Freed makes a de-shanked pointe shoe that is specifically for pre-pointe. What exactly is this shoe for and how does it help?

I teach the RAD syllabus, which uses this type of shoes in most of the vocational exams.

This shoe is (according to the RAD) preparing for pointe work, as it is like wearing a pointe shoe (balancing and dancing in them is harder than dancing in soft, or technical shoes as your foot is somehow 'emprisonned' in the blocked shoe). It also helps strengthening the foot, as your foot would need to work harder (point with more strength) to achieve the same look than in technique shoes.
Finally, it prepares you to rise from flat to demi pointes with emphasis on pushing the foot high (otherwise, you're quite close to the floor).

Those shoes don't prepare you 100% to what the work in pointes will be (of course, only pointes are good for that) but it helps a great deal. It's only not possible to actually go ON pointes with them (there is no shank, so no support).

In the RAD syllabus, you are examined in pointe work from the lowest level of the vocational exams (but substential work on pointes only start at advanced level) while wearing soft blocked is compulsory from intermediate level (and recommended in intermediate foundation -the level before intermediate).

A pre-pointe shoe helps a student to feel comfortable in a new kind of shoe. It doesn't make the dancer feel unsteady or useless because the de-shanked shoe allows the dancer to just stay on demi pointe. When you first start on pre-pointe, you may feel a little scared becacuse you mak think that this pointe shoe is getting in the way and you may feel that your dancing looks dumb. But hey, don't worry, I heard from my teacher that you start to dance like how you did on softies after a little while. So if your going to go on pre-pointe shoes, just remember that it might be a little hard to balance in them at first, okay?

A pre-pointe shoe helps a student to feel comfortable in a new kind of shoe. It doesn't make the dancer feel unsteady or useless because the de-shanked shoe allows the dancer to just stay on demi pointe. When you first start on pre-pointe, you may feel a little scared becacuse you mak think that this pointe shoe is getting in the way and you may feel that your dancing looks dumb. But hey, don't worry, I heard from my teacher that you start to dance like how you did on softies after a little while. So if your going to go on pre-pointe shoes, just remember that it might be a little hard to balance in them at first, okay?