TITLE:
Capturing “Sense of Belonging” in Preschool Curriculum Guidelines and Implications: An Analysis Based on Chinese and Australian Curriculum Guidelines
AUTHORS:
Mengyan Fang
KEYWORDS:
Sense of Belonging, Curriculum Guide, Educational Inspiration
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.5,
May
31,
2022
ABSTRACT: Belonging is an emotion that is essential to children’s social development. More and more countries incorporate “belonging” into their preschool curriculum guidelines and conduct related research. However, there is still a gap in the study on belonging in Chinese curriculum guidelines. This study uses a sequential explanatory mixed-method to analyze the “Guidelines for the Learning and Development of Children Aged 3 - 6 and Being, Belong & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia” to explore the Chinese and Australian curriculum guidelines construct belonging and related concepts. The results show that the frequency of words in the Chinese curriculum guide was lower than that in the Australian curriculum guide; in terms of concept definition, neither curriculum guide provides a precise definition of the concept of belonging. The Chinese curriculum guide tends to cultivate children’s sense of belonging to a group in educational philosophy. In contrast, the Australian curriculum guide cultivates children’s sense of self-belonging. Both curriculum guides provide educational recommendations in terms of educational practices, but the Australian curriculum guide also provides an example of an assessment of belongingness. Finally, on this basis, new insights are sought to improve the Chinese curriculum guide.