- How is the curriculum developed:
The Foundation Stage curriculum was first set up in 1988. Then it was revised in year 2000 with Every Child Matters and now developed into a single framework as EYFS. EYFS is a single framework and a more inclusive framework to provide equal opportunity for less achieving and deprived children in relative poverty/poverty. It is designed for a holistic development for early years provision (). According to Pugh et al. (2006:53) states, the curriculum guidelines for the Foundation Stage (QCA, 2000) provided the first comprehensive model of a broad and balanced curriculum for the early years. The curriculum included, through ‘stepping stones’ the elements of Progression. Its ‘early learning goals’ replaced the precursor ‘desirable learning ‘outcomes’.
In the Rumbold Report (DES, 1990,), a research into the provisions for under fives in England which were focused on the content of delivery and not enough of the process learning. As result of this the Foundation Stage was introduced and the Curriculum Guidance (2000:8) explains that three, four and five years olds:
need a well-planned and resourced curriculum to take their learning forward and to provide opportunities for all children to succeed in an atmosphere of care and feeling valued. (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004)
The Guidance for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out the early learning goals across six areas of learning, which describe what most children are expected to achieve by the end of the Foundation Stage. The six areas of learning consist of personal, social and emotional development; communication, language and literacy; Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy; knowledge understanding of the world; physical development; and creative development. There are two statuses to the framework: a statutory curriculum for the age range from 3- 6 year olds and the frame work for 0-3 years (birth to three matters) remains as guidance (Pugh et al. 2006). Currently, the maintenance and development of the CGFS and Key Stage 1 is the responsibility of the Qualification and Curriculum Authority and for BTTM is responsible by the DfES Sure Start Unit. All government funded settings are required to deliver a curriculum consistent with this guidance (Pugh et al. 2006).
In 2000, Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage was published by the Department for Education and Employment and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA, 2000). The curriculum guidance is intended "to help practitioners plan to meet the diverse needs of all children so that most will achieve and some, where appropriate, will go beyond the early learning goals by the end of the foundation stage" (p. 5). The curriculum guidance claims to describe integrated learning, it also emphasizes literacy and numeracy as distinct curriculum areas.
In September 2000, the Foundation Stage was introduced as a distinct, non-statutory stage of education for children in England from age three to the end of reception year ().
In 2001, after the transformation of Children Act, the government charged Ofsted with responsibility for the regulation and inspection of childminding and day care in order to establish a national regulatory system. By April 2003, however, Ofsted had revised its Children Act inspection framework to identify providers that not only met the national standards but provided good quality care.
Under the Education Act 2002, the Foundation Stage was established as part of the National Curriculum. Hence, from 2003 new statutory assessment in form of Foundation Stage Profile at the end of the foundation stage will replace statutory baseline assessment on entry to primary school (Deveurex et al. 2003).
2.1 Principles of the curriculum guidance:
Miller et al. (2003), states that the principles set out very clearly the values and beliefs that underpin the guidance and what it mean for practitioners who work in the Foundation Stage. The guidance emphasises the need for all children to feel included, secure and valued and to be successful; working in partnership with parents in and atmosphere of mutual respect; broad and well balanced curriculum, with opportunity for children to plan and initiate their own learning; provide experiences that children can explore, experiment, plan and make their own decisions (Devereux et al. 2003:109).
2.2 Planning:
The Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage provides a complete package for planning, teaching and assessing the early years curriculum. Planning is essential to provide a quality curriculum, activities must be meaningful, encourage children to learn, and ultimately achieve independence. Everyone should be involved in the planning and work together as a team. Practitioners/parents should regularly meet and discuss to updating all children’s profile in order to provide a differentiated and effective curriculum in meeting the diverse needs of children. Therefore practitioners must use an anti-discriminatory approach when planning as it involves taking into account of children with special educational needs (SEN), children who are more able and children specific disabilities. The awareness of the needs from all of the groups that comprise society; that is, children from different social, cultural and religious backgrounds. Also, includes the needs of children from minority ethnic groups and children from diverse linguistic back grounds. The early years curriculum should therefore incorporate work on children’s awareness of similarities and differences, and to help them to see this as ‘normal’
(Macleod-Brudenell, 2004).
2.3 Working in partnership with parents:
Large emphasises has been placed on parental involvement for the past 20 years in early years settings. The government legislation and guidance has strongly encourages working in partnership with parents and parental choice, while the Children Act 1989 introduced the concept of parental responsibility. A great deal of emphasise on the parent’s expertise and knowledge were expressed both the Birth to Three matters framework (DfES, 2002) and the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA, 2000). Along with the importance of parents, carers and families contributing to children’s better outcome in Every Child Matters: change for children framework (DfES, 2004b).
3. What are the influences on a curriculum?
In the English preschool, play is an integral part of the curriculum, founded on the belief that children learn through self-initiated free play in an exploratory environment. Free play is especially the norm in the traditional English nursery curriculum, following Froebel, Montessori, Steiner, Reggion Emilia and Isaacs ().
3.1 Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel:
Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) has the greatest influence in the UK’s early year’s education in the last century. Froebel is widely heralded as the apostle of play in education in texts on early years as well as others. This is as contentious today as in the early 19th century. According to Froebel, play is “the work of the child” and a part of “the educational process” ().
3.2 Maria Montessori:
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) began her work as a doctor in the poorest areas of Rome at the beginning of the 1900s. She worked with children with learning difficulties. She spent many hours observing children and this is one of the great strengths of her work. Through out her life she travelled all over the world spreading her ideas and developing her philosophy. She came to the conclusion that children pass through sensitive periods of development when they are particularly receptive to particular areas of learning. Like Piaget, she saw children as active learners (Bruce et al. 2006). Linking to the EYFS, practitioners need good observational skills, in order to inform planning and support and guide children’s learning.
3.4 Rudolf Steiner:
There are a few schools in the UK which use Steiner’s methods. These Walforf Schools are all in the private sector. Like Montessori, Steiner (1861-1925) has had less influence on the statutory public sector that on the private sector. But Steiner’s curriculum is very powerful for children with special educational needs, who can integrate because other children are actively helped to care about them (Bruce et al. 2006). However, Steiner’s philosophy is that a person is a threefold being of spirit, soul and body. These three aspects unfold in three developmental stages on the path of adulthood: early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. In many ways, there are clear links to the perceptions of stages of childhood and adolescence that are reflected in the organisation of stages of teaching the curriculum: in England the Key Stages, in nursery, first, middle and upper schools, or in nursery, primary and secondary schools (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004:9).
3.5 Reggio Emilia approach:
Loris Malaguzzi founded the Reggio Emilia system of early childhood education after his experiences in the Second War; he strongly believed that a new society should nurture a vision of children who could act and think for themselves (Malaguzzi 1995). Within this approach, knowledge is not transmitted by the adult, but is co-constructed by the child and adult as they find meanings together. The nature of the relationship between the child and adult is central, as is listening to the child’s view and ideas. In contrast to the English curriculum, Reggio Emilia centres have no written curriculum with prescribed goals and methods, the child is seen as a starting point for an ‘emergent curriculum’ (Thornton et al. 2007). This also considered as a model called Process Led which is based on the interaction between students and teachers (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004)).
3.6 Susan Isaacs:
Susan Isaacs (1885-1948), a child psychologist who was influenced by Froebel. She made detailed observations of children. Isaacs valued play because she believed that it gave children freedom to think and feel, and relate to others. She valued parents as the most important educators in a child’s life. Isaacs supported both Froebel’s and McMillan’s view that nurseries are an extension of the home and not a substitute for it, and she believed that children should remain in nursery-type education until the age of 7 (Bruce et al. 2006).
3.7 Key documents and research findings influenced the Curriculum:
These include the day care standards (DfES, 2000:2003) for a integrated services; Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003b), a vision for the care and education of children was expressed in the Green Paper with five outcomes: being healthy; staying safe; enjoying and achieving; making a positive contribution; and achieve economic well-being. Supporting all children and families better through well co-ordinated mainstream services. As well as the ten year childcare strategy Choice for Parents, the Beat Start for children (HMT, 2004). Therefore the curriculum guidance will need to reflect all the above as the focus is learning is, and increasingly will be, taking place in the multi-agency context (Pugh et al, 2006).
The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) Project was the first major enropean longitudinal study of a national sample of young children’s development (intellectual and social/behavioural) in a time between 1997-2003. The Early Years Enhancement programme (3-4 years) which has influenced policies and practice in pre-school education. Level of effectiveness to be raised in the pre-school education based on children’s outcome and with high quality childcare and pedagogical practice to be offered to all children (.)
The Children Act, which passed into law on 11 July 2006, formalises the strategic role that local authorities play through a set of new duties and also reforms early years regulation and inspection arrangements. The Act's main provisions have come into effect in 2008 ().
Subsequently, Sure Start was established in 1997, to promote universal access to high quality childcare. The development of early excellence centres for children and families in disadvantaged areas ().
4. What curriculum models do we have?
Most educational theorists follow a constructivist model when considering programmes for children from birth to three years of age and suggest that this a period when predominately the curriculum and pedagogy should be focusing on the child’s developmental interests rather than the child following a structured and delineated curriculum ().
The traditional early childhood education in England has been child centered, in contrast to approaches that are subject centered and teacher directed, emphasizing individual children’s interests, free play, firsthand experiences, and integrated learning. However, the government introduced a framework for an early years curriculum, redefined the child-centered education model, and initiated reforms for raising standards (). In order to raise standards and improve the quality of early childhood institutions, government intervention in early years education has increased significantly. This framework is very goal oriented and specifies a large number of learning goals to be achieved by children. However, many early childhood specialists have expressed concern that the government policy of raising standards may lead to over-concentration on formal teaching and upon the attainment of specific learning targets (). On the other hand, children’s actual needs are not being met.
Nevertheless, the National Curriculum focuses on the Content Led model which provides children knowledge and skills as well as encourages children to take a useful role in society. However, the EYFS focuses on the process-led model (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004).
4.1 Appendices:
- A short term plan (app.1)
- A medium term plan(app. 1, three weeks joint together)
- An activity plan (app. 2)
5. Conclusion:
This report have identified how the curriculum is a framework for learning, the historical and current context of the curricula with reference to well known theorists and their influences on the curriculum. Traditionally, early childhood education emphasized individual children's interests, free play, firsthand experience, and integrated learning. However, in 1996, the government introduced a framework for an early years curriculum, redefined the child-centered educational (Process-led) model, and initiated reforms for raising standards. The national preschool curriculum framework (Early Learning Goals) emphasizes not only integrated learning but also literacy and numeracy. The framework also specifies particular achievements to be expected of 4- and 5-year-olds. Despite the pros and cons of the appropriateness of the framework, more formal instruction in literacy and numeracy teaching is being directly and indirectly imposed upon young children. Government initiatives and inspection have started to change the traditional nature of English preschool settings with the reasons for quality and raising standards for better outcomes for children, families and communities.
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