Curriculum Policy in the World - Literature review Example

Curriculum Policy Analysis Introduction Early childhood education is one of the most critical stages both in one’s learning and in overall development as a human being. However, the designers of most curriculums in the world have failed in the need to come up with learning modalities which are favourable to young minds. Actually, most of them take into consideration the academic aspects and the overall society objectives only, but fail to incorporate adequate growth and social skills which are important for the child at this age. Instead, national education planners in various countries make the attainment of their own goals important at the expense of the children’s. For example, Clausen (2015) provides a critical review of the curriculum of England and compares it to that of Denmark; and examines the structure and organization of each system and the rate of success of its implementation. a) Approach In this essay, Rizvi and Lingard’s (2010) view on education and politics is used as a conceptual framework to assess how political affairs influence decisions in education planning and management across the world, with England and Denmark providing relevant examples. Rizvi and Lingard observe that the learning of any country closely relates to the administrative structure of the country. Similarly, the needs of the ruling class and the general goals and visions of the governing authority and by extension the citizens can be seen in the way they design their schooling. Meanwhile, they note that globalization, which has become the way of life in many countries, also contributes to the schooling structure in many countries lately, in that although a country has its own needs, many of them now reshape their educational goals to become relevant and competitive in an increasingly interconnected world. Secondly, they note that while globalization has become the key driver in world educational systems, the unique political, social and religious needs of every country mean that every state end up with a fairly customized education system, although there is much copying and similarity in many countries with similar needs or challenges. Similarly, they state that there is a growing number of liberal education planners who seek to have totally independent school systems that meet the needs and aspirations of the country without much regard to what the rest of the world is teaching its children. Finally, they note that even with all these, there are certain issues which are seen to determine the educational planning in a country, and these include the governance structure, and in this case there is consideration of whether the government system is unitary or devolved, the unique types of governance such as the presence of Monarchies, the balance between private and public education and be funding systems available, the access of girls and women to education, the teaching of English language and pedagogy and the global trade in education (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). Critical Analysis Many factors determine the educational direction of a country. Across the world, the political divide between the democratic west and the more socialist east and the loyalty they enjoy among the less powerful countries greatly determined the shape of education. For example, in countries which were colonized by Britain, the education system is designed to copy the British system, with minor variations to incorporate the private needs of the country. However, one of the noted weaknesses of the British education system, which corms the model for many countries that were colonized by Britain is the over emphasis of academic aspects at the expense of other needs of the child. This exhibits itself particularly at the early childhood stage of education, which is seen to mainly consider factors such as financial and political matters and not the unique needs of the child. In fact, there is great efforts made to ensure that the education offered is as cost effective as possible, which may compromise the quality and uniqueness of the child (Whitebread & Bingham, 2011). The financial aspect is seen as the most important consideration for many governments when planning for education. Countries with more resources and greater financial power have more developed and distributed education systems than those which have less money. Even in the same country, sections which have more wealthy individual such as those which have industrial development have better education facilities that those which have higher levels of poverty such as the arid areas or the slums (Bernheimer, 2003). In situations where financial constraints hamper the effective delivery of learning to students, early childhood education is affected more than the other stages of education because it is the most delicate and detailed type of education. For example, Whitebread & Bingham (2011) note that in England, the needs of the early childhood learners vary greatly, and that there are many indicators for the differences in the experiences of early childhood education in the country. More importantly, they point out that the learning outcomes at the end of a learning cycle are shaped at this early stage, yet there are many factors hindering the provision of a healthy learning environment for every child. While there may be fairly uniform standards which a country puts in place for its children’s education, there are other factors which every child experiences and which might hamper this effective realization of the dreams of education. Whitebread & Bingham (2011) note that poverty is one of the main hindrances to effective education realization, noting that more than 3.9 million citizens of the U.K. live in informal settlements and cannot meet the basic requirements for their children. Such neighbourhoods offered limited resources which can enable children learn effectively, and this affects their education for a lifetime. Facilities such as playgrounds, parks and health facilities are not available to such children. Preventive healthcare, which is important in preventing certain communicable diseases lack in such environments, exposing the children to disease as they grow up and thus making their learning difficult (Whitebread & Bingham, 2011). Also, poverty makes parents stressed, making it difficult for them to provide the much needed emotional support for their children. Furthermore, there is extensive research showing that children who grow up in poor neighbourhoods have poor knowledge acquisition skills, including poor language mastery, compared to their counterparts from more affluent neighbourhoods. Moreover, the role of the government in the planning and implementation of early childhood education in many countries remains a major factor that shapes the educational goals of young learners. In the UK, there is more prescription of the kind of instruction to be given to children, and more regulation of the department of early childhood education, compared to the more liberal Danish system (Clausen, 2015). Clausen also notes that as the importance of early childhood education becomes apparent across the world, governments are playing an increasingly significant role it its running, especially through provision of funding. Governments have also developed policies to prescribe how the education and testing policies should be organized, with many such plans seeking to make the education system in the particular country more competitive in the world (Clausen, 2015). Particularly, he notes that the historically, the education in England was designed to produce a skilled workforce for the industrial growth of the country. Initially, such education was pre occupied with the academic aspects only, but as time went by, research revealed the importance of including play and socialization in education, an observation also made by Clark (2016). Therefore, it is clear that the government plays an important role in determining the kind of early childhood experiences in a country, especially by provision of funds and standardization of educational institutions. An interesting angle is noted when the early childhood education of Denmark is said to be aimed at establishing democratic principles among the children. The curriculum is organized in a way that allows children to be the ones determining the direction of their education, with the role of the teacher reduced compared to the system in Britain and many other countries (Clausen, 2015). The system entails a freedom of childhood activity not seen in many other jurisdictions across the world. Moreover, there is promotion of child to child relationships and encouragement of play and teamwork, which enables the children to learn from each other. In short, the horizontal relationships between the children are given as much prominence as the vertical relationship with parents and teachers. However, critics have pointed out some weaknesses with this system, such as the diminished role of professionals in giving direction to learning activities (Clausen, 2015). More importantly, there is notable effort to isolate this education system and make it different from that practiced in other countries in the world, and this is partly due to the political organization of the country, which emphasizes autonomy of the state from external influence in political and economic matters. Back in England, the government was grappling with the controversy of what is the right age to start early childhood education. Currently, there is a proposition to let children be ready for school before they begin formal learning, which means parents are expected to play an enhanced role in bringing up the children before they are taken to the teachers (Neaum, 2016). But more specifically, the emphasis of pre-schooling is slowly shifting from academic to that of simply letting the child mature in preparation for the more rigorous academic primary and secondary education (Neaum, 2016). Also, it is noted that increased regulation and policy formulation in England has led to better standards, but that research is still ongoing to determine the best systems of introducing children to education (Holmes, 2015; Helen, 2011). Therefore, England has a well organized early childhood education curriculum which enables children get the best start in education and in life. Implication An examination of the UK early childhood curriculum shows that the government plays an important role in creating a favourable environment for early childhood education. This is because the government is the most powerful entity in a state and its influence in education must be felt from the early stages if a country hopes to achieve its education goals. Furthermore, it is only the government which can play a unifying and moderating force capable of ensuring that there is some uniformity in the administration of early childhood education. Also, funding is a major determinant of the status of early childhood education and governments which have ensured adequate funding for early childhood education have helped bring up the standards of education (Reed & Canning, 2009). Moreover, the role of adults in early childhood education is brought into sharp focus. As compared to the Danish system which emphasizes greater freedom for the children to make their own decisions in learning, the British system gives the teacher more prominence in the education activities. This has made it possible for the government to maintain a firm grip on the way children learn. Also, it is clear that there are major factors determining the way different countries plan education is political power and leadership. There is an attempt by many countries to make education prepare the children for the future. However, such plans sometimes only take into consideration the overall needs of the country and the economy and fail to consider the specific requirements of the children. This is the reason why many curriculums, such as the first British one, were considered too academic and out of touch with the specific development needs of the young minds (Boyd & Hirst, 2015). The implication of all this is that early childhood education is a more important component of education that is understood by many governments, and that some of the problems encountered in the later stages of learning may have their foundation in the early stages of life. Therefore, governments and other education planners need to give early childhood education the necessary attention to enable it produce the best brains for the country’s education needs, but the fact that these are the most important years in the development of the child should never be lost in the rush for other aims (Tickel, 2011). Conclusion Education is an important aspect of the development of the individual and that of the entire country. This is because it is through education that the children can be transformed into useful and responsible adults who can transform the country into development conscious societies capable of taking care of all citizens. As seen above, governments actually plan for the needs of the society and seek to have them realized through the education systems they practice. However, there is need to ensure that while taking care of the needs of the country, those of the children are not forgotten; and that the curriculum allows children to play and socialize, which is an important component of the growth of children. Also, while there are propositions to allow children more freedom as is the case in the Danish education system, the professionals should carefully monitor and supervise such learning system to ensure that they are meeting the overall goals of learning in a country. References Bernheimer, S. (2003). New Possibilities for Early Childhood Education: Stories from Our Non-traditional Students. New York: Peter Lang. goo.gl/UwnwGx Boyd, D. & Hirst, N. (2015). Understanding Early Years Education Across the UK: Comparing Practice in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Whales. London & New York: Routledge. goo.gl/yuF7Q3 Clark, R. M. (2016). Childhood in Society for the Early Years. London: SAGE. goo.gl/wFCmq1 Clausen, S. B. (2015). Schoolification or Early Years Democracy? A cross- Curricula Perspective from Denmark and England. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 2015, vol 16 (4) 355 – 373. Helen, P. (2011). Quality in Early Childhood Services - An International Perspective: An International Perspective. Berkshire: Open University Press. goo.gl/BqRyf4 Holmes, G. R. (2015) The “Datafication” of Early Years Pedagogy: “If the Teaching is Good, the data Should be Good and if the Teaching is bad, there is Bad Data”. Journal of Education Policy, 30: 3, 302 – 315. Neaum, S. (2016). School Readiness and Pedagogies of Competence and Performance: Theorizing the Troubled Relationship between Early Years and early Years Policy. International Journal of Early Years Education. 24: 3, 239 – 253. Reed, M. & Canning, N. (2009). Reflective Practice in the Early Years. London: SAGE. goo.gl/3K9ji6 Rizvi, F. & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing Education Policy. London: Routledge. Tickell, D. C. (2011). The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning: An Independent Report on the early Years Foundation Stage to Her Majesty’s Government. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180919/DFE-00177-2011.pdf Whitebread, D. & Bingham, S. (2011).School Readiness, a Critical Review of Perspectives and Evidence. Association for the Development of Early Years Educators, Occasional paper no. 2. Read More