•EFN 4201

University •Developmentally Appropriate

Curriculum and Practice
of Guyana •Week 6
•Dr.T Budhoo
Development
ally • The term "developmentally appropriate"
Appropriate refers to the practice of making a
curriculum based on what students are
Curriculum able to do cognitively, physically and
emotionally at a certain age.
Why is
development • DAP reduces learning gaps, increases
achievement for all children, and allows
ally students to share and engage in the learning
appropriate process while they solve their own problems
as they learn new information (Compple &
curriculum Bredekamp, 2009). Developmentally
important? appropriate practices are proven in research
to help children succeed
Developmentally Appropriate
Practice

All teaching practices should be

Developmentally appropriate
appropriate to children’s age
practice requires both meeting
and developmental status,
children where they are and
attuned to them as unique
enabling them to reach goals
individuals, and responsive to
that are both challenging and
the social and cultural contexts
achievable.
in which they live.
 Developmentally appropriate practice does
not mean making things easier for children.
Rather, it means ensuring that goals and
experiences are suited to their learning and
Developme development and challenging enough to
promote their progress and interest.
ntally
Appropriate
Practice Best practice is based on knowledge—not on
assumptions—of how children learn and
develop.
Developmentally
Appropriate Practice

Developmentally appropriate
practice is a comprehensive Developmentally appropriate
educational perspective that practice embraces both
supports optimal healthy continuity and change;
development for every child.
 • All the domains of development are important.
Child • Many aspects of children’s learning and development
Developme follow well-documented sequences.
nt • Development and learning proceed at varying rates from
child to child.
Principles • Development and learning result from a dynamic and
that inform continuous interaction of biological maturation and
experience.
DAP
• Early experiences have profound effects on a child’s
development and learning, and there are optimal times for
certain learning and development to occur.
 Development proceeds toward greater
complexity, self-regulation, and representational
abilities.
Child
Children develop best when they have secure,
Developme consistent relationships with responsive
nt caregivers and peers.

Principles Development and learning occur within and are

that inform influenced by social and cultural contexts.
DAP
Children learn in a variety of ways and are
actively engaged in learning.
 Play is a main way that children learn
and develop self-regulation.
Child
Developme
nt Development and learning occur
when children are slightly challenged
Principles and through practice.
that inform
DAP Children’s dispositions and behaviour
are shaped by experiences and affect
their learning and development.
 You, as an early childhood
professional who works with young
children, are a decision-maker. You
make decisions about the children in
DAP: a your program on a daily basis.
Decision
Making Tool Understanding DAP – its meaning
and intentional practices – is
essential in guiding the decisions
you make.
 DAP is informed by three areas of
Knowledge knowledge that are critical components
of in making good decisions for children.
individual • Child development appropriateness – child
children development follows general, sequential
patterns and is interrelated across domains
and child (cognitive, physical, social and emotional).
• Individual appropriateness – each child is an
developme individual and develops in her own, unique way.
nt Know each child’s strengths, abilities, needs,
challenges, interests, temperament, and
principles approaches to learning. Know their individual
skills, ideas and joys.
Knowledge of individual children and
child development principles

3. Social and cultural appropriateness – all children grow within a culture. Know each
child’s cultural and family background—his unique family, values, expectations,
language, lifestyles, and beliefs. Show respect for cultures in the experiences you
provide; make sure they are meaningful for each child/family.
 DAP focuses on five 1. Creating a caring
key areas of early community of
learning practices: learners.

Knowledge
of effective 2. Teaching to 3. Planning
early enhance
development and
curriculum to
achieve important
learning learning. goals.

practices
4. Assessing 5. Establishing
children’s reciprocal
development and relationships with
learning. families.
 Ongoing observations about a child’s unique skills, progress, interests,
resources and needs is at the heart of individualizing the curriculum.

Some of these strategies include:

Recording children’s behaviour to identify current functioning and

Implementa emerging skills.

tion of DAP Communicating with parents and other caregivers about behaviour in
the home and other settings.

Identifying different ways children learn and expanding the

experiences to incorporate different learning styles; and

Modifying the materials, experiences, or environment to encourage

new skills.
Implementation of DAP

Learning and development are most likely to occur when:

- New experiences build on what a child already knows and is able to do.
- -Those learning experiences also entail the child stretching a reasonable amount in
acquiring new skills, abilities, or knowledge.

After the child reaches that new level of mastery in skill or understanding,
- The teacher reflects on what goals should come next;
- -And the cycle continues advancing children’s learning in a developmentally
appropriate way.
Such effective teaching doesn’t
happen by chance:
• A hallmark of developmentally appropriate teaching is intentionality
• Good teachers are intentional in everything they do-setting up the
classroom, planning curriculum, making use of various teaching strategies,
assessing children, interacting with them, and working with their families.
• Intentional teachers are purposeful and thoughtful about the actions they
take.
• Teachers direct their teaching toward the goals the program is trying to help
the children reach.
DAP

• Developmentally appropriate teaching practices provide an optimal balance of adult-guided

and child-guided experiences.

• Adult-guided experience proceeds primarily along the lines of the teacher’s goals, but is also
shaped by the children’s active engagement; child-guided experience proceeds primarily along
the lines of children’s interests and actions, with strategic teacher support.

• It is the teacher who takes responsibility for stimulating, directing, and supporting children’s
development and learning by providing the experiences that each child needs.
Teaching practices that are developmentally
appropriate for young children from birth through
the primary grades

Teachers are responsible for fostering the caring learning community through their
teaching.
Teachers make it a priority to know each child well, and also the people most significant
in the child’s life.
Teachers establish positive, personal relationships with each child and with each child’s
family to better understand that child’s individual needs, interests, and abilities and that
family’s goals, values, expectations, and childrearing practices.
Teachers continually gather information about children in a variety of ways and monitor
each child’s learning and development to make plans to help children progress.
Teachers are:

• Alert to signs of undue stress and traumatic events in each child’s life and employ
strategies to reduce stress and support the development of resilience.

• Take responsibility for knowing what the desired goals for the program are and how
the program’s curriculum is intended to achieve those goals.

• Plan for learning experiences that effectively implement a comprehensive curriculum

so that children attain key goals across the domains
Teachers:

• Plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child’s learning
and development.
• present children with opportunities to make meaningful choices, especially in child-
choice activity periods.
• possess an extensive repertoire of skills and strategies they are able to draw on, and
they know how and when to choose among them, to effectively promote each child’s
learning and development at that moment.
Teachers:

• Know how and when to scaffold children’s learning—that is, providing just enough
assistance to enable each child to perform at a skill level just beyond what the child
can do on his or her own, then gradually reducing the support as the child begins to
master the skill, and setting the stage for the next challenge.

• Teachers make experiences in their classrooms accessible and responsive to all

children and their needs—including children who are English language learners, have
special needs or disabilities, live in poverty or other challenging circumstances, or are
from different cultures.
Teachers:

• Teachers are prepared to meet special needs of individual children, including children
with disabilities and those who exhibit unusual interests and skills.
Planning curriculum to achieve
important goals

• In developmentally appropriate practice, the curriculum helps young children achieve

goals that are developmentally and educationally significant.

• Developmentally appropriate practice means teachers have flexibility—and the

expertise to exercise that flexibility effectively—in how they design and carry out
curricular experiences in their classrooms
Planning curriculum to achieve
important goals

• Teachers collaborate with those teaching in the preceding and subsequent grade
levels, sharing information about children and working to increase the continuity and
coherence across ages/grades, while protecting the integrity and appropriateness of
practices at each level.
Assessing children’s development
and learning
Assessment also is a tool for monitoring children’s progress toward a program’s
desired goals. In developmentally appropriate practice, the experiences and the
assessments are linked (the experiences are developing what is being assessed,
and vice versa); both are aligned with the program’s desired outcomes or goals
for children.

Teachers cannot be intentional about helping children to progress unless they

know where each child is with respect to learning goals.
Sound assessment that is developmentally appropriate
for children from birth through the primary grades.

• Assessment of young children’s progress and achievements is ongoing, strategic, and

purposeful. The results of assessment are used to inform the planning and
implementing of experiences, to communicate with the child’s family, and to evaluate
and improve teachers’ and the program’s effectiveness.
Establishing reciprocal relationships
with families
In reciprocal relationships between practitioners and families,
there is mutual respect, cooperation, shared responsibility, and
negotiation of conflicts toward achievement of shared goals. (Also
see guideline 1, “Creating a Caring Community of Learners.”)

Practitioners work in collaborative partnerships with families,

establishing and maintaining regular, frequent two-way
communication with them.
Policy considerations
It is unrealistic, however, to expect that they can fully implement those
standards and practices without public policies and funding that
support a system of early childhood education that is grounded in
providing high-quality developmentally appropriate experiences for all
children.
The goal must be advancement in both realms: more early childhood
professionals engaging in developmentally appropriate practices, and
more policy makers establishing policies and committing public funds
to support such practices.
Policy areas that are particularly critical for developing a high-quality, well financed system of early childhood
education, which includes the implementation of developmentally appropriate practice, must include at a minimum:

• early learning standards for children and related/aligned curricula and

assessment;
• a comprehensive professional development and compensation system;
• a program quality rating and improvement system to improve program
quality as well as to inform the families, the public, and policy makers
about quality;
• comprehensive and coordinated services for children;
• attention to program evaluation;
• and commitment of additional public funds to support program
affordability and quality in every setting.
References
Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early
Childhood Programs: Serving Children from Birth through Age
8, 3rd Edition. Washington DC: National Association for the
Education of Young Children.