Wondering which preschool curriculum will suit your child best?
It’s a question worth asking. The preschool years are formative and play a significant role in your child’s growth and development in his or her early years.
That is why it’s important to find a preschool that can meet your child’s learning needs. A preschool’s curriculum can tell you a lot about whether or not the centre will suit your child. To help you find the best one for your little learner, let us run through the different types of preschool curricula below.
What does it mean to have a holistic curriculum?
A holistic curriculum is one that covers all learning domains. A good way to look at it is to refer to the Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) framework by the Ministry of Education. The framework articulates the agency’s belief and principles on how children learn and develop, and what is considered a quality preschool education – one that provides preschoolers with learning opportunities in these five key learning domains:
Aesthetics and creative expression
Discovery of the world
Health, safety and motor skills development
Language and literacy
Numeracy
Preschools sometimes phrase these differently, but the aim is the same. Holistic preschools will help children pick up and build relevant skills across all of these areas to ensure all-round development.
At Star Learners, our proprietary Starbeam™ framework was created to ensure our programmes are well aligned with the NEL framework. Our core, complementary, and enrichment programmes are designed to work together to allow our children to grow and develop holistically.
Types of preschool curriculum available in Singapore
There are various types of preschool curriculum offered in Singapore. We share some popular ones below.
1. Montessori
The Montessori curriculum covers five core areas of study: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Culture. In a Montessori preschool, teachers will present learning materials of growing complexity for each of these areas, always giving children space to work on key lessons independently while documenting their efforts and results.
Children’s achievements of learning outcomes are also documented individually in this curriculum, where each child progresses at his own pace.
1. Montessori
The Montessori curriculum covers five core areas of study: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Culture. In a Montessori preschool, teachers will present learning materials of growing complexity for each of these areas, always giving children space to work on key lessons independently while documenting their efforts and results.
Children’s achievements of learning outcomes are also documented individually in this curriculum, where each child progresses at his own pace.
2. Reggio-Emilia
The Reggio-Emilia curriculum focuses on letting children’s natural curiosity guide their education. This leads to an emergent curriculum that can change based on each child’s interests and strengths, with lessons often developed around in-depth projects.
In this approach, the environment plays a key role and is designed to encourage and facilitate children’s experimentation and discovery.
3. Multiple Intelligences
Similar to the Reggio-Emilia approach, the multiple intelligences curriculum recognises that children have different methods of learning and should explore their interests for development.
This curriculum also recognises the existence of more than one type of intelligence, which means preschools following this approach will aim to develop a wide variety of competencies for their little ones. These include linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence, among others.
3. Multiple Intelligences
Similar to the Reggio-Emilia approach, the multiple intelligences curriculum recognises that children have different methods of learning and should explore their interests for development.
This curriculum also recognises the existence of more than one type of intelligence, which means preschools following this approach will aim to develop a wide variety of competencies for their little ones. These include linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence, among others.
4. Play-based
The play-based curriculum uses meaningful play to help children learn, making it one of the most engaging preschool approaches for children who tend to learn through action. Teachers facilitate the learning process by developing structured play activities that then lead to reflection on lessons and discoveries.
This curriculum can help children develop a love of learning early on, as it associates engaging experiences with the process from the start. By turning learning into an enjoyable endeavour, it removes a lot of the apprehension children may initially feel about education.
5. Inquiry-based
The inquiry-based curriculum is another curriculum built on children’s curiosity. Active learning is emphasised, with children encouraged to ask questions while also testing or experimenting with ideas.
As this is another self-directed learning approach, teachers act more as facilitators for children’s learning efforts, providing support where possible and indulging children’s interests. Through this, they ensure that children can find learning through investigation.
5. Inquiry-based
The inquiry-based curriculum is another curriculum built on children’s curiosity. Active learning is emphasised, with children encouraged to ask questions while also testing or experimenting with ideas.
As this is another self-directed learning approach, teachers act more as facilitators for children’s learning efforts, providing support where possible and indulging children’s interests. Through this, they ensure that children can find learning through investigation.
6. Literature-based
The literature-based approach is unique to Star Learners and harnesses the power of stories to immerse children in rich learning experiences. Designed to present lessons as engaging adventures, it uses award-winning children’s literature as a medium for learning.
Our curriculum is a comprehensive one, nurturing more than academic skills. It covers key academic and cognitive competencies while also encouraging children to develop the social and emotional maturity to thrive in various social situations. The use of engaging and fun experiences like immersive storytelling and open-ended discussions also enables children to foster a love of learning in their formative years.
Learn more about Star Learners’ literature-based approach
Interested to find out more about the literature-based curriculum we use at Star Learners? Enquire with us to learn more about how such an approach can greatly benefit your child in his or her early years.
Simply register your interest at any of our 44 centres island-wide and our team will be happy to assist you with any questions you may have!
