Early Childhood Education in the Community of Madrid
Early Childhood Education is an educational stage of a voluntary nature, which attends to boys and girls from birth to six years of age. It is ordered in two cycles, the first includes up to three years and the second, which will be free, covers from three to six years.
PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES
The educational action will seek the integration of the different experiences and learning of the students with a global vision and will adapt to their work rhythms. Special emphasis will be placed on guaranteeing the principles of equity and inclusion, as well as early detection and early care of specific educational support needs. . In order to respect the fundamental responsibility of parents or legal guardians at this stage, educational centers will work directly with them in the education of their children or guardians. The commitment of the families to the center will imply respect for their educational project and, where appropriate, their own character.
ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL
First cycle
In order to respond to the needs of children and their families, the Community of Madrid has created a network of Public Centers for the first cycle of Early Childhood Education in collaboration with the City Councils of the region or with other institutions.
The Network of Public Centers for the first cycle of Early Childhood Education is made up of:
- Infant Schools
- Nursery Schools - Children's Houses
In addition to the Network of Public Centers for the first cycle of Early Childhood Education, there are 79 public schools for Early Childhood and Primary Education authorized to teach the first cycle of Early Childhood Education.
Second cycle
Children in the second cycle of Early Childhood Education are enrolled in:
- Infant and Primary Schools where the vast majority of students are.
- Infant Schools with students in the first and second cycle of Infant Education.
teachings
The incorporation to the first cycle public centers can be done from 3 months of age.
In the second cycle, the students will join the centers in the calendar year in which they turn 3 years old.
The schooling of students with learning difficulties It will be governed by the principles of normalization and inclusion, it will ensure non-discrimination, effective equality in access and permanence in the educational system.
Admission requirements
The provisions of article 84 of the Organic Law of Education, on admission of students.
The educational administration regulates the admission of students to the first cycle y second cycle in public and private centers arranged in such a way as to guarantee the right to education, access under equal conditions and the freedom of choice of center by parents or guardians.
Educational contents of Early Childhood Education (DECREE 36/2022)
The educational contents of the Early Childhood Education stage are organized into areas corresponding to areas of experience that are intrinsically related to each other. They will be approached through learning proposals that are of interest and meaning to the students and help to establish relationships between all the elements that make them up.
The contents of the stage are structured in blocks related to the knowledge and control of one's own body, the development of healthy lifestyle habits, the management of emotions, the exploration and experimentation of the environment and objects, the communicative intention, the approach to written language and literary education, musical, plastic and corporal languages or digital literacy.
The areas of Early Childhood Education are the following:
a) Growth in harmony.
b) Discovery and exploration of the environment.
c) Communication and representation of reality.
The Community of Madrid promotes the development of educational experiences of first contact with a foreign language, in the first cycle of the stage, and includes block J «Foreign language», in the contents of area III, of the second cycle.
In the second cycle of Early Childhood Education, the teaching of Religion will be adjusted to what is established in the aforementioned DECREE 36/2022.
Schedule
The schedule in the Infant Education stage will be organized from a global approach and will allow the planning of different activities that will be distributed periodically in the form of routines, in such a way that the different rhythms, evolutionary moments, need for play and rest times are respected. of students at this stage.
The hourly distribution of the different areas must be proportional to the evolutionary development of the students and it will be taken into account that all the moments of the school day have an educational character.
The evaluation of the students will be global, continuous and formative. It will be oriented to determine the advances in the evolutionary development of the students after the teaching of Early Childhood Education. For these purposes, the evaluation criteria established for each cycle in each of the areas will be taken as a reference, and will constitute the benchmark for checking the degree of acquisition of the skills and the achievement of the objectives of the stage.
Direct and systematic observation will constitute the main technique of the evaluation process.
At the end of the Early Childhood Education stage, the tutor teacher will complete a Final Learning Report, which will specify the evolution and degree of development of the skills by the students.
Parents or legal guardians must participate and support the educational evolution of their children or wards, as well as be aware of the decisions related to the evaluation and collaborate in the measures adopted by the centers to facilitate their educational development.
More information in DECREE 36/2022 y ORDER 460 / 2023
Management of first cycle Early Childhood Education centers
Management models of Nursery Schools and Children's Homes of the Network of Public Centers for the first cycle of Early Childhood Education.
Direct Public Management
They are publicly owned centers of the Community of Madrid, City Councils or Institutions. These centers are managed by professionals directly linked to or contracted by the incumbent Administration.
The contracting of the personnel of the centers owned by the Community of Madrid is managed through Public Offer of Employment.
The hiring of the personnel of the Municipally owned centers is managed through the public offer of each City Council. They can be consulted on the website of the City Council itself in the "Profile of the contracting party", in the BOE link or in BOCM.
Indirect Public Management
These are centers whose operation is regulated through a public service management contest. These centers are located in buildings owned and owned by the incumbent Administration. The use of the facilities is transferred, by means of a concession contract for educational public service.
They are subject to the regulations of the Nursery Schools and Children's Houses in all their aspects: admission criteria, fees, school calendar and hours of operation, among others.
Madrid: A bilingual region
Links of interest
The specialized educational guidance of the Educational and Psychopedagogical Guidance Teams.
Educational inclusion is one of the principles of the Madrid educational system.
Special Education is taught in Special Education centers and in Specialized Units in ordinary centers.
Coexistence and the social climate represent the essential fabric on which education must be based.
Teaching programming in the stages of early childhood education and primary education.
Legislation
