Education & Care Program Design in Early Childhood: A Detailed Plan

This report outlines the design of an education and care program for an early childhood setting, focusing on infants, pre-schoolers, and kindergarteners. The program emphasizes interactive learning, incorporating Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, and follows the Early Years Learning Framework Planning Cycle. It details a full-day program centered around nature, utilizing props, picture books, and digital technologies to teach about living and non-living things, shapes, and colors. The program includes family involvement, interactive sessions, and continuous evaluation to ensure effective learning and development, aiming to foster a sense of belonging, being, and becoming among the children.

Running head: Education and care program design in early childhood setting
Education and care program design in early childhood setting
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 1
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Overview of designing a program for the early childhood setting:...........................................2
Theoretical and curriculum approaches made towards the program:........................................3
Documentation method, planning tools and strategies used for the planning:..........................3
An entire day program of education and care setting:...............................................................5
Utilising digital technologies for different aspects:...................................................................7
Conclusion and reflection on the strategies:..............................................................................8
Reference list:.............................................................................................................................9

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 2
Introduction:
The recent programs on the Early Childhood Education create a great opportunity in
emphasizing the teaching for the young children (Acecqa.gov.au, 2018). The aim of these
courses is to improve the skills of the teachers, so that they can focus towards the teaching
and the curriculum planning. The aim of this assessment is to design a program for the early
childhood setting for the infants, pre-schoolers and the kindergarteners. The assessment
would discuss on the programs that could be helpful for the children to learn easily. The aim
of this particular assessment is to design a particular program that caters for the entire day
of the education and care setting. The planning will also include the provision of indoor and
outdoor learning areas as well as group learning opportunity.
Overview of designing a program for the early childhood setting:
The philosophy of the early childhood setting states that all children experience
learning that helps them being engaged and build success in their life. The philosophy in fact
conveys that the highest expectation of learning remains among the children from birth to
five years of age through their transition to school. As commented by Reetu, Renu & Adarsh,
(2017), all children should experience their learning that is characterised by belonging, being
and becoming. Experiencing belonging means knowing where and with whom one belongs.
It has to be understood that children belong to their family or even a cultural group. The sense
of belonging acknowledges independence based on relationship. Being recognises the
significance that the children understand their relationship with others and engage themselves
with every challenging situation in their life (Bloch, Swadener & Cannella, 2014). Becoming
reflects in the process of rapid and significant changes that happen with the early growing
children. Thus, the education and care program that will be designed will also be based on
these principles and practices.

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 3
Theoretical and curriculum approaches made towards the program:
According to Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, every human develop their learning
as a social process since the origin of the human intelligence. Vygotsky believed that
everything is learnt through social interaction and the mental structure of a child can be
shaped only by social interaction (Poehner & Lantolf, 2014). This is the reason that the
childhood learning should always focus on social interaction and the children should be
involved in the area of exploration in order to support the evolving knowledge of the
children. The learning ability of a child can only be developed by the parents or the care
givers because the children can feel a sense of belongingness with them and thus, the children
can be able to develop better cognitive ability with the teachings of them (Arthur et al.,
2017).
Considering the above mentioned points, the teacher of the early childhood should
make a collaborative learning approach and scaffolding of the strategies in order to support
the intellectual learning ability and facilitate the intentional learning. The learning program
shall be based on interactive sessions where the children will be able to get involved and
improve their skills as learners.
Documentation method, planning tools and strategies used for the planning:
According to the Early Years Learning Framework Planning Cycle, it is important
for the early childhood educators to follow a five step of the planning cycle. The entire one
day planning will be based on this cycle. This include,
 Observe: The process of gathering information
 Analysis: To question on the learning and development to understand the points that
have been observed.
 Planning: To plan the next step in order to support the learning and development

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 4
 Acting: Putting the plan that has been set into the action
 Reflecting: Evaluating the outcome and the effectiveness of the plan (McLachlan,
Fleer & Edwards, 2018).
The documentation process can be of different types:
 Anecdote: Telling short and interesting stories about real life incidents or a
person. This means is often used by early childhood teachers to teach children in
an interesting and amusing manner.
 Jotting: Giving a brief note on a particular topic is jotting. This is used by the
teachers to explain a particular thing like shape or animal to the children (Black et
al., 2017).
 Learning stories: Connecting the stories of the family with the teaching is called
the learning stories. This way a familiarity of the particular thing among the
children can be created.
Summative analysis is the observation on the progress of the learning of the children on
the particular topic that has been taught to them. It is important to understand how much the
children have gained knowledge and also to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning
(Acecqa.gov.au, 2018). Considering the formative and summative assessment strategies it
can be said that the entire program will be based on a story telling or anecdotes and also by
the means of the mind web. Each and every point that will be taught to the children will be
supported by the means of examples and stories (Britto et al., 2014). They will also be shown
videos that they would be easily able to understand and grasp the teaching. In order to
evaluate the outcome or the result of the learning, the children will be asked few questions to
test their learning.

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 5
An entire day program of education and care setting:
Considering an interactive program with the children as a means of learning, the
single day education program is aimed to be set in an environment. The program shall be of
6-8 hours duration and would include the family members as well at the initial stage. The
details of the program can be described as below:
Overview of the program: The idea of the program is to introduce the children with the
nature and so this one day program will be based on an outside premise, likely to be in a
garden. There they will be taught about the different elements of nature that will include
teaching on living and non-living things, natural and man-made substances, different
animals and their habitats. With all these, the teaching will also focus on recognising
various shapes and colours. This learning will also provide the opportunity to appreciate the
natural environment and create a sense of sustainability among the children.
Props, materials and other things required: In order to teach the children on the above
mentioned topics, the teacher will require picture books mainly that of animals with their
habitats. The images in the book should be very clear and big enough that the children can
easily recognise it and get a grasp of the learning. Apart from this, other props include toys of
various shapes and colours that the children can be taught on the same. However, a tab can be
of great help as the children can be easily shown the images or videos of desired things. As
commented by García et al., (2018), that when images or videos are used for teaching
children, it creates a long lasting impact on their minds and thus, it is expected that they
would be able learn more easily.
The planning for the day: Considering the importance of belonging, the family members or
the parents will be asked to drop their children at the destination. The timing could be set for
an early hour like 8 A.M. so that the children can get an essence of the fresh air and morning

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 6
breeze as well. Once all the children arrive at the destination, they will be taken care off and
the parents will be asked to get their children back after the end of the session, at around 4
P.M. This is the first step of observing and gathering information.
Once the children are ready after having breakfast and other things, they would be
given an introduction on the learning process. For instance, they would be informed that they
will be learning about animals and their habitat, living and non-living things and also on the
shapes and colours. Analysis of the learning process and how effective will it be among the
children will be done in this step. Primarily, they shall be explained on the features of a living
thing; that a living thing is the one who can breathe, eat, walk and sleep; while a non-living
thing is the one that has no life in it (Acecqa.gov.au, 2018). Thus, the children will be able to
understand being as a part of the learning process. All these teachings will be supported by
examples and they will be shown the pictures of the particular animal or object, so that they
can easily relate their learning. In doing so, they shall be gradually told about the features of a
plant or a tree and that even we cannot see the trees having food or going to sleep, but they
are also living things. This learning process will be accompanied with several interaction
sessions as well that will help the children to resemble their learning with social interaction.
This is the exact concept as per the Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (Biven et al., 2016).
This particular learning will take around 4 hours for explaining and also discussing any doubt
that are sure to arise among the children as they shall be learning about these for the first
time.
Once the first step is completed, planning the next step of learning will take place.
Coming down to the other learning activities like recognising shapes and colours, the props
or the shape toys will be shown to them and they will be taught about the several shapes. This
learning will also be accompanied by helping them recognise the shapes with daily objects;
like, an egg for oval, the shape of the sun as round and so on. Considering the learning

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 7
process as a continuous process, the plan can be put into action by the mentioned way. This
way, a cognitive behaviour will be played among the children and it can be expected that the
children will develop better understanding on the same (Qualityforum.org, 2018). Moreover,
when each child will be handed a particular shape toy that they can actually feel the shape
and can relate it with the everyday object that they come across. This session would take
another 2 hours.
Reflecting on the effectiveness of the plan and teaching procedure, it can be expected
that it would not be very difficult for the children to learn on the difference between natural
and man-made substances. However, they shall be taught about the difference between a
natural and man-made substance. For instance, they might get confused between non-living
and man-made substance. The example of water, mountain, sea and river for natural
substances and that cars, buildings are man-made substances have to be distinguished. Here,
it can be said that the sense of becoming and relating themselves with everyday life will be
easier for the children. This particular program might take some time for explaining and
clearing doubts and it is expected that it will continue for another 2-3 hours.
An important point to be mentioned here is that amidst all these learning activities, it
is important to take care of the children’s need in terms of the food, water or in case of toilet
or other issues. Thus, it is both an education and care setting program for the children.
Utilising digital technologies for different aspects:
With a purpose of documentation, the entire program will be recorded by taking
photographs and at times recording videos as well and the same will be shared with their
parents so that the parents will be able to get an idea of what they had learnt in the entire
day’s program (Black et al., 2017). For making this more effective, we can also use the social
media sites as well to share the documented program with the parents or with their families.

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 8
However, posting of photos in social media sites will solely be done by taking permission
from the parents.
Conclusion and reflection on the strategies:
With the overall experience and understanding on the early childhood programs, it
can be said that interactive process of learning and teaching the children by helping them
recognise the everyday thing will create the right impact among them. This will also improve
the cognitive ability of the children as well. The idea of teaching children with great care by
their parents or by the care givers is the only way of teaching. There is no doubt that when
children are taught in an outdoor environment, they can get a clearer picture and their
understanding will be improved. The type of program that has been discussed in this study
can be helpful for the entire programs of early childhood care and learning. Keeping the
parents updated on the steps of the learning of the children is another supportive act that can
be adopted by the care givers, so that the parents can also teach their children at hiome in the
same manner.

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 9
Reference list:
Acecqa.gov.au (2018) Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority Retrieved
from: https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard [Accessed on: 22-4-
2018]
Acecqa.gov.au (2018) BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING Retrieved from:
http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/National-Quality-Framework-Resources-Kit/
belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.
pdf [Accessed on: 22-4-2018]
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2017). Programming and
Planning in Early Childhood Settings with Student Resource Access 12 Months.
Cengage AU.
Bivens, J., Garcia, E., Gould, E., Weiss, E., & Wilson, V. (2016). It's Time for an Ambitious
National Investment in America's Children: Investments in Early Childhood Care and
Education Would Have Enormous Benefits for Children, Families, Society, and the
Economy. Economic Policy Institute.
Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., ... &
Devercelli, A. E. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: science
through the life course. The Lancet, 389(10064), 77-90.
Bloch, M. N., Swadener, B. B., & Cannella, G. S. (2014). Reconceptualizing Early
Childhood Care and Education. A Reader. New York: Peter Lang.
Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... &
MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The
Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102.

Education and care program design in early childhood setting 10
García, J. L., Heckman, J. J., Leaf, D. E., & Prados, M. J. (2016). The life-cycle benefits of an
influential early childhood program (No. w22993). National Bureau of Economic
Research.
McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., & Edwards, S. (2018). Early childhood curriculum: Planning,
assessment and implementation. Cambridge University Press.
Poehner, M. E., & Lantolf, J. P. (2014). Sociocultural theory and the pedagogical imperative
in L2 education: Vygotskian praxis and the research/practice divide. Routledge.
Qualityforum.org (2018) National Quality Forum Retrieved from:
http://www.qualityforum.org/ [Accessed on: 22-4-2018]
Reetu, C., Renu, G., & Adarsh, S. (2017). Quality Early Childhood Care and Education in
India: Initiatives, Practice, Challenges and Enablers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research
in Early Childhood Education, 11(1).