Wood, E. and Hedges, H. (2016) Curriculum in early childhood education: critical questions about content, coherence, and control. The Curriculum Journal, 27 (3). pp. 387-405. ISSN 0958-5176
Abstract
A continuing struggle over curriculum in early childhood education is evident in contemporary research and debate at national and international levels. This reflects the dominant influence of developmental psychology in international discourses, and in policy frameworks that determine approaches to curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Focusing on early childhood education, we argue that this struggle generates critical questions about three significant themes within curriculum theory: content, coherence, and control. We outline two positions from which these themes can be understood: Developmental and Educational Psychology and contemporary policy frameworks. We argue that within and between these positions, curriculum content, coherence, and control are viewed in different and sometimes oppositional ways. Following this analysis, we propose that a focus on ‘working theories’ as a third position offers possibilities for addressing some of these continuing struggles, by exploring different implications for how content, coherence, and control might be understood. We conclude that asking critical questions of curriculum in early childhood education is a necessary endeavour to develop alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the ways in which curriculum can be considered alongside pedagogy, assessment, play, and learning.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 British Educational Research Association. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in The Curriculum Journal. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Early childhood education; curriculum; developmental psychology; policy; working theories; play; pedagogy; school readiness |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Education (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Mar 2016 16:44 |
Last Modified: | 10 Aug 2017 10:58 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2015.1129981 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/09585176.2015.1129981 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:96875 |