Abstract/Notes: The focus of this research is the spiritual experience of young children in early childhood educational settings. Spirituality is included in the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, but is a relatively unarticulated aspect of educational practice. In order to find out how spirituality is supported in early childhood educational contexts this qualitative case study research took place in three early childhood settings: a Montessori casa, a private preschool and a Steiner (Waldorf) kindergarten. The methods used in the research included participant observation, interviews and focus groups. The teachers were asked to make a video about spirituality to reflect their own context and photographs were taken in each setting. The metaphor of spiritual landscape is used in this research. In this landscape everyday experience merged with the spiritual to form the concept of everyday spirituality. The cultural theories of everyday life supported a realisation that ordinary daily activity can become wonderful and mysterious when the spiritual dimension is realised. The themes that emerged from analysis of the case studies are conceptualised as transformative aspects of learning and relationships. They are aspects of everyday spirituality identified as spiritual withness; spiritual inbetweenness; and the spiritually elsewhere. Representing spiritual experience is challenging. The thesis is written in narrative form and contains core narratives as prose and poems. Using writing as a means of discovery made communicating spirituality through the medium of words a possibility. Spirituality is proposed to be an inclusive concept that affirms a sense of connection and this thesis found that all pedagogical practices in early childhood settings have the potential to include a spiritual aspect. In Aotearoa New Zealand many children lead their everyday lives in the context of an early childhood environment that includes teachers and parents as part of that community. This thesis argues that when everyday spirituality permeates early childhood contexts that all aspects of the curriculum are realised and the spiritual experience of everyone connected to that setting is supported.

Language: English

Published: Palmerston North, New Zealand, 2007

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Formerly entitled The Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses. This book was first published in 1909 under the title 'Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica Applicato all'Educazione Infantile nelle Case dei Bambini' ('The Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses) and was revised in 1913, 1926, and 1935. Maria Montessori revised and reissued this book in 1948 and renamed it 'La Scoperta del Bambino'. This edition is based on the 6th Italian edition of 'La Scoperta del Bambino' published by the Italian publisher Garzanti, Milan, Italy in 1962. M. J. Costelloe, S. J. translated this Italian version into the English language in 1967 for Fides Publishers, Inc. In 2016 Fred Kelpin edited this version and added many footnotes. He incorporated new illustrations based on AMI-blueprints of the materials currently in use.

Language: English

Published: Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Montessori-Pierson Publishing Company, 2017

ISBN: 978-90-79506-38-5

Series: The Montessori Series , 2

Abstract/Notes: 31-40

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Formerly entitled The Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses. This book was first published in 1909 under the title 'Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica Applicato all'Educazione Infantile nelle Case dei Bambini' ('The Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses) and was revised in 1913, 1926, and 1935. Maria Montessori revised and reissued this book in 1948 and renamed it 'La Scoperta del Bambino'. This edition is based on the 6th Italian edition of 'La Scoperta del Bambino' published by the Italian publisher Garzanti, Milan, Italy in 1962. M. J. Costelloe, S. J. translated this Italian version into the English language in 1967 for Fides Publishers, Inc. In 2016 Fred Kelpin edited this version and added many footnotes. He incorporated new illustrations based on AMI-blueprints of the materials currently in use.

Language: English

Published: Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Montessori-Pierson Publishing Company, 2017

ISBN: 978-90-79506-38-5

Series: The Montessori Series , 2

Language: English

ISSN: 0013-1784, 1943-5878

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 0959-4108

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: A framework law on preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2007 requires all preschool institutions to apply and practice inclusion as well as the compulsory preschool education in a year before children start school. The same law emphasizes that children with developmental disabilities should be included in preschool institutions according to programs adapted to their individual needs. Namely, the goal of applying inclusion in kindergartens is directed towards giving every child the opportunity to progress following their abilities. In that sense, to realize inclusion it is necessary to provide important preassumptions such as curriculum, methods of work, didactic tools, professionally educated team, and permanent assistants in individual assistance. Children with developmental difficulties deal with additional discrimination because most preschool institutions do not have the above-mentioned preassumptions for work and they are often excluded from the educational process. To find the solution to this problem, the focus of this paper is aimed at choosing a curriculum that will enable each child with an equal opportunity in life. In this context, a group of experts who completed the Montessori specialization have created the Integrated Preschool Adaptive Curriculum (IPAC) that is intended for inclusive kindergarten groups. The basis for its development was the contextual and dynamic assessment of abilities, knowledge, and skills of children who attended kindergarten a year earlier and worked according to the methodology of Montessori teaching and techniques. In this paper, we intend to present the results of a three-year study that was based on examining the impact of the Integrated Preschool Adaptive Curriculum (IPAC) on children's readiness to go to school. Readiness in this context considers reaching a certain degree of maturity in cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical development as well as in specific abilities in the cultural, hygienic, and work habits domain.

Language: Bosnian

DOI: 10.51558/2490-3647.2021.6.2.227

ISSN: 2490-3647, 2490-3604