The programme goals that determine the ECE curriculum and teaching strategies are based on the programme philosophy. The specific goals for each child and each group grow out of the programme goals that are based on the philosophy. The two major questions to be answered in connection with programme philosophy are:
Who decides the philosophy? Usually the director decides the philosophy or else when the planners have very specific ideas about programme philosophy, they hire a director who can operate within the philosophical framework. The programme philosophy must reflect the values, beliefs and needs of the director, programme planners and the families who participate in the programme. However the administrators should hold to the philosophy, theories and the rationale that will guide their particular programme.
What is the basis for deciding the philosophy? When programmes are planned and implemented, the curriculum content and teaching strategies reflect a philosophy that it is based on:
Assumptions about how children learn: In the broadest terms, assumptions about how children learn fall into three major categories; environmental, maturational and interactional.
The environmental factor assumes that the child’s learning is dependent on the extrinsic motivators like tokens, compliments, smiles, gold stars which have theoretical basis of Thorndike, Watson and Skinner.
The maturational perspective assumes that there is an internal driving force that leads to the emergence of cognitive and affective system which in turn determines the child’s readiness for the mastery of developmental tasks. Mastery of the task itself is rewarding so that reinforcement is based on intrinsic satisfaction derived from accomplishment and the mastery of the task. The theorists who are associated with maturational perspective are Freud and Gessel.
The interaction perspective assumes that the learning results from the dynamic interaction between the emerging cognitive and affective systems and the environment. The child is intrinsically motivated to select appropriately from the environment but the adult is responsible for preparing the environment, for interesting and timely appropriate questions and ideas to alert the child to learning opportunities in each situation .The adult facilitates the development of intellectual competence. Most recently the impetus for the interaction approach has come from Piaget.
Values of the programme planners and the families involved
The programme philosophy is influenced by the priorities of parents and programme planners set for the children.
When most administrators are questioned, they would state that they value the optimum development of the whole i.e the social, emotional, physical and intellectual development of children.
However, when the philosophy of the ongoing programme is carefully scrutinized and analyzed the priorities indeed exist favoring the child’s intellectual development and the child’s socio emotional development.
Views of the planners regarding some basic issues in education.
A number of basic issues in education are implied to the philosophy.
One of the issues is the content versus process issue which is sometimes interpreted as school orientation versus human orientation.
Those who believe in content / school orientation support the notion that the goal of education is to provide children with content which enables them to succeed in school. Their focus is on preparation for the next step in school and achievement is evaluated by relating each child’s progress to norms or grade level.
Participants