Department of Education, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
ED50309 Early childhood education and learning |
| Credits: 12 |
| Level: Masters |
| Modular: no specific semester |
| Assessment: CW 100% |
| Requisites: |
|
Aims:
* To enable deeper understandings of teaching and learning in early years education; * To enable engagement with current debates and issues relevant to early years education; * To allow early years educators to develop skills for assessing the quality of and effective practice within early years settings. Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, students will be able to * Demonstrate understanding informed by research, theory and professional experience of the foundations of learning in the early years; * Critically analyse issues concerned with quality, curriculum and assessment in the early years. Skills: * Critically engaging with literature (T/F/A) * Analysing and interpret findings (T/F/A) * Identifying and categorising concepts (T/F/A) * Developing a logical argument (F/A) Key Skills 1. Make critical use of the literature of the field of Education (T/F/A). 2. Make critical use of professional experience in the field of Education (T/F/A). 4. Analyse, interpret and critique findings and arguments (T/F/A). 9. Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems (T/F). 10. Evaluate research and variety of types of information and evidence critically, also making informed judgements in the absence of complete data (T/F/A) 12. Contribute to professional debate in the field of education (F). 13. Act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional level (F). 14. Communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences (T/F). 15. Evaluate their own academic and professional performance (T/F/A). 16. Manage change effectively and respond to changing demands (F). 17. Manage time, prioritise workloads and recognise and manage personal emotions and stress (F). 18. Develop new or higher level skill, for example in information technology (T/F/A). Content: In order to achieve the aims of this unit, students will be supported in learning how to critically engage with relevant literature and use it to critically examine teaching and learning in the early years, addressing issues such as: * Quality in early years education and how to evaluate it * Curriculum in the early years * Play and learning * Assessment in the early years * Literacy development. |