Last semester, I had to complete on of the most difficult and thought provoking assignments to date: to put into words my early childhood educational philosophy.
It took a lot of thought and reflection, something which I continue to struggle with, but in the end, I managed to get it into words. I took some inspiration from my previous placement centres and looked online to see others and even took to academic literature.
This was my final piece of writing...
I believe that quality child care and education begins with the involvement and input of parents and families. Since you are your child’s first teacher, your experiences together and observations are crucial to structuring a program which caters to your child’s interests and developmental needs as they journey through childhood.
The continued observation, documentation of your child coupled with communication and continuity between the home and educational environment allows us as early childhood educators to build a program which meets individual needs, focuses on natural and authentic play spaces and fosters free choice and quality interactions.While the mark is important, for me this assignment was really setting me up to think about what I value, what I think was important to my approach and what informs my practice. It has set me up be a more reflective practitioner as I am continually told to change this statement and update when necessary.
It is important to understand the level of diversity present in our current community and to past these views on to our future generation. To ensure this, all children are treated equally regardless of gender, race, ability, religion, socio economic status or family structure and it is expected that this is extended to their families. As a result of this, a non-gendered approach is taken by all educators when planning and programming environments and experiences.
Learning experiences are informed by the interests and needs of children in the room, observed through documentation. These aim to nurture curiosity, wonder, inquiry, as well as feeling of success, empowerment and confidence. Careful care and consideration is taken when setting these up to ensure the safety of the environment for the children it is designed for while still providing a setting for potential challenge and growth.
The social context of the environment is important to the experience of childhood and is reflected as such in the organisational structure of the rooms at the centre. Children are primarily placed based on their age, in order to provide age and developmentally appropriate experiences however the difference of ages allows for a range of interactions and a chance for cooperative and collaborative skills to emerge and be practiced.
These considerations applied to the environments and experiences designed are informed by the Early Years Learning Framework to ensure that children have the opportunity to:
· Build a strong sense of identity
· Connect with and contribute to their world
· Develop a strong sense of well-being
· Become confident and involved learners
· Transition to effective communicators
I'm interested to see how many other teachers put these philosophies into writing, would you consider yourself on of them?
Miss Tracy xx
