International and US Styles of Early Childhood Education

By and

（译者单位：武汉大学外国语言文学学院）

Asian Countries

亚洲国家

Some of the top performing kids on the reading, math, and science Program for International Student Assessments, or PISA, come from Asian countries. Asian countries believe that starting off1start off使开始。children with a strong education will lead to better outcomes when they grow older.

在测试阅读、数学和科学素养的国际学生评估项目（PISA）中，部分表现最优秀的孩子来自亚洲国家。亚洲人认为，让儿童从早期开始就接受优质教育会令其长大后有更出色的表现。

[2] China, Japan, and Korea implemented a common framework for early childhood education that equips children with2equip with（尤指通过教育）使有能力，使有资格。the skills and knowledge they need for further learning. In these countries, early childhood education is for kids ages zero to six, and then kids continue in formal education. Early childhood education is generally split up3be split up被分为。in two different stages, nursery and then kindergarten. A nursery is for children under the age of three and is comprised of4be comprised of由……组成。small groups with many caregivers. The primary goals of a nursery are physical care and nurturing, so the caregivers are trained as nurses rather than teachers. Kindergarten is a full day program with bigger classes for kids aged three to six that acts as childcare as well as educational preparation.

[2]中国、日本和韩国采用了相同的学前教育体系，为儿童提供进一步学习所需的技能和知识。在这些国家，学前教育的对象是0至6岁的孩子，之后这些孩子则进入正规教育体系继续学习。学前教育通常分为两个不同的阶段：托儿所和幼儿园。前者主要接收3岁以下的儿童，以小组为单位，并配有多名看护人员。托儿所的主要目标是照护和培养儿童，因此这些地方的看护人员是作为护士而非教师来培训的。幼儿园则是一种全日制机构，儿童年龄在3到6岁之间，班级规模更大，主要提供儿童照管服务和学前教育。

[3] Teaching methods typically involve a lot of repetition and total group instruction, so that all children ideally do the same thing at the same time. The methods used in Asian countries are similar to instrumental or operant conditioning in the sense that kids do acts repetitively and are positively reinforced when they do them correctly. They are discouraged from5be discouraged from打消……念头，被阻止。falling behind6fall behind落后于。with the threat of being embarrassed by the teacher in front of their classmates.

[3]在幼儿园，教学方法通常是大量重复以及整组教学，以便所有孩子能在同一时间做同样的事情——这是在理想的情况下。孩子们重复某一行为，并在做得正确的时候得到正面鼓励——亚洲国家的这种教学方法类似于工具性或操作性条件反射。如果孩子落后于其他学生，就可能在同学面前被老师批评，这会使他们感到窘迫难堪，因此他们就会不愿意落后于人。

[4] Since teaching is such a large focus, these Asian countries tend to have favorable teacher to child ratios.The main criticism of this style of early childhood education is the lack of alignment7alignment调准，校正。between initial education and primary education. However, their uniform early childhood education curriculum is very respectable because it combines academic subjects with the development of soft skills. As the government is realizing its importance, early childhood education is becoming a greater focus in Asia.

[4]由于教学在亚洲国家深受重视，这些国家的学前教育机构通常具有合理的师生比例。对于这种学前教育模式，批评者认为其问题主要在于启蒙教育与初等教育之间缺乏衔接。但是，这些国家统一的学前教育课程设置非常合理，因为它将各学术科目与软技能的发展结合到了一起。由于政府逐渐意识到了学前教育的重要性，它正日益成为亚洲各国关注的焦点。

Scandinavian Countries

[5] Scandinavian countries also test in the top overall amongst other countries on the PISA. They expand upon8expand upon/on详述，充分叙述，详细阐明。Asian beliefs relating to early childhood education. Finland, Sweden, and Denmark all emphasize learning outside of the classroom and involving parents in the curriculum. The partnership between parents and educators is highly valued since the child-parent social interaction is so vital. Scandinavian countries base their curriculum off the idea that children are naturally curious and want to learn new things. This is directly related to Piaget’s9Jean Piaget让·皮亚杰（1896—1980）瑞士著名儿童心理学家，发生认识论和皮亚杰学派的创始人。theory of development that looks at children as little scientists, who desire to seek and share knowledge.These countries also use Vygotsky’s belief that social interaction fosters cognitive functions. Scandinavian schools allow young children to learn through interaction and experience.

北欧国家

[5]北欧国家的学生在PISA测试中同样名列前茅。北欧诸国对亚洲国家在学前教育方面的理念进行了拓展。芬兰、瑞典和丹麦都强调在要课堂之外进行学习，并让家长参与到课程中来。孩子与父母之间的社交互动是必不可少的，因此家长和教师之间的配合关系也受到高度重视。北欧国家的课程设置基于的观点是，儿童天然就具有好奇心，想要学习新事物。这同皮亚杰提出的发展理论有直接的关联，该理论认为儿童是渴望寻求和分享知识的小科学家。这些国家也采用了维果斯基的观点，即社会交往会促进认知功能的发展。北欧国家的学校认同儿童从互动和体验中学习。

[6] In Finland, formal schooling does not begin until age seven. Before this, children are not required to attend school. In Finland and Sweden every child has the right to high quality and affordable childcare. The government funds early childhood education facilities, which are generally have good student to teacher ratios and highly qualified teachers. Denmark’s government does not guarantee early childhood education, but 98% of children ages one to six do take advantage of10take advantage of利用。the schooling available.

[6]在芬兰，儿童直到7岁才开始接受正规教育。在此之前，不会强制要求孩子们上学。在芬兰和瑞典，每个孩子都有权享受高质量且可负担的照管服务。政府资助的学前教育机构通常师生比例合理，教师素质高。丹麦政府不提供学前教育，但是1到6岁的儿童中，98%都可以利用现有的教育资源。

[7] The format of schooling in these countries is similar to that in Asia, with nursery school followed by kindergarten before formal schooling. The curriculums in these three countries differ from11differ from与……不同 。those in Asia because they include a variety of playing, self-expression, exploration, religion, and orientation with academic subjects. Educators focus on each child’s best interest and providing support and understanding for the child individually. The overall goal of early childhood education in Scandinavian countries is to help the children gain independence as they develop.

[7]北欧国家的教学体系与亚洲国家类似，同样是从托儿所到幼儿园，随后是正规教育。但与亚洲国家所不同的是，芬兰、瑞典和丹麦三国的课程包括游戏、自我表达、探索、宗教和学科定位等。教师会关注每个孩子的兴趣，并一一为他们提供支持与理解。北欧国家学前教育的总体目标是帮助孩子在成长过程中学会独立。

Public Schools

公立学校

[8] Local, or neighborhood, public schools take any child living in the district, with no tuition. As a result,the majority of school-age children in the United States are enrolled in public schools. The role of neighborhood schools is to eff i ciently educate as many students as possible. Classes in public schools may be larger than other type of school, and students may get less individual attention from their teachers as a result. This could stunt a child’s language development, especially if he or she comes from a lower-income family where, statistically, children hear millions less words at home. Many public schools set strict standards that a child must reach to move on to the next grade. If a child does not meet one of those standards, he or she is required to repeat the grade. So, for the most part12for the most part就绝大部分而言，在大多数情况下。,all children are cognitively in the same grade level. Also, government funding covers additional staff such as occupational therapists or special education specialists. These departments can identify if a child is not developing in a typical way, and can intervene quickly.

[8]地方或社区公立学校可以接收居住在这一地区的所有儿童就读，且免收学费。因此，美国大部分学龄儿童都就读于公立学校。社区公立学校的目标是高效地培养尽可能多的学生。与其他类型的学校相比，公立学校的班级规模可能更大，因此学生得到教师的单独关注也就更少。这可能会阻碍孩子语言能力的发展，尤其是来自低收入家庭的孩子，因为有统计表明，这些孩子在家听到的单词量比同龄人少数百万。 许多公立学校都制定了严格的标准，孩子们必须达到这些标准才能进入更高年级学习。如果达不到其中某项标准，就要留级。所以，大多数情况下，公立学校中所有孩子在认知能力上都处于同一水平。 此外，政府资助还涵盖额外的工作人员，如职业治疗师或特殊教育专家。如果一个孩子在成长过程中出现问题，这些人可以及时发现并给予干预。

Private Schools

[9] Private schools are funded by organizations or people separate from the government, such as religious organizations. Through classical conditioning13经典条件反射，又称巴甫洛夫条件反射，指一个刺激和另一个带有奖赏或惩罚的无条件刺激多次联结，可使个体学会在单独呈现该刺激时，也能引发类似无条件反应的条件反应。,religious schools can reinforce certain values that parents may want their children to adopt. However, this classical conditioning may also have an adverse effect. For example, if a child had a bad experience at a Catholic school, seeing a nun or a crucif i x later in life may trigger feelings of discomfort.

私立学校

[9]私立学校由政府以外的组织或人员提供资金支持，例如宗教机构。通过经典条件反射，教会学校可以强化父母可能希望子女具有的某些价值观。然而，这种经典条件反射也可能造成不利影响。例如，如果孩子在天主教学校有过不愉快的经历，之后再见到修女或十字架可能会引发他（她）的不适感。

[10] Overall, both religious and independent private schools are able to be selective in their admissions processes,and are usually characterized by smaller class sizes and more individual attention for each student. Because most rely on tuition paid by a child’s family, some private schools may promote a student to the next grade even if the student is not prepared, to keep a family satisf i ed so they continue to pay tuition.This could lead to diff i culty in a child’s education in his or her future if he or she does not have a solid foundation of knowledge upon which to advance.

[10]总的来说，教会学校和独立的私立学校在招生过程中都有选择性，这些学校的特征是班级规模较小，学生获得的个人关注更多。由于大部分私立学校的学费是孩子的家庭支付，因此即使有时学生还不具备条件，学校也可能会让学生升入下一年级，好让家长满意，从而愿意继续支付学费。如果学生没有扎实的知识基础，这样做可能会导致孩子在未来的学习过程中遇到困难。

Montessori Schools

蒙特梭利学校

[11] Montessori schools are a type of private school based on the theories of Italian educator Maria Montessori.These theories reflect Piaget’s description of the child as scientist. Montessori classrooms are full of different stations and materials designed to be stimulating for students to encourage their motivation to learn. Students at Montessori schools are left to explore their classrooms individually, with the assumption that they will learn naturally through their own sensorimotor experiences.Due to the complete individualization of the learning process, children are grouped not by age but by cognitive level. This fl exible system removes the pressure to advance quickly that is on children in traditional schools. Supporting Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Learning Theory, children work closely with classmates of different ages. Younger classmates can learn from older ones,and older classmates can mature by helping their younger peers. This aids not only their learning and cognitive development, but also their social development. However, because there is little traditional classroom teaching in most Montessori schools, students may receive intermittent14intermittent间歇的，断断续续的。reinforcement from their teachers, which could hinder their learning and development.

[11]蒙特梭利学校是基于意大利教育家玛丽亚·蒙特梭利的理论创办的一类私立学校。这些理论同样也反映了皮亚杰关于儿童是小科学家的描述。蒙特梭利学校的教室里有不同的功能分区和各种各样的材料，这样设计旨在激发学生的学习动力。蒙特梭利学校的学生可以独立探索他们的教室，认为他们将通过自己的感觉运动经验自然地进行学习。由于学习过程是完全个体化的，因此根据学生的认知水平而非年龄进行分组。这个系统非常灵活，消除了儿童在传统学校中要迅速取得进步的压力。蒙特梭利学校这样的办学模式符合维果斯基的社会文化学习理论，孩子们与不同年龄段的同学密切合作。年纪较小的孩子可以向较大的孩子学习，而后者可以通过帮助小同学而成长。这样不仅可以帮助孩子们在学习和认知能力上得到发展，而且也有利于其社交能力的发展。然而，由于大多数蒙特梭利学校几乎没有传统的课堂教学，因此学生只能间断地从老师那里得到知识强化，这可能会有碍于他们的学习和发展。

Waldorf Schools

华德福学校

[12] Another type of non-traditional private school is the Waldorf School.Similar to Montessori schools, Waldorf schools follow Piaget’s theory that the child is a scientist, and should be surrounded by a stimulating and inspiring school environment to facilitate learning. Hands-on15hands-on（经历或工作）亲身实践的，实际操作的。learning is enabled in Waldorf schools through curriculums full of art, gardening, dance, and other less traditional classes that supplement academic ones. In early childhood, children are exposed to16be exposed to使受……的影响（或熏陶），使接触。letters and books,but not required to start reading until the second or third grade.

[12]另一类非传统的私立学校是华德福学校。与蒙特梭利学校类似，华德福学校也遵循皮亚杰关于儿童是小科学家的理论，认为儿童应该在充满趣味、催人奋进的校园环境中学习。华德福学校通过设置艺术、园艺、舞蹈和其他不太传统的课程对学术科目进行补充，使实践学习成为可能。在华德福学校，孩子们在幼儿时期就可以接触到文字和图书，但直到二三年级才开始有阅读要求。

[13] A main tenet17tenet（理论、信仰的）基本原则，根本信条。of Waldorf schools that coincides with18coincide with一致，相符。Piaget’s theory is that Waldorf schools are divided into three stages that roughly overlap with19overlap with与……部分重叠。Piaget’s stages of development. The curriculum in each stage varies based on what Waldorf educators believe is appropriate for the child’s strengths in each stage. Like Piaget, Waldorf theory dictates that each stage is concrete and inf l exible. The fi rst stage is the imagination stage, and occurs in the fi rst seven years of a child’s life. In early childhood, Waldorf schools work within the framework of the stage by establishing routines, performing simple tasks such as art projects and simple gardening, and fostering imagination by reading the students stories and encouraging free fantasy play. The teacher models these activities so that students can imitate them with minimal instruction. Activities in Waldorf schools ref l ect seasons, holidays, and other rhythms that occur during the year. This reinforces the notion of routine on a larger scale and directly connects children to the world around them more than other schools.

[13]华德福学校有一条基本原则与皮亚杰的理论相一致，那就是华德福学校教育分为三个阶段，这三个阶段与皮亚杰提出的发展阶段理论大致吻合。华德福学校的教育工作者根据各个阶段儿童能力的不同，在每个阶段设置的课程也有所不同。与皮亚杰的理论类似，华德福理论指出每个阶段都是具体而固定的。第一个阶段是想象力发展阶段，发生在儿童0到7岁。在幼儿时期，华德福学校根据第一阶段的幼儿特征安排课程内容，如建立日常规定、让孩子们完成艺术项目、简易园艺等简单任务，以及通过给他们读故事、鼓励他们玩自由幻想游戏来培养想象力。老师们先示范如何去完成这些活动，再由孩子们来模仿，不需要太多指导。华德福学校根据一年中季节、假日和其他规律性变化，设置丰富多样的活动。这些都在更大的范围内强化了“规律”这一概念。和其他学校相比，华德福学校更加直接地将孩子与周围世界联系了起来。

[14] Another distinctive feature of Waldorf schools is that teachers move up with the students, so children are in class with the same students and teacher for the duration of their at the school.This provides children with consistent reinforcement, but narrows the amount of people to imitate and learn from. ■

[14]华德福学校的另一个特色就是教师与学生一起升学，进入下一年级，所以孩子们在校期间一直都是与同样的教师和同学一起上课。这为孩子提供了连贯、一致的强化，不过这样缩小了他们可以模仿和学习的对象群体。 □