When injury or death is
caused by wrongful act or neglect, a parent
can sue for negligence.

The owner or operator of a school are clear.
Abuse of the child by a parent is unlawful and
should be reported. Abuse or neglect of a child
by someone other than the parent is also
unlawful.
Responsibility of parents for the acts of their
children is another area involving legal action.
Laws cam make parents liable for injury to
another person if it can be proved that the
parents provided their child with a dangerous
implement.
Preschool personnel may not be involved in the
enforcement of some laws, but it is important to
be aware of the implications.

Laws relating to employment and are
important to the operation of early childhood
programs should be considered.
It is important for the director and teachers of
a preschool to be familiar with the laws
pertaining to treatment of children and the
responsibility of parents to their children.

All levels of government should be involved
in various ways: City or country regulations
may determine where a school can be
operated, Department of Health, Education or
Welfare may determine the guidelines for
licensing. Even guidelines for administration
or funding should be set.

Traditionally dealt first with the facility in
order to ensure the safety of the children.
Facility include people, services and
programs; while licensing includes
requirements for staff qualifications and
teacher/child ratio.
Before minimum standards can be set, a
determination of requirements for a quality
program must be made. There is also the
question of whether or not one kind of
program is suitable for all children.

As early as 1970s, there have been efforts to
have preschool education incorporated in the
educational ladder. Bureau of Public Schools
joined hands with interested groups in
passing the passage of a law incorporating
preschool education in the educational
ladder. Unfortunately, the concerned groups
end up with a reply that this is not yet a
priority in the national agenda

In the late 80s, renewed vigor manifested by
the Bereau of Elementary Education and other
groups concerned with the education of very
young children. In concerned effort, they
worked again for the legislation of preschool
education in the educational ladder or merely
to lower the entrance age to six years. This
effort was almost a success but was
overtaken by the approval of Free Secondary
Education Act which virtually pushed back
preschool education to the lowest priority
again.

Now the Congress of the Philippines
approved Republic Act No. 8980. The act
known as the ECCD Act”. It provides a
coherent and comprehensive national policy
for the implementation of Early Childhood
care and Development Act (ECCD) and allows
for the institutionalization of a national
system for early childhood care and
development for children 0-6 years, that is
comprehensive, integrative, sustainable
involving multi-sectoral and interagency
collaboration at all levels.

UNIVERSALIZATION OF KINDERGARTEN
◦ The Department of Education shall
continuously support EFA objective to
universalize quality assured preschool
education. Thus, preschool education shall be
guided by the following policy directions:
A. Expand coverage of preschool program
to reach out ALL CHILDREN
B. Ensure that children of poorest
households are priority of organized
Preschool Programs
C. Improve effectiveness of organized
Preschool Programs in preparing children
to be ready for Grade 1
D. Improve readiness and foundational skills
of 80% of the 5-year old children

In the United States, the five-year old olds
begun during the 1800’s as an outgrowth of
European kindergarten. First nursery school
used ideas and methods of kindergarten
emphasizing learning through play. The focus
was academic but the curriculum was
designed specifically for preschool –aged
children.

Preschool education was developed out of
log, distinguished historical tradition in
Western countries. Gradually, it spread out to
Eastern countries of the world. Such a long
tradition is now part of our academic
knowledge which provides us with the means
to understand where we are now.

In the early 19th century, preschool started as
a specialization and it is now used globally as
a tool in the development of human
resources. The values ad practices found in
today’s program were created by
philosophers, educators and teachers in the
past such that today’s preschool programs
have their roots from humanist tradition in
education.

Cognitive and Language
Development
◦Jean Piagets’ Theory of
Cognitive Development
◦Bruners’ Theory of Cognitive
Development
◦Leo Vygotsky Theory of
Language Development

Erik Erickson’s Theory of
Psychosocial Development
◦Abraham Maslow Theory of
Humanism
◦Lawrence Kohlberg Theory of
Moral Development
◦B.F. Skinner Theory of
Behaviorism
◦Gardner’s Theory of Multiple
Intelligences

Administration
◦ connotes the machinery of an organization
and its functions
◦ refers to the plan of organization and how
such organization is controlled and
operated
◦ it involves direction, control and operation
of the organizational activities to
accomplish the desired aims and objectives

School Administration
◦ a means to achieve the goals of instruction
◦ a service activity, a tool or agency efficiently
realized
◦ the act of getting things done, of seeing the
processes and methods, which assure
actions are employed and of obtaining
consecrated actions from different
individuals

Supervision
◦ supply the leadership which helps the staff
members improve the instructional situation
and in doing that, they grow themselves
professionally
◦ Improve instruction through proper
direction, guidance, and simulation of
teachers, instead of telling teachers how to
do their jobs better, supervisor works with
them

Activity
◦ Brainstorming
◦ Direction: The class will be divided into
two to five groups. Each group will
brainstorm on the differences of
administration and supervision. The group
will also suggest to improve school
administration and supervision

Abstraction
◦ Instructional supervision is a dynamic, growing
system that is occupying an increasingly important
role in the school.
◦ The actual role of supervision and instruction leader
is a composite of all the expectations held for the
role of the people associated with it.
◦ In the Philippine school system, administration and
supervision supplement and complement each
other.
Application
◦ Interview a supervisor and an administrator and ask
them their work in the school. Discuss their
functions in the school system and the problems
they encounter and how they resolve it.

Director
◦ In small programs-may double as a teacher and
for large programs- maybe purely
administrative.
◦ Responsible for financial, personnel, policy, and
facility decisions, provides community linkages,
handles licensing and regulations and makes
the ultimate decision in the chain of
responsibility in all matters that pertain to the
program.
◦ Conducts selection, training, monitoring and
evaluation.

Teaching Staff
◦ Early Childhood Specialist – involved in
supervision and training of curriculum design
◦ Early Childhood Teacher – has theoretical
knowledge of child development and
strategies in teaching
◦ Early Childhood Teacher Assistant – is in a
professional position and works under
supervision of professional staff
◦ Teacher Aide – assists the teacher in
preparation of materials in teaching and in
supervising transition activities

Support Staff
◦ These are persons involved in food
preparation, sanitation, and maintenance of
the kitchen and classrooms
◦ Dietician – may serve as consultant or
may participate in classroom cooking
projects
◦ Other support staffs take care of office
needs, maintain records, answer phone
calls, manage typing needs and may
handle some accounting tasks, and
custodians of the school

Volunteers
◦ These includes parents, student teachers,
brothers and sisters of pupils or members of
community organization that understand the
program, its philosophy, and its operation
Evaluation
◦ List down the possible problems encountered
by the different teaching staff and the
director
◦ How can you motivate volunteers to help and
assist your program

Half-Day School
◦ Schools that offer daily sessions of three or
less are usually established for the primary
purpose of providing educational experiences
to young children
◦ Typical session lasts three hours, although
some programs may be scheduled for two
and a half hours
◦ During the session, there are opportunities
for the child to participate in a variety of
activities such as test, block building or
dramatic play, group activities which may
include story time, music and snack time

◦ Small group and big group experience
for the development of learning ability
may also be planned
◦ EC experiences in language arts and
outdoor play
◦ Day care centers like the half-day
schools are usually organized around
groups of children with one or several
teacher aides

Full-Day School
◦ Schools that offer session of more than
three hours are established to provide
group care while the parents work or for
some other reasons are not available to care
for the child.
◦ The institutions are established for the
purpose of minimizing the absence of
employees so as to increase production.
Private Sponsorship
◦ These are owned by individuals or group
◦ The primary source of income is from
tuition

Full-Day School
◦ Schools that offer session of more than
three hours are established to provide
group care while the parents work or for
some other reasons are not available to care
for the child.
◦ The institutions are established for the
purpose of minimizing the absence of
employees so as to increase production.
Private Sponsorship
◦ These are owned by individuals or group.
◦ The primary source of income is from
tuition.

Private Propriety Schools
◦ These schools have half-day or full-day
programs and are owned by one or more
persons, and operated as profit-making
business.
◦ Each school is licensed for a specific number of
children thus, limiting the potential income.
◦ Two important factors: 1)there is a freedom to
initiate a program based on the owner’s
educational ideas, they made wish to further a
particular method of teaching or emphasize one
area of the curriculum; and 2) self-sustaining
through tuitions; the number of children they can
enroll is defined by licensing units; when
additional income is needed, they cannot add
more children, they can only raised the tuition or
cut back on expenses.

◦ As the profit margin for this type of
school is often small, the owner is likely
to be the director, and teacher; and
sometimes a couple will operate a school
such as this sharing or interchanging the
responsibilities of administering,
teaching and maintenance.

Family Day Care Home
◦ Usually a full-day school that provides
care for the child of working parents
◦ It is owned and operated for profit by a
state agency.
◦ The license limits from 6 to 10 number
of children who can be enrolled including
the day care mother’s own children.
◦ Tuition is the only source of income and
is very limited by the small number of
children served.

◦ The day care mother does all the
administrative tasks, cleans, cooks, and
provides educational activity for the
children.
◦ The advantage of this kind of program is
that a woman can earn some income
while at home with her own children.
◦ Has complete freedom to design a
curriculum that she serves.

Abstraction
◦ A good day care program allows
opportunities for children to be by
themselves.
◦ Time may be scheduled as those children can
be always from the group if they wish;
knowledge of child development is important
in order to understand and bring about
changes in the child.
◦ Toilet training often takes place in school,
eating habits are established and learning
patterns are developed.
◦ The bulk of a school’s income is derived from
tuition, other fees that may be charged are
registration, medical, dental, athletic, and
publication.

◦ Some schools have special fees depending
on their curriculum, there are those for
special school activities and celebrations,
tutorials and summer classes.
◦ Other sources of income like sale of
school materials such as textbooks,
uniforms and the like.
◦ Contributions with the participation of
students and fund-raising activities
(short-term investment and savings
account).

Activity
◦ Visit half-day and full-day schools.
Observe the similarities and differences
in programs.
◦ Describe a childhood center or school
which you are familiar with according to
length of session, purpose and sources
of income.

Philosophy
◦ Necessary to establish an atmosphere within
faculty and student work toward attainment of
common goals.
◦ Gives direction for the entire population and
Objectives provide criteria for evaluation.
◦ Philosophy and Goals is geared towards the
needs of preschool children for whom they are
meant, reflect the ideals and approaches of the
school and also the teacher.
Mission
◦ Clearly defined through cooperative efforts of
those concerned individuals.

Abstraction
◦ The director or administrator of a preschool
of a preschool program provides guidance
to the staff in setting the goals of the
school, the process begins with gathering
information about the community from
which the school draws its enrollment and
continues with gathering information about
the children in each class.
◦ Before the goals, the staff members must
consider their ideas in terms of child
development and what they believe is
appropriate for children at each age level.

◦ A statement of goals should be short and
should be in terms of changes that take
place in the child.
◦ An objective is clear if teachers can
describe or illustrate the behavior the
child is expected to acquire and can
recognize the behavior when they see it.

Abstraction
◦ The statement of goals is a list of expected
changes in behavior as a result of the
educational experiences provided by the school
Acquisition of information
Development of work habits and study skills
Development of effective ways of thinking
Development of social attitudes
Development of interest
Development of appreciation
Development of sensitivities
Development of personal social adjustment
Maintenance of physical health
Development of a philosophy of life

Evaluation
◦ Explain what is meant by a goal or an
objective.
◦ Whose needs should be represented in
the process of formulating goals and
why?

Activity
◦ Observe a day care program or a
preschool. Find out if they have a list of
goals. Inquire about how the goals are
formulated.

A. No legal basis for the operation of
preschool.
B. No fixed standards and guidelines
for the operation of preschools.
C. No agency responsible for
monitoring, supervision and
evaluation of preschool.
D. Preschools are not given priority
by the national government.

Abstraction
◦ Due to lack of control and mechanism,
supervision of classes and evaluation ,
the preschool problems arise.
◦ It is sad to say that these preschools do
whatever they wish to do.
◦ This situation has placed the DepEd
responsible for their existence but has
no legal authority to police them. There
were early efforts to control them,
regional and national levels.

◦ Some preschool operators do get permits
and recognition and therefore have to
abide by the standards set jointly by
DepEd and CONCEP, however, most of
the preschool operators do not bother
with this process and yet operate,
change fees, and issue certificates.

Activity
◦ Group yourselves into 2 or 4 groups.
Each group will have brainstorming on
the problems a, b, c and d.
◦ List down other problems and issues
regarding the operation of preschool.

Evaluation
◦ What was the latest issue regarding the
institutionalization of early childhood
education?

In public schools, credentials are issued by
DepEd, which clearly define qualification
of a person to teach a day care or
preschool program.
The Department of Education issued
qualification for teachers of preschool and
day care, they are now given trainings to
have at least 18 to 20 units in preschool
education to qualify for the position.
Now, schools offer course in Bachelor in
Early Childhood Education.

Abstraction
◦ One function of teacher evaluation is to
foster professional development. Teachers
do not become “good” and then say that
way for life. Regardless of their stage of
development, teachers need goals in order
to continually improve themselves.
◦ Regular feedback to the staff can help in
setting goals for continual professional
growth.
◦ With a clear and effective evaluation tool, a
teacher’s performance can be monitored
and special areas are targeted for
improvement.

Evaluation
◦ What are the qualifications of a
preschool teacher as a profession?

The number of children aged 0-5 has
been increasing, but only a few of them
is reached by any form of early
childhood education. If there is no
dramatic improvement in the extent of
services provided, about two thirds of
our children will suffer irreparably from
lack of psychosocial and intellectual
stimulation during the most absorbent
years of their lives.

Research findings show that the first six
years are the most critical stage in the
child’s development and that the impact
created during this stage is carried once to
the later stage of individual life.
To realize the quality of Education for
All(EFA), International agencies have
poured loans and grants, yet despite the
resources and efforts committed to EFA,
student economic development has not
really been encouraging.

Evaluation
◦ Write down other challenges that might
be encountered in teaching and
operating preschool.
◦ What other opportunities installed to our
preschool education in the present time?
◦ List down what the government has done
regarding opportunities in childhood
education.

Abstraction
◦ In the light of these problems, the
provision of preschool education have
been identified as one of the
fundamental strategies for success in
elementary education.
◦ Like all levels of education, Early
Childhood Education has directions or
goals, which must be kept in mind by the
teacher always.

◦ The following are some directions on
goals, which the teacher may keep in
mind:
Training or developing social and
moral purposes
Training for expression
Training in aesthetic enjoyment
Training in manual skills

Reference:
Pabalan, Victoria S. Managing Preschool
Program. Manila Philippines
:Rexbookstore, 2010.
Corpuz, Brenda B. , et. al. Child and
Adolescent Development. Metro Manila:
Lorimar Publishing, Inc., 2010
Dodge, Dianne T. and Laura J. Colker. The
Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood.
Washington DC: Teaching Strategies inc.,
1998
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Managing Preschool Program

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