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The concept of educating children was attributed to Martin Luther. Martin Luther believed that education should be universal. He believed that children should be educated to read independently. Luther believed that teaching children to read at an early age is a strong benefit to society.

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Considered the father of modern education. Amos introduced several educational concepts and innovations, including pictorial textbooks, teaching based on gradual development, and lifelong learning with a focus on logical thinking. Amos's educational theory emphasized universal education for all children, regardless of background.

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John Locke believed that children are not just “mini adults” but unique individuals whose minds start out like blank slates. He argued that their learning comes from experiences, environment, and education—not from ideas they are born with. For Locke, building good character mattered more than just academics, since he believed happiness comes from habits and virtue.

His approach to early childhood education focused on several key areas:

Discipline and Correction: He rejected harsh punishment and felt children should be guided with kindness and reason instead.

Habits and Self-Control: From an early age, children should learn modesty, virtue, and self-control over impulses.

Health and Physical Routine: Locke advised plain food, firm sleeping arrangements, and regular activity to toughen the body.

Instructional Style: Teaching should use praise, examples, variety, and small steps, in a calm environment that doesn’t overwhelm children.

Role Modeling: Adults should model the behavior they want children to copy, since children learn more by watching than by rules alone.

Curiosity and Play: Learning should be fun, playful, and encourage natural curiosity.

Moral Emphasis: Above all, Locke valued moral and virtuous growth, seeing it as more important than academic success.

In the end, Locke’s ideas were progressive for his time, but they had limits. He did not include girls or argue for education for all children—his ideas mostly applied to boys from wealthy families, reflecting the gender and class biases of his era.

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Rousseau believed that early childhood is a time in which the focus should be on physical growth, health, and the development of the senses. This kind of learning should take precedence over formal academics. For Rousseau, education in the early years best takes place through direct experiences with the world for example like- touching, moving, and observing and not so much by books and abstract teaching. The key elements of his theory in early childhood include freedom of movement, focus on the body, protection from corruption and natural development.

According to Rousseau when a child is in infant stage of his life, he should be clothed in loose and free clothing to help him develop and move freely. As the body becomes before the mind, a child should engage more in physical activity, outdoor play and sensory experiences to help develop co-ordination, strength and awareness of their surroundings. Rousseau also thought that young children should protected and shielded from bad influencers of society such as vanity, competition or premature instruction. He believed that staying in close proximity to family and nature would preserve their innocence for as long as possible. Lastly, Rousseau was of the thought that children should grown at their own natural pace, which means that parents and teachers should not rush them into academics or adult like expectations.

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Erik, a pupil of Sigmund Freud, took his theory and redeveloped it by saying that personality develops in 8 different stages. From birth to death, there are 8 different stages a healthy individual should pass through. At each stage we encounter different needs, ask new questions, and encounter new people who influence our behavior and learning.

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Skinner believed in the Behaviourist psychological theory, which was based on the idea that behaviour is influenced by consequences and/or reward. It is a learning-through-reward-and-punishment style of teaching. He says that the youngest would keep repeating the good behaviour to keep reaping the rewards that follows. The results were a continuation of the good behaviour because of the desire for the reward and quitting the behaviour that led to punishment. Skinner believed that parents had a huge responsibility in a child's behaviour development by providing positive and negative feedback to the child. He introduced what we now know as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, and intermediate reinforcement.

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Martin Luther: Bonnay, S (2022), History of early childhood education: then and now

John Amos: Alan G. Hill (1975), Wordsworth, Comenius, and the Meaning of Education, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amos_Comenius

John Locke: Gibbon, P. (2020). Discovering Childhood: John Locke on Education. Humanities, 41(4). Retrieved from https://www.neh.gov/article/discovering-childhood.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Koblin, J. (2025, January 22). Rousseau’s 5 stages of child development. Sprouts Schools. Retrieved from https://sproutsschools.com/rousseaus-5-stages-of-child-development/

Erik Erikson, Lead Academy. (n.d.). Child development theorists cheat sheet – Everything you need to know. https://lead-academy.org/blog/child-development-theorists-cheat-sheet/

8 Stages of Development by Erik Erikson [Video]. (n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYCBdZLCDBQ

B.F Skinner, Lead Academy. (n.d.). Child development theorists cheat sheet – Everything you need to know. https://lead-academy.org/blog/child-development-theorists-cheat-sheet/