Curriculum, Quality and Professionalism

This course was designed to meet the unique needs of students like you who are

The purpose of this unit is to assess the learner’s knowledge, understanding and skills required to promote the professional duty to maintain the currency of knowledge and skills and the need to continually reflect on and improve practice.

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.

The purpose of this unit is to assess the learner’s knowledge, understanding and skills required to promote the professional duty to maintain the currency of knowledge and skills and the need to continually reflect on and improve practice.

The Curriculum for Excellence, introduced in 2014, aims to transform education in Scotland for ages 3-18. It intends to progress the standards of education and learning in the country by moving away from more traditional methods of teaching. This strategy, developed by the Scottish Government, recognises that learning is a lifelong process, beginning at birth, and therefore it is important to employ methods which prepare children from a young age for a life of work. In order to do so, the curriculum is based on seven key principles which are designed to provide young people with the knowledge and skills for life in the 21st century. This knowledge and skill is learnt through experiences and opportunities which are carefully planned for each age group, encouraging space for learning out with the standard school subject boundaries. The programme has four main outcomes prompting children to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. Once an individual has completed the education programme, reflections of the curriculum’s purpose can be assessed in the child or young person to see if they have met the proposed outcomes and therefore determining the overall success.

Gravells, A., 2012. Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector. 5th ed. London: Learning Matters.

Brief for Assignment 1: unit 008 (level 4): Roles, responsibilities and relationships in lifelong learning

By doing Module 1 of this course I had opportunity to think about my career as a teacher. In order for me to improve learners’ learning I have to create for them appropriate environment using different teaching strategies in which every learner feels respected and safe. Learners need to know that learning has a purpose and what they are learning it is relevant to their lives. Also it is important to provide them with feedback regarding their progress on what they are trying to achieve, how far they are from the goal that was set. And how to achieve all I have to keep on trying new things and improving teaching skills. The actual teaching, classes I attended for this course gave me opportunity to better myself as a teacher. I learned about teaching principals from our teaching classes, later applied my knowledge in my actual teaching practice and also learned about teaching ideas through the web. From all these I understood that my development as a teacher should never end because teaching is a part of a life-long

Provide quality training and education in a caring, professional environment that prepares new students and working adults with the skills they need to succeed and advance in their chosen careers.

According to Jaiana and Whitford (2011) No Child Left Behind outlined a provision to acquire teachers of high quality to deliver instruction. Likewise, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards contends the best way to improve schools and to impact student learning is to strengthen teaching. Successively, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was established in 1987 (NBPTS, 2013). The NBPTS is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization, with a 63 member board of directors, consisting mostly of teachers. The key role of NBPTS is to improve schools by strengthening teaching through a three part mission: high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do, to develop and operate

Taking an active interest in lifelong learning and understanding how this can help to improve professionalism.

A driving objective for a teacher is to affect students to advance their expertise in education by finding them the correct course. The teacher should promote positive motivation and inspiration by adhering to legislation and codes of practice which will increase every student’s focus in developing and bridging gaps to display eagerness towards a healthy broad mindset, creative thinking and brighter approach. A mentor should coordinate assessments which will reinforce the ability to perceive individuals’ abilities and knowledge progressions and moreover support them further to boost their learning capacity to acquire a well-established national standards skill set.

My teaching role is to deliver professional courses that meet the governing body’s standards whilst adhering to their policy statements and codes of practice. Whilst delivering courses I use a variety of teaching methods to engage, motivate and support my learners in achieving their goals. Examples include roleplaying emergencies with simulated casualties, discussion, group work, podcasts as well as course PowerPoint’s and guided study through the learner workbook. I hope that clear communication; passion, professionalism and flexibility in my approach are evident to all the learners.

There are no major issues related to Quality Matters; I will touch upon a few of the design issues that came up during the review.

It is this approach by the government, over the years, which has shifted the views on teacher professionalism. The erosion of creativity and autonomy reduces the need to reflect and as the ATL states ‘Review and reflection may be pointless in an environment where the teacher is or feels powerless to innovate, where decisions and changes are always imposed from above.’