What are the pros and cons to using a curriculum? Why is it important that teachers use some type of curriculum? How could this benefits students who move around a lot?

What are the pros and cons to using a curriculum? Why is it important that teachers use some type of curriculum? How could this benefits students who move around a lot?

Curriculum refers to an engagingsystem of learning with specific development goals to ensuresuccessful transfer of knowledge, skills, and attitudes tochildren. The advantage of using a curriculum is that it has guidelines that make it easier to know what needs to be taught at different stages of learning. An example from the text isthe curriculum for infants which is highly individualized and focuses on building relationships and learning languages. Another advantage of using acurriculum isthat it focuses on basic skills, interests and needs of children. An example is an integrated curriculum that covers various learning goals in a limited time and makes connections between skills and knowledge (Bredekamp, 2017). On the other hand, there are arguments against theuse of curriculum in schools. The curriculum may not be appropriate for all children due to cultural differences and those with learning difficulties as seen from the text. This is because the curriculum focuses on societal needs instead of individualneeds. In addition to that, the use of curriculum limits the freedom of teachers and students. This is because there is need to cover all the learning areaswithin a specified time.Teachers expertise is underestimated when supervisors do not allow them to make changes to the existing curriculum to suit student’s needs.

According to Bredekamp (2017), the role of a teacher is to plan and implement a curriculum that will meet the interests and needs of children. Teachers should use a certain type of curriculum to enable them to focus on attaining teachings for individual children’s needs, interests, and abilities.An example of such a curriculum is the emergent curriculum which is based on children’s interests anda published curriculum with teachers guide to act as a reference on how to use learning paths (Bredekamp, 2017). Teachers must, therefore, adapt their teaching to suit individual needs. Students who move around a lot benefit from having a curriculum in place due to the standardization and uniformity in studies. This means that even if they were to move around, they would benefit from the same inclusive and culturally responsive curriculum. As a result, their development needs will always be accommodated.

Reference

Bredekamp, S. (2017). Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Reference

Bredekamp, S. (2019). Effective practices in early childhood education: building a foundation. NY, NY: Pearson