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Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood CURRICULUM STUDIES
Education curriculum IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION

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CURRICULUM STUDIES
Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood
IN EARLY CHILDHOOD Education curriculum
EDUCATION

UNIT 1 SECTION RATIONALE, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

3 OF THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CURRICULUM

You are welcome to the third section of unit 1. I believe you will find this
section also very interesting. Generally, as already indicated, the purpose of
Early Childhood Education is to provide children with an environment that
will promote their optimum development at a time when they are in a
critical period of their development; socially, physically, emotionally, and
intellectually. It is in the light of this that countries all over the world
including Ghana have introduced policies and invested a lot of resources to
ensure the effective implementation of early childhood education
programmes.

In developing an educational programme one of the very important elements

that is considered is the statement of purposes which comes in the form of
the formulation of aims, goals and objectives. I am sure you remember these
in the diploma curriculum course you took. These are very important since
they eventually serve as the basic for determining the success or failure of
the programme.

By the end of this section, you should be able to;

 distinguish between aims, goals and objectives
 explain the rationale for the early childhood curriculum in Ghana
 examine the goals formulated for the early childhood curriculum in
Ghana

For the purposes of this course we will discuss the rationale and goals stated
in the curriculum for kindergarten in Ghana.

Rationale
Rationale is simply the reason behind an activity or the reasons for doing
something.

The rationale for early childhood education in Ghana is to provide children

with expressive activities that demand their participation in all learning.
This lays a foundation for later formal experiences in learning. The
programme is meant to harness all previous relevant learning activities such
as listening, speaking, and experiences including decision-making and
comparing that children possess before they come to school for effective
teaching and learning. This is considered very relevant considering the fact
that children, by the time they enter the programme by 3 or 4 years, come
with a lot of informal experiences covering various aspects of human
experience.

Aims are the broad statements of intentions about what behaviours a nation
or policy makers expects her learners to demonstrate after going through

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Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood CURRICULUM STUDIES
Education curriculum IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION

formal education. They are meant for the entire curriculum. They are
general, vague and are achievable in the long term.
Goals are the intended learning outcomes learners are expected to
demonstrate or exhibit after going through a particular level within an
educational system such as kindergarten, primary, junior high school etc.

There are two types of goals; those that are stated for a level within an
educational system and those formulated for subjects at that level. These
are what Wheeler (1980) referred to as mediate and proximate goals
respectively. So if you carefully go through the kindergarten curriculum for
Ghanaian children you will realise that purposes have been stated for the
programme for that level and for each of the six components. Goals are
achievable in the medium term. The various components of the programme
are;
i. Language and literacy
ii. Environmental studies
iii. Mathematics or number work
iv. Creative arts (music, dance and art)
v. Physical development and
vi. Psychosocial skills

Objectives are specific learning outcomes or behaviours learners are

expected to demonstrate after an instructional period. These are stated for
topics for lessons under the various subjects that are to be taught. They are
achievable in the short term.

General goals of the early childhood curriculum

The early childhood education programme is designed to enable children
who are taken through it to;

 First and foremost, develop communication skills that enable

them express their emotions, thoughts, and actions in various
ways such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Early language and communication skills are crucial for children’s success
in school and beyond. Language and communication skills include the
ability to understand others (i.e., receptive language) and express oneself
(i.e., expressive language) using words, gestures, or facial expressions
(Gardner-Neblett and Gallagher, 2013). According to them children who
develop strong language and communication skills are more likely to arrive
at school ready to learn. They also are less likely to have difficulties
learning to read and are more likely to have higher levels of achievement in
school. During the first years of life, children’s brains are developing
rapidly and laying the foundation for learning. The interactions that children
have with adults influence how children develop and learn. As a result, early
childhood educators have a responsibility to provide children with
interactions that can support children’s growth and development,
particularly their language and communication skills.

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CURRICULUM STUDIES
Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood
IN EARLY CHILDHOOD Education curriculum
EDUCATION

In order to promote interactions between early childhood educators and

children that will enable children acquire and develop language and
communication skills, Gardner-Neblett and Gallagher (2013) suggest ten
different ways and techniques early childhood educators can apply. These
have been summarized in the table below.

Ten Practices to Promote Language and Communication Skills of Infants

and Toddlers
Practice Description
1. Get chatty Engaging in conversations with children
2. Be a commentator Giving descriptions of objects, activities or
events
3. Mix it up Using different types of words and grammar
4. Label it Providing children with the names of objects
or actions
5. Tune in Engaging in activities or objects that interest
children
6. Read it interactively Using books to engage children’s participation
7. Read it again and again Reading books multiple times
and again
8. Props! Please Introducing objects that spark conversations
9. Make music Engaging in musical activities
10. Sign it Using gestures or simple signs with words

Although each practice is presented separately, many of the practices can be

used in combination with each other. Since these practices have been tried
and tested it is hoped that by using them early childhood educators can
provide all children with the rich language exposure and opportunities
children need to enhance their language and communication skills.

Hello, I hope by now you will be thinking about how to commit all these
into memory, don’t worry! Since they are not supposed to be presented in
the order they have been presented, you can learn them easily using
mnemonics or an acronym. I believe you know what they are.

 Secondly, to familiarize themselves with the environment and its

living and non-living components.
The environment in which children find themselves plays a very important
role in their development. It is as a result of its importance that Reggio
Emelia refers to it as the ‘third teacher’. Whether we like it or not children
by their nature are very curious and would like to explore every
environment in which they find themselves. They do this by using their
senses to interact with the living and non living things they find in both the
social and physical environment of the school. Whereas the physical
environment is made up of the type of infrastructure, equipment and space
provided both within and outside the classrooms, the social environment is

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Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood CURRICULUM STUDIES
Education curriculum IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION

composed of the kinds of people around learners will interact with. Since
research has shown that environment influences learners’ behaviour,
providing an environment that is socially and physically very safe and
healthy is very important.

Children must feel free and safe to move around, interacting and
familiarizing themselves with the environment. The school environment
should therefore be relaxing and soothing; stimulating and exciting;
colourful and bright; comfortable and homey; but at the same time orderly
and methodological; thought provoking and challenging (Osafo-Acquah,
2008).

Activity 3.1
Do the first one individually and the second one in groups
i. List 5 elements that the physical environment of a kindergarten should
have.
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………

ii. Discuss some of the effects of the physical and social environment of
the school on the early childhood learner.

 The third goal is that the child must learn to live a healthy life.
Since children at the early childhood age are very vulnerable and have a
weaker immune systems, it is very important that they are well taken care of
by keeping them in a safe environment without any fear of being harmed.
They must also be taught how to take care of themselves to enable them live
a healthy life. This can be done by first, helping learners to identify the
various parts of the body and their functions and also what can be done for
them or they can do to take good care of those parts of the body so that they
can be used to perform their functions. Eg the palm is used for holding
things but it must always be washed before using it to eat; the teeth is for
chewing food but it must always be cleaned at least twice a day etc. This
will enable the children live a healthy life and interact meaningfully with
friends. Children can also live a healthy life if they are taking through
developmentally appropriate physical activities such as sack race, skipping,
“ampe”, football that involve jumping, running, throwing, pulling etc. Some
of these may be introduced as recreational activities and through music and
dance to enable children develop motor skills.

 Develop their psychosocial competence such as assertiveness, self

confidence and relate positively with others.
Developing children’s psychosocial skills is considered very important to
their total development. This gives them the opportunity to develop positive

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CURRICULUM STUDIES
Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood
IN EARLY CHILDHOOD Education curriculum
EDUCATION

self concept and confidence; appreciate and understand themselves and

others; relate positively with others; make group and individual decisions
and solve problems; and cope with emotions (CRDD, 2004). Research
supports the belief held by many early childhood professionals, that young
children’s peer relationships are important for their development and
adjustment to school. Preschool-aged children who have positive peer
relationships are likely to maintain positive peer interactions in grade
school, while children who have a hard time getting along with age mates in
the preschool years are more likely to experience later academic difficulties
and rejection or neglect by their elementary-school peers (Ladd, 1990). It is
therefore important that activities that employ constructive and purposeful
play are used when handling early childhood learners since this will enable
them work in groups and interact with others. This will help them identify
and appreciate themselves.

 Awaken and develop their potential creative abilities.

Naturally children will like to explore and play with things they find in the
environment. Play is therefore strongly featured in many of the discussions
about creativity in young children. Imaginative play (especially role play)
and free choice of activities is a key components of the early childhood
setting. To enable children develop their creative skills the instructional
setting, both inside and outdoor, must be stimulating enough. This can be
made possible by providing varying developmentally appropriate learning
resources for children to enable them draw, paint, arrange shapes, mould
etc. In developing learners’ creative abilities, teachers have a role to play

Teachers and other early childhood workers can encourage creativity by:
 asking open-ended questions
 tolerating ambiguity
 modelling creative thinking and behaviour
 encouraging experimentation and persistence
 praising children who provide unexpected answers.

 Lastly, appreciate and find pleasure in their own creations and

those of others.
To enable children identify and appreciate themselves and develop self
confidence, it is very important that teachers display or guide them to
display their creations such as paintings, mouldings, drawings etc. They can
be made to appreciate what they have done and that of their peers through
questions. This helps in peer assessment and self assessment which are very
good ways of gathering information about how children think.

Activity 3.2
Differentiate between aims, goals and objectives
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

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Unit 1, Section 3: Rationale, goals and objectives of the Early Childhood CURRICULUM STUDIES
Education curriculum IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION

………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………............…………………………………

Activity 3.3
Try your hands on this assignment. Discuss the goals of the early child
childhood education curriculum.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

Summary
In this section the aims stated for the kindergarten curriculum have been
discussed. These entail the various learning outcomes learners are expected
to demonstrate as they are being taken through the programme and after
they have completed. It must also be noted that the six components that
make up the kindergarten curriculum as indicated above also have goals. It
therefore important that practitioners clearly understand these goals to
enable them help learners achieve them.

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