Discuss about the Education and Care Program Design.
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.
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.
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.
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,
The documentation process can be of different types:
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.
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 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 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.
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. However, posting of photos in social media sites will solely be done by taking permission from the parents.
Conclusion:
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.
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: https://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.
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: https://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).
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download