Discuss about the Socio-Cultural Approaches In Early Childhood Education.
Socio-cultural approaches mainly emphasizes upon the interdependence of individual and social processes in the co-construction of education. The curriculum emphasizes the major role of culturally and socially mediated learning and more responsive relationships for the children with places, things and people. Young children learn through collaboration with the adults as well as peers, through guidance and observations and through individual reflection and exploration. Recent studies have indicated that the children develop emergent skills and knowledge, which lead to formal literacy at their homes as well as other childhood settings, before entering schools (Thomas, Warren & deVries, 2011).
The report throws light on early childhood curriculum from an integrated, socio-cultural approach, which highlights the importance of adapting an intentional approach of teaching, including visual arts, physical wellbeing, technology, math and other subjects. Teacher-directed and play-based learning in the early childhood education have been traditionally positioned as pedagogical or oppositional binary. Play as a primary context for the younger children is regarded as a dominant discourse in the early childhood setting and teaching is considered as a context for supporting the younger children’s learning as a highly contested discourse (McLachlan et al., 2006). The paper consists of three major areas; a brief overview of the socio-cultural approaches in early childhood settings, an overview of the socio-cultural contributions and the importance of adopting an intentional approach of teaching.
Overview of the socio-cultural approaches in Early Childhood Education
The socio-cultural approaches to development and learning were first being applied and systematized by L.S. Vygotsky along with his collaborators in the Russian nineteen-twenties. They are completely based on the overall concepts of human activities taking place in the cultural contexts. These factors are mediated by language as well as other symbol systems, which can be best understood on investigating the historical developments. At the time, when the psychologists were intent to develop some simplified explanations of the human behaviors, Vgotsky developed a multifaceted and rich theory (Estrella, 2017). Through this theory, he examined a variety of subjects including psychology of thought, languages and art., learning and development with a special focus on the education of the young children and their specified needs.
On the contrary, it was seen that his work was being suppressed for around twenty years and it did not became accessible till the late of fifties and the early sixties. The socio-cultural approaches have gathered immense popularity and recognitions, since then, which was being developed by scholars in different countries. The contemporary interpretations as well as re-interpretations of Vygotsky along with his collaborators have reflected obscurity and visibility of the theory in the next sixty years (Roskos, 2017).
In the past twenty five years, the interpretations and expansions have led to diverse perspectives on the socio-cultural theory. Dissemination of the ideas of Vygotsky and its application in diverse national contexts has helped in contributing a complex but heterogeneous proposals. Moreover, the ideas and concepts of Vygotsky are condensed and at times, it did not develop fully. Majority of the works remained un-translated in English however, irrespective of these difficulties, the theories became increasingly influential in the Western countries (McLachlan, Fleer & Edwards, 2018). The impact of those ideas and concepts has grown substantially at United States and particularly, it influenced early childhood education to a huge extent.
The development of human beings starts with the dependence on their care givers. Developing the individual completely relies upon the vast pool of transferred experiences of other individuals. Vgotsky emphasizes on social interactions for human development in his renowned ‘genetic law of development’. Each and every function of the child’s cultural development comes on this stage twice and that too, in two different respects: firstly, in the social aspect and secondly in the psychological aspect (Brown & Grigg, 2017). In addition to this, the first aspect describes the relations between the individuals as an inter-psychological category within the children.
Similarly, the semiotic mediation is also considered to be the major aspects of knowledge and their co-construction. As per Vygotsky’s opinion, the semiotic mechanisms, which include psychological tools, mediate individual and social functioning in order to connect with the internal as well as external factors of the individuals. He further listed a wide number of examples of the semiotic means, which include language, schemes, works of art, diagrams, mechanical drawings and others sorts of conventional signs. The other tools recognized in the socio-cultural disclosure can be the computer, paint brush, symbol systems and calendars, required for developing an individual (Kagitcibasi, 2017).
According to Rowe (2018), mediation is the key to understand how the mental functioning of the children is tied with historical, cultural and institutional settings as these settings provide as well as shape the cultural tools. These tools have mastered in forming the individual functioning. In this approach, the meditational means can be termed as the ‘carriers’ of socio-cultural knowledge as well as patterns. The psychological tools are not discovered by the individuals in isolation; rather, they are the evolved products of socio-cultural aspects, by which the individuals can access their practices in the communities.
Early childhood educators, since 1996, have been working under the rubric of first national early childhood curriculum that is Te Whariki. The concept of Te Whariki has been recognized strongly, for its emphasis on the socio-cultural aspect, which has marked the differences of Western early childhood disclosure. Te Whariki’s uniqueness can be seen in both philosophical nature as well as grounding of the conceptual framework as per the indigenous Maori’s worldviews (Osgood & Robinson, 2017). In addition to this, the socio-cultural stance of the documents is boldly proclaimed in various statements, which are being discussed in this part of the report.
The early childhood curriculum mainly emphasizes upon the critical role of culturally and socially mediated learning. The curriculum also holds responsive as well as reciprocal relationships for the children along with the individuals, things and places. Moreover, the children learn by collaborating with the peers and adults and also through guided observation as well as participation of adults. These factors also include individual reflection and exploration. According to Björklund & Ahlskog Björkman (2017), a socio-cultural perspective helps in supporting the thematic works, since its collaboration with the contemporary pedagogy, emphasizing on thematic approach of learning.
On the contrary, the philosophical nature instead of the technicist nature of the documents can be visible, while explain the principles of Kotahitanga, that is holistic development. In this development, the learning are facilitated through various provisions like opportunities of open-ended play and exploration, warm as well as consistent relationships which connect everything together, recognizing the spiritual dimensions of the lives of young children in socially, individually and culturally appropriate ways. In addition to this, recognizing the significant contribution of all those previous factors to the children’s concept of selflessness is also a vital factor as per Smith & May (2018).
Te Whariki is being grounded in the understandings of those links in between learning, language and culture, which is committed to addressing the facts or issues being faced by the young children, while growing up in a society having more than one cultural heritage. Moreover, Te Whariki can be considered to have a major transformative agenda, by its principles of Whakamana, that is, empowerment. This recognizes the core rights or dignity of the children, being individuals. In addition to this, it also emphasizes that proper care must be given by the educators, regarding the bicultural issues, related to empowerment (Weldemariam et al., 2017).
The adults who are working with the children should be willing to discuss all the bicultural issues and understand those as well, actively seeking Maori contributions to the decision making procedures. This would ensure that the Maori children will be developing a strong sense of self-values and self-worth. Leggett (2017) stated that Te Whariki highlights that the learning opportunities of the young children are equitable and thus, the individuals have ample amount of opportunities to negotiate and discuss regarding their rights, justice or fairness. In these specific ways, the socio-cultural nature of the Te Whariki recognizes implicitly the political nature of cultures as well as societies in their inherent power dynamics. This in turn, suggests that the children must be empowered as agents to transform into the social services as well as cultural justice.
In the words of Yang & Park (2017), Te Whariki, along with its innovation in the socio-cultural approach, the obliged educators operate from a position, which differed from prevailing cultural deficit in educational practices or theories. This had reinforced the educational failure for Maori. This was done mainly by assigning the blame, instead of locating responsibilities in the overall educational system of young children.
As per Newman et al. (2016), it is highly important to adopt an intentional approach of teaching the younger children. In order to be intentional, the educators need to act purposefully along with an objective or goal in mind. In addition to this, the educators must have certain plans which can be achieved or accomplished. The intentional acts originate from the careful thought that is accompanied by considering their potential aspects. The intentional approach of teaching aims at clearly defining the learning objectives to the children through employing several instructional strategies.
The intentional teaching approach will help the children in achieving their goals as well as objectives and continually asses their progress. Effective as well as efficient teachers educate their children with an intentional approach of teaching. They deliberately select the materials or equipments and put them at places where the children will notice as well as utilize them. Intentional teachers always choose some specific learning contexts, settings or activities, know how and when to use those. As per Thomas, Warren & deVries (2011) opinion intentional teaching approach motivates the teachers to set the tone or substance of classroom happenings.
On the other hand, Hackling & Barratt-Pugh (2012) mentioned that intentional teaching approach involves planning as well as management, within the classroom settings. Educators assume that the younger children are capable of achieving the meaningful goals or objectives of education. The educators who expect their children to learn may deliberately engage into instructional activities in order to enhance their skills and knowledge. Moreover, the high expectations of the educators are also being transmitted to the children as well as their parents, who later see themselves as capable and active participants of the learning procedure. Therefore, it is important that the intentional teachers have some concrete plans in order to introduce the subject sequence as well as matter to the children’s learning.
The educators need to manage both the group dynamics as well as individual behavior. In the words of Yang & Park (2017), educators remain open to pursue the related topics, which tend to arise or capture the interests of the children. The children as well as educators need to value the classrooms as a place where the learning occurs. At times, when the adults act along with the intention of educating, the children can act with their intention of learning. Thus, the educators need to understand the current capabilities of the young children, so that it does not undermine their self confidence as well as their abilities of learning.
Conclusion
To conclude, teacher directed as well as play based learning in the early childhood education have been traditionally positioned as being pedagogical or oppositional binary. Play, being the primary content for the younger children is considered to be the dominant disclosure in the early childhood education. The report throws light on the socio-cultural developmental theory of Vygotsky, which emphasizes upon the connections between the child’s learning and their relationships with socio-cultural contexts. This particular perspective suggests that this role of early childhood teachers helps in facilitating these contexts and relationships in order to support their learning. These theoretical and historical influences will continue to hold various childhood educators in their grasp. In addition to this, the young children’s learning is highly positioned within their natural context of play. Moreover, the report discusses about the socio-cultural contributions within the classroom settings. Last but not the least; the report highlights the importance of adopting an intentional approach of teaching.
References
Björklund, C., & Ahlskog Björkman, E. (2017). Approaches to teaching in thematic work: early childhood teachers’ integration of mathematics and art. International Journal of Early Years Education, 25(2), 98-111.
Brown, A., & Grigg, J. (2017). Critical narrative as a framework for professional border crossing in early childhood. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 18(3), 333-345.
Estrella, E. (2017). Actions Faculty Experts Recommend for California Community Colleges to Ensure Maximum Effectiveness of Instructional Strategies and Related Academic Support Programs in Developmental Mathematics by the Year 2020: A Delphi Study (Doctoral dissertation, University of La Verne).
Hackling, M., & Barratt-Pugh, C. (2012). Science of materials: A case study of intentional teaching in the early years. Teaching Science: The Journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association, 58(2).
Kagitcibasi, C. (2017). Family, self, and human development across cultures: Theory and applications. Routledge.
Leggett, N. (2017). Early Childhood Creativity: Challenging Educators in Their Role to Intentionally Develop Creative Thinking in Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(6), 845-853.
McLachlan, C., Carvalho, L., de Lautour, N., & Kumar, K. (2006). Literacy in early childhood settings in New Zealand: An examination of teachers’ beliefs and practices. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31(2), 31-42.
McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., & Edwards, S. (2018). Early childhood curriculum: Planning, assessment and implementation. Cambridge University Press.
Newman, L., Arthur, L., Staples, K., & Woodrow, C. (2016). Recognition of family engagement in young children’s literacy learning. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(1), 73.
Osgood, J., & Robinson, K. H. (2017). Celebrating pioneering and contemporary feminist approaches to studying gender in early childhood. In Feminism (s) in Early Childhood (pp. 35-47). Springer, Singapore.
Roskos, K. A. (Ed.). (2017). Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives. Routledge.
Rowe, D. W. (2018). Pointing With a Pen: The Role of Gesture in Early Childhood Writing. Reading Research Quarterly management.
Smith, A., & May, H. (2018). Connections Between Early Childhood Policy and Research in Aotearoa New Zealand: 1970s–2010s. In International Handbook of Early Childhood Education (pp. 531-549). Springer, Dordrecht.
Thomas, L., Warren, E., & deVries, E. (2011). Play-based learning and intentional teaching in early childhood contexts. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(4), 69.
Thomas, L., Warren, E., & deVries, E. (2011). Play-based learning and intentional teaching in early childhood contexts. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(4), 69.
Weldemariam, K., Boyd, D., Hirst, N., Sageidet, B. M., Browder, J. K., Grogan, L., & Hughes, F. (2017). A Critical Analysis of Concepts Associated with Sustainability in Early Childhood Curriculum Frameworks Across Five National Contexts. International Journal of Early Childhood, 49(3), 333-351.
Yang, S., & Park, S. (2017). A Sociocultural Approach to Children’s Perceptions of Death and Loss. OMEGA-Journal of death and dying, 76(1), 53-77.
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