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discovery, with the teacher as a facilitator. This aligns with goals around playful learning and is also conducive to enhancing self-regulation skills. A detailed case study (CEPI 2020, 9) states, This requires teachers to promote contextualized activities that would help students make meaning of what is being taught, a clear link to the principle of meaning making. For instance, kindergarten teachers are required to use thematic units or themes that integrate the different domains, following the principle that “children’s growth and development is interrelated and interdependent” (DepEd Order No. 47, s. 2016, pp. 4). For instance, in kindergarten there are 7 domains, i.e. Socioemotional Development, Values Development, Physical Health and Motor Development, Aesthetic Development, Mathematics, Physical and Natural Environment and Language, Literacy and Communication. In this grade, it is expected that classrooms would be organized by areas, or activity corners, that would “encourage learners to spend more time engaging in different learning activities within these areas” (DepEd Order No. 47, s. 2016, pp. 17).
Support materials have been created for teachers to implement the National Curriculum, such as the Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide created by the Department of Education with technical assistance from Save the Children (Philippines, Department of Education 2017). This document provides weekly guidance on how to address all the skills described in the National Curriculum. This type of guidance, and others like it, illustrates how one country has prioritized quality early education by setting guidelines for curricula and pedagogy that are aligned with research, and then development of resources for teachers to deliver high-quality instruction.
CONCLUSION The real strength of high-quality ECE is more generally not the formal curriculum, but the nature and quality of the relationships between the educators and the children in the setting or classroom. The role of the ECE educator is most effectively that of facilitator and guide rather than instructor. Beyond ensuring a responsive and supportive relationship between educator and child, three key elements of high-quality pedagogy support children’s development: (1) supporting children’s spoken and communication skills, (2) supporting children’s ability to self-regulate their cognitive and emotional mental processes, and (3) creating opportunities for active learning through play. To ensure all children make a secure start to their school careers, it is important that a whole-child, evidence-based curriculum be provided, which should include activities supporting children’s development in five areas: physical health and development, social and
