So what's it all about?

All services that sign up to the ECCE Scheme in Ireland must agree to using Aistear in their services in designing the curriculum, but Montessori already has a very particular curriculum so how does it work? How do I make it work for my school? Looking around it seems Montessori teachers in particular are having difficulties in working with this framework especially the focus on "play".

For me to fully understand how to apply Aistear to my school I need to investigate further into what it is, who were the stakeholders involved in writing it and how they came up with the final product. At the moment I'm not sure I like the idea of something being forced on us which seems at the outset to be at odds with our Montessori philosophy so I'm going to look at it further. I want this to work for my school not because this is something I must comply with in order to qualify for funding but because it compliments what I am already doing.  From my understanding formal engagement with Aistear must be undertaken by services from this September 2012 so I am going to work towards knowing as much about it as I can, document it's application in my planning between now and then and from September onwards document how it works in the classroom and reflect on its relevancy to my practice.

Wish me luck and please free to add your comments of your Montessori Aistear!

Néady
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