Education by Shala Books

  • Home
  • Resources
    • FSL Resources
    • ESL Resources
    • Reading Resources
    • Educator Resources
  • Consulting Services
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Support
    • About
    • FAQ
    • Contact
    • Opportunities
  • Login
  • Home
  • Resources
    • FSL Resources
    • ESL Resources
    • Reading Resources
    • Educator Resources
  • Consulting Services
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Support
    • About
    • FAQ
    • Contact
    • Opportunities
  • Login

THE EDUCATION BLOG

BLOG HOME PAGE
Let's Talk Education
Educational Frameworks
Planners
Reading
ESL
FSL
Modern Foreign Languages
Mother Tongue
Tips for Educators
Tips for Parentss
Education Quotes

Blog

March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018

AN EMERGENT CURRICULUM AND THE IEYC: CAN THEY COEXIST?

26/1/2019

 
An Emergent Curriculum based on the Reggio Emilia approach and the International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) are two seeming polar opposites. An Emergent Curriculum is centered around planning based on children’s interests, no pre-planned routing of units throughout the year, and no themes. And contrary to it is the IEYC, which is based on themes and requires schools to route units ahead of time – or so it would appear. But here is the kicker, the IEYC merely suggests routing and themes, but if we open our minds, it can be used differently, simply as a base – a teacher bank of resources and ideas if you will. This realization came to me during my time at the Netherlands Inter-community School (NIS) while facing the issue of working with an Early Years Coordinator who despised the IEYC/IPC and who was refusing to link her program to the Primary Years, who were following the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), because it would take away from the teaching philosophy she wholeheartedly believed in – Reggio Emilia. And it was this revelation that led me to develop the planner below – a way of combining the two seamlessly and effortlessly, allowing the Early Years to provide information to the Primary Years about which IEYC units students had covered upon entering K/Grade 1, thus bridging the gap between two factions.

The planner below is one of many from the Early Years Framework that I designed to help teachers in planning and documenting an Emergent Curriculum. It is based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy, and uses the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as a guide for milestones students should work towards.
Emergent Curriculum and the IEYC
In order to ensure that teachers are basing their curriculum on students’ interests, the first thing required is filling in the “Topic of Inquiry,” as shown in the planner above, followed by listing students who are interested in exploring the inquiry. Upon completing this, teachers would then check the IEYC curriculum to see if the inquiry topic is connected to any of their themes; for example, if students were interested in an area related to the ocean, a possible link could be made to the IEYC’s Ocean Treasure unit of learning. If no connection could be made, then the “Link to IEYC” field would simply remain blank, along with any of the other IEYC fields.
Emergent Curriculum and the IEYC
Should a link between the topic of inquiry in the IEYC and teachers’ themes be found, then the circled fields in the planner above may be completed. Upon listing potential EYFS milestones students could achieve, teachers would then search the IEYC unit for ideas for provocations that could be used and then list any inquiry language provided. Teachers would not be limited to using ideas from the IEYC, and space is also provided for adding their own ideas for provocations and language. It should be noted as well that if a teacher felt that the ideas provided by the IEYC were not what they were looking for, then they would be under no obligation to use them.

The above solution does not detract from developing an Emergent Curriculum that is Reggio- inspired. There are no fixed units or forced themes; however, this resolution serves to further unite a school and create increased cohesion. When students would arrive in the Primary Years, teachers would be able to clearly see which of the IEYC units had already organically been covered in the Early Years.

Education is rarely ever black or white, and if we are willing to explore shades of gray, solutions can be found. In this case, although two different teaching philosophies would have continued to exist within the school, a common ground could have been formed in which the IEYC and the IPC could link together.

Interested in customized planning solutions? Contact us!
Further Reading

Customized Planners

A Planning Template for Passion-Based Learning
A Planning Template for Multi-Level Modern Foreign Language Classes
Setting Up a Guided Reading Program Across Grade Levels

An Emergent Curriculum and the IEYC
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    SHARE ARTICLE

    Welcome to
    The Education Blog

    Christina Shala
    Christina Shala
    About Christina Shala

    Recent Post

    Quick Links


    FSL Resources
    ESL Resources
    Beginning Readers
    Consulting Services

    Have a Question?

    CONTACT US
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
OUR COMPANY
About
Blog
FAQ
Contact
Opportunities
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
FSL Resources
ESL Resources
Emergent Readers
Transitional Readers
​Educator Resources​
Consulting Services
Vertical Divider
CONNECT WITH US
© Copyright 2023  Education by Shala Books Inc.