Application of Epistemological Data from Developmental Psychology to the Preschool: Towards A Modeling of the Competency-Based Approach

developmental psychology preschool education representative intelligence preoperative stage competency-based approach

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July 7, 2021

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Teaching practices in preschools are strongly influenced by applications of developmental psychology, which, although different, produce diverse, contradictory injunctions on several aspects of learning.  These practices today draw on the Competency-Based Approach, and are perceived by teachers as bringing together several conceptions of learning and performance. However, the preschool child, in terms of development, is situated between 0/2 and 2/5 years of age, with a distorted way of thinking. This mode of thinking therefore requires the teacher to adopt a certain posture. The modelling of the competency-based approach is thus a psycho-pedagogical act. It favours spontaneity and freedom while allowing the child to deconstruct this way of thinking represented in a very practical way. The aim is to make the teacher's pedagogical approach more flexible. Developmental psychology through the cognitive axis will allow the Competency-Based Approach to be at the centre of an elucidation of the competencies development dynamics by learners and their caregivers. The aim of this paper is to understand how experimental data from developmental psychology can be taken into account to improve the implementation of Competency-Based Approach practices. The data collection tool was the semi-structured interview guide; the analysis grid was used as an analysis instrument. Discussions with 03 preschool participants made it possible to understand that preschool is not meant for the ignorant, but rather for those who know what childhood is.  This would have implications for teacher training and the planning of preschool space.