Childhood Vignettes in Early Years

Guidance on assessed coursework This assessed written assignment, entitled Childhood Vignettes, centres upon biographical reminiscences of your own childhood, with 4000 words as maximum wordage and 100% weighting. It is important that you follow the guidelines below to complete this assignment. Part I: Introduction (max. 500 words) In this section, you sketch out, from your own point of view, some most intriguing aspects of this module, i.e. theoretical perspectives/concepts that resonate with your own particular interest within child development and learning. You then provide a brief account of why these theoretical perspectives or concepts interest you by reference to current issues of importance with respect to early childhood education. Part II: The vignettes (max. 3000 words) This is a central part of your assignment, in which you present 3-5 short stories of your own childhood. It is vital that you weave theoretical perspectives/concepts into your stories and then make your own analytical or evaluative points, rather than simply giving a descriptive account. Thus, you need to: 1. Draw the literature, e.g. theoretical perspectives/concepts, into your analysis so as to demonstrate a theory-informed understanding of your own development and learning; 2. Engage with the interplay between the theoretical perspectives/concepts and your stories. This has a dual-effect in the sense that theory illuminates your stories and your analytical account of the stories brings the theory to life. Part III: Conclusion (max. 500 words) This is not simply a summary of your analysis but concluding remarks that are built upon what you have discussed in Part II. You need to highlight an awareness of your own value position and those of theorists by linking this to a wider context of child development and education. With respect to this, you may wish to identify a research area of your particular interest for the Year 2 module Exploring Research with Children.