Some Implications of the High/Scope Curriculum and the Education of Children with Learning Difficulties

The High/Scope Curriculum is essentially an approach to working with young children and their families, in a nursery or day-care setting. The development of the High/Scope Curriculum began in 1961 when David Weikart, then Director of Special Education in Michigan, USA, was concerned with whether a good quality pre-school experience could compensate for the problems encountered by children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. David Weikart set up the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation in 1970 in order to undertake research into early childhood education and, specifically, the High/Scope Curriculum and its development. However, the education of children with learning difficulties has to keep pace with new thinking on how learning takes place. The High/Scope Curriculum approach offers a framework within which to do this. The High/Scope Curriculum unquestionably needs to be the subject of critical empirical research within the field of the education of children with learning difficulties.