Professional Philosophy In Teaching

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My teaching philosophy has been greatly influenced by the early childhood teacher who positively enriched my children’s lives. This further influenced my career choices and my view on young children and teaching. A career in early childhood education is a rewarding career as it equips, shapes and empowers the up and coming generations. Early childhood education is crucial for brain, physical, cognitive and language development. According to Berk, (2006), Synapses that are formed during the first two years of life are a major milestone of brain development and especially in the auditory, visual and language areas of the cerebral cortex. Piaget also stated that children undergo most obvious changes and an extra ordinary increase in mental representation at the pre-operational stage (Berk, 2006).

This philosophy statement will examine my ever changing philosophy on documentation, assessment, planning and teaching young children. The Early Years Learning Framework principles which “underpin practice that is focused on assisting all children to make progress in relation to the Learning Outcomes” (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, (DEEWR), p.13, 2009). will be used as a guide to ensure that children’s lives are enriched and extended through Being, Belonging and Becoming.

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I believe in supporting children to develop a strong physical, social and emotional sense of wellbeing. This is accomplished by establishing “secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships” (DEEWR, 2009, p. 13). A secure relationship builds children’s confidence, further encouraging them to try new things and express themselves. Bowlby’s attachment theory informs our understanding on how early relationships by early childhood practitioners influence children’s later physiological development (Rolfe, 2004). Rolfe, (2004) also states that when early childhood professionals provide warm and secure attachments, it provides children with a foundation where they can explore and take risks. When early childhood professionals maintain respectful relationships, and responsively engage with children and their families they get insight to each child’s interest abilities and experiences (Cohrsen, Church & Tayler, 2011). Respectful relationships between the educator and the child actively supports children’s learning e.g the rate a quality of language development, and promotes child’s self regulation and identity (Cohrsen, Church & Tayler, 2011). Educators knowledge in each child enables them to provide the right level of challenge which might be above what the child can manage on their own which enables the educators to engage in the child’s zone of proximal development to support and extend each child’s learning (Vygotsky, 1978). Sustained shared thinking involves the educator knowing the child’s interests and this is done through building secure relationships. This has also been linked to improved cognitive outcomes (Siraj-Blatchford, Taggart, Sylva, Sammons & Melhuish, 2008). In order to build successful relationships educators need to work together with the child their families and also the community.

Building partnerships with the child, family and the community ensures that the learning outcomes are most likely to be achieved (Quality Area 6 – Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities, 2019). The National Quality Standard 6.1 and 6.2 states that educators need to put in effort to form a collaborative partnership with families which goes beyond the traditional ways. Educators also need to respect families, their beliefs and values and their way of parenting (ACECQA, 2011). I believe when there is a strong mutual relationship between the educator, the child and their family enables them to work towards a common goal which is in the best interest of the child. Children’s learning should be made visible to the child and their family through documentation. Photographs accompanied by professional scripts make it easier for parents to understand what learning is happening. The Early Years Learning Framework is used to guide educators to ensure that they provide “young children with opportunities to maximise their learning potential and to establish the fundamental basis for future success in learning” (early childhood resource hub”, 2019). Family engagement is crucial to providing an ongoing assessment on the child, sharing information effectively is key to this relationship. Information families provided can be used for planning the program to best suit the child. Recognising that parents are experts on their child and are knowledgeable participants in decision making as you observe them gives the parents a sense of competence (Ayoub et al., 2019). These assessments results should be shared with parents.

Under the human rights treaties, education is a must to every child without discrimination, it should meet changing needs of each individual child (Sidoti, 2019). Therefor the curriculum should promote inclusion and participation by all children (DEEWR, 2009). I believe in holding high expectations for children’s achievement in learning but also understand that there can be barriers that some children experience therefor it is essential to ensure that the curriculum is planned in a way that it promotes inclusion and participation by all children regardless of their circumstances and abilities. Providing experiences that are engaging, accessible and interesting shows that educators have “high expectation and equity” (DEEWR, p. 13). This builds confidents and the child’s self esteem which therefore increases his/her willingness to tackle challenging things in the future. The Early Years Learning Framework, states that “Children progress well when, their parents and educators hold high expectations for their achievement in learning” (DEEWR, p,13. 2009). Showing children’s strengths and individual abilities through various documentations ensures that every child experiences success in their development and learning. Younger children learn differently from older children educators need to ensure that they tailor their assessments to each child’s capability. When planning for children’s learning having high expectations ensures that educators provide a balance of challenge and opportunity for success, this can be achieved by ensuring that the materials, equipment and experiences offered should provide the children with choices (Stonehouse, 2019). High expectations when teaching children, involves finding out children’s strength and building on them and using them to support new learning (Stonehouse, 2019). Critical reflection by educators on their image of the child ensures that they are well aware of where they stand on issues such as discrimination, power and disadvantaged children (Saffigna, Church & Tayler, 2019) through this reflection, educators can then change their attitude which will further improve the kind of support they provide to the children.

The founder of Reggio Emilia, Lorris Malaguzzi greatly emphasised on the image of the child, he viewed children as capable co constructors of their learning and educators as co-learners. Dewey’s theory which influenced Lorris Malaguzzi believed that human’s learn through hands on approach (John Dewey on Education: Impact & Theory, 2019). This means that children must interact with the environment in order to learn. I believe that play based learning offers children an environment where they can explore and discover through inquiry, analysing, problem solving, creativity and also transferring knowledge from one context to another (DEEWR, 2009). Play based learning offers children the ability to engage in higher order thinking as they are able to concentrate and master their play. Educators support children’s learning buy guiding their interactions as they engage in play, this further develops their social skills, cooperation and conflict resolution.

I believe that educators need to engage in professional development so that they are able to improve their skills which in beneficial to children learning as they are able to gain new knowledge and effective practices which can be applied to daily challenges. The Early Years Learning Framework states that when educators seek ways to build on their professional knowledge they “become co-learners with children, families and community, and value the continuity and richness of local knowledge shared by community members, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders” (DEEWR, p. 14, 2009).

References

  1. Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) (2011). Guide to the National Quality Standard. Sydney, NSW: ACECQA.Berk, L. (2006). (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education/Allyn & Bacon.
  2. Ayoub, C., Hornstein, J., Lopez, E., Sparrow, J., Stark, D., & Weiss, H. (2019). Family Engagement and Ongoing Child Assessment. Retrieved 9 November 2019, from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/family-engagement-ongoing- child-assessment-eng.pdf
  3. Cohrssen, C., Church, A., & Tayler, C. (2011). Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Melbourne.
  4. John Dewey on Education: Impact & Theory. (2019). Retrieved 10 November 2019, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/john-dewey-on-education-impact-theory.html
  5. Rolfe, S. (2004). Rethinking attachment in early childhood practice. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.
  6. Saffigna, M., Church, A., & Tayler, C. (2019). high expectations for every child. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/ providers/edcare/highexpect.pdf
  7. Sidoti, C. (2019). Access to education: a human right for every child: (2000) | Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 9 November 2019, from https:// www.humanrights.gov.au/about/news/speeches/access-education-human-right- every-child-2000
  8. Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B., Sylva, K., Sammons, P., & Melhuish, E. (2008). Towards the transformation of practice in early childhood education: the effective provision of pre-school education (EPPE) project. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38(1), 23 – 36.
  9. Stonehouse, A. (2019). high expectations for children. Retrieved 6 November 2019, from https://www.cccinc.org.au/docs/article_high-expectations-for-children.pdf
  10. Quality Area 6 – Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities. (2019). Retrieved 1 November 2019, from https://www.ecrh.edu.au/national-quality- standard/quality-area-6-collaborative-partnerships-with-families-and-communities#/
  11. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.    

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