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What is Your Philosophy
January 2, 2009
The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do, well.
-Henry W. Longfellow
-Henry W. Longfellow
The January/February of 1997 issue of Exchange spotlighted the Mia-Mia Child and Family Study Centre at Macquarie University and its director, Wendy Shepherd. Mia-Mia has an extremely well thought out curriculum philosophy. Its principles and practices, designed to promote children's social, emotional, cognitive, physical and aesthetic, development include...
- valuing the child as an individual within the context of its family and community;
- recognising the integrative nature of children's play as it affects learning in such curriculum areas as math, science, language, literacy and the creative and expressive arts;
- acknowledging and supporting children's individual learning styles;
- valuing the arts as symbol systems through which children make meaning, and make sense of themselves and their world;
- providing opportunities for discovery learning through self-selected activities, and encouraging the development of children's abilities to observe, perceive, explore, investigate, imagine and problem solve;
- valuing daily routines such as eating, toileting, dressing and resting as opportunities for learning and social development, therefore ensuring these times are engaging and stimulating;
- respecting the needs and rights of children to make choices and decisions by empowering them to take responsibility for the functioning of parts of the day's routines as well as the care of their environment and materials;
- recognising the need for children to practice skills and consolidate their learning by providing opportunities for repetition of experiences and extension of their ideas;
- designing and establishing an enriched environment that stimulates the imagination, promotes creativity and enhances aesthetic development throughout the day;
- valuing and supporting staff in their work with children and families and in their own professional development.
Following the outlining of these principles, the Mia-Mia parent handbook concludes:
Underlying these principles and practices is the understanding of the need to promote children's independence as well as the ability to work co-operatively with peers and adults in small and large group experiences within a climate free of cultural or gender bias.
Resources in Developing a Center Philosophy
Jim Greenman's book, Places for Childhoods: Making Quality Happen in the Real World, provides readers with perspectives on many of the issues and challenges in providing care to children in groups. It raises questions that help a center refine its own goals and objectives.
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ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsLone Pine, CA, United States
I loved this very comprehensive look at the underpinnings of why we do what we do. I made it immediately into an assignment for my occupational child care class to respond to how designing lesson plans (our current topic) should reflect our philosophies. Great reminder for the new year of what motivates us to have great programs.
Parkersburg, WV, United States
Once again the author of this and other guidelines only look at the "limited space" setting of a center and totally ignore/do not mention the development of physical movement. Let's remember the teachings of Piaget, which state higher order thinking skills are rooted in the development of fundamental movement skills. Yes, sensory-motor-perceptual development in a sedentary society is the a major problem which is being observed as childhood obesity increases in America today. Movement comes prior to cognitive development and it continues to be left out of the development of the WHOLE CHILD in regards to emotional social IQ; cognitive development; and no physical development of sensory motor contributes to limited development of children. Dynamic systems is real with the mover-task-environment developing the sensory-motor-percetual domains integrated as the whole child.
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