Tensions and (re)transformations in the Portuguese Early Childhood
6. Conclusion Conclusion
6. Conclusion
Content knowledge is essential at all levels of education. It is the subject matter with which we can perform the transformations schools promise: learning. Due to specificities in the way of teaching, ECE can sometimes have a difficult relationship with content but there are many other factors influencing curricular decisions. In this text, the tensions resulting from those fac-tors were in the front as they are pressuring pedagogy and curricular development but the (re) transformations were also observed.
The tensions and (re)transformations in ECE in Portugal point to opportunities that the curricu-lar guidelines support. First, by valuing teaching as three-dimensional: organizing the learning environment, interacting with children (particularly during play) and leading activities. Two are based on children’s agency, the third more on the adult’s (Liljestrand, 2021) but they are all im-portant. Secondly, by connecting evaluation/assessment and teaching practices while focusing the decision-making aspect more than the formal one. This is necessary as the diverse nature of teaching requires sophisticated planning and a readiness to listen to children and create spaces for participation – but also sophisticated forms and tools of evaluation. A third aspect is the way the guidelines consider children’s play to be framed by adults’ intentionality not crea- ting a divide between the two. Based on these, content is part of the planning and of children’s experience without overtaking the specificity of the ways of teaching and learning in ECE.
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