THE HIGH-SCOPE CURRICULUM MODEL IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CONTEXT

In Portugal the nursery education context has been more often targeted by child development experts. Because it is an extremely rich and useful context for the overall development of the child, it is imperative to think about its structure and organization.

Whereas the High-Scope curriculum model presents an appropriate plan of action to the Portuguese educational context, we intend to address this curricular model adapted to the nursery and thus envision a more effective organization for the development of the child at an early age.

One of the fundamental principles of the curriculum model in analysis, based on the theories of Piaget, is the child's active learning, and the adult in the High-Scope curriculum should take a less directive paper. Despite this principle, the adult plays a vital role in making decisions since he should intervene before the child's activity. Thus, it is their responsibility to prepare the space, materials and experiences, so that the child is actively autonomous in their activities.

In addition to the emphasis on the child’s active learning, the adult-child interaction, the physical environment, the daily routine and the observation of the child are also principles that guide the High-Scope approach.

This model curriculum also contains the particularity of presenting a set of key experiences, representative of what children learn in their daily adventures. The set of key experiences is divided into nine areas covering the learning of young children: the sense of its own; relationships; creative representation, movement, music, communication and language; early notion of quantity and number; exploration of objects; space and time. Each submitted area contains objectives that can be translated into knowledge for children to experience and thus develop themselves actively.