Include strategies Essay

Plan, implement and evaluate at least three activities for children in the foundation stage. You should ensure that across the three plans there are learning goals from each of the 6 areas of learning. Your plans should include strategies for differentiation.  Claire Field  Preston College  Introduction  The purpose of this work is to review the nature and content of the foundation stage curriculum and to consider the theoretical underpinning and underlying principles that have assisted in the formation of this early years practice. Through the planning and implementation of three activities, spanning the full spectrum of the foundation stage curriculum, the writer aims to identify and meet the needs of foundation stage children. This work will then evaluate the provisions for these children and investigate further the ways in which differentiation strategies can be implemented to ensure all children, regardless of their abilities, or stage of development, may receive the curriculum, delivered in a style appropriate to them and their own personal requirements. In 1988 the Conservative government, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, legislated that a National Curriculum be in force for pupils between the ages of 5 and 16, because she believed that  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœa good educational system was essential for the future  success of the nation’ (Ridley, 1992, p92)  Although a curriculum was in place for ages 5 to 16, there was a distinct lack of standardised learning for the early years. Margaret Hodge joined the Department for Education in 1998 and was responsible for reforming pre-school education policy (www.news.bbc.co.uk 12/10/2006). She was actively involved in the implementation of the Foundation Stage Curriculum in September 2000 and the publishing of the guidance to accompany this. The abilities of children are multifaceted and the foundation stage curriculum gives practitioners a much less rigid approach than the National Curriculum, by following the children’s progress using stepping stones. As the foundation stage curriculum is a government legislated policy, this means that all children should follow it. As it is flexible in the way in which it is implemented, it means that different types of settings can fashion the teaching methods to follow it in their own way. This means that whether a child attends a pre-school, an LEA nursery, a work-based nursery, or indeed a childminder, they are provided with the same curriculum. This is governed by Ofsted who maintain this proviso through their regular inspections. Good planning is essential in ensuring that all the practitioners involved can build a picture of the children’s development programme. Not only does it provide them with a premeditated programme of learning, but it also gives an opportunity for discussion to take place, where they can think about how they can progress children through the various stages of learning. For the practitioner to ensure all areas of the curriculum are covered, the planning must,  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœentail attention to overall (long-term) planning, medium  and short-term planning†¦for every aspect of every  lesson’ (Cohen et al, 2004, p125) Long term planning ensures that all the areas and aspects of learning within the curriculum are covered throughout the whole year and provides a template for the medium term planning. Correct use of the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, together with the knowledge of the practitioners relating to the individual children, means that the children experience new and exciting ways to learn through play. The long term plans of the settings must be flexible. They should incorporate the schools ethos and provide for an enriched curriculum with scope for differentiation to allow inclusion. Medium term planning then identifies the specific topics of work to be covered over the term, or half term. From these the practitioner then sets out the weekly activity plans, to guarantee full coverage of the learning outcomes within the set topics. It is vital that the plans cover the whole of the six areas of learning and that the practitioner assesses the progress of the children, in order to make certain that they are all progressing to the best of their capabilities. Recording achievements as stepping stones enables early years practitioners’ to carry out assessments whilst the children are involved in activities, thus preventing the child having any knowledge that an appraisal of their skills and understandings is being undertaken. Planning and evaluating the success criteria of an activity allows the practitioner to be certain that every area of the curriculum is covered. Piaget introduced three principles of cognitive development and these apply to all of the subjects studied in this report. His first principle is assimilation. He says that children do not absorb all the information they encounter. They actively engage in the assimilation process and learn what is relevant to them at their stage of development. The schema stage is next. During this phase the children relate what they know already to their current situation. The third phase is where the child wishes to seek stability cognitively. He utilises the knowledge gained and applies it to make a general logical picture (Oakley, 2004). From this it is clear to see how the children gain the learning and knowledge applicable to them by interpreting activities in their own way.