Sound Off on Hours in Care

05/04/2005

"To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well." - John Marshall

Sound Off on Hours in Care

We received this inquiry from the director of an early chlidhood program in Indonesia about how many hours it is appropriate for children to be in group settings. Please read her message and then click on Sound Off button at the end to share your views. We acknowledge that all answers are tied closely to cultural norms, so your response will be assessed based on your setting.

If you could help me with a general query I would appreciate some feedback. I live in Surabaya, Indonesia and we have set up a small nursery school which has been running for 3 years, I am not a teacher but have 4 children of my own, 2 have been through the nursery school that was set up by a group of mothers and is run as a parent corporation. The number of children at the school is 16 with 1 supervisor and 4 assistants, the children are aged between 18 months -3 years. Our dynamics of the group are 5 children at 18 months (limited to this) the rest (11other children) are between 2 years to 3 years. At the moment they go to the school Monday to Thursday from 8.00am to 11.00am.

My question for you, is this time considered adequate or would they be able to cope with an extra day of 3 hours. Some mothers would like to increase to 5 days a week. I am a little concerned that they are already having enough time at school, given that the children will commence school at 3 years of age.

I would appreciate any comments on what is a reasonable amount of time at school for this age. Have there been any studies that I could refer to in regard to this, I have had quite a lot of trouble finding any significant and specific information on school time for this age group from websites.

Sound Off

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