Early Childhood Care and Education Module 08

OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES OF ECCE

India is known for its age-old custom of valuing its children and a rich legacy
of cultural practices to stimulate their development, inculcate value system and foster
social skills. It is very true that Indians had realised the importance of ECCE very
early. However, this realisation was primarily practised through traditional child care
strategies within the context of joint families. In contemporary India, with a major
transition in the socio-economic and cultural context, the need to re-evaluate the
approach towards early childhood care and education was necessitated, as both, the
parents are working in the current scenario. Parents raising their children in this
changed family structure are highly dependent on child care centres, community-
based early learning centres and preschools for providing the needed stimulation
and nurtured learning environment. With this transformation in the situation, these
centres play a pivotal role in bringing up responsible citizens.
This module tries to lay down the core objectives of ECCE, provides the list of
developmental goals to be met for children in the age span of 0-3 years and 3-6
years and finally ends up with principles guiding the formulation of Early childhood
care and education curriculum.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Towards the end of this module, you will be able to
 Comprehend the core objectives of early childhood care and education as put
forth by National ECCE policy document.
 Realise the list of developmental goals as laid by National ECCE policy for
children under three years and 3-6 years
 Review the principles guiding the formulation of ECCE curriculum.
OBJECTIVES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION
At a young age, the kids are usually curious about everything they see, sense
and experience. Hence enrolment in an early learning centre that provides rich
experiences contributing to their overall development becomes imperative. Every
ECCE centre should aim at making a child independent, creating a positive and well-
balanced self-image and developing intellectual abilities. With this primary objective,
certain other core objectives as laid by the National ECCE policy document is
explained to you.

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Objective 1: Enable a sound foundation for physical and motor development of

each child as per the child’s potential
A good early learning centre should be responsible for the child’s physical
well-being by
 Protecting the child’s health and safety
 Providing adequate exercise in the fresh air
 Setting aside time for elimination for appropriate toilet habits
 Giving time for rest
 Offering space for free movement
 Providing chances for activities such as climbing, jumping sliding, swinging,
pedalling for practising bodily control to master basic motor skills involving
larger muscles
 Fostering fine motor skills by providing opportunities like threading, leads,
painting, drawing, cutting and pasting
Apart from these activities, laboratory nursery schools attached to the
Department of Human Development of Universities and ICDS Centres take an extra
initiative in providing 1/3rd of the nutritional requirement through well-planned mid-
morning and evening snacks and lunch in such a way that any imbalances in the diet
of the child are met in the nursery school.
Objective 2: Enable children for effective communication and foster both
receptive and expressive language
In the digitally-saturated world, early learning centres have a vital role in
recognising and valuing the human interaction skills. Thought he popular saying that
‘Play is the index of social development' is accepted, one should not forget that play
is only a part of the whole process of socialisation. Every child learns its first social
skills by watching adults around them. Hence early learning centres need to teach
social skills through play and fun as well as being a role model. The early learning
centres should foster certain social skills among children for their effective living in
society. They are
 Expression of emotions

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Children should learn to name their feeling so that they verbally express the
same. For example, a child should know to verbalise his feeling of anger instead
of hitting other children and throwing things.
 Communication
Children need to learn the ways of communication appropriate to their age. For
example, by 2-3 years the child is expected to have eye contact with the person
whom he is communicating. By 5-6 years the child should learn to use words like
please, thank you sorry etc..
 Listening
A child cannot learn without the listening skill, though the listening skill is innate,
it has to be enhanced. Hence early learning centres should allow children to
have free talk sessions, engage in discussions by taking turns.
 Group work
Putting children into groups while laying with toys or even outdoor teaches them
to interact with others. By providing group tasks, the child learns to function in a
group.
 Caring
Compassion for others is an important component of effective interrelationship
skills. By learning compassion at an early age sympathy turning into empathy is
made possible
 Non-verbal skills
It is the potential to read and comprehend the facial expression and body
language of others as well as their own. Early learning centres should facilitate
children to interpret non-verbal cues through fun activities
Objective 3: Stimulate intellectual curiosity and develop conceptual
understanding of the world around by providing opportunities to explore,
investigate and experiment
Children at an early age have active imaginations and ability to explore their
surrounding by using their curiosity without inhibition. Intellectual curiosity helps
children to be a good observant and allows him/her to try new things and figure out
the existing one. This sort of curiosity helps in language expansion as the children
start to describe their thought process and experiences. Hence the early learning

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centres should provide opportunities for the children to explore and connect with
nature and people around them.
Moreover, every centre should provide the child with free time to play as
unstructured play is the effective means of fostering intellectual curiosity and
discovery in a child.
Objective 4: Enhance the development of pro-social skills, social competence
and emotional well-being
Researchers had vividly portrayed that an individual with better socio-
emotional skills has higher attention skills and fewer learning problems. They are
also found to be successful in academic and workplace settings in their later stages.
The good news is that socio-emotional skills can be taught and learnt just like
English or maths. Hence early learning centres should provide opportunities for
laying a strong foundation towards their learning of socio-emotional skills.
Few of the socio-emotional skills for which the foundation to be laid by the
early learning centres are as given below
 Self-awareness – it is knowing one’s own emotions, strengths and
challenges. Also, it is that makes a person aware of how his/her emotions
affect their behaviour and decisions.
 Self-management – it is controlling one’s own emotion and behaviour that
get manifested to overcome challenges and pursue goals
 Social awareness – it is the understanding and respecting other’s
perspective and imply the same in interacting with people
 Relationships – it is the ability to interact meaningfully with others and
maintain healthy interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships
 Responsible decision making – it is the ability to make choices that are
good to oneself and for others.
All of these skills though takes a long time for effective practice, the
foundation of learning has to be laid during the early years.
Objective 5: Develop a sense of aesthetic appreciation and stimulate the
creative learning process
For better early childhood development, the child's understanding of the world
around them and the capacity to learn the appreciation sense are important. The
cognitive theorists and educationists namely Piaget, Vygotsky, Housen and Dewey

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though came up with different assumptions and conclusions regarding learning, one
common point was their agreement that a child develops aesthetically over time and
with experiences. Hence, the early learning centre should create activities that
promote opportunities to express children's attitudes, feelings and ideas freely.
Moreover, these activities should stimulate their awareness and interest and should
be free from judgement and competition.
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE GOALS OF ECCE CENTRES
The National ECCE policy had put forth the developmental milestone goals to
be achieved by the learning centres – a playschool or even the home environment –
serving the children of 0-3 years and 3-6 years separately as listed below as per the
core objectives of ECCE.
Sensory and Perceptual Development
0-3 years 3-6 years
Develop five senses through visual, Demonstrate the use of all five senses
auditory, olfactory and kinesthetic (sight, hear, feel, taste, smell) to guide
experiences. movements and recognise objects
Learn to control and coordinate their Awareness of space, direction,
reflexes distance, quantity etc.
Coordinate sensory perceptions and
simple motor behaviours
Display awareness of location and
spatial relationship

Physical, Health and Motor Development

0-3 years 3-6 years
Develop coordination and control of Develop coordination and control of
large motor muscles large motor muscles
Develop the strength and coordination Develop the strength and coordination
of small motor muscles of small motor muscles
Integrate the movements of various Use of the body with a sense of space
parts of their body and direction
Develop a sense of balance in Coordination of fine muscles with better
movement eye-hand coordination

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Begin to display personal hygiene skills Develop a sense of balance, physical

co-ordination
Recognise the importance of safety Display healthy and routine habits
rules
Display the ability to make choices and
avoid danger.

Language Development
0-3 years 3-6 years
Begin to develop active listening skills Develop Listening and Comprehension
skills
Use communication skills both Use communication skills both
expressive and receptive expressive and receptive
Develop verbal and non-verbal Develop vocabulary and use language
communication skills
Display literacy skills Develop effective verbal and non-verbal
cues
Develop vocabulary and use language Demonstrate interest and ability in
to converse writing
Display prewriting skills like scribbling, Display love for reading
marking, drawing, etc.

Cognitive Development
0-3 years 3-6 years
Develop object permanence Develop pre-number and number
concepts and operations
Develop perceptual classification based Predict patterns and make estimations
on how things look, feel, and taste in measurement
Develop memory for objects, people Develop skills related to sequential and
and events critical thinking, observing, reasoning
and problem solving
Begin to develop vocabulary and skills Manipulate objects, ask questions,
related to comparing, classifying, and make predictions and develop

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seriation generalisations.
Develop skills related to observing,
reasoning and problem solving

Development of Creative and Aesthetic Appreciation

0-3 years 3-6 years
Begin to denote objects and events in Represent objects and events and ideas
the form of drawing, clay modelling in the form of drawing, clay modelling

Express, enjoy and develop a Express, enjoy and develop a

disposition for music and movement disposition for music and movement
Demonstrate creativity with materials

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

0-3 years 3-6 years
Aware of abilities, likings and Develop self-concept, self-control, self-
characteristics help and life skills
Develop self-concept; self-control; self- Develop initiative and curiosity in
help skills learning
Display awareness of behaviour and its Develop a sense of independence and
effects autonomy
Pretend play emerges and use objects Aware of abilities and likings, appreciate
as representation resemblances and dissimilarities in
people and becoming aware of his/her
own behaviour and actions
Develop initiative and curiosity; Display relevant habits, increased
independence and autonomy attention span and persistence in daily
activities
Develop attachment, and emotional Develop relationships with peers, family,
bonding with adults teachers and community
Display improved attention span and Display behaviours of cooperation;
endurance in routine activities compassion; express and accept others
feelings

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Develop friendship with peers by Able to adapt and control emotions

showing cooperation and partaking in
group activities

PRINCIPLES GUIDING THE FRAMEWORK OF ECCE

The previous modules on the fundamentals of growth and development, brain
complexity, theoretical underpinnings with special reference to learning and cognitive
aspects of young children are all insights and research evidence from great thinkers
and scientists. These insights and research evidence has to be compiled together to
put forth certain universal principles to practice ECCE in the real-life setting, though
the principles are influenced by the individual and cultural needs. Here are some of
the principles giving specific ideas on how an ECCE programme can exist to foster
early learning and development.
Principle 1: Learning and development happens in every domain, and all the
three domains stay interconnected
The three major domains of development namely physical, cognitive and
psycho-social are said to be interrelated. In other words, a change or development in
one domain affects the other two domains. Hence ECCE framework should be
devised in such a way that it addresses every domain and its sub-domains of
development.
Principle 2: Learning and development follows a predictable sequence
Amidst the cultural and contextual variations, a predictable sequence of
learning and development is observed among children of 0-6 years. By realising that
any change and development is predictable, the ECCE framework should be in such
a way that it fosters every domain of development along with its sub-domains as and
when needed using providing rich, appropriate experiences and stimulation activities.
Principle 3: Development and learning though predictable, they vary from
individual to individual
The individual variation in the process of development and learning accounts
to the strengths and weaknesses of each child. Even among siblings, no two children
are alike. They have different patterns and timing of development. Moreover, they
have a distinct style of learning, wherein the stimulation or experiences provided
have different accountability among children.
Principle 4: Experiential learning leads to the holistic development
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When learning experiences are provided to children, that calls for

inquisitiveness and exploration by using all of their senses such as smell, taste,
touch, hearing and seeing, and the child is said to have attained all-round
development. Hence every child should be provided experiential experiences that
sustain their interest in learning and enhances their positive temperament to explore
and build skills across all the three major domains of development.
Principle 5: Remember learning gets initiated at birth
As Piaget had rightly said that a newborn child starts learning things around
them through reflexes, it becomes imperative to provide early care and stimulations
for a child towards fostering development and learning. Moreover, the rapid synaptic
connections in the first few years of life account to the later mastery over a skill or a
potential.
Principle 6: Development and learning is a product of maturation and
experience
In other words, the interaction between the genetic endowment of a child and
the level of stimulation a child gets accounts to the holistic development of the child.
For example for a child, whose genetic potential predicts healthy development, is
poorly fed in the early years for one or the other reason the potential goes unfulfilled.
On the other hand for a child with limited potential of healthy development due to an
inherent condition, when exposed to optimal simulative experiences, the impact of
the limited potential gets minimised.
Principle 7: There are critical periods in development
Evidence from researches and various observations had portrayed that
certain aspects of development occur more effectively at particular timing in the life
span. For example, optimal brain development that occurs in the first few years of life
opens up a window of opportunity for language development in the first three of life.
Hence it becomes significant to use this window period by providing enough
stimulation and support in enhancing language learning.
Principle 8: Learning gets initiated through awareness, passes on to
exploration, to questioning and ends with the application.
Through experiences with the people and the overall surrounding, the child's
learning gets initiated. With familiarity gained over the experiences using exploration
and inquiry, the child gets the ability to use/apply the same for related /new situations
using assimilation and accommodation.

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Principle 9: Learning and development happens within a

stimulating/nurturing/protective environment
As Piaget had clearly stated, the child in his early years moves from the
sensorial stage to symbolic representational stage, for which meaningful interactions
of the child with the environment (parents, other children and adults, things around
them and events they experience) becomes the investment. Hence it becomes the
society’s responsibility to provide a caring, stimulating, supportive and protective
environment to foster holistic development in the child.
Principle 10: Socio-cultural context influences the process of learning and
development to a large extent
As proposed by the ecological systems theory development and learning
depends on the child’s environment and the community as a whole in its broader
context. Hence the facilitator of an early learning centre should be aware of the
culture that the child hails from and provide relevant experiences since the child's
thinking is shaped by his/her culture.

Principle 11: Curiosity and desire to learn is inherent

Any child borne in this world does possess an inherent potential of curiosity to learn
from things they see and people they interact. This inherent potential allows them to
stretch their imagination in search of alternatives, formulation of questions and
answers. Hence the early learning centre should make clever use of this potential by
providing a teaching pedagogy that provokes their intelligence at all domains.
Principle 12: Learning is effective and sustainable through play
Play is a tool for the child's whole development. It is the play that provides
opportunities for the child to explore experiment, manipulate and discover. In
Piagetian term, the abstract thought of a child gets developed through play. Play is of
many types. But do remember that play is the only tool that enhances learning
dispositions of a child. Hence ECE centre should be in such a way it provides
opportunities for optimal play.
CONCLUSION
To recapitulate the content of the module on ECCE objectives and principles,
let us have a brief understanding of what is Early Childhood care and education and
what it is NOT.

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Early Childhood Education is:

• A programme that provides enriched environment to stimulate
language, intellectual, social-emotional and physical development
of the child through play.
• A programme that engages children in individual, small and large
group activities to meet the learning needs of every child with one-
to-one communication
• A programme that lays a foundation for the three R’s namely
Reading, writing and Arithmetic
• A school readiness programme that ‘readies’ children for learning to
read, write and do arithmetic in their primary schooling.
• A programme that indirectly promotes self-control and thereby inner
discipline
Early Childhood Education is NOT:
• A syllabus bound programme to teach 3R's nor a ‘song and a
rhyme and go home’ approach.
• A teacher-centred programme having a formal classroom approach
as in school
• A downhill extension of the primary classes.
• A programme that demands absolute obedience or exercises firm
classroom discipline
• A programme to conduct periodic tests to assess the progress of
the child’s learning and developing.

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