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volunteers her time to facilitate professional development opportunities for other early
childhood educators.
Response to the study.
I became acquainted with Rose when I was the child care coordinator for the local
school district. I have watched the organization rise from the depths of discord, and have
found it to be an inspiring story to follow as a community spirit has emerged. Emergent
curriculum was part of a multi-pronged strategy to rebuild this centre, which has become
only one of a dozen programs that I am aware of utilizing the approach in the Greater
Toronto Area. It was to these programs that I issued an invitation to participate in the
research study.
When Rose was suggested as a research candidate, I was eager for her to join the
process having had a positive past relationship with her. Rose was relaxed and
forthcoming in sharing her experiences with emergent curriculum. During the focus
group session her easygoing attitude and generous spirit helped to create a comfortable
atmosphere which encouraged the telling of project stories.
Past practices.
Rose describes past curriculum practices as being theme-oriented. On one hand,
the practice provided consistency and on the other, boredom. “It was repetitive; basically
every year was the same. You just take last year’s plans and you do the same.” For Rose,
the predictability element was “the easy thing about themes.”
As the teacher you have to learn basically the same thing. By the third
year, you are just going back on what you have already learned. There is
no next step unless the children are pushing to go to the next step but by
the end of the week your theme is done even if the children want to know
more.