Child-oriented Activity in Early Childhood Education and Care (10 cr)

Learning outcomes

The student is able to
- describe the theoretical starting points of a child’s growth, development and learning and use methods that support them in accordance with the child’s needs
- apply the pedagogical understanding of early childhood education and care and the social pedagogical approach in their activities
- utilise the possibilities of pedagogical documentation in child-oriented activities
- plan, implement and evaluate pedagogical, creative, integrative and phenomenon-based activities

Materials

Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2018)
https://laurea.finna.fi/Record/3amk.89982
Recommended to buy (you will need it throughout your studies and work in early education) online from National Agency for Education, price 20 €:
https://verkkokauppa.oph.fi/EN/page/product/national-core-curriculum-for-early-childhood-education-and-care-2018/2555301.

Other literature is openly available online - will be informed when the course starts.

Teaching methods

The course is part of the qualification of an early childhood education and care social pedagogue / teacher (varhaiskasvatuksen sosionomi / opettaja).

The lessons and workshops will take place online via Zoom. Attendance requirement at online lessons and workshops will be 80% / 100% to achieve the versatile theoretical and practical skills required for an early childhood education social pedagogue / teacher.

The course includes individual, paired and small group assignments, working life cooperation, home study and knowledge sharing seminars. Instructions for the assignments will be available at Canvas workspace a week before the course start.

Employer connections

Child-oriented project in day care (kindergarten / open day care / family day care) in private or public sector. The practical project is carried out in pairs. The assignment consists of planning, implementing, evaluating, reporting and presenting the project.

Completion alternatives

1) RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING
Any competence that corresponds to the learning outcomes of the course can be included in it through recognition and accreditation of prior learning. The starting point is competence-based thinking: what matters is your competence itself, not how and where you acquired it. The procedures for the recognition and accreditation of prior learning are Recognition of prior studies and Demonstration of competence.
Where to start:
At first you would need to go carefully through the objectives, contents and assignments of the course to evaluate if there would be some entity / several entities where you already have know-how and competence? If yes, think how you can demonstrate your competence (e.g. earlier certificates, individual essay, short research or development project at your workplace, report, portfolio). Within one week of the start of the course contact the responsible teacher kati.rintakorpi@laurea.fi to arrange a Zoom meeting where we will discuss and identify your competence and agree on the method of demonstrating your competence.

OR

2) RECOGNITION OF WORK-BASED LEARNING
If you are working in ECEC at the same time that studying it would be possible to find an alternative way to complete the course or some part of it by recognizing what information and skills you can learn (or have already learned) at your workplace.
Where to start?
At first you would need to go carefully through the objectives, contents and assignments of the course to analyze if there would be some entity / several entities which you can learn at your work place?
If yes, think how you can learn those things in practice and how you can demonstrate your competence (e.g. essay, short research or development project at your workplace, report, portfolio).
Within one week of the start of the course contact the responsible teacher kati.rintakorpi@laurea.fi to arrange a Zoom meeting where we will discuss and identify your work situation, general and personal goals and agree on the method of learning and demonstrating your competence.

Student workload

The course requires attendance on 5 x 3 hour online lessons via Zoom > active participation required.
Other parts of the course can be studied & implemented freely by the students in the given course timeline. Project work should be implemented 3–5 times in daycare, about 0,5–1 hour per time. For pair works (essay, project) the students need to fix their schedules to fit with each other.
The total scope of the course is 270 hours of student's work.

Content scheduling

Module 1: Theoretical cornerstones on child-oriented activities (2 cr)
Lectures and an individual essay
Module 2: Creativity, play and participation in early childhood education (4 cr)
Lectures and a pair essay
Module 3: Child-oriented project (4 cr)
Planning, implementating, evaluating, reporting and presenting a practical project, pair work (4 cr)

Evaluation scale

H-5