The Image of a Modern Child in the Psychological and Pedagogical Approaches toward Education and Upbringing of Preschool Children

Abstract

In the history of developmental psychology, views on what the essence of childhood is have changed many times. The main variables guiding children’s development are usually considered to be ideas about the useful and harmful, about the necessary and sufficient, and the historical difference between these concepts is what exactly stands behind them. This review traces how the idea of Loris Malaguzzi about the image of the child influenced modern ideas of education, how the psychological and pedagogical approaches to the education of preschoolers are explained, what special attention is paid to and how these theories are applied in practice today. The result of upbringing depends on how adults interpret the child’s personality and what role they see in its development. It is shown that the central issue is the achievement of equality, the most complete conditions for the development of the child, regardless of where and how (s)he was born, what are the material conditions of education. By giving the children the right to decide what to do, how much time to spend on it, what questions to answer, adults should be more than ever ready to accompany them as experts on the surrounding world. Such aspects as emotional development, legislation, ethics, digitalization, taking into account the cognitive abilities of students, individualization of upbringing, constant profes- sional development in adults, participatory, safety, partnership with the family came to the fore. All of them are designed to ensure the education of a free and responsible personality.