| CODE | EPE1019 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | An Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Early Childhood and Primary Education | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit offers an opportunity for students to understand the emergent curriculum as a means to take up a standardised curriculum to enliven and energise learning in a Maltese primary classroom. The students will have the opportunity to draw out their inner image of the child and challenge any internalised assumptions or traditional ways of thinking about how children learn and curricula. The progressive philosophies underpinning the emergent curriculum and the definitions of key terms used by all stakeholders following curricular changes in the Maltese education system will be examined and contextualised. Also, the students will systematically explore how to plan in response to children’s ideas, questions, interests and understanding to allow the curriculum to expand into genuine inquiry. This meaningful process will support students to deepen their commitment to democratic, rights-based and socially-just pedagogies in the primary classroom where adults and children become participatory co-learners, researchers and co-constructors of knowledge. Practices - including observation, planning and assessment - will be explained through exemplary teaching practices to gain a rich insight into how the emergent curriculum begins and is sustained in the face of standardised curricula. Students will unpack several case studies to create new understandings of how educators move away from a fragmented linear approach to integrated, inquiry and arts-based curricular practices and the successes and challenges they encounter. The study-unit delves into how the project approach may serve as a tool to implement an emergent inquiry curriculum in the primary classroom. Study-unit Aims: (i) To equip students with the values, knowledge and skills required to implement an emergent curriculum as a means to take up a standardised curriculum to enliven and energise learning in a Maltese primary classroom; (ii) To serve as a lens for students to slow down and look closer at how the emergent curriculum may assist them in their practice to promote integrated, participatory, inquiry and arts-based curricular approaches; (iii) To make students aware of the complex and dynamic role of the professional educator who constantly needs to find the right balance between multiple layers of knowledge: the theoretical knowledge about how children and childhood are perceived; the pedagogical knowledge underpinning the emergent curriculum; and expertise - the content knowledge - in the different areas of learning. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Demonstrate an awareness of building strong images of children and how this connects to the implementation of an emergent curriculum in the primary classroom; - Discuss differences between uncovering learning vs covering content in the primary classroom; - Compare several theories that underpin an emergent curriculum approach; - Recognise that the child and the educator are co-constructors of knowledge and culture; - Examine the features of the emergent curriculum and how it may serve as a means to enliven a standardised curriculum in the primary classroom; - Investigate the synergy required between observation, planning, assessment and reflection practices to implement an emergent curriculum successfully. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Make connections between the philosophies underpinning the emergent curriculum and practice to implement a standardised curriculum in ways that promote meaningful learning in the primary classroom; - Investigate alongside children to collaborate with them while learning together; - Actively listen, talk and sustain children’s thinking during observations, meaningful interactions and dialogues; - Develop genuine curiosity about children and their play, interests, cognitive knots, ideas and wonders why, and questions his/her practice; - Validate and respect children’s interests and bring experience and expertise to the situation; - Research and make use of concept maps to extend children’s thinking and learning in project work; - Allow time to be keen observers to identify and build the curriculum on children’s interests, ideas, questions and theoires; - Assess for learning by (i) noticing children’s learning (ii) recognise what is significant about the captured learning and (iii) respond in ways that foster further learning; - Design planning that merges children's interests, ideas, questions and understandings with the standardised curriculum in a primary classroom; - Use project-based learning as a tool to implement the emergent curriculum in the primary classroom; - Develop aesthetic learning environments that act as the third teacher and stimulate inquiry, curiosity and investigation, where time, space and relationships are valued; - Willingly engage in practice that reflects a teaching for learning position, identify gaps in his/her understanding, plan and revisit a course of change to support children’s holistic learning and development; - Be an advocate of children's rights by taking on the role of a pedagogical leader who embraces the emergent curriculum in a primary classroom. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Stacey, S. (2009). Emergent Curriculum in early childhood settings: from theory to practice. St. Paul: Redleaf Press. - Rinaldi, C. (2006). In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning. Oxon: Routledge. - Chaille’ C. (2008). Constructivism across the Curriculum in early Childhood Classroom: Big Ideas as Inspiration. Boston: Pearson. - Helm, J. H. & Katz, L. (2010) Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years (2nd Ed.). New York: Teachers College. - Kashin, D. (2011). From theme-based to emergent curriculum: Four teachers change and learn about themselves, the children, and authentic practice. Curriculum Exchange, 45 - 48. Supplementary Reading: - Bonello, C., Camilleri, R., & Attard, C. (2022). The Emergent Curriculum 'Marries' eTwinning in the Early Years: A Rediscovery of Froebel's Kindergarten through One Transformative Learning Experience in 21st Century Malta. Curriculum and Teaching, 37 (2), 15-38. - Chard, S.C. (1994). The Project Approach: Managing successful Projects (Book 2). New York: Scholastic Inc. - Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (u.d.) Section 3: The Project Approach on the Web. Methodology in Activity: Two Examples of Long-term Projects. Retrieved on 14th October, 2012, Available from http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/books/projcat3/section3.html - Jones, E. (2012). The Emergence of Emergent Curriculum. Young Children. 66 – 68. Available from http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201203/Heritage_v67n2_0312.pdf - Mulqueen, M. (u.d.). Louise Boyd Cadwell and the Reggio-Inspired Approach to Education. Available from: http://www.i-edu.org/Articles/Reggio-Approach.pdf - The Project Approach (2011-2013). Available from http://www.projectapproach.org/ - Schwartz, S. L., & Copeland, S. M. (2010). Connecting Emergent Curriculum and Standards in the Early Childhood Classroom: Strengthening Content, and Teaching Practice. Columbia: Teachers College. - Stacey, S. (2011). The Unscripted Classroom: Emergent Curriculum in Action. St Paul: Redleaf Press. - Wien, C. A. (u.d.). Emergent Curriculum. Connections 10(1), Available from http://tachedaycare.com/Articles/Emergent%20Curriculum.pdf - Wien, C.A. (2008). Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia Approach in Schools. London: Teachers College Press. Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G.E. (eds.) (2011). The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia experience in transformation. California: Greenwood Press. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Charmaine Bonello |
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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