“No to the secularization of nursery schools”. The alarm was sounded in recent days by German Caritas and the federation of Catholic nursery schools in response to the debate now going on in Germany on the reform of education. The issue returned to the top of the political agenda after the results of an OECD survey were published in December, relegating German students to not exactly flattering positions in the world league table of educational performance. “It’s not possible to apply the yardstick of educational performance to gauge the formative work performed in the pre-school years, because argue the two organizations this would mean “throwing discredit on, or worse still ignoring, the work hitherto performed by teachers and educators”. Rather, the formation of infants occurs “according to activities and parameters typical of this age, through a continuous process of experimenting and exploring, and thanks to activities close to the child’s own daily experience of life”. Just at this level, in the judgement of Caritas, “the role of the nursery schools has hitherto been unchallenged: for it is in them, in particular, that children acquire social skills and are supported in the development of their personality”. In conclusion, the two organization appeal for “a formative process that may place educators in a better condition to update their own vocational training”. The nursery schools represent, in essence, “the very foundation of the educational system, the first building block which cannot be renounced”.
