Contemporary Perspectives of Learning and Development for Early Childhood Essay Help

Assessment overview 

This assessment requires you to draw on your learning in relation to 'images of childhood' and contemporary approaches to early childhood education and respond to a statement in the form of an expository essay.

This task is assessing your ability to demonstrate that you meet the following unit learning outcomes:

1. Identify and compare key perspectives that have contributed to current approaches to early childhood education.
2. Consider the construct of the image of the child and its impact on early childhood education.
3. Reflect upon contemporary constructs of the child as competent and capable and predict the implications for practice.

Assessment details

You are required to write a 2000 word expository essay in response to the following statement:

'… our image of the child is rich in potential, strong, powerful, competent and most of all, connected to adults and other children.'

Loris Malaguzzi (as cited in Dahlberg, Moss and Pence, 2007, p. 48)

Answer

People have different views and images of childhood. Since the old days, there have been different ways in which the society has dealt with the construct of childhood. The early childhood educational and the societal practices form the original foundation of the images of childhood. Tutors, as well as parents, have to make it their responsibility to understand childhood to avoid false judgments. Constructions of childhood are different depending on the society and the origin of the construct. The development of childhood is influenced and shaped by both the cultural and social experiences.  Different theories and perspectives have been developed with the aim of understanding the view of childhood at a deeper depth. Social-cultural constructions of childhood entail divergent theories built on the early childhood education perspective. Despite being developed by different theorists, these theories have their similarities as well as differences.  According to Loris Malaguzzi, "...our image of the child is rich in potential, strong, powerful, competent, and most of all, connected to adults and other kids." The................................