Netherlands

Challenges involved in working with young children

 

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AUTHOR

G. J.M. (Gäby) van der Linde-Meijerink

Curriculum Developer and Educationalist for Primary Education, Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development SLO

Gäby van der Linde works as a curriculum developer at SLO, the Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development. The focus of her work is on primary education, digital literacy, formative assessment, 21st century skills, educational goals, early childhood education, and curriculum innovation. Her specialisms include: curriculum design approaches and tools, the design and development of learning environments, and teacher professional learning in relation to curriculum (re)design in schools. She is also the team leader for Early Childhood Education (2 to 7 years). Gäby is a former teacher.

AUTHOR

M.G.M. (Martin) Klein Tank

Curriculum Developer and Educationalist for Primary Education, Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development SLO

Martin Klein Tank works as a curriculum developer at SLO, the Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development. His focus areas are primary education, digital literacy, science and technology, educational goals, and early childhood education. As member of the team for Early Childhood Education (2 to 7 years), he is involved with the development of the curriculum and goals for early childhood, such as for digital literacy. Martin is a former teacher and service trainer.

ABSTRACT

Challenges involved in working with young children

Pedagogical staff and teachers are professionals who provide education in childcare and preschool groups. They face an important task as they have to give all children a good start to their school career. There is no national curriculum but there are only attainment targets in the Netherlands. SLO developed a framework for early childhood education (2 – 7 years). Professionals can use this framework as a tool for developing their own learning objectives. To achieve this, they have to face five challenges: Working together from a shared vision (challenge 1); Responding appropriately to children’s development (challenge 2); Maintaining dialogue (challenge 3); Formulating learning objectives and developing well-reasoned activities within meaningful themes (challenge 4); Optimal learning opportunities for all children (challenge 5). In this chapter, we discuss these five challenges, provide tools and guidelines and describe some good practices from the Netherlands.

Professional is here taken to mean: a pedagogical worker or teacher for Group 1 and/or 2. In some situations we use educators instead professionals, when the situation is directly related to upbringing children.

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