Approaches and Theories of Pedagogy in Kindergarten Education Dr. Radhika Kapur Abstract

Social Child Development Theories
John Bowlly – He is of the viewpoint that the relationships formed with people who provide care to the children such as parents, other family members and relatives make the major contribution toward child development. These relationships even continue to have an influence and bearing upon other social relationships such as teachers, bosses, friends and so on throughout ones life.
Albert Bandura – He is a psychologist and formulated a theory which is termed as social learning theory. In this theory, young children understand, learn and become aware of new behavioral traits through the means of observing other people around them such as parents, friends, teachers and so forth. Albert Bandura also created this viewpoint that young children learn not only through external experiences or observation, but also internal factors such as feelings of self-importance, contentment, achievements and accomplishments that could also lead to ones learning. When nursery school children observe others such as their parents, peers, counterparts, they tend to deepen their understanding and influence their personality as well.
Lev Vygotsky – He is another psychologist who formulated the seminal learning theory. He was of the viewpoint that children within nursery schools are active in their learning and what they experience in their daily lives largely influences their learning. He formulated the theory which is termed as the socio cultural theory. This theory takes into account all the essential parts that the society plays in the nurturing of the young child. The main emphasis is laid upon the communication between the individuals that are on the rise and within the course of learning and the culture of which they are a part of. This theory also suggested that parents, teachers, friends, caregivers, peers and the culture on the whole were responsible for the development of higher order functions (Cherry, 2012).
Developmental Milestones
Developmental milestones (DM) are a series of practical proficiency and expertise or age specific tasks that most children can perform at a certain age range. For example, teachers within nursery schools use milestones in order to test how the child is developing. Although each milestone has an age level; which means that every milestone takes place during different ages. The actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can diverge because every child possesses unique characteristics (UMHS, 2012).
In the pedagogical methods of the nursery schools in Delhi, the children are not just well-informed about the educational concepts; besides these, they are also enabled to grow and develop. They are being educated about the different senses and their involvement is also being encouraged as they grow older; for instance, when they go to a pre nursery class from the play group and to a nursery class from the pre nursery class. Growth and development are two different concepts; growth means the child getting bigger in size, on the other hand, the normal development of the child is concerned with the development of skills which are as follows: (UMHS, 2012).
Gross motor – This is related to making use of muscles to sit, stand, bend, walk, run etc., maintaining balance and change of positions.
Fine motor – This means making use of hands to draw, color, write, paint, drink, eat, play, dress and so forth.
Language – Listening, speaking, communicating with others and also using body language. In nursery schools, in some cases children are taught body language as well; for example, when one crosses his arms, it means that he is a much closed person who is not willing to communicate with people.
Cognitive – Thinking skills which include problem solving, judgment, learning, reasoning, understanding and remembering.
Social – Establishing interpersonal communication with others and having good relationships with individuals such as parents, relatives, friends and teachers are the major aspects of social skills. These also include being nice and considerate to people around and cooperating and responding to the feelings of others; in other words, representation of good etiquettes means forming social skills (UMHS, 2012).