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prematurely is that those who cannot relate to the tasks required are likely to feel
incompetent.
Early childhood educators who have adopted an academic approach to curriculum
may do so without question or critical reflection. Wein (1995) conducted a study of five
early childhood educators and found that in practice, teachers adapt scripts for action that
become routine in the classroom. Without reflection, this becomes the practical
knowledge that defines the teacher’s role without necessarily meeting the developmental
or educational needs of the child. For four of the five teachers in Wien’s study, theme
planning provided the construction of the scripts that became the dominion of the teacher,
omitting the possibility of child participation (Wien, 1995).
The roots of early childhood education curriculum.
While early childhood education has been a part of the educational system only
since the twentieth century, the roots of contemporary ideas regarding early childhood
curriculum can be found in the nineteenth century. The work of Johann Heinrich
Pestalozzi (1746 – 1827) and Friedrich Froebel (1782 – 1852) has been credited as
influencing the curriculum structure and materials found in the modern preschool (Howe
et al., 2000).
Pestalozzi, a Swiss educator, developed and implemented a radical new childcentred
approach to education in response to the very rigid, authoritarian, and teachercentred
methods of the time. His curriculum emphasized intellectual, moral, and physical
education, implemented through hands-on activities. Pestalozzi felt that activities should
be developmentally appropriate for the particular age and ability of each child, and only
introduced when the child was ready (Howe et al., 2000).