SOME THEORETICAL ISSUES RELATED TO DEVELOPING THE GUIDELINES FOR NURTURING, CARING FOR AND EDUCATING CHILDREN IN INDEPENDENT CHILD-CARE GROUPS FOR UNDER 7 CHILDREN

An independent child-care group for under 7 children is a type of preschool education institution regulated by Vietnamese law. Based on legal documents, independent child-care groups serve as the early childhood institutions to child-care and education for children in line with the early childhood education curriculum; however, in reality, there are many limitations in terms of facilities, teachers/child caregivers in the independent child-care groups, making it difficult to fully comply with the program’s implementation guidelines like largescale preschool educational institutions. Guidelines for use in these independent child-care groups are urgently needed. However, in order to develop the guidelines for nurturing, caring and educating children, as well as understanding practical needs, it is necessary to understand the typical characteristics of independent child-care groups for under 7 children such as the characteristics of children under 36 months old as required to be nurtured, cared for and educated in the groups and the basic requirements for appropriate instruction materials.