International best practices, holistic enquiry and play-based approaches that cover all curriculum areas

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International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC)

The International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) is an innovative research-based curriculum, recognizing global best practice and the developmental needs of 2-5 year old’s. The IEYC uses international best practices, holistic enquiry and play-based approaches that cover all curriculum areas including personal, social and emotional development.

Informed by new research, and feedback from schools around the world, the IEYC was developed to meet the needs of children at this crucial stage of their development.

At Hamilton, all IEYC learning and development is underpinned by a set of four Learning Strands. Each Learning Strand provides descriptions of what children will experience and learn about through contextualized activities woven into IEYC units of learning. The units of learning are carefully designed around a central theme, holistically linking all four Learning Strands to relevant and engaging activities that can be adapted and extended to meet individual needs. The units are based around exciting themes aimed to capture children’s natural curiosity.

The Four IEYC Learning Strands

IEYC Learning Strand 1: Independence and Interdependence

This strand focuses on developing personal, social and emotional development. The strand links to the IEYC Personal Goals and the IEYC International Dimension.

The Eight IEYC Personal Goals

Through the IEYC, children have learning experiences that help them develop personal qualities of:

Enquiry Thoughtfulness Cooperation Respect
Communication Adaptability Resilience Morality

 

At Hamilton, we will be adding one more as we create our total of nine.

International mindedness


The IEYC International Dimension

Through IEYC learning activities, children engage in experiences that enable them to:

  • Develop knowledge and an increasing understanding beyond that related to their own nationality and identity.
  • Develop knowledge and an increasing understanding of the independence and interdependence of people, countries and cultures.

IEYC Learning Strand 2: Communicating

This strand focuses on developing a broad range of communication skills including language development, early literacy, early mathematics, ICT and computing, expressive arts and creativity. Whist this Learning Strand encompasses early literacy and early mathematics, these learning experiences have been written to complement and support the systematic teaching of literacy and mathematics. For example, whilst some IEYC tasks may support 
the development of early reading skills, it is expected that each setting will have their own methods and policies for teaching reading. This also applies to the teaching of writing, spelling and mathematics.

The Learning Strand ‘Communicating’ has seven sub-categories:

  • Communicating through Speaking and Listening
  • Communicating through Reading
  • Communicating through Writing
  • Communicating through Number
  • Communicating through Shape and Measures
  • Communicating through ICT and Computing
  • Communicating through the Expressive Arts and Creativity

IEYC Learning Strand 3: Enquiring

This strand focuses on developing the skills of enquiry through exploring people and the world.

IEYC Learning Strand 4: Healthy Living and Physical Well-Being

This strand focuses on developing a positive attitude to health, self-care and physical activity.

Eight Learning Principles

The IEYC has eight Learning Principles, each conveying a belief considered essential to children’s learning and development. The Learning Principles should form the foundation of all IEYC policy and practice.

  • The earliest years of life are important in their own right.
  • Children should be supported to learn and develop at their own unique pace.
  • Play is an essential aspect of all children’s learning and development.
  • Learning happens when developmentally-appropriate, teacher-scaffolded and child- initiated experiences harness children’s natural curiosity in an enabling environment.
  • Independent and interdependent learning experiences create a context for personal development and are the foundation of international mindedness.
  • Knowledge and skills development lead to an increasing sense of understanding when children are provided with opportunities to explore and express their ideas in multiple ways.
  • Ongoing assessment, in the form of evaluation and reflection, is effective when it involves a learning-link with the home.
  • Learning should be motivating, engaging and fun, opening up a world of wonder for children where personal interests can flourish.

The eight Learning Principles are intrinsically linked to a unique IEYC Process of Learning.

*Adapted from the IEYC website: https://members.greatlearning.com/ieyc/

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