Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Theory, research and the early childhood curriculum
- 3 Development and learning – how views of development shape how curriculum is framed
- 4 Curriculum as a cultural broker
- 5 Interpreting early childhood curriculum
- 6 Cultural-historical curriculum in action
- 7 Curriculum as a conceptual tool: Observation, content and programming
- 8 Assessing children and evaluating curriculum
- 9 Content knowledge: The sciences, maths and numeracy
- 10 Content knowledge: Language, literacy and ICT
- 11 Content knowledge: The arts and health, wellbeing and physical activity
- 12 Conclusions
- Glossary
- References
- Index
5 - Interpreting early childhood curriculum
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Theory, research and the early childhood curriculum
- 3 Development and learning – how views of development shape how curriculum is framed
- 4 Curriculum as a cultural broker
- 5 Interpreting early childhood curriculum
- 6 Cultural-historical curriculum in action
- 7 Curriculum as a conceptual tool: Observation, content and programming
- 8 Assessing children and evaluating curriculum
- 9 Content knowledge: The sciences, maths and numeracy
- 10 Content knowledge: Language, literacy and ICT
- 11 Content knowledge: The arts and health, wellbeing and physical activity
- 12 Conclusions
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
Learning intentions
This chapter is intended to help you learn:
that curriculum frameworks are working documents supported by governments that provide teachers with different ways of thinking about how to approach the provision of early childhood curriculum
that curriculum frameworks typically describe a view of how children learn and develop, describe ways for teachers to support children’s learning and development, and list learning outcomes indicative of children’s learning and development
that teacher professional learning and reflective practice is an important part of using and implementing curriculum frameworks in practice.
This chapter will refocus attention on the ideas examined in Chapters 1 to 4, positioning teachers in relation to their centres or classrooms as cultural communities, their positions in the broader cultural community and their reading of early childhood education as a cultural practice. The ways in which teachers construct curriculum in relation to document, time, history and place will be explored. The need for teachers to actively engage in ongoing professional learning is highlighted.
Reflection 5.1
In this chapter, we will explore the issues raised by Gwendolyne and Kiri about the relationship between teachers’ knowledge about child development, and curriculum documents.
Gwendolyne: In Malawi, our curriculum is a guide to help the carers know more about children’s development and what concepts they should be teaching.
Kiri: But what about this idea of it being constructed and contested – how does that work if we have a written curriculum?
Take a few moments now and think about your own view of how children learn. How does it relate to your local curriculum document?
Jill is a teacher who participated in a research project about teachers’ interpretations of the early childhood curriculum. As part of this project Jill was asked to reflect on her understanding of the curriculum. Jill has worked in early childhood education for over 20 years and during this time developed an interpretation of curriculum which emphasises the relationships she sees between children’s participation in their communities and their learning in the classroom. Jill’s comments are presented in Box A.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Early Childhood CurriculumPlanning, Assessment, and Implementation, pp. 57 - 68Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013