Delusions of preschool education

How does the need for greater efficiency affect preschool education? What happens if the focus of curriculum evaluation becomes the ratio between the length of child’s participation in preschool education and the learning outcomes at the initial and higher levels of education on the one hand, and the funds invested in preschool education on the other? What changes in preschool institutions, if documents concerning development advocates that the educational system from preschools onwards must enable better employability of individuals – i. e. increase their competitiveness in the labour market? And what does it mean if we start evaluating the effectiveness of preschools on a monthly basis and rewarding teachers who are rated the most effective? By answering these questions, the authors propose that the prevailing concepts od preschool education need to be reconsidered. Through the analysis of documents of international institutions, and based on the example of Slovenia and several other countries that emerged from former Yugoslavia, the text answers aforementioned and many other questions. The ultimate answer is unequivocal; when policies concerning preschool education start to primarily focus on the measuring of achievements of children, they neglect their fundamental mission, which is optimal development of every child. Once the educational system becomes so utilitarian, the development of a critical, responsible, and autonomous personality is of no more interest to it.