Authors: Marjory Ebbeck, Sheela Warrier, Mandy Goh  

Source: Early Childhood Education Journal; Jan2018, Vol. 46 Issue 1, p83-92. 

Type: Journal Article 

Subjects: Early childhood education, Curriculum planning, Child care, Educational quality, Singapore 

Keywords: Early experience, Early childhood curriculum, Child care, Active Involvement 

Abstract: 

The paper discusses some research findings in Singapore that investigated if a relationships-based curriculum extended the active involvement of the infants, toddlers, and young children (up to the age of three) in their learning. Using a relationships-based curriculum, a study conducted over a year involved the use of a well-tested, traditional before-and-after methodology to find out if any change had occurred in the phenomenon under study between two points in time. A sample of 58 infants, toddlers and young children (up to the age of
three) in an experimental cohort and 59 of comparable ages in a control cohort, were measured using the Laevers’ Active Involvement scale before and after a curriculum intervention. The results showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in the active involvement of the children in the experimental cohort as compared to no improvement in the control cohort. It is proposed that the relationships-based approach has the potential to raise the quality of curriculum and could be considered for application in child care centres in other countries. 

DOI: 10.1007/s10643-017-0847-9  

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