A Comprehensive Analysis of Early Childhood Education and Care

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of early childhood education and care, examining the various structural, curricular, and pedagogical techniques employed in the sector. It delves into the historical, political, social, and cultural influences that have shaped early childhood educati...Read More

RUNNING HEAD: Early Childhood Education and Care 1
Early Childhood Education and Care

Early Childhood Education and Care 2
The early childhood care and education sector is known for its practice of using
numerous structural, curricular and pedagogical techniques which are based on different
theoretical underpinnings and philosophies to provide comprehensive educational experience to
the children. Similar to other education sectors, the early childhood education sector is also
marked by shift in theory or practice so that effective education can be provided in the
classroom. The early childhood education focuses on several national and international initiatives
as well as current direction in the development of curriculum development. In order to develop
proper curriculum, several curriculum frameworks and guidelines have been adopted which
encompasses planning, teacher interaction methods, monitoring and learning activities. In
Australia, each state and territory has worked to develop their own curriculum for the early
childhood and care sector (Staples & Cochran, 2007). The educational program will focus on
making the children more creative and expressive with the help different pedagogical techniques.
The early childhood is a vulnerable time and requires physical and perceptual skill development
of the children. The pedagogical techniques should focus on the development of different
behavioral, cognitive and conceptual aspects of children (Odom & Wolery, 2003). In this regard,
the present essay will discuss the impact of different historic, political, social and cultural
influences in shaping the early childhood care and education of the children.
Currently, the children pedagogical techniques and methods are well-formed and
designed to impart maximum meaning to children education. There are four major perspectives
or discourses which are influential in the development of these policies. Firstly, the development
perspective which examines the regularities and changes in the physical and the psychological
growth of the children and the vulnerability and the psychosocial growth of the children and how

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pedagogical techniques can foster this growth. Another perspective is the political or the
economic perspective which is influenced by the development principles of the country. It
focuses on social and educational interventions which can develop the economic model of the
human capital in a country. Another development perspective is that of social or the cultural
perspective wherein childhood in considered as a constructed status and the diversities in the
manner in which they are understood or practiced impacts the development of children
(Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 2007). Another perspective in the development of policy is the human
right perspective which reframes conventional pedagogical approaches in the manner that they
respect the dignity, entitlement and the capacity of the children so that they can contribute to the
development of services of people (Pianta, Barnett & Justice, 2012).
Historically, the early childhood care and education has focused on play and childhood
education. In the last few years, the educationalists and the policy-makers have elaborated the
purpose of education in early childhood care. The early theorists have stated that the children are
active learners and the best learning method is when the children are given opportunity to
increase their interaction with the nature and the life. According to this belief, children are
naturally good and the education and the social goals should focus on nurturing the natural talent
of the country (Woodhead, 2006).
The Piagetian theory and philosophical ideas are based on the development of research-
based guidelines which responds to the changes in the recent education and technological
changes. It focuses on developing early childhood curriculum overly academic or provides a
theoretical and research evidence base curriculum to provide maximum development
opportunities to the children. Initially, there was focus on play also to support the active
engagement of children in play and matching the children’s development capacities with their

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play activities. Later, it was examined that learning with the help of play can create issues in the
learning process and can be leading for the children. It can be discussed that in ‘learning while
playing’, there is essential requirement of adult intervention. However, the interaction with an
adult can be damaging to the self-agency of the children. There is balancing issue in child-
centered activities and adult interaction (Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 2007).
There are also several contemporary perspectives related to early childhood education
such as post-modernism, post-structural, sociocultural and sociology. According to these
contemporary theories, the children’s mastery of play, imagination development and role of
teacher has a strong role of in learning process (Moore, Edwards, Cutter-Mackenzie & Boyd,
2014). Another approach is the children early education and development is that the acquisition
of language, culture and other tools or signs impact on the learning process. With the acquisition
of culture, children gather the knowledge of generation (Shonkoff, 2010).
The sociocultural perspective states that the teachers have a strong role and proactive role
in the pedagogical approaches. It focuses on a child’s free path in the learning process. However,
when an adult or teacher interferes in the learning process, it violates the basic principle of
learning in which the learning is centered on the learning process of the children. The increased
role of the adults in the children’s learning can impact on the conventional idea that the children
are the center of the learning and should be given free opportunity to develop their own cognitive
and other ability (Shonkoff, 2010). There was shift in the perspective of pedagogical techniques
towards the intentional thinking wherein the children and the educator engage in conversation
and other interaction methods to promote learning. The open ended plays and acting can also be
used to facilitate the learning and the teacher can work on the role of facilitator in the learning
process (New & Cochran, 2007).

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Currently, there is ongoing research regarding the role of content access in the learning process.
The current research highlights the relationship between children and the teacher as the basis of
the learning process. The plays and opportunities for plays are important; however, how the
content knowledge is gathered as an association between the teacher and the children also impact
on the overall teaching. If a play or game is considered as educational, it should teach the
students something. As of now, there is shifting emphasis on the interaction between the children
and the adults in early childhood setting which suggests that the course content should be
explicitly engaging to the students along with the children (Woodhead, 2006).
The cultural, social, economic and other factors impact on the pedagogical techniques
and the behavior and learning process of the children. The culture and other biological factors
also impact on the learning capabilities of the children. In the learning and development of the
children is affected by several social, economic and environmental factors which impact on the
learning process of the people. There are several other factors such as parental interaction and the
learning environment which may influence the learning process. The parental interactions have a
strong method on the child development as the parents who spend their time in playing and
teaching their kids different things positively impact on the overall development of the kid.
However, parents who ignore interaction with their parents may hinder the development of their
children (Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2008).
Along with it, the learning environment of the children at the school also influences the
development of the child. The learning environment should be informative and supportive so that
the child can achieve better career and growth. Several research have highlighted that the
children obtaining poor and underprivileged educational environment will get negatively
developed. The social interaction or the lack of it also results in early childhood development

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issues. It hinders the ability of child to socialize with others in a positive manner. Therefore, it is
important to provide a comprehensive learning environment to the students. The teachers should
invest in high-quality pre-school or school transition programs. The early childhood programs
can provide stability to the learning of students and can result in smooth transition of the children
from pre-school to higher grades of the school. These programs also assure that the people from
disadvantaged families do not encounter any difficulties in their school. It can be critiqued that
the early childhood pedagogical techniques can improve the academic skills of the students and
can result in their cognitive development even in later years of their school (Durlak, Weissberg,
Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger, 2011).
There is consensus that the early years of development are particularly important for the
development of the basic skills which will be beneficial in the development of other skills
acquired later on. Other skills such as social skills, motivation, self-esteem, health status and the
attitude towards the school are influenced by these early intervention techniques. The socio-
economic factors also have a strong influence on the development of children. It refers to the
relative position of an individual, family or group in the society. It is directly associated with the
social recognition, privileges and wealth of a person (Linda, 2011). The parental occupation,
family income, prestige and power are the major indicator of the socio-economic status of a
person. The children from lower socio-economic group are at the risk of not successfully
developing the skills required at school. The children from different socio-economic background
are more likely to repeat grades, develop special education needs or to withdraw from the school
before completing the program; therefore, it is important to develop programs with special needs.
The aim of the early childhood care and education techniques is to establish equality in
educational opportunity to the children from different economic and social backgrounds and

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reduce their negative impact such as school failure, grade retention or special educational needs.
These intervention methods enhance a child’s capacity to learn and improve their performance at
the school at elementary level. By providing proper social and cognitive experiences, the
teachers and the curriculum developers can supplement the home environment of the student
(Burger, 2010).
Currently, there is no systematic provision for early childhood education and care in
Australia. However, both state as well as Commonwealth government provides certain services
at the current level. In the country, the safety and care services fall under the category of
childhood education and the policy coordination at the national level is dependent upon different
portfolios in the early childhood services (Bruce, 2015). The education department is focuses on
pre-school sector have limited scope for the service provision. The early childhood education
and educational attainment is given high importance and recognition is given to the early
childhood education and training policy as it impacts on the school readiness and learning ability
at later stage of life (Burger, 2010).
Conclusively, it can be stated that in early childhood education and stage, the intervention
methods should have a broad and versatile approach for the learning. The parent involvement is
also crucial and the parent involvement should be used along with the center-based provision.
The strategies which use parental engagement in home learning should enhance the performance
of the preschool attendance. The government intervention is also necessary to make the early
childhood education and care program accessible to the children which would otherwise remain
inaccessible due to economic issues. The children brought up in adverse economic and social
conditions should be supported to a specific extent with the help of educational intervention
programs as they increase the children’s competency and increase the educational opportunity.

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References
Bruce, T. (2015). Early Childhood Education. Hachette UK.
Burger, K. (2010). How does early childhood care and education affect cognitive development?
An international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different
social backgrounds. Early childhood research quarterly, 25(2), 140-165.
Burke, R. W. (2010). Historical Development of Early Childhood Education.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (2007). Beyond quality in early childhood education and
care: Languages of evaluation. Routledge.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (2007). Beyond quality in early childhood education and
care: Languages of evaluation. Routledge.
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The
impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐
based universal interventions. Child development, 82(1), 405-432.
Linda, P. (2011). Influencing Early Childhood Education: Key Figures, Philosophies And Ideas:
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Moore, D., Edwards, S., Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Boyd, W. (2014). Play-based learning in early
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policy. International Journal of Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood, 4(2), 1-43.