Comparison Of Waldorf/Reggio-Emilia Curriculum In Childhood Education

A Comparison Of Waldorf Curriculum And Reggio Emilia Curriculum In Early Childhood Education In The Uk

Section 1: Aims and principles

This assignment has shed light on the comparison between the Waldorf Curriculum, which is evidence-based and Reggio Emilia, which is a play-based learning approach, which is essential in terms of developing cognitive skills among preschool children. In addition, exploring all those approaches, the adult role has been discussed in this segment and it is helping to improve adults’ cognitive skills also. After discussing the adults’ role, the comparison between the environment and the resources, relevant to the learning-based approaches, has been incorporated into this assignment. Apart from that, this assignment has concluded with the application of personal philosophy in pedagogy by highlighting the practice reflection. Moreover, it is considering the major area for promoting effective pedagogical learning systems.

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The major benefit of the Waldorf Curriculum learning approach for preschool children is that it is maximizing the likelihood of educators' outcomes of children's positive attitudes. This kind of learning approach is assisting in maximizing accountability in terms of taking back up of all data at the time of program or educational activities selection. Along with it, it is taking a turn to facilitating support from parents, administrators and other individuals (Paredes-Vallés et al. 2019). On the other hand, the Reggio Emilia Learning Approach is helping to develop the children's emotional and social skills, like the capability in terms of developing a positive relationship with their peers. In the case of children are playing together, they are able to communicate, solve issues, resolve conflicts and cooperate properly. As depicted by Zhu et al. (2019), for the preschool children, the Reggio Emilia Learning Approach is contributing to physical, emotional, social and cognitive well-being. Besides, the major significance of the Waldorf curriculum learning approach is that it is promoting quality, children's ability and efficacy of preschool children and it is helping to generate new knowledge. However, it has been stated that both two learning approaches are effective and useful in developing cognitive skills and improving knowledge assemble ability in early childhood life.

The Waldorf curriculum learning approach is positively affecting the student’s behaviour and attitudes. The main aim of the Waldorf Curriculum learning approach is to conceptualize the procedure of making decisions and improving both the teaching and learning methods (Gehrig et al. 2019). In addition, this kind of learning approach is effective in improving both the emotional and social skills of preschool children and it is helping them to develop their cognitive skills in an effective way. In contrast, the significant aim of Reggio Emilia's Learning Approach is to foster discovery and love and encourage curiosity ability among the preschool children. Additionally, it also aims to explore new ideas and develop an optimum learning atmosphere (Sun et al. 2019). As a result, it is becoming long-lasting and more joyful. Therefore, it can be said that both two learning approaches are helpful in terms of evaluating and achieving the positive outcomes for the toddlers and their families.

Figure 1: Reggio Emilia learning approach tools

(Source: Sun et al. 2019)

The major principles of learning approaches are to develop the emotions and social development of the selected audience, such as preschool children in the United Kingdom. Apart from that, the principles of Waldorf curriculum learning approach among toddlers it is maintaining non-discrimination and inclusion practices. As a result, it is helping to treat all toddlers in an equal manner and it is assisting the teachers to provide non-discriminated behaviour with those preschool children (Liu et al. 2019). On the other hand, the principle of Reggio Emilia's Learning Approach is to encourage toddlers in terms of gathering knowledge by playing and generating innovative ideas at the time of playing. Along with that, this learning approach has involved both caregivers and parents while providing lessons to preschool children (Dodd et al. 2021). Therefore, it is helping both the caregivers and parents to grab the idea by which they are able to handle toddlers’ demands and provide proper lessons according to their mental state. For example, Early Years Foundation Stage in the United Kingdom has been considered as a Play Based Learning Approach (Gov, 2022, a). Along with that, this kind of Reggio Emilia Learning Approach assists in setting the standards by which learning, care and development of preschool children have been taken.

On the other hand, another example of Waldorf's curriculum learning approach is Early Years Intervention and it is highlighting the procedure of providing feedback and peer tutoring. As a result, it supports preschool children in improving their social and cognitive skills (Paredes-Vallés et al. 2019). Thus, it helps toddlers in increasing their efficacy and is able to generate innovative ideas and improve their critical thinking skills. However, it has been stated that both two different types of learning-based approaches are useful in improving toddlers’ cognitive skills and in preschool, children are able to deliver positive outcomes and it helps them to achieve long-term success in their education life.

Section 2: Comparison of adult roles

In the Early childhood field, the Waldorf Curriculum learning approach is a process, which pulls to assemble knowledge and input from preschool toddlers and their caregivers for recognizing and providing proper services. In the case of the Waldorf Curriculum learning approach, the teachers, parents and caregivers have played a crucial role in the learning procedure. Montessori is also considered in the segment of the Waldorf Curriculum learning approach. As expressed by Dodd et al. (2021), the major principle of the Montessori education process is providing lessons with the help of active experience practically. Apart from that, the Reggio Emilia learning method among preschool children has been completed with the help of intuitive Montessori teaching and learning materials in terms of unlocking the concept or skills. Therefore, it can be said that it is helping to improve the mental and social well-being among preschool children. Parents and teachers are playing an essential role in the procedure of the Reggio Emilia Learning Approach. As opined by Onishchuk et al. (2020), parents support the preschool children by providing several kinds of educational playing tools and those tools are useful in improving critical thinking capability. As a result, those toddlers are improving their cognitive skills and they are being practical in their every activity.

Parents are playing an essential role in both the evidence-based and play-based learning approach procedure and they are helping the toddlers in terms of improving their ability to assemble knowledge and generating innovative ideas. As expressed by Steinbrenner et al. (2020), the Montessori learning method is effective in terms of recognizing the social rights and ensuring every child in terms of bringing out their spiritual stature. Along with that, parents are engaging with children in collaboration in a regular basis in terms of improving toddlers’ experiences in classroom. In addition, it is assisting the preschool children to enable in terms of understanding the children’s behaviour and attitudes. Along with that, parents are engaging in the Waldorf curriculum learning approach in terms of establishing a proper pattern by which they are able to understand what toddlers have learned and practised them. In a similar way, in the case of the Reggio Emilia Learning Approach, parents have bought different types of playing gadgets which are helping toddlers in taking lessons which are effective in the study (Ebbels et al. 2019). As a result, toddlers are encouraged to study while playing and parents also take less stress on providing education at the preschool stage. Thus, it can be said that parents have been considered as an essential adult role for providing both evidence-based and play-based lessons to their toddlers.

Figure 2: Role of Adults in Waldorf Curriculum and Reggio Emilia learning Approaches

(Source: Ebbels et al. 2019)

The Reggio Emilia Learning Approach is addressed as one kind of effective teaching approach, which is involving playful and child-directed components and, along with it, several kinds of adult degree guidance and the scaffolded the learning objectives (Piccardo and North, 2019). In the previous years, the Reggio Emilia Learning method has been highlighted in terms of influencing the toddler’s math and reading scores in a positive way. Additionally, for the toddlers, UNICEF has been selected as a Reggio Emilia Learning Approach and a curriculum which is emphasizing the intentional and exploitation teaching method. In addition, it is a major component which stimulates the ability of preschool children’s collaborative and interactive skills (Unicef, 2022). However, it can be said that the members of UNICEF are also playing an essential role in providing practical and innovative ideas. Additionally, those are helping those preschool children to improve their cognitive and social skills in a proper way. Apart from that, in the case of Waldorf curriculum learning procedures, parents and caregivers are using several kinds of effective strategies in terms of drawing the toddler’s attention and interests (Biggs et al. 2022). Thus, it is helping to generate innovative and new ideas, which are supportive for the entire procedure of preschoolers’ active learning method.

In the case of a mother is providing favourite fruits to their children by cutting them into pieces in different shapes. In addition, it helps the children in terms of improving their colour and shapes recognition ability. As expressed by Winstone and Carless, (2019), recognition of colours and shapes has been considered a Waldorf curriculum learning approach for improving the cognitive skills of toddlers. The reason behind this is recognition of colours and shapes is an essential ability and necessary for every toddler in terms of improving their colour recognition skills. In addition, it is one kind of cognitive developmental skill and it is playing a crucial riel in recognising any kind of object based on its shapes without seeing them. Additionally, it is helping to develop toddlers’ descriptive language skills and it is taking a turn in terms of encouraging a clear understanding and communication skills. 

Section 3: Comparison of environment and resources

The term Waldorf Curriculum learning approach in the procedure of teaching and learning is one kind of effective way in terms of conceptualizing the process of making decisions from improving the teaching and learning ability. As opined by Ouvry and Furtado, (2019), teachers are using several kinds of learning models like inquiry and project-based learning, peer to peer and school-to-school learning models in terms of improving the learning environment. Along with that, the environment of the Waldorf Curriculum Learning Approach has incorporated the social, physical, emotional and intellectual environments. According to the statement of Ebbels et al. (2019), it has been noted that the emotional, intellectual, social and emotional environments are helping to improve the toddler’s ability in terms of taking lessons. In addition, the interaction between the instructor and preschool children and this interaction is affecting the approaching style of preschool children. As a result, toddlers are able to improve their own lesson assembly ability and ability of overcoming the arisen possible obstacles. On the other hand, for the Reggio Emilia learning approach, toddlers are provided with a positive and good learning environment (Tondeur et al. 2019). Additionally, it helps in terms of providing sufficient preschool children-led playing activities and a continuous provision, which is encouraging a huge range of the learning activities.

Different types of playing gadgets such as Colourful charts, Bulletin Boards, Cube Puzzles, wood blocks and colourful objects are selected as major resources to provide proper lessons to toddlers. As stated by CANAKCIOGLU, (2022), the term Reggio Emilia Learning Approach is combining one kind of effective form, which is led by preschool children like Imaginative play or Open Ended play. Along with that, in this kind of learning approach, toddlers are playing with those playing gadgets and it is assisting them to recognize the shapes, colours and improving specific intentions from Early Years Outcomes. In contrast, as expressed by Bourdieu, (2022), with the help of the Early Years Outcomes or Framework is helping to reform one kind of enabling environment. In addition, this kind of environment is seeking for providing an accurate space and enough natural light for moving freely. In addition, by encouraging the Freedom of Choice with the help of various kinds of resources and rotational activities. Moreover, all those activities are promoting the independence and fostering a huge responsibility range of opportunities for toddlers to experiment in a proper way. Additionally, in the Waldorf curriculum learning approach, toddlers are required to be provided with proper resources, such as textbooks, videos, reading materials and audio recordings, to recognize objectives according to their features.

The above figure has exhibited an effective resource like papers, which are in different colours and shapes. According to the statement of Senol, (2022), it has been evaluated that with the help of colourful papers and differently shaped papers are useful for toddlers in terms of identifying accurate colour and shape with their names. As a result, it supports them in improving their cognitive skills and thinking skills. Along with that, the identification of different colours is supportive for the preschool children in terms of increasing the level of paying attention on specific information. In addition, it is assisting them with such information, which has transferred from short to long-term moments or memories. In a similar way, the case of Reggio Emilia Learning Approach assists preschool children in terms of improving their critical thinking and cognitive development skills (Arslan and Kartal, 2022). Along with that, this learning approach is helpful in increasing the efficacy level of preschool children in the United Kingdom. Moreover, the Early Years Foundation Stage is assisting all preschool children in terms of gathering innovative ideas from different types of pieces of evidence, such as workbooks and painting books. However, it can be stated that both two different learning approaches are useful in terms of improving cognitive skills and are able to improve collaborative and cooperative skills.

From the entire discussion, it has been evaluated that, playing with gadgets and different types of pieces of evidence is playing a crucial role in terms of improving cognitive skills and creating a positive relationship with the peers. In addition, both the Montessori and Early Years Foundation Stages have been considered effective and accurate evidence-based and play-based learning approaches for improving the learning ability of toddlers in the UK.

Section 4: Personal philosophy of pedagogy

The term pedagogy is addressed as how and the practices by which an individual is able to take proper lessons. In addition, it has described the entire set of instructions, strategies and techniques and it is enabling the learning procedure for taking a proper place. Moreover, it is helping to provide several kinds of opportunities in terms of acquiring knowledge, dispositions, attitudes and skills in a specific material and social context (Gov, 2022, b). I think that child development and pedagogy is playing a crucial role by assisting preschool children for thinking in several ways. In addition, it is moving beyond traditional processes of comprehension memorization for learning. As opined by Kaynak-Ekici et al. (2021), in the Waldorf Curriculum Learning Approach, all preschool children are able to improve their toddler educational experiences widely and it is developing their capabilities and interests. As a result, it is taking a turn for leading well-balanced preschool children with a high confidence level in their knowledge acquisition capability for applying all their acquired skills in terms of improving their upcoming skills. In my opinion, the educational practitioners in the preschool institution, they might reflect on establishing an effective pedagogy practice. However, this kind of continuous cycle is ensuring that the concerned practice is known as challenged, modified, improved and developed.

The outstanding education providers have stated that the reflective practice is essential in terms of achieving long-term success. In addition, they are unable to be complacent and in spite of that, it is aspiring for delivering a better outcome. According to me, in the Reggio Emilia learning approach, it is focusing on the experiences, encouraging and feeling the preschool children in terms of making a sense according to their own. Along with that, watercolours, charcoal, various colouring clays and chalks are considered as major resources, which are used in this kind of learning approach. According to the statement of Gehrig et al. (2019), it has been stated that in the Reggio Emilia learning approach, toddlers are provided several kinds of vehicles or instruments for the pigment, which consist of cotton balls, q-tips, pinecones, sponges and sticks. From this kind of statement, it can be said that, with the help of this specific learning method, preschool children are able to improve their recognition and motor learning capability. However, it can be said that with the help of Regio Emilia learning approach is effective and impactful for every preschool child to improve its cognitive skills.

Apart from that, in the case of the Waldorf Curriculum Learning Approach, toddlers are able to pay more attention to their lesson acquisition process. I believe that, with the help of this learning approach, it is assisting preschool children in terms of producing a well-rounded individual and it is improving the confidence level among the students. As expressed by Paredes-Vallés et al. (2019), in the Waldorf learning method, toddlers are able to apply all their skills for developing knowledge and improving their skills. In my view, all preschool children are provided with proper educational elements in terms of developing their intellectual, practical and artistic skills. As a result, this kind of learning approach is helpful in increasing their efficacy and improving their cognitive skills in the upcoming days. On the other hand, I also believe that all toddlers are provided with proper educational playing gadgets and opportunities to play in a playground. At the same time, they are provided with different types of educational playing gadgets in terms of motor skills that have been improved in a proper way. As depicted by Sun et al. (2019), the Reggio Emilia learning approach is helping to create a positive co-learning atmosphere in which the teachers are providing proper lessons to the preschool children. Moreover, it is helping them to create a positive relationship with the teachers. Thus, it can be said that both the Waldorf and Reggio Emilia Curriculum Learning Approaches are effective in terms of improving both the motor skills and cognitive skills of preschool children.

References

Books

Biggs, J., Tang, C. and Kennedy, G., 2022. Teaching for quality learning at university. McGraw-hill education (UK).

Ouvry, M. and Furtado, A., 2019. Exercising muscles and minds: Outdoor play and the early years curriculum. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Piccardo, E. and North, B., 2019. The action-oriented approach: A dynamic vision of language education (Vol. 72). Multilingual Matters.

Winstone, N. and Carless, D., 2019. Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach. Routledge.

Journals

Arslan, A. and Kartal, S., 2022. The Effect of the Waldorf Approach Applied with the Collaborative Method on the Early Assessment Skills of 48-60 Months-Old Children. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching, 9(3), pp.1096-1112.

Bourdieu, P., 2022. A Collection of Women Writers (1912) The Montessori method.[Online] Available at: https://digital. library. upenn. edu/women/montessori/method/method. html [Accessed 1 December 2021]. Ainsworth, MDS (1978) The Bowlby-Ainsworth attachment theory. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 1 (3), 436–438. Aljabreen, A.(2020) Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia: A comparative analysis of alternative models. Early Childhood Theories Today, 2(1), p.137.

CANAKCIOGLU, N.G., 2022. Exploring the social logic of preschool environments structured with Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. In 13th Space Syntax Conference Paper.

Dodd, H.F., FitzGibbon, L., Watson, B.E. and Nesbit, R.J., 2021. Children’s play and independent mobility in 2020: results from the British Children’s Play Survey. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(8), p.4334.

Ebbels, S.H., McCartney, E., Slonims, V., Dockrell, J.E. and Norbury, C.F., 2019. Evidence?based pathways to intervention for children with language disorders. International journal of language & communication disorders, 54(1), pp.3-19.

Gehrig, D., Loquercio, A., Derpanis, K.G. and Scaramuzza, D., 2019. End-to-end learning of representations for asynchronous event-based data. In Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF International Conference on Computer Vision (pp. 5633-5643).

Kaynak-Ekici, K.B., ?mir, H.M. and Temel, Z.F., 2021. Learning invitations in Reggio Emilia approach: A case study. Education 3-13, 49(6), pp.703-715.

Liu, Q., Kamoto, K.M., Liu, X., Sun, M. and Linge, N., 2019. Low-complexity non-intrusive load monitoring using unsupervised learning and generalized appliance models. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 65(1), pp.28-37.

Onishchuk, I., Ikonnikova, M., Antonenko, T., Kharchenko, I., Shestakova, S., Kuzmenko, N. and Maksymchuk, B., 2020. Characteristics of foreign language education in foreign countries and ways of applying foreign experience in pedagogical universities of Ukraine. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 12(3), pp.44-65.

Paredes-Vallés, F., Scheper, K.Y. and De Croon, G.C., 2019. Unsupervised learning of a hierarchical spiking neural network for optical flow estimation: From events to global motion perception. IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, 42(8), pp.2051-2064.

Pellas, N., Fotaris, P., Kazanidis, I. and Wells, D., 2019. Augmenting the learning experience in primary and secondary school education: A systematic review of recent trends in augmented reality game-based learning. Virtual Reality, 23(4), pp.329-346.

Senol, H., 2022. Preparing Highly Qualified Pre-School Teacher Candidates in the Light of Total Quality Management. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 14(1), pp.728-750.

Steinbrenner, J.R., Hume, K., Odom, S.L., Morin, K.L., Nowell, S.W., Tomaszewski, B., Szendrey, S., McIntyre, N.S., Yücesoy-Özkan, S. and Savage, M.N., 2020. Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism. FPG Child Development Institute.

Sun, Z., Liu, Q., Huang, N., Yu, C. and Anderson, B.D., 2019. Cooperative event-based rigid formation control. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 51(7), pp.4308-4320.

Tondeur, J., Scherer, R., Baran, E., Siddiq, F., Valtonen, T. and Sointu, E., 2019. Teacher educators as gatekeepers: Preparing the next generation of teachers for technology integration in education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(3), pp.1189-1209.

Zhu, A.Z., Yuan, L., Chaney, K. and Daniilidis, K., 2019. Unsupervised event-based learning of optical flow, depth, and egomotion. In Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (pp. 989-997).

Websites

Advance-he, 2022. event based learning. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/event-based-learning [Accessed on 21st December 2022]

Gov, 2022, a. Early years foundation stage. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/early-years-foundation-stage [Accessed on 21st December 2022]

Gov, 2022, b. Pedagogy in early childhood education and care (ECEC): an international comparative study of approaches and policies. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445817/RB400_-_Early_years_pedagogy_and_policy_an_international_study.pdf [Accessed on 21st December 2022]

Unicef, 2022. Learning through play. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/sites/default/files/2018-12/UNICEF-Lego-Foundation-Learning-through-Play.pdf [Accessed on 21st December 2022]

Wjec, 2022. Health, Well-being, Learning and Development. Available at: http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2018-19/hsc18-19_3-2/_multi-lang/unit03/01-what-is-meant-by-playwork-principles.html [Accessed on 21st December 2022]