Curriculum Assessment - Practices in Pre-Schools and Primary Early Years - Essay Example

Insert Title Name Professor Course Institution Date CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT: A PICTURE OF THESE PRACTICES IN PRE-SCHOOLS AND PRIMARY EARLY YEARS Introduction A curriculum is a prescribed and defined studies course that students are expected to fulfill for them to pass a certain education level. An elementary school for example may have its curriculum as the total sum of teachings and lessons (Osterman 1990). A specific teacher may have his curriculum referring to the subjects that must be taught in the process of the school year. On the other hand assessment involves documentation in measurable terms the skills, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. An assessment may be done on a particular learner, the institution, a group of learners or the entire education system (MacNaughton & Williams 2009). This essay will define the role of curriculum and assessment in the 3-5 year old Pre-school, and 5-8 Primary School early years settings. It will also examine the nature of the curriculum and assessment relationship in these settings, considering the similarities and differences between them. Finally it will show how the relevant theory on curriculum and assessment applies to the settings. Curriculum and assessment in pre-school Curriculum is important in pre-school because it gives teachers a concrete and clear way of applying the learning and development theories of the child to every day work especially with the children in pre-school. Curriculum in pre-school helps the teacher to satisfy the needs of children with different abilities. This is important for special educators. The curriculum allows children with various needs and styles of learning to function together in an environment that is well organized. The curriculum guides the teacher to focus on the sequence of development of learning and skills that help all the children to develop and grow well (MacNaughton & Williams 2009). When teachers understand content and the way children get to learn it, teachers can be able to increase and improve on the different opportunities they give to children to understand the things taught and to gain knowledge. Teachers are able to make direct links between what children are taught in pre-school and that which they will get to encounter in elementary school. The curriculum guides the teachers to teach with consideration of the development of the children. This makes children to become victorious learners that get excited and take a challenge from the things they are being taught (Osterman, 1990). Assessment in pre-school is carried out first and foremost to improve the learning of the children. Assessment in this setting gives parents or guardians, the teachers and the student’s information about the progress of the child and how the child attains the expected curriculum. Assessment helps the teachers to know if they are meeting the goals of learning for the students. In assessment information about student progress is gathered for along period of time and used to measure the understanding and learning of the children. Learning can be indicated by dialogue, portfolios, written work, journals, tests as well as other tasks of learning (Osterman, 1990). Assessment in pre-school has many functions which can be termed as summative, diagnostic, ipsative, informative and evaluative. Assessment has a huge potential for supporting development and learning among the pre-school children. A large scale early learning setting longitudinal study in England showed that assessment is important in meeting the needs of the children as well as helping them in their cognitive development (Rinaldi, 2006). In regards to Fleet, Patterson & Robertson (2006).Assessment makes learning for the children more interesting, successful and enjoyable for the children. Assessment can be used to enrich and shape the curriculum, interactions and the entire provisions. Assessment can be used to determine what next will be taught to the students so that teachers can extend and support that learning. Assessment ensures that quality is achieved. Assessment monitors the progress of all the children in relationship to the goals and objectives of the curriculum and the standards of performance. It supports the development of the curriculum as well as planning that supports the learning and development of the children by families and teachers. Assessment helps in the organization and mutual sharing of information between program staff members and families as well as sharing information with the receiving teachers as it supports effective transitions. Through it teachers are able to connect assessment and observation based on standards of performance with curriculum that is thoughtfully prepared and implemented in a sensitive manner to engage the children in positive and beneficial learning experiences appropriate to age, cultural context and individual needs (Ashmna, & Elkins 2009) Role of curriculum and assessment in primary school early years Curriculum is designed to afford all the students with opportunities for learning that can celebrate and recognize the uniqueness of these children, develop their potential and make them ready for the challenges in the higher levels of education. It focuses on the child as the learner as well as using various methodologies of teaching. The curriculum fosters development of important skills in solving problems, communication, inquiry, critical thinking, analysis and investigation and personal, social interaction and awareness (Lubawy, 2010).Curriculum emphasizes to the teachers the need to give the children numeracy and literacy skills. The curriculum puts emphasis on the need for more attention placed on those students that have special needs as well as the attainment of functional numeracy and literacy. The curriculum directs attention to the needs that gifted children may be having Assessment has its roles in primary school early years as well. Assessment can be used to measure the strengths of the student in things like mathematics and language ability. Assessments can give a confirmation that a student believed to be gifted is reading beyond grade level. Assessment may also show that a given student has a gift that was not being seen. This can be used to justify the child being placed in a higher reading group (Walker 2007).Assessment can also be used to identify weaknesses. In primary school and especially in the early years a student may think she understands the material but may later find out through assessment that she falls below grading standards. This kind of testing could be very useful in elementary school where students still have the chance to catch up with the others. Students in year 5 may require some help in math skills or reading instead of facing bigger cognitive deficits when they move towards high school (Hattie, 2009). Assessment is also important for testing educational theories. When a test is well standardized it helps in the identification of pedagogical methods that can really work. The officials in a school may find out that those theories that had been previously about particular practices in education cannot work when applied to actual practice. This is important because it can help in the improvement of education in the lower primary grades as the teachers seek to adopt teaching methods that are more effective (Rodgers, & Raider-Roth, 2006). Assessment also helps to bring social promotion to an end. Social promotion is where children are promoted to the next grade when they are yet to master materials that are appropriate to their grades. Assessment provides proof that a student has not reached the time of advancing to the other grade and therefore more help should be given (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). Assessment testing that is standardized can assist school district officials to make decisions on where to channel the resources. Officials of the school may find out that the children are not reading at the level of the grade or have lagged behind in understanding mathematics. Consequently they may decide to begin an after school program that focuses on the weaknesses of the students or give bonuses to the teachers that can support the academic progress of the children. Assessment also identifies those aspects of curriculum that are okay and the ones that need change. It helps in assessing how effective the changes are and also demonstrates how effective the current program is. It meets review requirements for regular programs and satisfies professional accreditations (Churchill et al 2011). Relationship between curriculum and assessment Curriculum is a plan made to enable students to attain desired outcomes. On the other hand assessment is that process used to examine the progress of the children towards the same outcomes (Loughran, 2010). A curriculum serves a guideline for teaching but an assessment show how much teaching has been done. Both curriculum and assessment are done in schools. In these two settings both are carried out by the teachers and may be designed by the teachers or higher personnel in the education sector. Both curriculum and assessment can have relevant learning theories applied to them (Loughran, 2010). Constructivism theory in pre-school Constructivism is a process of learning that makes it possible for the students to get an experience of the environment first hand and in the process it gives the student trust worthy and reliable knowledge. The constructivism theory works in support of individual differences in the learning of children. Children are able to do an investigation into their environment and get appropriate ways for interacting and learning with the tools provided to them. The teacher gives support to the children through the provision of tools appropriate to different ages to explore while they remain behind the scenes although they still remain available for prompting or answering questions if any. By applying the constructivist approach in to children in the pre-school environment children will learn to solve problems and take responsibility and also work with others (Lubawy, 2010). The theory of constructivism applies to the pre-school setting through various ways. The teacher needs to create a visually and physically comfortable classroom. If the physical needs of children are unmet they cannot feel free to explore and learn. Children should be shown where the bathrooms are and when they will be served with snacks and lunch so that their attention can be focused on learning. The classroom needs to be made with engaging décor together with materials for learning that are easily accessible. However it must not be cluttered with a lot of information (Walker, 2007). In line with the constructivism theory, activities and lessons should be designed around the current interests and skills for children in pre-school. The activities planned must capture the interests of these children, provoke their curiosity and their interests to do experiments and help them as they interact with the rest of the students. Children can determine how they should develop skills via appropriate activities and processes of interaction with others (Elliot 2008). For example the teacher can observe the things that the children have enjoyed most in the lesson and where they showed the most success in their demonstration of their knowledge of the learned concept. Next the teacher can determine the activities that encourage interaction with peers such as teamwork projects so that future activities can be designed by use of this information. The teacher gives the students age appropriate materials for student manipulation. Simple manipulatives such as displaying numbers, letters and shapes are good for children in preschool. Blocks and other materials used for building make it possible for the children to look at possibilities as well as potential problems. These materials should allow the students to work without depending on anybody but they get a lot of opportunities for formulating questions and creating solutions (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, & Farmer 2012). Preschoolers are encouraged to apply the knowledge they have and be supported to think over other things that they would like to learn. The teacher asks the children those questions she knows they can get answers to. When they answer the questions they should be assisted to apply their knowledge to new concepts. For example if the children know that blocks have square shapes the teacher should ask them what more they understand about blocks (Rinaldi 2006).The teacher has to remain accessible to the students so that they can ask questions and also share ideas. She must be there for supervision incase of problems. The issue should not be ignored but children should be supported to think out ways of working out the conflict for themselves. The teacher involves the children in the creation of rules for the classroom (Osterman, 1990). Children are encouraged to raise their hands and call out certain behaviors that need and need not be displayed within the classroom. Children should be allowed to take responsibility, get involved in taking care of their classroom so that they can build cooperative and ownership. Appropriate behavior must be modeled all the time. Teachers need to encourage mistakes and acknowledge children verbally when they are wrong. They need to talk about the available options and assist them to get a different solution. This helps the children nurture problem solving skills (Marbina, Church, & Tayler 2010). Constructivism applied in primary school early years The constructivism theory applies to the early years of primary school since teachers follow it to teach their children. Based on this theory the teacher should encourage and embrace the initiative and autonomy among the students. Primary sources and raw data should be used added to interactive, physical and manipulative materials (Fleet, Patterson & Robertson 2006). Cognitive terminologies like ‘create,’ ‘analyze,’ ‘classify’ and predict should be used in assigning tasks. The teacher builds off and uses the responses of the students in decision making concerning the behaviors of teachers, activities strategies of instruction and the content being taught. The teacher should search out the understanding of the students and early experiences that students have on a certain concept before they are taught (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence 1999). The constructivism theory of learning requires that communication between the students and the teacher as well as between the students is encouraged. The teachers should encourage inquiry and critical thinking among the students by asking them open ended, thoughtful questions and also encourage them to question each other. After a student has given the first response, the teacher is to ask follow up questions so that the children can elaborate. Students are put in situations to challenge their conceptions and create contradictions that encourage contradiction. The teacher waits for long when he has asked a question to give children time for thinking through the answer and give a thoughtful response. Students should given enough time to come up with their own meaning after learning a new thing (Ashmna, & Elkins 2009). Conclusion In conclusion the paper has explored the role played by curriculum and assessment in the 3-5 year old Pre-school, and 5-8 Primary School early years settings. It has also examined the nature of the curriculum and assessment relationship in these settings, considering the similarities and differences between them. Finally it has explored how the relevant theory on curriculum and assessment apply to the two settings. Preschool and early primary curriculum and assessment are important to children since they give guidance to teachers on the type, quality and methods of teaching the students based on their current needs. References Ashmna, A. & Elkins, J. (2009). Education for Inclusion and Diversity. NSW: Pearson. (CH 1: pp. 4-31). Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S. & Farmer, S. (2012). Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings. (5th ed). Victoria: Thomson. Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Mackay, J., McGill, Curriculum. A play and project based philosophy. Victoria: ECER Press. (Ch 3) Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (1999). Beyond Quality in early Childhood education and Care. Philadelphia: Falmer Press. (Ch 7: pp.144-158). Elliot, S. (Ed.). (2008). The Outdoor Playspace Naturally: For Children Birth To Five. NSW: Pademelon Press. (Introduction) Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (1998). The Hundred Languages of Children, The Reggio Emilia Approach-Advanced Reflections. Greenwich, Connecticut: Ablex Publishing group. Fleet, A., Patterson, C. & Robertson, J. ( Eds.). (2006). Insights: Behind early childhood pedagogical documentation. NSW: Pademelon Press. (Ch 8: pp135-146)  Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-  Analyses relating to Achievement. New York: Routledge. (Ch 3: pp 22 -38)  Loughran, J. ( 2010). What Expert Teachers Do: Enhancing professional knowledge for classroom practice. NSW: Allen & Unwin. (Ch 3: pp. 36 -56). Lubawy, J. (2010). Planning for Provisions, Provocations and Possibilities: Working Within The Early Years Learning Frameworks. NSW: Joy and Pete Consulting. L. Church, A. & Tayler, C. (2010). Evidence Paper, Practice Principle: Reflective Practice. MacNaughton, G. & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for Teaching Young Children. NSW: Pearson Education. (Ch 1: pp. 2 -18). M., Moss, J., Nagel, M., Nicholson, P. & Vick, M. (2011). Teaching: Making a Difference. Queensland: John Wiley & Sons. (Ch 11: pp 336 - 372)  Osterman, K, F. (1990). Reflective Practice: A New Agenda for Education. Education and Urban Society, 22 (2) 133 - 152. Rinaldi, C. (2006). In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Oxon: Routledge. (Ch 4: pp. 61-73).  Rodgers, C & Raider-Roth, M. (2006). Presence in teaching. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice. 12, (3), 265-287. Walker, K. (2007). Play Matters: Engaging Children in Learning: The Australian Development. Read More