Québec Education Program
Preschool Education Cycle Program
The Preschool Cycle Program presents, among other things, the areas of development and the competencies to be developed by children in preschool. Various documents and tools designed to support overall development are also made available to school staff.
Increases physical and motor development
Builds self-awareness
Maintains harmonious relationships with others
Communicates using oral and written language
Discovers the world around them
Information Sheets
Three orientations are being used to pursue the two objectives of the mandate for the Preschool Cycle Program, which are global development, and universal and targeted prevention. These three orientations are: play, observation of the children’s progress and classroom organization. Each of these orientations is a cornerstone in teaching the program on a day-to-day basis, and each one specifies the elements essential to providing quality preschool education tailored to the characteristics and needs of 4-to-6-year-olds.
The tools proposed here are designed to help you become familiar with the Preschool Cycle Program. They are an invitation to reflect on the place of the essential elements in the teacher’s practice in order to give meaning to the mandate.
Observation of the children’s progress (PDF 3.86 Mb)
Classroom organization (PDF 6.18 Mb)
Describing our observations (in French only) (PDF 570 Kb)
Working together on behalf of the child (in French only) (PDF 411 Kb)
Accompanying and supporting children in free play (in French only) (PDF 447 Kb)
See also
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Training for school staff offered by the Ministère de l’Éducation (in French only)
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Association d’éducation préscolaire du Québec (AÉPQ) (in French only)
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Campus RÉCIT: learning devices to support the development of digital competence (in French only)
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Constellations: Extensive selection of annotated books for young readers
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La CLEF : projet de littératie familiale destiné aux parents des 5 à 8 ans (French only)
Last update: February 23, 2026