The Issue Of An Early Years Mathematics Curriculum

Gifford (2005: 5-6) noted that “the issue of an appropriate mathematics curriculum has concerned many of us involved with early mathematics education over the past few years’. I should say that I agree with Ms Gifford. Being an early childhood practitioner myself, I find that not much emphasis is given to early mathematics curriculum in schools. They either tend to emphasise more on early literacy skills like listening, reading and writing than on numeracy skills or they do not have an appropriate mathematics curriculum in place. For me, I believe that exposure to mathematics in the early years helps children develop confidence in numeracy skills. They will be inclined to use and understand mathematics with lots of assurance. Thus, it

I find that my notion is also similar to what Clements & Conference Working Group (2004) mentioned in a position of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In the paper, they had stated that “positive experiences help children to develop dispositions such as curiosity, imagination, flexibility, inventiveness and persistence”. Thus, for the purpose of this paper, with theory and research as my basis, I would like to outline what I regard as an appropriate early years mathematics curriculum. In order to do this, I would be looking at what young children can do mathematically, suitable mathematical objectives and how young children learn to assist me. Moreover, I also hope to deliberate this curriculum with my school management for their consideration in our next meeting, as I feel that the current mathematics curriculum that is being used in school could be improvised to benefit children more. (National Council of Teachers of

To begin with, as said earlier, I believe schools and early childhood practitioners should never forget to acknowledge that all children possess prior knowledge. Knowing what knowledge each child brings to school will help in shaping the curriculum. Next, the necessary subject knowledge the teachers possess also becomes very imperative in this instance. Firstly, having essential subject and pedagogy knowledge will help teachers develop an appropriate and useful curriculum that is beneficial to children. They will be aware that activities and lessons that are planned should range from simple to complex and concrete to abstract concepts and not the other way round. (Taylor