Developmentally appropriate practice is a perspective within early childhood education whereby a teacher or child caregiver nurtures a child's social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development. It is also described as a philosophy in child education that is based on child development knowledge where professionals base their instruction and care on research, standards, and recognized theory.
Concept
Developmentally appropriate practice emphasizes what is known about children and what can be done about individual children as a basis of decision-making when it comes to instruction and care. It recognizes that children's needs and abilities change over time and depend on universal laws governing these to determine the propriety of practice. DAP also holds that children have natural disposition towards learning, hence, they are capable of constructing their own knowledge through exploration and interaction with others, learning materials, and their environment. For these reasons, early childhood programs do not look and function alike. The DAP has three core components: knowledge about development and learning; knowledge about individual children; and, knowledge about the social and cultural contexts where children grow and learn. Particularly, the teacher or provider of care bases all practices and decisions on theories of child development, individually identified strengths and needs of each child uncovered through authentic assessment, and the child's cultural background as defined by his community, family history, and family structure.
Learning standard
The National Association for the Education of Young Children has adopted DAP as part of its attempt to establish standards for best practice in the area of the education of children. This was established in a position statement, which some scholars view has contributed to the thinking and discourse about practices in early childhood programs. The statement described DAP as an "empirically based principles of child development and learning". Studies have revealed that the use of DAP has led to an increase in children's receptive language, particularly in DAP programs that include higher-literacy environment and developmentally appropriate activities.
Critics
DAP is one of a number of practices associated with Outcome-based education and other progressive educationreform movements. Some critics have argued that some reforms such as NCTM mathematics and Whole Language which fully support "Developmentally Appropriate Practices" are believed to introduce students to materials and concepts which may be too advanced for young children, or above their reading levels. On the opposite side, some critics claim that DAP approaches use content and concepts considerably below traditional grade levels. Educators in many states implement DAP approaches to meet learning standards that were established by specialized professional associations, including in the content areas of language arts, math, social studies and science. The National Science Education Standards proposes to teach elementary school students how to construct their own experiments, whereas traditionally high school students and even college students were typically taught how to perform pre-designed experiments, but not to construct their own experiments. In the DAP environment, through intentional teaching techniques, as well as by capitalizing on teachable moments, children are engaged in authentic, meaningful learning experiences. Educators do not just teach to the whole group, but use a variety of grouping strategies, including small groups, pairs and 1:1. Individualization becomes a key component in making sure the needs and interests of each child are focused on in a DAP environment. The developmentally appropriate practice is based upon the idea that children learn best from doing. Children learn best when they are actively involved in their environment and build knowledge based on their experiences rather than through passively receiving information. Active learning environments promote hands-on learning experiences and allow children to interact with objects in their environment, as well as their peers and teachers.
