Browsing by Author "Larinen, Piia"

The purpose of this thesis was to study the assessment mentioned in Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education. Previous studies have shown that it can be seen transitions from comprehensive assessment to individual assessment and documentation of child's development and learning in Finnish early childhood education. The Core Curriculum is an administrative document that guides the local curriculum work. It is also a part of curriculum including pedagogical guidance. The aim of this thesis was to specify how the assessment in National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education is defined and how the core curriculum will guide the assessment. The objective was also to study the changes to the references related to the assessment in core curriculum. The theoretical framework of this study is consisted of research and literature about the assessment in early childhood and pre-primary education and about core curriculum. This thesis was carried out as a qualitative research and the theoretical framework is a social constructionism. The research data and material consisted of Core Curricula for Pre-Primary Education 2000, 2010 and 2014 published on the website of Finnish National Board of Education. The data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis, but also based on an analytic orientation approach and text-oriented. On the grounds of the study results the amount of references related to the assessment has increased and become more exact in Core Curricula for Pre-Primary Education in 2000, 2010 and 2014. Though, only in Core Curriculum 2014 the assessment was defined as a concept. It could be seen the emphases of child's individual assessment. This is the result of practices concerning the support for growth and learning which are added to Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education in 2010 and specified in 2014. Based on the study results, these practices have brought individual support needs and early identification and intervention in pre-primary education. These include a thought about child's individual assessment which enables that the support needs can be identificated and can be influenced. Interpretations and classifications made on the basis of the assessment will enable to targeting support as accurately as possible. These involve also features that standardize children and childhood. The analysis indicates that the general principles in the core curriculum emphasize more child's assessment than assessment of pre-primary education operation but the situation is changing. The latest Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education 2014 emphasized in assessment increasingly the action of pre-primary education and learning environment. The assessment in pre-primary education, especially the assessment of operation seem to be associated with discourse of quality mentioned in previous studies. How the changes will be seen in practices of the pre-primary education i.e. how the guidance of core curriculum will affect in future, is the subject of future studies. This thesis will provide further information about the assessment in National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education and it will form basis for further discussions.