What is the foundation phase?
The
foundation phase is a document put in place by the wales government which
provides children between the ages of 3 and 7 the opportunities to learn
holistically rather than subject specific. The foundation phase document teaches
children that skills learnt in particular subjects do not have to stay within
those subjects. For example children may use a adding and subtracting in
mathematics but they may also need it in geography, science and history. The
foundation phase promotes practitioners to teach themes in education rather
than subjects and topics.
The foundation phase is
divided up into 7 categories which practitioners use as a guide to ensure that
children have a holistic and broad education. These categorises are:
·
Mathematical development
·
Personal
and Social Development, Well-Being and Cultural Diversity
·
Language,
Literacy and Communication Skills
·
Welsh
Language Development
·
Knowledge
and Understanding of the World
·
Physical
Development
·
Creative
Development.
Foundation phase framework (2008)
From
personal experience the foundation phase helps children’s development as it
allows children to explore, be creative, use their imagination and have fun in
a loosely structured but controlled environment. In one of the settings which I
have previously attended children were allowed to carry out activities based on
what they wanted to learn. For example, one child came into school with a
plastic dinosaur, the teacher noticed that this captured his imagination as he
was showing the other children what the dinosaur would have ate and where it
would have lived and so she decided to
change lesson plans in order to incorporate the child’s interests.
How has
the foundation phase changed education?
The foundation phase has
changed education as children no longer are taught specific subjects but
because of the impact that the foundation phase has had on today’s education
children are being taught topics. The idea of teaching topics rather than
individual subjects enhances children’s education as they have the opportunity
to have a holistic view of education. This is also important as it makes
particular subjects such a maths or English which children may find boring or
challenging more appealing if they can link it to something their interested
in. for example, children who may find English challenging may benefit from
story or creative writing if they had to write about a topic that they were
interested e.g. dinosaurs, rather than a topic given to them by the teacher.
The foundation phase
has helped improve education as from my experience classrooms are move child
orientated, colourful and inviting than they were before the foundation phase
was introduced in wales.
Are there
any positives or negatives about the foundation phase?
A positive about the
foundation phase if it is achieved well in an environment is that it can allow
children to develop their creativity, have freedom of exploration and
imagination and help develop the children’s own personal preferences and choices.
A negative about the
foundation phase is that it can often look as if children are engaging in
playing all of the time, when in fact during this time children may be
developing skills such as problem solving, language, inter and intrapersonal
skills, numeracy and trial and error skills all of which they need throughout
life.
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