Unfortunately the "professionals" are no longer that. They are now being ruled and run by the government and not by common sense and logic. So this is what I think having worked with children of all ages. This age group is more about exploratory and hands-on learning. However, visuals are nice too. The problem with this type of learning is it only taps into the one sense are (vision) where as hands on covers several areas of sensory. Small motor skills need to worked with in this age group as this is a "natural" way of learning for all children. I should say I am a homeschool teacher mom and former private school educator. The government wants to fund public pre-school and get these kids doing all the hands on at this age. This way when they get to kindergarten they can start drilling reading skills. Why? Because the government for some reason thinks this is the best approach and all schools will get funding based on scores. This is a major flaw within the system and needs to be looked at very carefully. So this is the very reason I homeschool, so the government does not dictate the rate at which skills are aquired. My child is well above grade level I might add. I hope this helps. As a teacher, you should be able to decide how to teach. This has always made more sense. :)
Also, I would try some Montessori schools in your area if you just are completely at odds.