Every Child Matters And The Plowden Report

To some extent, Early Years or Key Stage One provision has been based upon various philosophical ideas about childhood and knowledge. This essay will discuss the Equality Act 2010, the National Curriculum, Every Child Matters and the Plowden Report, and will trace and assess the extent to which they have been influenced by the ideas of philosophers of the classical, (Plato and Aristotle) and the entitlement (Locke and Rousseau) periods, and their views of childhood and education. Such ideas include whether access to education should be restricted on the basis of the child’s ability or gender, alongside the question of whether knowledge is nature or nurture based. These can be seen as forming two key competing models of education: access to

Indeed, Locke’s priority is for a “gentleman’s education” (Rusk 1954:133). He felt that the purpose of education is set out to produce ‘gentlemen’ who serve their country, which suggests that the education of young boys is more important than that of girls. He did argue that girls should be educated too, but there should be some gender differences in teaching and provision: “I have said be here because the principal aim of my discourse is how a young gentleman should be brought up from his infancy, which in all thinks will not so perfectly suit the education of daughters though where the difference of the sex needs different treatment...” (Locke, 1693, cited in Rusk 1954:133). Building on this idea of a different education for girls, Locke debated the idea of single sex and mixed sex schools. He concluded that although the content of the education differs, boys would perform to a higher calibre if they were educated with girls, as they will be less brutal and show more compassion towards their classmates. In general, this is not in line with modern ideas on gender equality (and certainly not in the sense that boys’ education might take priority). However, most state schools educate key-stage-one children in mixed gender

For example, the child-centred philosophy was mainly demonstrated in the Plowden Report (1964). The Plowden Report (1964) was the reason behind primary education in England. Thus, the Report serves as both a description and endorsement of child-centred approaches to the education of young children. In chapter 2 of the Plowden report it discusses Piaget’s theory where it relates back to the views of how children learn linking to Locke’s view that knowledge is gained through experience. This is supported in Piaget’s theory considering the four stages in rational development which states: 'until a child is ready to take a particular step forward it is a waste of time to try to teach him to take it' (Plowden 1967:25). Therefore, based on the influential Plowden report, most contemporary early-years provision is built around an acceptance that a child’s knowledge and skills are developed rather than being innate, so schools aim to extend opportunities to develop skills. In this regard, some lessons and subjects can be traced back to Aristotle. Aristotle stated that children need to learn how to read and write, as in their own right they are useful skills, and other knowledge may be gained through the mastery