Considering what constitutes effective curriculum design and delivery for our youngest learners is not new.
In fact, it has been an ongoing debate since the emergence of early childhood care and education in the late 18th century. This indicates it’s not easy. Like magicians, we need to take time to plan out what we are doing, and work with others to make it look effortless in its implementation.
At HFL Education we describe a step-by-step approach to curriculum design; one that involves everyone working directly with children in your setting, so that the journey is developed and implemented to meet their unique needs and is inspiring and ambitious, making learning magical and exciting in meaningful contexts.
Developing an outstanding curriculum journey for children as they move through your setting should reflect the ambitions you have for them by the time they leave, so that they are ready for that step into the next stage of their education.
Importantly, the experiences encountered along the way should have developed each child’s enthusiasm for learning, a love of reading and an inquisitive mind.
Bearing in mind what you know about the children in your setting, your curriculum should include a clear rationale for what you intend to teach and how this will help all children, regardless of circumstance or background, to reach their potential.
It is important to remember that curriculum is not the pedagogy. It is defined by the aims of a programme of knowledge, skills, and concepts that children need to gain at each stage of their journey through education and development.
To have any meaning within your setting, the curriculum design should be viewed as a process that is carried out by the whole team, including the children, parents, carers, and the wider community.
Whilst a lot of this may be documented so that it can be referred to, it also needs to be responsive to the ever-changing needs of the unique child and children in your changing cohorts.
It should be reviewed and adapted throughout the year, and especially when taking in a new cohort.
You should take time to consider your setting’s vision and values for young children. Gather the views of a range of stakeholders. I wonder if you know what the families you serve want for their children. What matters to them?
Think about the make up of your local community. It is easy to assume that every child has the same access to local amenities or to wider life experiences, but that is not always the case.
It is imperative that you consider how to build learning experiences into the curriculum that ensure equity in developing children’s knowledge about the wider world. The discussions you have with your team, and information gathered from other stakeholders, will help to form the foundations for your curriculum design.
Play is highly regarded as an effective vehicle through which young children can practise, rehearse, and acquire new knowledge and skills. Establishing the right balance between child-led play and adult directed playful activities is a matter for you and your team to decide.
The important factors here are that there is a clear understanding about what is required to be taught, and that individual children’s needs are understood by everyone working with them.
When the content of the curriculum is clear, adults will be better equipped to plan discrete teaching sessions and can ensure that there are opportunities that evoke curiosity and exploration in the physical environment, inviting learning across the curriculum.
Adult planned sequential learning should have clear starting and end points, with highly scaffolded steps to ensure all children make progress in relation to specific knowledge and skills.
As you construct your curriculum, finding out what children can do and identifying how you can help them learn and remember more, it will become clear that assessment and pedagogy must be woven in throughout.
Curriculum design and delivery cannot be considered in isolation from these two aspects of practice – and it’s also worth remembering that the learning environment can act as the ‘third teacher’ (parents or carers being the first, and early years educators the second) in the implementation process.
Social media is abundant with images of inviting activity zones. These are circulated because it is common practice to design the environment with great thought and care, focusing on children’s interests, development stages and next learning needs.
Of course, we all want to create an exciting and thrilling place to learn – however, whilst this is important, it must be accompanied by careful planning about the learning sequences you have identified as being important to the children in your group, class, or year group.
Effective curriculum implementation through self-initiated play should have sensitive adults guiding and supporting learning, teaching, and giving children opportunities to rehearse, consolidate and apply the knowledge and skills they have been taught in contexts meaningful to them.
There will also be aspects of the curriculum that can be presented as opportunities in the environment that serve to help children accumulate knowledge that will support their cognitive development for future teaching - for example, handling and talking about a range of natural and manmade items, beginning to learn the names of these, and appreciating how they feel and their features.
When seized upon, these moments will stand children in good stead for the Key Stage 1 curriculum. But if they are missed, there is a risk of exacerbating gaps in learning and development.
Whilst many of you may already have documented learning sequences in place for maths, phonics or PSHE, it is worth taking time to review these. Do they provide everything your children need to make the best progress in their learning across the breadth of the educational programmes?
Do they consider the demography of your group or class? What other knowledge and skills do you need to teach, and how can you make sure that everyone working with the children understands and knows these?
There is no prescribed or preferred way of developing learning sequences. Initially, most of us will combine the skills and knowledge we want children to learn with our understanding of the stages of development appropriate for their year group.
However, it is important to remember that the curriculum to which all children are entitled is much broader than the snapshot statements and skeleton overviews in the statutory requirements.
These should only serve to provide a scaffold for you to build your own curriculum around, once you have established the intended ambitions for the children. That way, you can make it truly enriching, meaningful and magical journey for everyone.
A straightforward way of thinking about the complexity of curriculum design is to break it down into some essential parts:
● Subject sequences underpinned by the statutory framework for the EYFS
● Other sequences such as self-help skills
● Life or annual events such as festivals or different cultural celebrations
These are tangible and can be systematically taught to children in ways and at times that are developmentally appropriate to them.
The components of your curriculum must be underpinned by the educational programmes set out in the learning and development requirements of the EYFS statutory framework, as well as a sound knowledge of child development.
Mireille MacRaild is Education Services Director - Early Years, at HFL Education.
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