Curriculum And Pedagogy Essay

Early childhood education curriculums are becoming a national curriculum in most countries. With more governments and society thinking about education of under-fives we are seeing shifts in thinking and education to meet the changing world. We are developing children skills for the future to create a society where children feel they belong and can contribute to society. Curriculums are being influenced my social, political, cultural, historical and theoretical issues that are impacting different curriculums in the world. I am going to explore and develop my understanding about three different curriculums to recognise the different influences affecting curriculums. I am going to explore the curriculums of Te Whāriki: New Zealand, Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia and Curriculum for Excellence: Scotland. This will allow me to develop an understanding of other curriculums which I have not heard about to discover other way to education that I have not been taught in teacher’s college.

I teach in an eighth grade classroom that is set in a Jr-Sr. High school. It is located in the Jr. High hallway, near the rear of our high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. I painted my room a turquoise beach blue and it is decorated with various beach themed paraphernalia. I also have many inspirational quote posters up around my room, hoping to engage my students into deeper thinking. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Many computer applications suited for 1:1 schools are used in our building. We begin our day at 7:40am with a zero period for professional development and meetings. The students have seven, forty-five minute periods beginning at 8:20am and continuing until 3:15pm. My classes include four “regular” English classes, one “Honors” class, an Essential Skills class that rotates every week with two other teachers, and a prep period. My duties throughout the year consist of sponsoring the Jr. High Student Council as well as parking lot duty for two weeks during second semester. We adhere closely to the Indiana State Standards and use the ISTEP and NWEA mandated assessments. We, as teachers, are given free rein to teach how we see fit; however, we were asked to submit curriculum mapping outlining the content/topics, key terms, sources/resources, assessments

The Curriculum for Excellence describes eight curricular areas, three of which assign a responsibility to all teachers regardless of sector; namely Literacy, Numeracy, and Health and Wellbeing (HWB). Whereas some form of instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic has always been a feature of formal education, Health and Wellbeing is a relatively new addition to the school curriculum, both in Scotland and globally .

The development of a national curriculum for Australia is not a new endeavour (Marsh, 2010). The ideal is that national curriculum across Australia would mean that students are provided with a quality education that helps to shape the lives of the nations citizens and continue developing the productivity and quality of life within Australia. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] have the task of developing and implementing a nationwide curriculum. ACARA (n.d.-c) claims have addressed needs of young Australians while considering that changing ways in learning and challenges will continue to shape students education in the future. A look at what the Australian Curriculum is, its purpose, structure and scope,

A highly significant change to the national curriculum made at the 2014 update for KS3 is the introduction of assessment without levels (Department for Education, 2014). The system by which children were assigned a numerical level based on their attainment was ceased on the commencement of the new curriculum in September 2014 for all subjects, including science (Department for Education, 2013). This action was implemented based on a report by the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum review, which suggested that due to changes made to the curriculum over various reassessments, the concept of attainment targets, on which level descriptors were based, had been clouded, making levels difficult to understand and apply (Department for Education, 2015). This meant that level descriptors were no longer clear and should be removed to allow assessment to focus more closely on an individuals’ specific strengths and weaknesses on the content within the curriculum, rather than simply focus on ensuring that a child achieved a certain arbitrary level (Expert Panel for the National Curriculum Review, 2011). The abolition of levels has given schools more freedom to design their own assessment framework and address the perceived issue that emphasis of levels as a tool for measuring school performance had led to negative influence on the way individual pupils were assessed (Department for Education, 2015). Bell (2014) suggests that the introduction of assessment without levels is a

Developing a curriculum is a difficult process, moreso when an educator has to keep in mind the number of students they are trying to reach. At the secondary level, it is not uncommon for a teacher to be responsible for 150 or more students. Each of these students presents a unique and trying task for educators who want to help students learn. Students have different modalities for which they gain knowledge, and it is the teacher’s job to engage those

It has been well established that early childhood is a crucial time for children’s cognitive development (Bowman, Donovan & Burns, 2001). Preschool curriculum is the entire span of lessons and teachings that a child will be taught during the course of a preschool year (Rock, 2015). Preschool curriculum covers a wide variety of academic, social, physical, and emotional lessons and usually vary from school to school and teaching method to teaching method. Depending upon the school and the preschool philosophy employed by the preschool, the preschool curriculum can be developed by administrators, teachers, and parents.

I believe that schools have hidden cultural agendas, stemming from their policy makers collective cultural backgrounds, which controls what curricula is used, and how knowledge is taught within the system. I further believe that not all students fit the cultural mold defined by our schools, and that those students that find themselves outside the established "norm" cannot fully benefit from their school experiences.

An ability to explain the importance of ethics and civic engagement and to function effectively as a member or leader in a multidisciplinary team

incredibly ineffective. Forcing students to be active will not foster the care needed to addresses issues like sustainability as adults. That is why approaches like the personally responsible citizen are not adequate at solving the problem of sustainability, the best approach would be participatory.

Curriculum is a term often highlighted during discourse about education and most commonly understood as a policy with overt leaning outcomes for teachers to apply and achieve. Ornstein and Hunkins (1998), as cited by Selvaraj (2010), defined curriculum based on two lenses; micro and macro, which identify the term as both policy towards certain goals and what students experience with consideration for relevant theories and principles central to its development and implementation. However, Wilson (n.d.) argued that curriculum is not restricted to certain individuals, subjects and environments, since teaching and learning can also occur beyond the scope of official curriculum (Ebert & Culyer, as cited in Marsh, Clarke & Pittaway, 2014). I believe this interpretation is the closest to the true nature of curriculum, or education, as there are more complex layers to curriculum than just a written guideline. For example, not one curriculum is similar to another because it is subjected to influences from continuum number of factors, such as politics and economy. Hence, it is wise to conclude that curriculum could not be defined based on a singular perspective due to its dependability on context.

“I just don't understand! Why you have to be so simple? Answer me Elizabeth. “Why would you sit there and pee on yourself?” and you think I am going to clean that mess up, well you thought wrong.”

“To stimulate life, – leaving it then free to develop, to unfold, - herein lies the first task of the educator. In such a delicate task, a great art must suggest the moment, and limit the intervention in order that we shall arouse no perturbation, cause no deviation, but rather that we shall help the soul which is coming into the fullness of life, and which shall live from its own forces. This art must accompany the scientific method.”

The conspectus of the report is to highlight the key features of MIT pedagogy through which the staff can assist the new student population in the MIT in a number of ways . Due to the diverse background with versatile experiences of the students , it enables them towards obtaining the position of high repute in NZ economy, and this would be more successful if the MIT staff can create the environment within the MIT that leads to a positive experience. The report gives emphasis on the learning style of the MIT which ensures in fulfilling the student’s objective in a much applied and practical way rather than embossing the theories; as the NZ economy is relying more on the SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprise) as compared to the Large Scale Enterprises, thereby this applied learning phenomena provides the sense of NZ work culture on a broader scale.

The meaning of the term’ curriculum’ is difficult to define. For school, Pratt (in Brady and Kennedy, 2014, p. 3) argues that curriculum can be ‘an organized set of formal educational and training intentions’. For students, Marsh and Wills (in Brady and Kennedy, 2014, p. 3) maintain that curriculum is ‘an interrelated set of plans and experiences that a student undertakes under the guidance of the school’, while for teachers, the challenge is to develop curricula that will cater for the needs of all students (Ah Sam & Ackland, 2005). There are various meanings attached to the term’ curriculum’. My personal definition for school curriculum is that schools develop programs of different study areas basing on the content of the national curriculum document; teachers plan their teaching basing on the programs; eventually, students experience the curriculum by engaging in diverse teaching activities. In this essay, I will be discussing The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) in relation to the strategic plan and teaching philosophy of Hampton Park East Kindergarten.