Introduction
Early childhood education is an essential requirement that has to be efficiently considered. The importance of early childhood education is to ensure that the children gain the necessary knowledge and a foundation step towards literacy. Research studies and investigations from various researchers conclude that every child deserves a best possible start in his or her life. The support that these children need is kinds of support that will help the children to fulfill their potentials in life.
The development of children vary at different stages but the children at their early years are seen to be developing faster indicating that the experiences that the child will have between birth and five years age will have an impact on the life of the child (Bayat, M. 2017, 56). Educational facilitators and guardians are thus compelled to ensure that these children engage in a secure safe and also a happy childhood which is an essential feature in its right of the child. The excellent and reliable childhood begins by having a good parenting and ensuring that the children have access to a high-quality early learning and education.
These two factors and combination provides a foundation for the children to allow these young individuals to develop their abilities as well as their talents fully. Some standards are set for the Early Years Foundation Stage whereby all the early year’s providers are required to teach and ensure the children learn and develop well in their early life. The development centers on appropriate education, good health, and a safe environment. The role of Early Years Foundation Stage is that it allows for the promotion of proper teaching and learning that will be a concept in ensuring that the children have a school readiness in their early years (Bayat, M. 2017, 56).
The foundation stage also provides an opportunity for the children to gain a broad range of skills and knowledge which will be the direction for a good future in both the child’s life and school journey. The goals and responsibilities of the Early Years Foundation Stage are as follows. The body framework is developed to ensure that there are quality and consistency in education and upbringing of the young children. The aspect of quality and consistency is seen in all the early year’s settings of the children and the aim of such a framework is to make sure that the child gains a good progress and that no child is ever left behind on the education platform. The second objective is to allow for the development of a secure foundation which is achieved through promoting the learning and development opportunities (Smith, C. J. 2017, 54).
These learning and development opportunities are usually planned by considering the needs and also interests of each child individually. Consequently, frequent review and assessment of the secure foundation should be done on a regular basis according to the establishments. Early Years Foundation Stage also seeks to ensure that there is a high partnership that is working and which exists between the practitioners and parents. A healthy working relationship has advantages in that it allows for an adequate deliberation and working together with each stakeholder to ensure that the children receive the best foundation in academics and life during their early years.
Lastly, there is also the seeking of promoting an equality of opportunity. Equality of opportunity is essential in education in that it eliminates the anti-discriminatory practice that is often seen in educational sectors making sure that every child regardless of his or her disability is included and supported to achieve the best form of education and training in early years. It should be understood that there are four guiding principles which shape the practices of the early years setting in children. These policies are as follows. It is clear that every child is unique in a manner that is different from other children. The uniqueness of the child allows for them to learn and become resilient steadily, self-assured capable and also confident.
The second principle is that the children always learn to be healthy and independent through developing positive relationships. The third established policy is that the children will learn and improve appropriately when presented in enabling environments (Kaiser, B., Rasminsky, J. S., & Hyson, M. 2017, 154). The role of these enabling environments is that children will be able to respond to their experiences, their individual needs and form a strong partnership that exists between the practitioners and parents. The last overarching principle is that the children develop and learn in different ways. Each child grows and learns differently.
Curriculum developers should learn and understand that children are different and their learning abilities are also different. There are also different pillars of learning that are specified by the Early Years Foundation Stage. These components are to give a direction for better education and development also to ensure the safeguarding of the children to promote their welfare. The main sections that are covered in this requirements are improving in the areas of learning and development that must engage in shaping activities as well as experiences that the children will have in their early years. There is a need to develop appropriate initial learning goals (Fleer, M., & van, O. B. 2017, 35).
In this case, the providers are tasked with the duties to ensure that they help the children to always work towards success in their lives. These are goals and objectives that should be met by the children at the end of their five years. Lastly, there has to be an assessment arrangement which is used for the measuring of children’s progress and how they are performing after the curriculum teaching. Despite these developments and establishment to ensure that there is a high education for the children who are between 0 and five years, there are challenges that are faced primarily on the principles and practices which makes the curriculum development a problem and it ends up becoming difficult to achieve the required objectives.
These underpinning challenges as identified by the researchers are as follows:
Development of poor relationships that are weak, negative and non-independent One of the established principle to support adequate early childhood education is the fact that there is a need to develop positive relationships. Researchers agree to the fact that children grow efficiently when they are presented with a positive relationship that is independent. However, curriculum developers end up neglecting the principle which makes it a challenge to promote active learning among the children who are aged between 0 and five years (Salem Press,. 2017, 40). A weak relationship is characterized by the lack of a warm and loving support which makes the child feel neglected.
A friendly and a loving relationship has an advantage as it allows for the children to feel a sense of belonging making them motivated and explore their abilities to the maximum. Further, reduced relationships are where the parents and teachers are unresponsive to the child’s needs, and also they are less sensitive to the child’s requirements. Children need their needs to be addressed, supported and even their feelings are taken care of by the adults (Gargiulo, R. M., & Bouck, E. C. 2017, 97).
Neglecting these feelings interests and needs will make it difficult to achieve the learning goals and efficient early childhood career development as the teachers and parents will have a limited understanding of what the child needs and how to address these needs. While taking care of the children, there is a need to establish clear boundaries such as behaviors and acceptable conducts early enough to allow the children to grow up while learning these limits. The situation creates a strong, healthy relationship to promote the curriculum developed. Lack of such boundaries underpin early years curriculum and fail to meet the needs of these children. Education facilitators often fail to concentrate on this section leading to weak childhood education development.
Inadequate skills and implementation processes of developed curriculum Another challenge that can be related to causing a hindrance towards meeting the needs of the children aged between 0 and five years in education is the lack of adequate skilled personnel to promote the developed curriculum and also weak implementation plans. Education facilitators have engaged in different education policy developments with the aim that each child in his or her early years gains the best life and education teaching.
There is a gap that exists after the development of these policies (Gordon, A. M., Browne, K. W., & Cruz, J. 2008, 66). A good strategy cannot be used when there is a weak implementation, and it will be as good as dead. Research studies and findings have indicated that a child’s early years needs in education are failed to be met because the education sector lacks an effective implementation plan, skills and monitoring and evaluation system. Poor implementation means that the requirements in the curriculum, as well as materials needed for effective teaching, will be avoided and these will make it difficult for teachers to address needs and conditions of the children (Feeney, S., Moravcik, E., & Nolte, S. 2013, 201).
Furthermore, monitoring and evaluation is a practical requirement. Through the monitoring and evaluation, the policymakers and stakeholders will learn about the challenges faced when implementing a well being of the children and develop strategies to address the identified loopholes. There has been a challenge to achieve the needs of the children in early years and make sure that they gain an appropriate education that will foster the development of their talents due to inadequate skills and poor implementation plan processes in the education sector. Weak monitoring and evaluation systems do not provide areas of prioritization and address in the curriculum.
Inequality in education and inappropriate environment
Knowledge is a societal pillar for development, and since each child is unique in their learning process and grasping of concepts being taught, there is a need to promote effective education policies that advocate for equality. Am ambient environment also needs to be created. However, that is not the fact when it comes to early years curriculum development and meeting the needs of the children. Inequality in the education sector occurs where the educational facilitators fail to understand the guiding principles that are established by Early Years Foundation stage (Ellis, A. L. 2017, 74). For example, when education facilitators fail to realize that each child is unique in learning and they require to be understood. Some children are fast learners while there are those children who are slow learners.
Child disability for example children who have autism have challenges in learning, and they need to have adequate as well as extra time to make sure that they understand and grasp the taught concepts such as language and communication. Most of the education facilitators make a general assumption that children between the age of zero and five years can learn at the same pace (Ellis, A. L. 2017, 74). These assumptions create inequality in education. A child with a disability should not be treated the same as a healthy child. Education facilitators often leave a child who ha disability behind due to lack of awareness and understanding of the child’s needs. These challenges present a problem when it comes to the implementation and meeting of children needs as some of the children are left behind (Sakr, M. 2017, 129).
When a child with a disability and one who has regular functionalities are treated in a similar environment without creating a unique environment for the child with a disability, the child with a disability will be left behind while his or her peers keep on grasping the taught language and communication concepts. Creation of an enabling environment is also another principle that makes it easy for practitioners to meet the needs of the learners. An enabling situation is one where there is a value for education created and also a value of each learner fostered. In some cases, practitioners fail to recognize the value of each child and education requirement of these children leading to creation of an environment that is weak and which adversely affects the education of children between zero and five years old.
Ideas to aspire in our work to ensure that there is an excellent relationship with young childrenCreation of n enabling environment The first impression that reports and research studies indicate should be emphasized to promote effective curriculum teaching of the young children is the creation of an enabling environment. It has been established that the children in their early years often learn and develop appropriately when they are presented in an enabling environment (Sakr, M. 2017, 129). Thus, when these children are in an enabling environment, their needs and experiences will be able to respond and facilitate the formation of a stable partnership that will exist between the practitioners and parents.
Thus, to ensure that the needs of the children are met appropriately and that young children aged between 0 and five years gain required education and training skills, then stakeholders have to facilitate the creation of an enabling environment. Among the actions and activities that can be done as a mechanism to allow for an establishment of an enabling environment for learning include the case where practitioners offer stimulating resources that are relevant to all the children’s cultures as well as communities. Understanding that each child comes from a different culture and that their cultural believes and actions have to be respected and maintained will allow for an achievement of an enabling environment.
Other offers include developing a precious learning opportunity which is brought about by having playful activities and playing grounds which can be used as a mechanism for teaching the children on friendship and language activities. Children at a tender age love to play thus incorporating a playing activity as a teaching mechanism creates the enabling environment that leads to the address and meeting of the child’s needs. An enabling environment also allows for the practitioners to support the children by motivating them to take different risks and explore their abilities to the maximum which provides for the development of their talents to the full potential.
There should be the use of guidance to support each child’s learning and development Another recommendation made is that there should be a use of leadership and support that the practitioners hold to allow for the support of each child in learning and development. A suggestion is the use of an on-going formative assessment which forms the heart of active early years in the practice and education. The guiding principles allow the practitioners to do the following activities that are supporting the child’s development. Practitioners through the recommended mechanism will be able to observe the children make sure that these children act and also interact in their playing time, in everyday activities and even in planned activities (Roopnarine, J. L., & Johnson, J. E. 2013, 89).
The interaction causes the children to learn different skills and allows the practitioners to have an understanding from the parent’s perspectives on what the children do while they are in their home environment. Observations allow for the practitioners to learn about the child’s needs and develop interventions to guide and direct on the child’s needs. The guidance also allows for assessment processes to be done by the practitioners. The practitioners can assess what the child can do and what they cannot do. Thus, they will support the child to explore their full potential and talents to the maximum making them develop fully in their learning and life skills. The process helps practitioners make an identification on where the child might be allowed to grow their learning activities without guidance.
Guidance and support further make it easy for the practitioners to establish different ways that they can use as a method to support the child and also to strengthen the relationship that the child has with their peers and teachers. These strengthening relationships promote a substantial development of learning objectives and events. Through such process, the practitioners will be able to reflect on the positive relationships and plan on how they can promote an achievement of an enabling environment for the young children to learn efficiently before they reach the age of five years. The practitioners will determine what they can do as a process to support learning as well as develop different strategies that they can use to respond to and address children’s needs.
Conduction of summative assessment
The Early Years Foundation Stage has a requirement where the practitioners are needed to make a summative evaluation of the children’s progress and make a report to their parents. Summative assessment is an important mechanism that should be implemented to make sure that the child’s needs are met and addressed in the early years. These evaluations and summative reports will identify sections that need an address and learn about the progress being made by the child in learning and development.
Bibliography
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