An adult’s achievements, health and emotional well-being in life are based on their early childhood educational experiences. Nature, genetics and the learning environment influence a child’s development. The quality of early childhood education and the experiences that the child has at the right stages of development is crucial to how their brain builds (Holt, 2009). There are many influences that develop the brain, which includes social connections, behavioural issues, developing resilience and establish a competent learner. As an early childhood educator, I believe in creating a flexible, effective and creative teaching philosophy that I would devote myself to during my career. My philosophy is based on my own beliefs, values, and research …show more content…
on early childhood education. I believe as an educator I have a responsibility to provide positive learning experiences to babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers, and young primary school-aged children. I would model respect, patience, and a caring nature to the children and their parents. I believe children deserve to have their needs tended to by receiving a high standard of education and care in an early childhood environment. My image of children is that each child has potential, constructs their own learning, curiosity, and have an interest in developing connections with others (Gandini et al., 2005). I believe an educator needs to have high expectations of children to assist in the best possible result in both the child’s wellbeing and academic achievements. Educators and parents that have high expectations for a child’s development, which is linked to their self-esteem and academic motivation (Schiff and Tatra, 2003). I believe children believe in themselves when others believe in them. Children achieve better educational outcomes when they are expected to succeed. Children are competent, full of potential, and connected to adults and other children. John Holt (2009) stated that children take to learning as they do to breathing. Children are in charge of their own learning, by choosing what to play and how they play, and interact with the world through play at an early age (Hughes, 1999). Play supports all areas of a child’s development by providing opportunities where children are able to improve or expand their social, emotional, cognitive, gross, and fine motor skills. I believe children use play to develop their resilience, and confidence that will assist children to overcome challenges that the real world would bring later in life (Frost, 1998). My curriculum would be play-based which offers learning experiences that promotes language, cognitive skills, social interactions, mathematical abilities, creativity, and health knowledge. I believe children need an environment that would promote their interest, and develop their skills. Children face problems with other children in play scenarios, where resilience and confidence skills are required. Experiences during play prepares children for school, therefore improving behaviour and the child’s ability to concentrate (Frost and Norquist, 2007). Play is an essential element that I am able to observe each child’s progress, and implement a lesson plan that would engage all children at different areas and levels of development. My belief is influenced by Jean Piaget, Reggio Emilia and Lev Vygotsky’s theories were children use play to develop their social and cognitive skills (Frost et al., 2014). Piaget’s research demonstrated that a child’s social connection during play influenced the child’s cognitive and social development (Frost et al., 2014). I value Piaget’s methods and research to use as a guide to understand children’s development. I believe the importance of implementing the child’s individuality, culture, and families in my teaching strategies. Children prefer different methods of play-based teaching, some children construct their own learning while others need guidance. My teaching environment will provide structured and non-structured play areas, which will allow children freedom of choice to construct their own knowledge independently or with assistance. I would start experiences with hands-on interactions, until the child is capable of making attempts on their own. Children are motivated to construct their own learning when they are provided opportunities to make choices in a stimulating environment. I would also enforce that making mistakes is how we learn. Implementing a child’s interest and skills in learning provides positive participation from the child. I would collect information from the child and their families on the child’s interests and skills that need attention, and implement these in my lesson plans. My learning environment would be relaxed, engaging and colourful where children are provided a safe, secure and happy environment to encourage education. Children will be unrushed, provide numerous opportunities to engage their interests, and learn to be respectful on their own abilities. I believe parents are the main support for a child’s emotional and educational requirements. Parents and educators working together provide a consistent and secure educational and emotional environment for the child. I strive to be an educator that is nurturing and caring, and make positive connections with each child. Positive learning assists a child’s brain to develop healthily, where, children who are neglected or abused have negative experiences that impacts their brain development (SVDEECD, 2010). Some children that do not receive the required attention from educators and parents have behavioural issues and emotional problems during their learning process (SVDEECD, 2010). The most important factor a child learns is how they view themselves. I wish to develop children’s individual self-concept, where children are able to explore and ask questions to determine the world around them. I believe children need to develop their self-concept and self-confidence to have positive impacts on their learning. My curriculum would focus on children learning to accept and respect others, how to resolve conflicts, develop problem solving skills, and develop communication abilities (SVDEECD, 2010). Early childhood education assists children to develop each skill, and I value the importance of learning through play. Children are able to resolve conflicts with other children, especially when sharing is a factor that causes aggression towards another. I value the connection that the child needs, where each child needs to feel someone is there to believe in them, care for them, and support their learning. I value the relationships that is essential for an educator to rely on for support and information. Building relationships with children, families, co-workers, and other professionals to achieve the best emotional and academic outcome for the child. The types of communication that I would use, but not limited to would be formal and informal conversations. I believe families should be connected to their child’s education, where positive communication assists in the connection between educator and parent. I would involve parents by having parent helpers in the classroom, allow them to attend excursions, and collaborate on their child’s educational decisions. Benner and Mistry (2007) suggest that educators and parents beliefs are important both individually and as a combined effort. I believe educators need to promote high expectations of a child’s abilities, and I would encourage parents to communicate their own expectations to their child. Gizir and Aydins (2009) found high expectations that were in the child’s home were a crucial element in foreseeing their academic resilience. My philosophy is based on theorists Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Reggio Emilia, and Maria Montessori research. I believe children’s development that has been thoroughly researched through observations is beneficial to an educator and the children. Piaget believed that hands-on experiences allowed a child to construct their own learning (Belsky, 2008). I believe the nature and nurture elements affects or promotes a child’s development. Nature elements are based on the child’s biological influences, where children are influenced by their genetics. Nurture focuses on the external factors that the child experiences (Berk, 2009). I would research how a child’s own natural influences affect their nurture environments. Piaget (1985) believed children influence their own growth by their own behaviour by asking questions, making choices and forming their own ideas. As an educator, I believe children learn by asking questions and experiencing hands-on interactions. Children are able to form their own views with the information that they have gathered. Montessori based her research on children thriving on order and structure, which personally I thrive on being organised and knowing where everything is. I believe children feel more secure in their educational environment and thrive when they are able to identify a routine (Montessori, 1992). [How can you reference your beliefs to someone else?] I would strive to provide children opportunities that promote imagination, creativity, and connections with others.
I believe combing these elements makes a competent child. I would provide children materials, equipment, suitable environment, and resources to encourage these elements to develop. Establishing the essential skills to develop a component child needs the opportunity to explore, experiment, interact, imagine, and create. Piaget, like myself, believed children are born with a drive to learn about the world around them, which is done with a strong connection to adults (Duffy, 1998). I believe children require a connection that is supportive, responsible and sensitive towards their needs. Vygotsky believed children needed responsive adults and other children to enable positive experiences about their concepts of their world (Duffy, 1998). I believe children that are component learners are learners that are supported and encouraged by adults. I strive to recognise children that require help in experiences, where I aim to reduce the frustration and failure of the learner. But I also strive to not help a child too much, where they are not learning from the experience. I believe all areas of development are connected and cannot be separated. I believe children learn and development through the experiences they have had, and the person that they are. The unit has supported my own philosophy that children’s education is heavily dependent on personality, culture, gender, social factors, and biological factors. Regardless of any child’s differences, I would support and educate children according to their needs and their development
requirements. My philosophy is based on my personal beliefs of what my role of educator would be. I strive to incorporate my philosophy in my lesson plans, where children would be considered capable of being or becoming competent learners. Children are growing at a fast pace, and I believe the early childhood years has a great impact on the person that the child is going to become. Children develop their foundations for their academic abilities, confidence, resilience and emotional capabilities. My beliefs and values are supported by the research of the unit, and theorists’ extensive observations. I view children as independent, creative, and capable of learning to the highest standard. I strive for children to understand they can achieve anything when they believe in themselves, and others believe in them.
Piaget and Vygotsky each created their own particular ideas of child development. Piaget differentiated development into four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, operational, and concrete. Conversely, Vygotsky based his theory of development on the fundamental ideas that children construct knowledge, learning can prompt development, development cannot be differentia...
Early childhood education, although constantly evolving, was actually established and practiced as early on as the times of Ancient Greece and Rome. The foundation that early childhood education is based upon is to instill in children the skills needed to succeed later on in life, while making sure young children enjoy their time in schooling. Throughout chapter 3 in the textbook Who Am I in the Lives of Children, the reader is capable of evaluating just how greatly the methods for teaching today’s youth have evolved and changed for the better.
In brain science today, there are four noteworthy perceived child rearing styles: legitimate, careless, lenient, and tyrant. Every one conveys diverse qualities and realizes distinctive responses in the kids which they are utilized on. It is essential to remember that each guardian tyke relationship is diverse, so there is not one beyond any doubt fire approach to child rearing. Analysts have found four sorts of child rearing styles. Actually, research has uncovered that child rearing styles can impact a tyke 's social, cognitive, and mental development, which influences kids both in the adolescence years, and as a grown-up. This is on account of kids growing through various jolts, connection, and trade, which encompass them. The way that folks
When selecting childcare for your child the foundation of early learning has offered some tips that they believe will be helpful in the process. The foundation says that parents have always known that good early experience was important for their child. Now scientist and researchers are confirming how critical these first years of life are to your child’s healthy development (Selecting child care, 2002). Because the brain matures in the world rather than in the womb, the brain growth and development of infants and young children is deeply affected by their earliest experiences. In a childcare environment the relationship your child has with the caregiver will also affect how that child feels about himself and the world around him and as he grows up (Selecting child care, 2002). I ...
Lots of observations were collected whilst the children were making their maps and working together to find the word treasure, so I have highlighted just a few to address the overall understandings of the findings.
From the perspective I have at this stage in my journey in the early childhood education field, I would like to share what I have come to value and believe in regards to early learning and care by looking at my philosophy statement. To begin we will look at the statement and highlight three key features and find out why they are important to me, then we will see what they will look like in my practice, and lastly we will examine these ideas closely by looking at where they originated. By taking an in-depth look at my philosophy statement we will better understand the motivation behind my practice which I hope to continue to refine and refresh as I gain more knowledge and experience.
Curriculum is the organized framework that explains the content that children are to learn, the processes through which children achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do to help children achieve these goals and the context in which teaching and learning occur. The best curriculum for early childhood teacher is developmentally appropriate curriculum that allows teachers to set-up an effective learning environment for children.
Since the beginning of time, fathers have had a profound effect on their child’s development. Over the years, the norm for traditional family dynamics of having a father figure in the household has changed drastically, and so did the roles of the parents. It is not as common as it used to be to have a father or father figure in the home. In this day and age, women are more likely to raise children on their own and gain independence without the male assistance due to various reasons. The most significant learning experience and development of a person’s life takes place in their earlier years when they were children. There are many advantages when there is a mother and father combined in a
As an effective early childhood educator, creating strong partnerships with children and their parents, as explained by Shonkoff et al. (2000; as cited in Wood 2008) has shown that to provide a productive learning environment a teacher must have a positive relationship with children and their families.
Early childhood education is an issue that is examined both by media and academic professionals, both of which are represented by Alison Gopnik, a writer and professor (Gopnik, 2013). Gopnik (2011) found that over the years, parents and teachers work to their fullest to instruct children to read at very young ages. It can be Interpreted that reading skills take priority over creative skills, since children are instructed to read even in the womb (Gopnik, 2011). “Thus, the pressure is rising to make kindergartens and nurseries more like schools” (Gopnik, 2011). This pressure has come from the law since 2001, when preschools were pushed to become more academic (Gopnik, 2011). Creativity is a key component of success in later adulthood for problem-solving and cognitive abilities (Plucker, 2010). Creativity used to be the central focus of education studies (Plucker, 2010). At the turn of the century, and more recently, problem solving took first place along with creative thinking (Gruber, 2011). This essay will prove that the current education system tends to eventually pull children away from creativity. It will demonstrate how there is a greater amount of creativity in younger children as opposed to older children. This will be shown through the theories of Howard Gardner and Jean Piaget. In order to prove that education has moved away from a creative focus, this essay will examine the three phases of creativity, multiple intelligences and the U-shaped curve by Gardner, as well as Piaget’s constructivist theory and beliefs on retrogression, which is the idea of growing to show how we eventually pull away from visual art (Nolley, 2010). While this paper focuses on the development of visual arts in reference to the works of Howard Gar...
A child must have physical development before motor development can occur (Charlesworth, 2000). According to Piaget infants acquire knowledge from their environment. Through sight, smell, hearing, and touch this is accomplished. Adults are responsible for seeing that the children have a chance to explore to acquire the knowledge. A child must be physically able to do the work that is required to keep up with the other students. Many chil...
My beliefs and values about early childhood education is based upon understanding that all children are unique individuals who need a caring, nurturing, and secure environment in which to grow and develop socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically. Children under the age of three are in critical stages of development, it is my belief that a quality child care environment will have a positive impact on a child’s development and make a significant difference in the life of a child and his or her family. My philosophy of early childhood education and the elements I believe are necessary in developing a developmentally appropriate child care environment is rooted in my views and beliefs about experimentalism, progressivism, multiculturalism, and the influence of philosophers such as Dewey, Piaget, Montessori, and Vygotsky. Furthermore, I believe young children will thrive and grow in developmentally appropriate child care programs that possess the following elements: (1) teachers who see themselves as intentional, responsive and respectful facilitators of learning, (2) the ability to build a community of learners, (3) implement an effective curriculum that allow children to explore their natural curiosity about the world.
Those who support children in starting school at an early age, claim early childhood education is of critical importance during a child’s early developmental period. They believe it is important for early social interactions, play, and learning among peers to be best ingrained early on in a child’s youth. Gunilla Dahlberg, a psychologist specializing in childhood education, wrote a book on the success and factors that play into success a child will have in their education. In Dahlberg’s chapter, “Constructing Early Childhood”, he talks about factors
Providing environment conditions that directly affects their development is equally important to the nature, as both nature and nurture are encapsulated together in the lives of the children, believes the developmental theorists (Mc Devitt, p.6). Teachers believe that effective practicing is by supporting and nurturing students both socially and emotionally, resulting in increased academic outcome (1, p.85). Thus nurturing provides a great strength to the students, as stated, “The personal and spiritual development of Christ Church boys is a great strength of the school with boys being nurtured through a range of programs across all years from Pre-Primary to year 12” (School A, Prospectus). Another place worth mentioning here is, “Arts programs engage boys in creative learning experience that develop their sense of self and provide a powerful means of nurturing each boy’s imagination and individual expression.” (School A, Prospectus).
There are many documented theories about early childhood development, contemporary research still concurs with some of these theories. It suggests, however, that we should be thinking more holistically, taking into consideration; respect for diversity, the wider community and equity, play based curriculums, intentional teaching and ongoing reflective practices when planning for optimal educational experiences for children (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009). I acknowledge that ongoing professional learning and reflective practices are a key element of the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009). I accredit working and collaborating with other teachers, families and local communities collectively contribute