Early childhood education essay

Early childhood education is crucial for an infant’s growth because it fosters the child’s social, cognitive, and emotional development. A child’s foundation for the rest of his or her life is laid by early infant education, which also optimizes the child’s range of skills, builds on their strengths, and minimizes their weaknesses. As a result, a thorough, considerate, and well-rounded curriculum is required to direct early childhood educators and guarantee improved early childhood development. This served as the foundation for the creation of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), which sets out the framework that educators should adhere to in an effort to improve early childhood education. This framework gives a guideline on what early childhood education should entail as well as suggests the kind of curriculum educators should follow to ensure better early years learning. Curriculum in this context of the early childhood setting means all the interactions, experiences, events, routines and activities whether planned or unplanned that are designed to ensure children’s learning and development. this therefore demands of educators as well as caregivers to be informed and made aware of the importance of having a curriculum that guides their interaction and care with infants. This paper is going to analyze the reasoning and justification behind why curriculum is important for infants and toddlers with reference to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the application of the attachment theory with regards to understanding early childhood experiences.

Early childhood is a vital and most crucial period in a child’s learning and development which therefore demands for the attention and seriousness in terms of the approach to their education in order to develop a whole-rounded being from the children. A curriculum will be therefore suitable in ensuring that the proper procedures and strategies towards achieving early childhood development is achieved. An early childhood education curriculum would help educators ensure quality teaching and learning therefore the idea of a curriculum for childhood education is rational and a considerable and reasonable input that governments and early childhood academicians should put in place so as to realize the fruits of early childhood education (McLachlan, Fleer, & Edwards, 2017).

Children are naturally playful and interactive and hence there is need to in cooperate play in learning and teaching of children in early childhood education. For this to be achieved then there is need to develop and implement an early childhood curriculum for educators to follow and lay emphasis on the importance of play in learning of children. A play-based learning is interesting for the children and at the same time it explores the children’s abilities and exploits their talents for achieving the early childhood education’s goal of developing a child’s abilities and talents apart from only the cognitive development. This idea also puts into consideration the children’s right to play and interact which maximizes their various individual abilities as well as allow them to interact and hence develop their social being. This will also go a step further in ensuring the child develops emotionally and cognitively because research has indicated that play improves the thinking capacity of the child as well as develop his/her memory since some of the games require figuring out certain objects or memorizing certain things which helps also develop their memory.

According to the Early Years Learning Framework, children learning should consider that children are by nature regarded social beings who have a form of identity thus there is need of taking into consideration the various identities and experiences of the children in learning. This according to the framework would be made possible if educators recognize that children have the ability to construct their own identities and understanding. This is based on the principles of belonging, being and becoming. There is therefore need to put into consideration these principles thus a need to have a curriculum to guide this (Jackman, 2012).

The sense of belonging is an integral part of human existence and hence even infants have got a sense of belonging and identity. Each child has a certain belonging or simply belong to a certain family, culture or society, this often guides how they behave, do or act in certain situation as their families, societies or cultures dictate what they do or behave. There is hence a need to develop a curriculum for early childhood education that recognizes this aspect and therefore guides educators into ensuring their teaching and interaction with the children considers the aspect of belonging (Wood, 2013).This can be achieved by the educators involving the children’s parents in matters affecting their children and also considering handling children and raising them up in accordance to what their societies require or expects of them.

Identity in children also manifests itself in the aspect of being which suggests that children understand and know about themselves and what they want to be. This aspect recognizes the importance of the educators making children be what they want to be and seek to make meaning in the world. It also reminds educators hat it is not only what they want their children to be in future but also the present situation of their children’s being which suggests that educators should not only strive to ensure they prepare the children for the future but also consider the children’s wellbeing at their early stages of life. This is a part that is not in cooperated by most educators and thus there is need for a curriculum to ensure that they indeed recognize this aspect.

Changes and significant development takes place during early childhood. Children’s understanding as well as relationships and capacities changes during their childhood which is often molded by the interactions they experience during their childhood which will also shape who they become. This raises the aspect of becoming and therefore highlights the crucial role that early childhood educators play in the child’s wellbeing which therefore demands that educators should act as models for children to emulate during their development and in the realization of whom they want to become. This aspect therefore demands for an existence of a curriculum that puts into consideration the various changes undergone by infants in their development and therefore a guideline of what educators should do to in cooperate these changes in their teaching so as to achieve effective and efficient early childhood development.

Curriculum assists early childhood educators in planning, implementing and evaluating quality in early childhood settings. It guides them into recognizing that each child has specific needs and individual differences as well as abilities thus there is need for this individual differences and abilities to be nurtured and in cooperated in their teaching. The following goals three SMART goals should therefore guide them;

Develop a whole-rounded child socially, emotionally and cognitively through the involvement of the child in a play-based learning and giving individual attention to the children to ensure each child’s needs are attended to.

Nurture a socially acceptable and morally upright child by in cooperation of both societal and cultural expectations in to the teaching and upbringing of the child as well as involvement of the child’s parents/caregivers in the teaching and learning process.

Instill a sense of identity in the children by acting as good role models for the children to emulate and identify themselves with as well as recognition of each child’s identity, belonging and association in the teaching and learning process.

References

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). Your image of the child; Where teaching begins. Exchange, 3(94). Retrieved from https://www.reggioalliance.org/downloads/malaguzzi:ccie:1994.pdf

MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.

Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. (2009). Belonging being and becoming; the early years learning framework for Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf

Jackman, H. L. (2012). Early education curriculum: A child’s connection to the world. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., & Edwards, S. (2017). Early childhood curriculum. Port Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press.

Wood, E. (2013). Play, learning and the early childhood curriculum. London: SAGE.