Critiquing Documentation And Curriculum

Running Head: CRITIQUING DOCUMENTATION AND CURRICULUM APPROACHES
Critiquing Documentation and Curriculum Approaches
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CRITIQUING DOCUMENTATION AND CURRICULUM APPROACHES 2
Introduction
Early childhood education and care refer to services such as physical care and training
offered to children that are under compulsory school age. Early childhood education is
instrumental to the future education process since the better the education foundation, the better
the cognitive skills (Arthur et al., 2015). In early education and care, curriculum refers to the
philosophical programs that consist of knowledge and skills required to be acquired by learners.
According to Leggett and Ford (2015), children embrace sensory learning; since they are more
prone to touching, seeing, and smelling than listening thus numerous curriculums were
developed. There are different curriculum approaches used in early childhood education, such as
developmentally appropriate practice, play-based curriculum, integrated curriculum, child-
centered curriculum, among many others. In the context of early childhood education,
‘document’ refers to the support of an assertion with appropriate evidence; thus, the relationship
between the assertion and proof contributes to documentation. Documentation is not a new
pedagogical practice since it dates back into paste decades when educators collected the growth
and development of children. According to Arthur et al. (2015), historical educators do not only
focused on observation but focused on recording children's language feelings and projects during
their daily routines. It is worth noting that over the past centuries, educational psychologists and
researchers have developed different theories that explain how learners acquire, organize, and
deploy skills and knowledge. Some of the methods include behaviorists, cognitive-information,
constructivism, humanism, and cognitive-constructionist learning theories. Both curriculum
approaches and documentation are significant in enhancing the child’s skills; thus, the current
paper is a critique of photography and flow chart documentation, and the child-center and

CRITIQUING DOCUMENTATION AND CURRICULUM APPROACHES 3
Reggio curriculum approach in early childhood education. The article further explores the
relationship between the identified documentation and curriculum with the educational theories.
Documentations
In the context of early childhood education, ‘document’ refers to the support of an
assertion with appropriate evidence; thus, the relationship between the assertion and proof
contributes to documentation (Knauf, 2019). Some of the documentations include
photographing, video and audio recording, drawings, writing samples, and anecdotal, among
others. In the current world, some of the standard documentation includes children's
development portfolios.
Jotting documentation
According to Arthur et al. (2015), jotting documentation refers to documentation style
whereby short notes of the childes learning and development are taken. The aim of jotting is
always to observe child’s behaviour to identify the interest in particular significant learning
aspects, events, and family experiences. The observation is always written anecdotally in the past
tense and later analysed into three parts; identification of the displayed skill/ behaviour,
observation of the area being exhibited, and the linkage of the behaviour to the early childhood
development. Jotting has gained popularity in the early childhood education as a resulted of the
attributes assisted with the method. Apart from taking less time, jotting can also be used as an
assessment method on the child’s steps in learning and development.
Learning stories documentation
Learning stories is another documentation style used in early childhood education and
refers to illustrative narratives that accounts about child’s learning rather than recording the

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details. the process always involves all the stakeholders such as educators who are responsible in
supporting children’s learning (Hulme, Barsky & Rodd, 2018).Learning stories originated from
New Zealand and is common across many countries in the world due to its high level of
engagement between the educator and the child thus resulting into valuable information that are
usable in establishing the links between home and the care environment as well as provide
parents with insights on what took place in the learning and care environment when the children
reports their experiences in form of stories (Alnervik, 2018). Learning stories initiate learning
since it is based on the child-initiated story, engages the child and educator and changes the
child’s learning disposition. Over the time, learning stories have been simplified into three main
questions: description of the questions, reviewing of the learning and shareholders engagement
and support.
Curriculum approaches
In early education and care, curriculum refers to the philosophical programs that consist
of knowledge and skills required to be acquired by learners (Rintakorpi, 2016) .According to
Leggett and Ford (2015), children embrace sensory learning; since they are more prone to
touching, seeing, and smelling than listening thus numerous curriculums were developed.
Reggio curriculum approaches
Reggio Emilia curriculum approach is an educational pedagogy focused on early learning
children. Reggio Emilia's curriculum approach is traced from Italy and was supported by Louris
Malaguzzi, who, after World War II, constructed pre-schools-schools for the children in Reggio
Emilia city (Arseven, 2014). According to the Reggio Emilia curriculum approach, children tend
to curiosity and creativity since they are not always empty in mind, and the memories are still
waiting to be filled with information.