Introduction

In this blog I will be focusing on four educational contexts and throughout I will be exploring each of these contexts. These contexts are:

• The Foundation Phase
• Montessori Schooling 
• Home Schooling 
• Learning Outside the Classroom

I will be exploring these contexts in more detail highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each

The Foundation Phase

The Foundation Phase, implemented in 2008 is “The statutory curriculum for all 3 to 7 year olds in Wales, in both maintained and non-maintained settings. It encourages children to be creative, imaginative and makes learning more enjoyable and more effective.” (Welsh Government, 2014)

The Foundation Phase promotes the idea of learning through play and therefore makes learning more enjoyable for a child, allowing them the ability to connect with and take interest in each task they perform.  The Foundation Phase gives children the opportunity to explore and understand the world in accordance to their developmental stage in a fun and exciting way. (Welsh Gov, 2008)

In this link there is a useful video and pod-cast describing the how children learn in the Foundation Phase, unfortunately these could not be download.
  

There are 7 areas of learning in the Foundation Phase. These areas of learning are (Welsh Gov,2008):

1. Personal and Social Development, Well-being and Cultural Diversity
2. Language, Literacy and Communication Skills
3. Mathematical Development
4. Welsh Language Development
5. Knowledge and Understanding of the World
6. Physical Development
7. Creative Development

Each of these areas of learning has a holistic approach meaning each subject areas link together. This overlapping helps a child to build on previous knowledge and experiences they may have with a subject often allowing them achieve a true understanding.

The Foundation Phase allows children through play to “practise and consolidate their learning, play with ideas, experiment, take risks, solve problems, and make decisions individually, in small and in large groups. First-hand experiences allow children to develop an understanding of themselves and the world in which they live.” (Welsh Gov, 2008) 

There are seven main aims of the Foundation Phase, these were developed from the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child. These aims were to ensure that all children (Welsh Gov, 2008):

1.  Have a flying start in life and the best possible basis for future growth and development 
2. Have access to a sufficient range of opportunities for learning, including the development of personal and social skills
3. Have the best possible physical, mental, social and emotional help with freedom from any form of abuse including victimisation and exploitation
4. Have access to leisure, sporting and cultural activities 
5. Are listened to and treated with respect. They should also be able to have their race and cultural identity recognised
6. Have a safe home and community that supports both physical and mental well-being
7. Are not disadvantaged by their background e.g. disadvantaged by poverty

There are many advantages and disadvantages to the Foundation Phase. Some of the advantages are as follows:

·         The Foundation Phase provides a child with solid grounding for future leaning (Welsh Gov, 2010)

·         Allows children to be creative, imaginative and have fun while learning  (Welsh Gov,2010)

·         Makes topics relevant to everyday life therefore making it more accessible to children as they are able to see how it impacts them directly (Welsh Gov, 2010)

·         Chief inspector Ann Keanne states that the benefits are evident in the child’s overall wellbeing (BBC,2011)

Some of the disadvantaged are as follows:

·         Some believe that children are not learning enough as the activities available are not challenging enough (BBC, 2011)

·         According to Estyn, reading and writing standards are no acceptable as they are significantly lower than they should be (Estyn,2011 )

·         Schools with a large minority often struggle (BBC, 2011)

References


BBC, (2011) Some Welsh Foundation Phase Pupils don't learn enough.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-14898083 (Accessed December 11th)

Welsh Government, (2008) Framework for Children’s learning for 3 to 7 year olds in Wales
http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publications/141111-framework-for-childrens-learning-for-3-to-7-year-olds-en.pdf (Accessed December 09th)

Welsh Government, (2010) Foundation Phase roll out-continues 
http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/articles/educationandskills/100903foundationphase/?lang=en (Accessed December 09th)

Welsh Government, (2014) The Foundation Phase
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/earlyyearshome/foundation-phase/?lang=en (Accessed December 09th)

Montessori Schooling

Maria Montessori was fascinated with child development and as a result founded the child-centred Montessori approach. Originating in Italy in the early 1900’s it seen spread across the world. As a result, Maria Montessori was considered to be a pioneer of early education by many. (Susan Feez, 2010)

Montessori created her schools with the concerns of developing a child capable of empathy, social adept and independence, ready for mainstream schooling.  (Isaacs, 2012)

Montessori schooling was set up to created a holistic, structured learning environment where a child is able to connect to everyone and everything around them. Maria Montessori had the belief that children were naturally caring and an environment such as this would encourage this attitude to grow therefore meeting her targets to create a socially well rounded child. (Isaacs, 2012) 

 Montessori was interested in the education of children that were previously considered ‘ineducable’. Her approach steamed from the use of every day (specially made child-sized) equipment which made them more accessible to children allowing them to feel comfortable while using them. The organisation of the equipment is also a key factor, everything is clean and neatly arranged. If a child uses anything they must replace it to the same standard it was found. This teaches children how to care for the environment around them.

Montessori believed that for a child to have a true understanding of something it must appeal to their interests. She found that it was common for many children are interested in the actions of adults and learn from watching and copying them. Due to this, it can be seen that many children often’ pretend clean’. An example of this would be is in Susan Feez' (2010) book, Montessori and Early Childhood development. In the section names "A visit to a Montessori Children House" she talks of a child named Josh that enjoyed cleaning tables and windows and so on. Many adults tasks like this would seem mundane but children approach a situation differently. A child cleaning the windows is not interested in the end product of a clean window as an adult would be but in the process in which takes place to get the window clean.
                

This approach puts much emphasis on the use of the teacher as an observer rather than the traditional teaching role. Montessori believed that a teacher should offer guidance only when needed but instead allows the child to have freedom over his own learning. (Isaacs, 2012)

              
There are both advantages and disadvantages to Montessori Schooling. The advantages include:

·         Children in Montessori schooling have no timetables and therefore have complete freedom over their own learning.

·         The organisation of the specialist equipment used in these schools teaches children structure and how to treat items they use with care and respect.

·         Children take part in activities they are interested in and therefore have a far better understanding of activities they are made to do.

·         Children develop practical skills that are often useful both inside and outside the classroom.

·         Children are grouped together from the ages of 3-6, this often allows the younger children to learn from the behaviour of the older children.

There are also disadvantages of Montessori Schooling. The disadvantages include:

·         Having no structured time table may cause children to struggle when they are faced with structure latter on in life

·         Some students may need more direct support than others and this may not be given as the teacher is encouraged to allow the child to work it out themselves.
· Children tend to listen more to a more authoritative figure, Montessori schools do not offer this figure of authority which could result in the lack of respect towards teachers

·A Montessori school may not suit a child's way of learning and therefore hold them back in their what Montessori considered the most important years of a child's life


References

Feez, S. (2010) The Montessori Story.
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/upm-data/29627_feez___chapter_1.pdf (Accessed: 09 December 2014)

Feez, S. (2010) Montessori and Early Childhood. London: Sage.

Isaacs, B. (2012) Understanding the Montessori Approach: Early Years Education in Practice. London: David Fulton.

Learning Outside the Classroom

Learning outside the classroom is promoted heavily in the UK and especially in Wales due to the Foundation Phase in primary education. Schools all over Wales are being urged to take advantage of the outdoor environments all around as there are many benefits that can be achieved by taking learning outdoors. Reports from Estyn show that children under five learn better in an outdoor environment.

Opportunities for children in Wales to learn outdoors are not being taken full advantage of. The U.K has numerous different educational sites to visit, all which promote different types of learning and can be linked in with the majority of the curriculum. These educational sites include:

•  St Fagans National History Museum. They offer a range of different practical learning opportunities dependent on the age of the child such as role playing which allows the child to connect with the situation more. More information on its learning opportunities can be found on the website
• Bristol Zoo. They offer a range of educational sessions allowing children to become more aware of wild animals and the environment, these learning experiences cover a wide range of important topics which can be found here
• Techniquest. Techniquest allows children to develop their understanding of the world of science through play making learning interesting and fun. Educational programmes available can be found here

                             Here is a video of the types of activities that take place
                                      on an outdoor learning trip to Techniques

Not only should educational sites be used but the surrounding environments should also be taken into consideration, for example a lesson about the beach should be conducted on a beach. Taking children to the surrounding they are learning about allows them to connect with the topic and allows them to build their own experiences therefore creating a deeper understanding that could be achieved otherwise.

There are also school that have designated time to do activities such as these. An example of this would be Forest schools where they have designated time every week for the children to go into a forest and learn from practical activities taken place there.

The advantages of outdoor learning are:

• The child's general well-being, behaviour and knowledge and understanding of the world improve
• a child's fitness will improve by being physically active rather than sat down in a classroom 
• Children are able to experience things first hand therefore making their understanding stronger
• The problems children are being faced with are in the form of real life experiences therefore giving the child the understanding of why the information they are learning is useful
• Children are more likely to look after the environment if they are raised to respect it

Disadvantages of outdoor learning are:

• The high risk factor, children are often in contact with dangerous tools which parents may not be comfortable with 
• Outdoor learning cannot be easily assessed therefore making it difficult to see what the child has actually learnt 
• There is insufficient funding for outdoor learning often meaning parents have to pay the bill. This can result in parents not wanting their child to attend outdoor learning sessions and therefore miss out

References

Estyn (2011) Outdoor Learning

file:///C:/Users/S1046-USER/Downloads/Outdoor_learning_an_evaluation_of_learning_in_the_outdoors_for_children_under_five_in_the_Foundation_Phase_-_September_2011.pdf (Accessed: 09 December 2014)

Forest Schools (2014) Forest Schools Education.

http://www.forestschools.com/ (Accessed: 09 December 2014)

Homeschooling

Since the late 1800’s mainstream education became compulsory for the vast majority of children in the UK, with this becoming more apparent due to the rise in the importance of attendance in the recent years. This has caused mainstream schooling to be considered the ‘norm’, although it can be seen that other alternatives to this mainstream schooling are being explored due to its increased in accessibility for all. Many parents have decided to break the ‘norm’ and branch out into these alternative forms of education such as home schooling often allowing these parents to take their child’s education into their own hands. In this post I will be exploring home-schooling and the advantages and disadvantages of this educational context.

There are many different approaches to home schooling with a variety of different styles that can be adopted dependant on the child and their individual needs. Some of the most popular of the approaches include:

 “Unschooling” “Charlotte Mason” “Montessori” “ Relaxed/Eclectic homeschooling” “Classical” and “Waldorf” 

This is a short film about homeschooling in the UK

The idea of ‘Deschooling’ was supported by many progressive thinkers of the mid twentieth century who criticised the idea of formal schooling. Central to these thinkers was Ivan Illich. He believed that mainstream schooling was not doing what it should be and was turning children away from education rather than encouraging them. He thought that the education system undermines children confidence and their problem solving abilities. Schooling was not aimed at educating children but to serve the needs of the government and other professionals. (Wood, 2011)

  There are many advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling. Some of these advantages include:

·         The freedom given to both the parent and child.  

·         The child can receive one-to-one attention that mainstream schooling cannot offer  

·         Fits every child’s individual needs with opportunities to create a personal and tailor fitted curriculum. There are many helpful websites, such as this, which allows parents to explore what would suit their child best

·         It gives children the chance for outdoor learning that they may not achieve in mainstream schooling for example a child is able to visit a museum to learn about a topic rather than just  using text books and online resources.

 There are also many disadvantages of homeschooling, including the following:

·         Do parents really have the sufficient expertise to teach?

·         Parents may force their own personal views upon a child and not letting the child form their own unbiased view

·         Some children are simply not suited to this style of learning and need a firm learning structure

·    Has been a problem in the past with overlooking the safety and well being of children in home schooling. The case of Khyra Ishaq
·  Without full efforts from the parents, a child may have no or little social experience                 

References

BBC (2010) Starved girl Khyra Ishaq's death 'was preventable' 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-10770907 (Accessed: 09 December 2014)

Home School Curriculum Advisor. (2014) Choosing  Home School Curriculum 
http://www.home-school-curriculum-advisor.com/choosing-home-school-curriculum.html (Accessed: 09 December 2014)

Wood, K. (2011) Education: The Basics. London: Routledge

Conclusion

Throughout this blog you are able to learn about 4 specific educational contexts. The variety of different contexts show that no matter the child there is always a learning experience that will suit them. School should be a fun and proactive place where a child is full of confidence in their actions. Allowing this variety ensures a child can achieve their true potential no matter what type of learner.