Early Years Learning Framework In Australia: The Pillars Of Belonging, Being, And Becoming

Background on the Early Years Learning Framework and Its Development

Question:

Discuss how the following Aboriginal Education strategies are reflected in the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and their importance to the Early Childhood sector.
 

Early years of learning form the most crucial part of a child’s education. Improper approach to education at the time of their introduction to the curriculum could render the child an ineffective contributor to societal development. When children begin schooling, they often enter an environment that makes their first language irrelevant (Ball, 2010). The effects of the same remain unseen, but research has it that better ways to introduce the children to the school environment could help make the transition into the curriculum easier. The Commonwealth of Australia (2009) prepared early years learning framework to ensure a smooth transition of the children into the learning environment. Preparation of the structure took time and the consortium tasked with the mandate of formulating the same had to overcome several obstacles before finally releasing the document for public approval (Sumsion et al., 2009). In July 2009, the government ratified the framework.

The framework would base its operation on three pillars. The three offer the guidelines to ensure a holistic approach to the education of children across Australia. The council of governors approved the framework with the hope that children across the country would not only access better education than they did before but would also experience less distortion in their transition from home to school. The three pillars of the framework, belonging, being, and becoming, not only make the children comfortable in the academic environment but also foster Aboriginal education in the early years of learning. The concept of indigenous education makes the framework more relevant to the country as it would include benefiting a community that was previously marginalized in the formulation of previous curriculums.

Belonging. The concept of belonging seeks to establish that children belong to a family and a given culture (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). Such is a goal that would enhance children’s appreciation of culture. In their early years of study, they would have the opportunity to find themselves and not have anything imposed on them. Children would take their cultural practices with them to school, interact with other children and in the process, get to learn about other cultures in their community. The framework views belonging as one that helps the children identify themselves. Before attending school, all they knew was what their community had taught them (Ball, 2010). An education framework that seeks not to erode but enhances such education is one that promotes Aboriginal learning. The framework, through the concept of belonging, mostly supports Aboriginal education.

Being. It also does so through the idea of being. The framework acknowledges that, in the process of preparing for the future, childhood should also involve making sense of the present (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). Children should get the opportunity to build relationships and learn about how best to interact with others. However, teachers would need to supervise the children in the course of their interactions. Some kids could be more aggressive than others could, and such may impact negatively on the latter’s future relationship. Conversely, the being pillar of the framework requires much supervision by the teachers.

The Three Pillars of the Early Years Learning Framework

Becoming. The becoming pillar is the last and final piece of the early years learning framework. Becoming hinges upon the changes that occurred in the process of identifying oneself and deciding what one wishes to become, based on their identity.

One of the most peculiar aspects of the curriculum is that it outlines a set of outcomes for the children (Grieshaber, 2010). Such results would be measured against a pre-established set of standards to ensure that the educators work towards achieving the same. Conversely, as Grieshaber puts it, tutors would have to work in line with the curriculum and ensure that free play forms one of the main approaches to teaching on learning, lest they stand not achieving the set outcomes. The curriculum hopes to produce all round children capable of making independent decisions irrespective of the environment around them. Understanding the results of the curriculum requires an in-depth analysis of the various outcomes outlined in the framework. 

According to Kosonen (2005), children with the chance to learn their mother tongue stand a better chance of succeeding in school. Success in school is one of the measures using which the society measures the latter’s success in meeting its mandate of molding children to become productive members of the community. One of the objectives of the framework is the provision of a foundation for future success (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). It is through experiences in school that children get the chance to be better citizens and can make decisions to help them through life. Schools have the responsibility of molding children to become good citizens. It is only through succeeding in school that the curriculum can evaluate its success in meeting such an objective. Mother tongue is similar to an individual’s culture. Identification with and acknowledging one’s culture, as the framework champions for, could be fundamental to the children’s future success. Such would mean an improved quality of education in the country.

Improved education standards mean that children do not only attend school to achieve positive grades. The school would be an avenue of learning more about the society (Hollins, 2015). It would provide the student with the requisite skills to acknowledge the presence of diverse cultural backgrounds. Further, it would provide the children with an opportunity to learn how to work with the different cultures and achieve better goals than they would with other curriculum frameworks that focused on assimilating the students into a single cultural setting. It would make aboriginal children appreciate their native culture more and gain more pride for the same. The framework aims at the creation of an environment that teaches a child to work with what he or she has to make the society better. Such would make the child more outspoken as he or she does not fear rebuke and, as such, improve the child’s communication skills. Improved communication forms one of the outcomes of the early years learning framework.

In most cases, the aboriginal children form one of the disadvantaged groups in Australia. The primary gainers of culture-based education are disadvantaged groups and children from rural societies (Hovens, 2002). The new early years learning framework was designed to benefit every Australian including such communities. Conversely, equity forms one of the principles of aboriginal education programs (Education Council, 2015). Through the strategy, the Australian government hopes to provide Aboriginal children with the same opportunities as other Australians in the country. Were there no discrepancy in access to education, such would not have come up as a principle of the strategy.  As such, Aboriginal children would have an equal chance of success, based on education, as other Australia children would. In the absence of the framework, some children would find it hard acclimating to the curriculum. As earlier stated, introduction to a foreign environment in a school setting often disorients the child. With a framework, which smoothly guides the child into the school environment, such disorientation could be avoided.

The Significance of the Framework for Aboriginal Education

Another of the outcomes of the early years learning framework would be the development of a strong sense of identity (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2009). The outcome would have the children identify themselves and live as per their beliefs hold right. The developed structure lays a lot of emphasis on free play and play-based learning (Grieshaber, 2010). The fact that it is free to play means that children play whatever they feel comfortable playing. They decide what they want to do, and the teacher only supervises the same to ensure that they are safe. Freedom of choice forms one of the main benefits of free play and the children learn to do what they feel suits those (Burman, 1994). They would identify with that which they feel works for them and leave whatever they feel uncomfortable. One would expect that a child identifies with people he or she knew even before starting school. Such would mean a substantial support in continuing to do as their culture would expect them to do. The sense of belonging comes into play as children become more rooted in their culture than the case would be had the tutor imposed a particular form of the game for the children.

Further, an aboriginal child would also have the chance to become more connected to his or her world than in the absence of the framework (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2009). One of the advantages of the structure is the provision of equal opportunities for all children. Children would access education with limited problems since the curriculum works to suit their needs. Before the adoption of the framework, adaptation to the school system would be hard. For those that managed to adapt it would mean the erosion of culture. One of the advantages of a curriculum that resonates with people’s culture is the ability of the community to contribute to the learning process (Benson, 2002). Such an active involvement enables the society to help the school in promoting the children’s skills. The children become more in touch with the community in the presence of the community’s participation in their learning process. The early years of the education program are one that would see to the achievement of such community involvement and improved connectivity of the children to the world. 

A good education framework should include all cultures present in an economy. Schools, before the adoption of the framework in 2009, played a pivotal role in the assimilation of aboriginal children into the larger society (Martin, 2007). The school played an important part in cultural erosion. Such was the case since most bits of the constitution involved colonial input in their formulation. Children would join the school with a known native culture, but would leave the institution as new people oblivious of cultural values they previously held dear before they started schooling. However, the Aboriginal society has asserted its position in the community and, as such, prompted the improvement of the curriculum to include the values of the culture in the society. Such would make the learning environment more tolerant of diverse aboriginal cultures in the country.

The Importance of Culture and Identity in Early Childhood Education

Education should foster the success of a child regardless of the child’s cultural background. Culture should not be a defining factor in determining whether a child succeeds in school (Rhee et al., 2006). On the contrary, schools ought to embrace culture as part of the teaching and learning the process. Children should be taught how to harness diversity for purposes of personal development. In the course of the early years of education, I a child interact with the kids from other cultures and get to teach them about his, such a child would grow to appreciate diversity in the community. The early years of learning framework seek to establish such a platform. Children, without being directed by tutors, would be intrinsically motivated to interact and learn from each other (wood, 2007). Intrinsic motivation is the most productive from of motivation (Grant, 2008) and would be mainly instrumental in molding the young minds of children. The children would learn to coexist and appreciate each other’s weaknesses. The framework lays the foundation for a future learning environment in which there are no strangers. Everyone would be familiar with each other and would have learned of the other’s strengths and weaknesses, much to the improvement of the learning environment.

Encouraging child autonomy improves confidence and curiosity in the child (Grieshaber, 2010). Free play, as is one of the teaching methods in the framework would encourage independence in the children. They would not have to follow a given set of rules on what games to play. They would have the opportunity to make explorations and, in the process, make discoveries that would otherwise be impossible in other curriculum programs. No one would tell a child that a given way of doing things is the most ideal. Every child has a given set of beliefs that he or she learns from his or her home environment. The school would seek to improve the child’s use of such ideas to become a better person in future.

To sum up the discussion, the early years learning could not have come at a better time. The lessons learned in a child’s early years of study go ahead to contribute, largely, to the child’s future skills and abilities (Heckman, 2006). The program seeks to ensure that children are equipped with all the necessary skills needed in the capitalistic world. Culture, coupled with a modern approach to other people’s cultural values is one of the most effective methods of ensuring sustainable, ethical conduct in the society. Had such a framework been in place before, the Australian community would be more appreciative of diversity than it is now. Aboriginal communities would not have put so much pressure on the government for the development of a holistic curriculum in the country. Everyone in the society would have equal opportunities owing to the equal access to education by every Australian. The emphasis laid on methods of teaching to foster identity and self-independence in children will help educate a better generation of Australians than the present. It will signify a shift towards embracing diversity and, conversely, diversified methods of teaching. The framework marks the right step towards positive change in Australia.  

References

Ball, J. (2010). Educational equity for children from diverse Language backgrounds. Translation and Cultural Mediation, Paris: UNESCO.

Benson, C. (2002). Real and potential benefits of bilingual programs in developing countries. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Pages 303-317.

Burman, E. (1994). Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. London: Routledge.

Commonwealth of Australia (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years of Learning Framework for Australia.

Education Council (2015). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Grant, A. M. (2008). Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity. Journal of applied psychology, Pages 48.

Grieshaber, S. (2010). Departures from Tradition: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, Pages 33-44.

Heckson, J.J. (2006). Skill Formation and the Economics of Investing in Disadvantaged Children. Science, Pages 1900-1902.

Hollins, E. R. (2015). Culture in school learning: Revealing the deep meaning. London: Routledge.

Hovens, M. (2002). Bilingual education in West Africa: Does it work? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Pages 249-266.

Kosonen (2005) Education in local languages: Policy and practice in Southeast Asia. First languages first: Community-based literacy programs for minority language contexts in Asia. Bangkok: UNESCO.

Martin, K. (2007). Ma(r)king Tracks and Reconceptualising Aboriginal Early Childhood Education: An Australian Aboriginal perspective. Childrenz Issues, Pages 15-20.

Rhee, K. E., et al. (2006). Parenting styles and overweight status in first grade. Pediatrics, Pages 2047-2054.

Sumsion, J. et al. (2009). Insider perspectives on developing Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2009). Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Melbourne: Early Childhood Strategy Division.

Wood, E. (2007). Reconceptualising child-centred education: Contemporary directions in policy, theory, and practice in early childhood. Forum, Pages 119–133.