Contemporary Perspectives of Learning and Development for Early Childhood

In this unit pre-service teachers focus on traditional and contemporary approaches and perspectives in early childhood education, professional understandings about children and key cultural-historical issues affecting children and their families.
This provides them with the opportunity to acquire knowledge of diverse traditional and contemporary philosophical and pedagogical perspectives relevant to the early childhood profession (birth to eight years of age) and the capacity to use this knowledge to inform their professional judgments.

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
1. Identify and compare key perspectives that have contributed to current approaches to early childhood education.(birth to eight years of age)
2. Describe and compare the constructions of childhood across different cultural and historical contexts and explain how this impacts upon early childhood education (birth to eight years of age)
3. Reflect upon how the contemporary construct of the child as competent and capable has impacted upon current practice, policy and curriculum.
4. Consider teaching practice in light of past and present perspectives about children, childhood and education.