PROdetey: Building an Educational Ecosystem to Implement a Child-centered ECE Curriculum

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: CHATting Across the Pond: Implementing Vygotskian-Based ECE Curricula in the U.S. and Russian Federation (Table 4)

Abstract

The presenter will use an example of a Vygotskian-based Russian curriculum PROdetey [PROkids] to discuss some of the general issues associated with the implementation of a child-centered curriculum in a “system-centered” educational environment. This implementation called for a different model of the relationship between curriculum developers, teachers, administrators, and families replacing the top-down model typical for an authoritarian system. The presenter will describe this new model with an emphasis on creating a new educational “ecosystem” consistent with the objectives of development-oriented education based on the principles of the cultural-historical theory. When discussing real and imaginary barriers to implementation, the presenter will share the results of a multi-year study of parents’ priorities regarding the education of their children.

Author

• Elena Yudina, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences