Taking early childhood education beyond the classroom

Early childhood education is undergoing a shift, driving a vital transformation in the traditional role of the preschool teacher.

As digital and AI-enabled tools increasingly support content delivery, the distinctly human dimensions of early childhood education including relationship, emotional regulation, inclusion and social-emotional development become even more important.

This changing landscape is creating demand for professionals who understand child development while also being able to design experiences, environments and systems around children.

This broader perspective underpins the Children Experience Economy (CEE), a lens developed by Sunway University's School of Education to examine how organisations create value through experiences that influence children's learning, well-being and development.

Prof Malissa Maria Mahmud.

"CEE is not a new industry. It is a lens," says Sunway University School of Education dean Prof Malissa Maria Mahmud.

"It helps us see how value is increasingly being created through children's experiences rather than through products alone, and how those experiences are being designed, packaged and monetised across multiple domains."

The idea is rooted in the experience economy concept put forward by Pine and Gilmore in 1998, where economic value evolved beyond goods and services into intentionally staged, memorable experiences.

For children, however, an experience is more than a commercial offering; it is also a developmental environment that can shape identity, relationships, capabilities and a sense of belonging.

CEE therefore calls for developmental science and experience design to be integrated in ways that are inclusive, ethical and responsive to children's rights.

Rather than describing a single industry, CEE maps a broad ecosystem that spans education, child-friendly spaces, children's content and media, play and recreation, and products and services designed specifically for young minds.

This positions early childhood education beyond the narrow, conventional roles of the classroom. If childhood is being designed across services, products and spaces, then education must pay attention to how that design happens, who is doing it and what assumptions it carries about children's rights, dignity, agency and belonging.

Early childhood education sits at the centre of this ecosystem, changing what tomorrow's professionals need to know beyond lesson plans and classroom management.

From this perspective, educational value is found not only in what a child is taught, but also in how the child experiences agency, mastery, connection and growth.

Future early childhood education professionals' roles therefore do not stop at the classroom. They must grasp child development, family dynamics, environmental design, technology and inclusion as interconnected dimensions of children's lives.

The need for professionals equipped with such expertise is increasing, as they move not only into early childhood centres and inclusive education settings, but also into child development services, educational content creation, learning experience design and other child-focused organisations.

Inclusion is at the heart of this evolving landscape. As every child develops differently, the ability to recognise these differences early can make a meaningful difference to their learning journey.

ECE professionals will need the knowledge and skills to recognise varying developmental needs, adapt learning approaches and create environments where every child has the opportunity to participate and thrive.

The question for universities is no longer simply how we prepare teachers for the classroom. It is how we prepare professionals to shape the wider environments, technologies, services and experiences through which children learn and develop, Prof Malissa said.

Responding to this changing landscape, Sunway University, the top university in Malaysia for graduate employability for 2026 by Talentbank, offers two new pathways: the Diploma in Early Childhood Education and the Bachelor in Early Childhood Education with Special Needs (Honours).

The two-year diploma gives students a solid grounding in early childhood education, covering child development, play-based pedagogy, curriculum design and inclusive practices for children with special needs.

Students are also introduced to edupreneurship and to designing learning for diverse cultural contexts, preparing them to deliver impact in early childhood settings, anywhere in the world.

Those who seek a more specialised path should consider the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education with Special Needs (Honours) pathway, which combines early childhood pedagogy with a focus on inclusive and special-needs education.

Its curriculum introduces Universal Design for Learning, assistive technology and neurodiversity, preparing graduates to help create learning environments where inclusion goes beyond access to meaningful participation and belonging.

Sunway’s broader ecosystem exposes students to real-world, child-focused industries and interdisciplinary areas, connecting classroom learning to careers beyond it.

Sunway University continues to champion inclusive education through community outreach programmes such as the ‘Campus With A Conscience’, where it joined forces with BookXcess to donate 120 sensory-friendly books to children at Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah.

Graduates can pursue roles in education while exploring wider child-focused industries, from children's programmes and content to learning products, technology and experience design.

As the CEE continues to expand, so too does the value of graduates who understand it from the ground up.

“Before asking whether children will enjoy an experience, we should ask what it shapes, whose agency it enables, who might be excluded and whether children themselves have had voice in its design.

“That is the difference between an experience designed for children and one designed with responsibility to children,” said Prof Malissa.

Applications are now open for both programmes.

To learn more, visit Sunway University’s official website for more information. https://sunwayuniversity.edu.my/school-of-education

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幼儿教育正在经历一场变革，这推动着学前教师传统角色的重大转变。

随着数字化和人工智能工具越来越多地支持内容传递，幼儿教育中独特的人文维度，包括人际关系、情绪调节、包容性和社会情感发展，变得更加重要。

这种变化的形势催生了对既了解儿童发展又能围绕儿童设计体验、环境和系统的专业人士的需求。

这种更广泛的视角是儿童体验经济 (CEE) 的基础，儿童体验经济是由双威大学教育学院开发的视角，用于研究组织如何通过影响儿童学习、福祉和发展的体验来创造价值。

玛丽莎·玛丽亚·马哈茂德教授。

“中东欧不是一个新兴产业，而是一种视角，”双威大学教育学院院长玛丽莎·玛丽亚·马哈茂德教授说道。

“这有助于我们了解价值是如何越来越多地通过儿童体验而非仅仅通过产品来创造的，以及这些体验是如何在多个领域进行设计、包装和货币化的。”

这一理念源于 Pine 和 Gilmore 于 1998 年提出的体验经济概念，该概念认为经济价值不再局限于商品和服务，而是发展成为精心策划、令人难忘的体验。

然而，对于儿童来说，体验不仅仅是一种商业活动；它也是一个发展环境，可以塑造身份认同、人际关系、能力和归属感。

因此，CEE 呼吁将发展科学和体验设计以包容、合乎道德且尊重儿童权利的方式结合起来。

CEE 并非描述单一行业，而是描绘了一个涵盖教育、儿童友好空间、儿童内容和媒体、游戏和娱乐以及专为年轻人设计的产品和服务的广泛生态系统。

这使得幼儿教育超越了狭隘的、传统的课堂角色。如果童年是在服务、产品和空间中被设计的，那么教育就必须关注这种设计是如何发生的，由谁来设计，以及它对儿童的权利、尊严、自主性和归属感有哪些假设。

幼儿教育处于这一生态系统的核心，它改变了未来专业人士除了课程计划和课堂管理之外还需要掌握的知识。

从这个角度来看，教育的价值不仅在于孩子学到了什么，还在于孩子如何体验到自主性、掌握技能、建立联系和成长。

因此，未来幼儿教育专业人员的职责不仅限于课堂。他们必须掌握儿童发展、家庭动态、环境设计、技术和包容性等各个相互关联的维度，这些维度共同构成了儿童的生活。

随着具备此类专业知识的专业人员不仅进入幼儿中心和融合教育机构，而且还进入儿童发展服务、教育内容创作、学习体验设计和其他以儿童为中心的组织，对这类专业人员的需求也在不断增加。

包容性是这一不断发展格局的核心。由于每个孩子的发展各不相同，及早识别这些差异的能力会对他们的学习历程产生意义深远的影响。

幼儿教育专业人员需要具备识别不同发展需求、调整学习方法以及创造让每个孩子都有机会参与和成长的环境的知识和技能。

玛丽莎教授表示，大学面临的问题不再仅仅是如何培养课堂教师，而是如何培养能够塑造儿童学习和发展所需环境、技术、服务和体验的专业人才。

为了应对这种变化，马来西亚人才银行评选的 2026 年毕业生就业能力最佳大学——双威大学推出了两条新的途径：幼儿教育文凭和幼儿教育（特殊需求）荣誉学士学位。

两年制文凭课程为学生提供幼儿教育方面的扎实基础，涵盖儿童发展、游戏式教学法、课程设计以及针对有特殊需要儿童的包容性实践。

学生们还会接触到教育创业和针对不同文化背景设计学习的方法，为他们在世界各地的幼儿教育机构中发挥影响力做好准备。

那些寻求更专业化发展道路的人应该考虑攻读幼儿教育（特殊需求）荣誉学士学位，该学位将幼儿教育学与融合教育和特殊需求教育相结合。

其课程引入了通用学习设计、辅助技术和神经多样性，旨在培养毕业生帮助创建包容性学习环境，使学生不仅能够参与有意义的活动，还能获得归属感。

双威集团更广泛的生态系统让学生接触到以儿童为中心的真实行业和跨学科领域，将课堂学习与课外职业生涯联系起来。

双威大学继续通过“有良知的校园”等社区拓展项目倡导包容性教育，该项目与 BookXcess 合作，向 Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah 的儿童捐赠了 120 本感官友好型书籍。

毕业生可以在教育领域从事相关工作，同时探索更广泛的以儿童为中心的行业，例如儿童节目和内容、学习产品、技术和体验设计。

随着中东欧地区的不断发展，那些从基层开始了解中东欧地区的毕业生的价值也随之增加。

“在询问儿童是否会喜欢某种体验之前，我们应该询问它塑造了什么，它赋予了谁自主权，谁可能会被排除在外，以及儿童自己是否参与了它的设计。

“这就是为儿童设计的体验和对儿童负责的设计体验之间的区别，”马利萨教授说。

这两个项目现在都已开放申请。

欲了解更多信息，请访问双威大学官方网站：https://sunwayuniversity.edu.my/school-of-education

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