Comparison of Reggio Emilia vs. Waldorf Curriculum - Report Example

Comparison Report Reggio Emilia vs. Waldorf Curriculum Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date of Submission: Curriculum Comparison Report Description The report compares two ECE curriculum models namely the Reggio Emilia Curriculum and the Waldorf Curriculum. The report compares the two curriculums through the NAEYC dimensions as presented below. Introduction Curriculum refers to the total experiences that students encounter in the educational process. Curriculum is a calculated order of instructions to sight the student’s understandings through the institutional and educators goals. Curriculum also includes the incorporation of the planned interactions of pupils through the resources, materials and other additional educational objectives. ECE curriculum is an education theory or concept that is linked to teaching young children both informally and formally. ECE stipulates the early children education, which is a very important part on the development of a child. Different ECE models present the different tactics in which educators approach the learning/ teaching processes of young children in this early stages. Some of the ECE curriculum models include the Creative and High Scope Curriculum. This are used in addition to supplemented models such as the Montessori, Bank Street, Reggio Emilia, Emergent curriculum, and the Waldorf Curriculum among others. The report will compare Reggio Emilia and Waldorf Curriculum. The two methods are DAP and adhere to the NAEYC standards of principles. The approaches are progressive, through where the children are perceived as authors of their learning developments. There exists about 6 domains that influence the development of a child. Reggio Emilia model is supported by the social and emotional domain while the Waldorf Curriculum is also supported by the domain of social-emotional domain besides the physical domains that improve and encourage numerous skills development. Background and Theoretical Perspectives Waldorf Curriculum was founded By Rudolph Steiner in between 1861 to 1925. Loris Malaguzzi founded the Reggio Emilia model in between 1920 and 1994. The Waldorf program is basically used to serve children through early childhood but it extends to adolescent education. Reggio Emilia serves children through infancy at 6 years of age only, though it extends to Middle School as well. The play of the children focuses on the dependable routine, where children spend a lot of time outdoors while applying the Waldorf approach. The Waldorf approach also requires the teachers to stay in class through the primary years, and children work in class activities that improve creativity and imagination while Reggio Emilia requires the teachers to stay with the same class for about three years. The Reggio Emilia has no set requirements to be followed. It focuses on helping children become better citizens by exploring to become better at what they want to do; authors of their development as cited by many scholars (Edwards P. C., 2002). Reggio Emilia Model was developed after the World War II in Italy where education would increase the social change. The Waldorf Curriculum is also known as the Steiner Education, which is based on supporting the role of imagination in learning. The model also incorporates artistic, practical and intellectual development of the children. The model focuses on hands-on activities, elementary education and creative play (Morrison, 2007). Reggio Emilia was the first national early education system that incorporated all children, which was established in 1968 and comprised of all instituted national laws that needed public funding. In 1945, the first school of Reggio Emilia was opened while in 1963, the first municipal preschool was run. In 1919, the first Waldorf Curriculum School was opened in Germany. The Reggio Emilia Schools were funded by equipment’s that were sold after the war was abandoned. Others such as Loris Malaguzzi helped in opening more Reggio Emilia Schools (Reichow, Boyd, Barton, & Odom, 2016). According to the NAEYC DAP guidelines, the teachers of the Reggio Emilia had to meet their roles when in classrooms such as two teachers (adults), a maximum number of 15 children in a classroom. The teachers had to be patient, nurturing, and gentle to create an inspiring project that engaged all children in the classroom. Using Reggio Emilia, the teacher had to develop a caring community of learners, where teaching enhanced the learning and development of children (Edwards & Gandini, 2015). The curriculum had to be planned for the important goals to be achieved, including the development of reciprocal relationships among other principles that supported the development and learning of children (Beaver, Wyatt, & Jackman, 2016). Under NAEYC, the positive relationships had to derive from individual and teacher-child relationship using the Reggio Emilia while in Waldorf Curriculum. The curriculum had specific standard that targeted numerous domains. Teaching using the Reggio Emilia model included using the DAP principles besides the love and enthusiasm for teaching (Gestwicki, 2016). Other principles that had to be met included the health, family, and leadership and management principles. On the other hand, the Waldorf structure presents childhood development in three main levels in relation to the learning strategies as described by Piaget. The Waldorf approach includes awakening the cognitive, social, cognitive, spiritual, and physical behaviors among other aspects. Waldorf fosters creative and other analytical thinking using the holistic growth. Reggio Emilia as presented above is for young children in pre-school education while Waldorf Curriculum incorporates the pre-school, Kindergarten, elementary and secondary education. Thus, the report considers both the Reggio Emilia and Waldorf Curriculum through the pre-school education. NAEYC Standards, Principles and DAP The NAEYC has a set of 10 standards (NAEYC, 2017) and 12 principles to guide learning and teaching in these concepts (naeyc, 2009). NAEYC is a curriculum model while DAP is a tool to assist in choosing and identifying the appropriate and inappropriate teaching practices among young children (Staie, 2004 ). DAP presents schooling focuses on how children learn best. It considers how children naturally learn. That is; DAP encourages the educators to teach based on the child development and should knowledge based on the individual needs of the children including cultural and social constructs. That is; DAP encourages teachers to make decisions based on what the child need to develop based on the stage and age of the child (naeyc, 2009). The NAEYC principles, on the other hand, stipulate that all domains of the development of the child are important and should be integrated in their development. Other aspects include documenting the progression of the children, and the rates of the child’s development. Tables/ Charts of Strengths and Challenges Strengths Waldorf Curriculum Reggio Emilia Curriculum Area 1: NAEYC standards 2, 3 AND 4     NAEYC Standard 2: Curriculum Children listen as the teacher presents materials following a curriculum with structure and sequence but unaccompanied by books The curriculum is purposive progressive without any scopes or sequences. Learning occurs through sensitive listening, documentation and reflection of the adults (educators). Routine is minimal Standard 3: Teaching Teacher has to be dedicated to teaching through creative art in different developmental stages Teachers work as core teachers, where the teaching through the reflection they pose to the children. The children learn through the teacher working as a resource guide. Standard 4: Assessment Documentation and standardized are not important, it focuses on teachers observing classrooms to keep track of the growth of the child. Documentation is important. Helps study the learning process of the child through documenting results from tests among other assessment Area 2: NAEYC principles     Principle 10: Play The approach is play based meaning more time is spent outdoors Children encounter many benefits when play is used as a learning technique. It is a language they understand among many others Principle 12: Environment motivations Lack of academics makes environment and its aspects key learning platforms The environment is presented as a third teacher. The children can learn from the environment. principle 8: Social and Cultural Contexts Both the child and the parent, as well as the teacher play important roles in showing students how to think. Interactions with children, adults and parents increase the capacity of learning for the children. Area 3: DAP     Culture Children should learn in their paces through experiences and interactions with the world/ cultures generally Children are rich and connected through their competency, capability and need to learn meaning in the world Individual Children are assessed through their interactions with other children Development is based on the individual child, which increases in identifying the needs of the child including differences Child learning and development Learning is when the teacher guides and they learn through their imaginations when they earn to learn on their own The learning is structured, where there is time for everything       Challenges Waldorf Curriculum Reggio Emilia Area 1: NAEYC standard 2     NAEYC Standard 2: Curriculum Imagination and creativity is given high priority. It may be a challenge to those with low imaginations Routine structures give students ideas and where their interests should be, which hinders effective creativity and imaginations of the children Standard 3: Teaching If the teacher is not dedicated, the whole teaching process may fail The interests of the children are not so important like the themes the teachers has set Standard 4: Assessment Without documentation it is challenging to identify the growth in learning including their needs It is challenging to deal with individual struggles of a child in a classroom Area 2: NAEYC principles 10     Principle 10: Play Predictability in the play-based approach may hinder imaginations through the dependable routines It is challenging that the main goal of the teacher is to ensure that students learn to interact through playing and other activities, which hinders growth of learning in other aspects such as learning. Principle 12: Environment motivations Lack of academics makes learning highly reliant on the environment. The environment is not a major motivation where everything is a material for learning principle 8: Social and Cultural Contexts Social aspects of learning are given high importance, and help develop individualism. Social aspects such as teachers and parents are an important part of effective learning Area 3: DAP     Culture Children are not culturally embedded in the society or environment Children are highly embedded in the culture Individual Individual child development is not focused on as interactions with others and the environment The child listens to learn Child learning and development Learning is not progressive, but social through interactions Learning is highly progressive Venn diagram of Similarities and Differences Reggio Emilia Waldorf Curriculum Similarities Conclusion Reggio Emilia inspires and emphasizes on the involvement and collaborative aspects of educating students while Waldorf models helps in developing and supporting the growth of creativity and imaginations in children. DAP and NAEYC individual support the success of this models by creating a community that cares to ensure success in the development of a child naturally. Both models lead to the establishment of positive relationships that are of high importance in influencing the growth of the child. DAP as a tool of NAEYC increases flexibility in learning and provokes problem solving. References Beaver, N., Wyatt, S., & Jackman, H. (2016). Early Education Curriculum: A Child’s Connection to the World. New York: Cengage Learning. Edwards, P. C. (2002). Three Approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 1-1 Retrieved from: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/edwards.html. Edwards, P. C., & Gandini, L. (2015). Teacher Reserarch in Reggio Emili: Essence of a Dynamic, Evolving Role. Voices of Practitioners, 89 - 103. Gestwicki, C. (2016). Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Curriculum and Development in Early Education. New York: Cengage Learning. Morrison, S. G. (2007). Early Childhood Education Today. Upper Saddle River: NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. naeyc. (2009). 12 Principles of Child Development and Learning that Inform Practice. Retrieved from NAEYC: http://www.naeyc.org/dap/12-principles-of-child-development NAEYC. (2017). NAEYC For Families. Retrieved from The 10 NAEYC Program Standards: https://families.naeyc.org/accredited-article/10-naeyc-program-standards Reichow, B., Boyd, A. B., Barton, E. E., & Odom, L. S. (2016). Handbook of Early Childhood Special Education. New York: Springer. Staie, G. G. (2004 ). The Role of Curriculum Models in Early Childhood Education. ERIC Digest. Eric Digest, 1-1 Retrieved from: https://www.ericdigests.org/2001-2/curriculum.html. Read More