The Problems Preschoolers Face When Entering the School Educational Environment

The paper presents a classification of schools based on their internal goal sets. It is assumed that those goal sets determine the quality and character of the school’s educational environment. Child-oriented educational environment is shown to use various means of instruction and differently affect the development of students. Instructional school draws on actual skills of preschoolers (reading, arithmetic, etc.). Educative school draws on the actual level of development of the voluntary behavior. Humanistic school follows the preschooler’s maturation. And it is only the developmental school that appeals to child’s zone of proximal development. In general, the educational process in child-oriented schools leads to a developmental effect, either comprehensive or, at least, partial. Schools which are not children-oriented but rather prestige-oriented, innovative or “locker room” type ignore the potential a preschooler brings to school. Educational process tools allow the school to reach its internal goals and objectives, but do not facilitate students’ effective development.

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