Early Childhood Education: Theoretical Perspectives

We create a positive and secure environment, working to ensure all children feel safe, appreciated and important. We do this by being inclusive, treating each child as an individual and promoting mutual respect. One of the most natural factors of being an Early Years Practitioner is nurturing the children in our care, this is salient in creating healthy attachments in children. We show this by using positive body language when interacting with children, we show them we are interested to help develop their sense of attachment and security. We are sensitive and attend to their needs, children

The Open University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Institute of Professional and Continuing Education PTD38 Higher Diploma in Early Childhood Education (2014-2015) ASSIGNMENT 1 MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION Student Number: 11396646 Student: CHENG KA YIU, YOYO Class: U09A Course Code: EDU4017EP Course Title: Introduction to Early Childhood Education Instructor: Ms. Hailey Chan Programme Leader: Dr. Eunice Yim Submission Date: 14 November 2014

This theme addresses the question of whether or not children shape their own development. It is evident that the active child theme applies to the subject of infant cognitive development, as infants contribute to their development through the use of visual preferences and observation, interaction with the environment, and through the use of play. The bountiful research in the field of infant cognitive development serves as a confirmation that infants are not as inactive as they were once thought to be. Infants are the pioneers of their minds and they are able to gain a great deal of knowledge through their observation of the world

Thus when we talk of development we need to understand the patterns of biological, cognitive and socioemotional changes that a child goes through from birth to lifespan which is why it is important to introduce a child to age appropriate education else a child may not be able to pick up for eg if we introduce a child to writing at an early age he may not be able to do so as he is still developing his fine motor skills. When we talk of biological development it’s the changes in physical growth of the child and is genetically inherited and will also include the brain and motor skill, cognitive will emphasise the child’s ability to think, language development and problem solving skills and the socioemotional development will look at the child’s relationship with other people and changes in ones emotions and personality. There are various stages of development like infancy from birth to about 24 months where the child is completely dependent on the adult where many activities like language development, sensory and motor coordination , social interaction and

Having the right knowledge, skills and experience in understanding how children or young people develop are very important tools for early years practitioners. We must put to mind that each child born into this world is unique. Children are born with different characters, their personalities and behaviours are formed and influenced by a variety of factors. These factors may affect their ways of interacting with the environment and community or setting in which they live in.

The various development theories could greatly help us in guiding and caring for children. As every child is unique and does have different experiences, there is no single theory that can effectively explain

Child development is an area of significant interest to professionals who deal with children on a daily basis. It is through child development theorists and their theories that we begin to form an understanding of how children develop emotionally and socially to become fully grown adults in society with a moral and emotional compass/. Teachers need to study child development in order to provide developmentally appropriate educational experiences for children. Health professionals also need to understand this area to support children in their physical, social, emotional and cognitive journey to becoming functioning adults in society. Childhood is a concept that is affected by social context and also by history. Here in the West childhood was not always considered to be a fundamental developmental phase in life with children in Victorian times working from as early as the age of four.

Abstract As early childhood educators, we the teachers have differing philosophies and approaches to education of our own. There are many different types of early childhood programs. Each program is unique in its philosophies, methods, and program goals. Every one of us early childhood educators is unique in our own way, which makes each early childhood program experience different and special to everyone involved.

For this reason, early childhood intervention programs are devised for the mitigation of the possible factors that threaten children’s positive outcomes. Such intervention programs also play a major role in supporting parents and families of the children. These programs may provide support through learning activities or further planned

Introduction In early childhood education, it is important for teachers to always consider and understand children and the families’ needs. Early childhood teachers cannot only work with their colleagues to face children and the families’ needs but also need to work with multi-disciplinary to collaborate the ideas with each other and discuss the best outcome for the children and the families in early childhood education setting together. So, the more explanation about the multi-disciplinary team is that teachers with different professionals such as psychologists, child social worker, police, adult social worker, health visitor or court working together to provide different services and support for children and the families’ needs. They are diverse professional groups who work together in order to collaborate, reflect, access and support children’s development, health and learning and also families' needs.

Many theorists discuss ways in which children are developing. Physically, emotionally, socially and language progressions. Within the early childhood sector, the study of children's development is vividly important as teachers learn to observe the children's individual learning patterns and habits. The practical knowledge of how to develop a child further will assist in utilising the children's skills and holistic development to their fullest potential, however, knowing how to practically aid children in the separate developmental domains is also key as individual kids need more help in some areas than others.

Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2; the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7; the concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11; and the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood. He believed that there were four necessary ingredients for cognitive development which included: “maturation of the nervous system, experiences gained through interaction with physical world, social environment, and child’s active participation in adapting to environment & constructing knowledge from experience.” (Sullivan, 2014, Slide 3) The sensorimotor stage occurs between birth and age 2. Infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and handling objects.

Having the right knowledge, skills and experience in understanding how children or young people develop are very important tools for early years practitioners. We must put to mind that each child born to this world is unique; they are born with different characters and their personalities and behaviours are formed and influenced by variety of factors. These factors may affect their ways of interacting to the environment and community or setting in which they live in. In my experience as a child care practitioner most of the time, adults mainly focus on the physical development of a child and so quick to base their conclusion or judgement on the physical aspect.

These theories really expanded and informed me about child development because it dealt with the child’s thinking process as well as how they progress in life. Jean Piaget viewed child development on their efforts and how they acted upon it which geared towards conginite development. It consisted of four stages: sensorimotor,preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. His idea of adoption correlates with my perspective because it is impressive to see how the child adapts to certain information. Also with his perspective of the four cognitive stages due to the child’s life span “mental operations evolve from learning based on simple sensory and motor activity to logical, abstract thought” due their development as the years go by (Martorell, 2013, pg.

  By: García, Justin D., PhD, Salem Press Encyclopedia, January, 2017. Retrieved from: https://content.ashford.edu/ Groark, C., McCarthy, S. & Kirk, A. (2014).  Early child development: From theory to practice [Electronic version]. Retrieved from: