Teaching Assistant
Course: Foundation Degree in Children’s Learning and Development
Module: Teaching Assistants
The beginning of the Victorian age education had no relevance, with children forced into employment. The 1870 Education Act came into force establishing free education for all children, regardless of wealth, religion or status. The 1944 Education Act instigated the school leaving age to rise to fifteen years, providing mass secondary education in addition to primary. Development in the 1950’s and 1960’s led to a rise in economic prosperity which funded greatly the education system. The Plowden report 1967 looked at educational experiences from nursery to the end of primary education. It focused on the relationship between poverty and educational attainment and recommended that resources should be directed appropriately into disadvantaged areas.
The National Curriculum was devised in 1976 by James Callaghan with the emphasis around core subjects English, Mathematics and Science. The year 2000 saw the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, later to be replaced by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), this to give sound foundations in play and learning for the under fives and establishing individual goals for children to progress to the National Curriculum. Kerr (1976) states the curriculum as “all the learning guided by the school” (quoted in Kelly 1983:10). The curriculum is to be redesigned with essential aims for life as well as learning. It is to incorporate six areas of learning as well as religious education. Its aim is to enable children to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens with such change becoming statutory in 2011. With reference to Bobbitt (1918) the theory linked to the curriculum stated “Education prepares for life” (1918:42) this giving a focus within the new curriculum.
At birth a child has most of the brain cells needed for later life. Through positive interaction from adult
Module: Teaching Assistants
The beginning of the Victorian age education had no relevance, with children forced into employment. The 1870 Education Act came into force establishing free education for all children, regardless of wealth, religion or status. The 1944 Education Act instigated the school leaving age to rise to fifteen years, providing mass secondary education in addition to primary. Development in the 1950’s and 1960’s led to a rise in economic prosperity which funded greatly the education system. The Plowden report 1967 looked at educational experiences from nursery to the end of primary education. It focused on the relationship between poverty and educational attainment and recommended that resources should be directed appropriately into disadvantaged areas.
The National Curriculum was devised in 1976 by James Callaghan with the emphasis around core subjects English, Mathematics and Science. The year 2000 saw the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, later to be replaced by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), this to give sound foundations in play and learning for the under fives and establishing individual goals for children to progress to the National Curriculum. Kerr (1976) states the curriculum as “all the learning guided by the school” (quoted in Kelly 1983:10). The curriculum is to be redesigned with essential aims for life as well as learning. It is to incorporate six areas of learning as well as religious education. Its aim is to enable children to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens with such change becoming statutory in 2011. With reference to Bobbitt (1918) the theory linked to the curriculum stated “Education prepares for life” (1918:42) this giving a focus within the new curriculum.
At birth a child has most of the brain cells needed for later life. Through positive interaction from adult
Bibliography: Alfrey, C. (2003) Understanding Children’s Learning a text for Teaching Assistants. Oxon, David Fulton Publications. Blenkin, G.& Kelly, A. (2003) Early Childhood Education. 2nd ed. London, Sage Publications. Department for Education and Skills. (2007) Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Nottingham, DFES Publications. Miller, L, Cable, C. & Devereux, J. (2005) Developing Early Years Practice. Oxon, David Fulton Publishers. Monahan, J. (2009) Language skills: In stories anything can happen. The Guardian Early Years Education. 14th April 2009. Pugh, G. & Duffy, B. (2006) Contemporary Issues in the Early Years. 4th ed. London, Sage Publications. Smith, M.k. (1996,2000) Curriculum theory and practice, the encyclopaedia of informal education. www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm. [Accessed February 6th 2010]. Teach and Learn (1997) Making Connections: How children learn. Available from: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/read.uk/. [Accessed February 8th 2010]. Bruce, T. (1991) Time to play in early childhood education. London, Hodder Arnold. Watkinson, A. (2003) Managing teaching assistants: assisting teaching and learning. Oxon, Routledge Falmer.