Early Childhood Education: PDF

Introduction
 Curricula are the defined set of documents that specify the sequence and scope of graded
subjects and areas of studies available within the education system
 Developing a critical perspective helps in guiding educational policy reforms and
changes in practice (Blundell 2012)
 Early years education focuses on teaching of children aged up to eight years (Blyth 2017)
 The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) England encompasses a set of Learning and
Development Requirements and a set of Welfare Requirements that are to be followed by
education providers to educate children at the age of compulsory education in the country
 The Montessori program proposed by Maria Montessori is a revolutionary child-centered
education model developed in the early twentieth century
Construction and development of two curricula regarding political, economic and social
context
EYFS-
 The EYFS had been introduced in the year 2008 that acts as the basis for learning and
development of children in the UK up to the age of five years
 The basis of the framework is the key insights drawn from Effective Provision of Pre-
School Education (EPPE) Project, Infant Life Protection Act 1871 and the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children Act 1889 Nutbrown and Clough 2014).
 The EYFS had been developed against the context of economic crisis of the late 2000s
that was linked with rise in expenditure on childcare, and other social investment, and
several cuts to budgets affecting support for childcare

 The political choice after the economic crisis was more directed towards stimulus and
austerity, implying that rapid policy changes regarding early childhood education were
considered during that period (Lewis and West 2016)
 The economic crisis in UK had restricted the scope for investing in childhood education
(Lewis and West 2016)
 The social context of development of EYFS was the realization that children could make
better progress when education and care are integrated in a setting that considers equal
weight on social and educational development (The Early Years Foundation Stage
Review 2011).
Montessori-
 Maria Montessori developed the Montessori program in 1929 (Mead 2018)
 First woman graduate from medical school in Italy who went on to open the Casa dei
Bambini (Children's House)
 Maria was from Italy where significant economic, social and political changes were being
witnessed in the early twentieth century
 Maria considered developing the program was to provide education to children coming in
from low-income background in Rome
 The initiative was taken in a male dominated environment (Montessori 2013)
 The social context of the program was that Maria acknowledged the need of developing
unique and effective program with the focus on providing education to each child on the
basis of the development stage the child is at (Montessori 2013)
Key elements, concepts, theories and characteristics of two curricula

EYFS-
 The key elements of EYFS are-
 Learning and development- how children develop and learn and the manner in which
educators can be supported and assessed
 Welfare- how children can be kept safe from harm and ensured that they are provided
with a safe and suitable environment (Hedges, Cullen and Jordan 2011).
 Six areas of learning that the EYFS outlined to be followed by the practitioners were
 Personal, social and emotional development
 Communication, language and literacy
 Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
 Knowledge and understanding of the world
 Physical development
 Creative development (Ang 2014)
 The main concept of EYFS is that it does not put forward any requirement for
practitioners to utilise specific approaches that can support young children’s development and
learning (Roberts-Holmes 2012)
 Educators and children are to work together for clarifying a concept, solving a problem,
and expressing opinions for developing narratives
 The EYFS is not based on a distinct theory of learning; instead it has been developed by
the UK government on the basis of research findings one example of which is the Effective
Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project (Sammons et al. 2014)
 The key characteristic of EYFS is that it is designed for helping all children fulfill their
potential and identify those needing addition support

 Practitioners are to create a synopsis at the end of the academic year regarding child’
development (Silberfield and Horsley 2013)
Montessori-
 The key element of the Montessori curriculum is that there are five areas of learning-
 Practical life
 Sensorial
 Mathematics
 Language
 Culture
 The concept that Maria had for starting the Montessori program is that children are to be
provided with innovative learning framework incorporating particular learning outcomes and
knowledge skills as per the developmental needs of the children
 Montessori had been strongly influenced by Fredrich Froebel who invented
of kindergarten, and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi who supported children learning through
activity (Montessori 2013)
 The Montessori Theory is an approach where the key principles are independence,
Observation, Following the Child, Correcting the Child, Prepared Environment and Absorbent
Mind (Miller and Pound 2011)
 According to Montessori, each child is at a certain stage associated with physical and
mental changes. The stages are as follows-
 Birth to 6 years (subdivided into 0-3 years; 3-6 years) - an absorbent mind
 6-12 years (subdivided into 6-9 years; 9-12 years) - a conscious mind
 12- 18 years (subdivided into 12- 15 years; 15- 18 years) – abstract thinking (Feez 2010)

 The key characteristic is that the education curricula advocates for “following the child”
which implies that the right lesson is to be given at the appropriate time while permitting the
child to take part in his own progress
 Specific learning materials were tailored to the fundamental instruction and learning
philosophy
 The teacher, child, and environment create a learning triangle where teachers are
responsible for encouraging independence and freedom within limits
 The child makes use of what the environment offers for enhancing development
 Multiage groupings can be considered as a key hallmark of the Montessori Method,
which implies that learning of younger children is promoted by older children and reinforcement
of learning of older children can occur by teaching (Miller and Pound 2011)
Debates and controversies surrounding both curricula
EYFS-
 First debate is that there is no appropriate age for starting overtly instructional approaches
(Hunkins and Ornstein 2016), and it has been noted that overt instructions involves
identification of the specific learning needs (Pyo 2016)
 Certain areas of learning such as creative development and understanding of the world
are defined in ambiguous manner in EYFS (Hedges, Cullen and Jordan 2011)
 Practitioners have believed that there is a need of simplifying learning goals embedded in
EYFS and as mentioned by West et al., (2017) leaning goals are very significant in
education since they act as the backbone of a lesson

 Transition into school-based provision can be difficult as outlined in the EYFS (Blundell
2012) leading to disinterest in learning
 Curricula can be considered as "sites of struggle" between key ideas regarding the
definition of early childhood education and the appropriate contexts for learning and
development in early childhood (Soler and Miller, 2003)
 Tension remains regarding the role of early years education and what it entail due to
focus on "school readiness" and the formalisation of children's learning in England (Ang
2014)
 A standardised curriculum with preset goals is under questions pertaining to allowances
for diverse learners with varying abilities (Ang 2014)
Montessori-
 The Montessori curricula is highly rigid implying that children are constantly pressurized
to take part in teacher directed activities (Aubrey and Riley 2016)
 The use of replica material in an identical way across settings is contradictory to the
system believing each child to be unique limited (Roopnarine and Johnson, 2005).
 The EYFS provides limited scope for considering each child to be having distinct
learning needs in diverse education environment (Roopnarine and Johnson, 2005)
 The Montessori education does not support social interaction that is in conflict with the
emotional needs of children (O’Donnell, 2013)
Ways in which both curricula shape pedagogical practice

EYFS-
 Stratification of early years education was the result of EYFS that focuses on a data-
driven pedagogy wherein performance of children are measured by data (Roberts-
Holmes 2015)
 Shift of focus from a child-centered and play-based approach to preparing children for
school, known as schoolification (Roberts- Holmes 2015)
Montessori-
 The debate with Montessori curriculum emerged since it was developed by Maria
Montessori based her own philosophies, echoing Locke and Rousseau's work, by reflecting
through her own stage theory as well as addressing her views of the child as an individual who
was heavily influenced by the environment (O'Donnell, 2013)
 The curriculum has been criticized for curbing children’s creativity as the curricula does
not support children to explore materials in whatever way the wished (Roopnarine and Johnson,
2005).
 Practitioners are to support children in undertaking practical life skills alongside the more
commonly recognised curriculum areas, and Montessori education is an advocate for a stress -
free environment that can ensure that children are not subjected to tests and examinations
(Isaacs 2007)
Critical reflection on development of understanding of theory and practice relating to both
curricula
 Through understanding of the two curriculum I would state that educators are to focus on
both classroom and field educational experiences with equal focus on the two

 In my opinion, students are to be provided with an environment that acknowledges the
feeling of students and encourages them to ask questions
 I further discourse that curriculum must be supportive of the individual needs of learners
and Practitioners are to be strongly interested in students as individuals. Blundell (2012)
had pointed out that children’s best interest are to be promoted through a curriculum
 As cited by Hedges and Cullen (2005) when a child is actively engaged in learning, they
can take part in community affairs. I opine in this regard that children’s development can
be better supported when they have socially valued knowledge
 Children can benefit when the teaching method is embedded in experience (Hedges and
Cullen 2005). I state that children’s play is to be considered as a vehicle for delivering
learning outcomes
 Funds of knowledge act as a lens for engagement of children that is shaped up by social
experiences (Hedges, Cullen and Jordan, 2011). My perception is that inputs from the
family are pivotal for learning
Conclusion
 Curriculum is the totality of experiences of students occurring at different stages of
educational process
 Early years education focuses on development of children up to the age of eight years Two significant curricula namely Early Years Foundation Stage England and Montessori
 The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) England is followed by education providers to
educate children at the age of compulsory education in the UK
 The EYFS was developed against poor economic and highly restricted political context

 EYFS does not put forward any requirement for practitioners to use specific approaches
for supporting young children’s development and learning
 The Montessori program proposed by Maria Montessori is a child-centered education
model adopted worldwide at present
 It was developed for addressing the needs of children from low income families
 Montessori curricula advocates for “following the child” which implies that the right
lesson is to be given at the appropriate time while permitting the child to take part in his
own progress
 While the EYFS imply schoolification and datafication in education process, the
Montessori program promotes stress-free environment free of examinations
 The key inference drawn from the above discussion is that early years education can only
be effective when individual needs of students are supported and their best interests are
considered
 As an educator interest would be taken to reform curriculum as deemed fit for the field
and purpose based on experiences and knowledge

References
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