HighScope
Providers & membersHighScope is a research-based approach to early education built on active participatory learning. It recognises children as capable learners who construct knowledge through hands-on experiences, interactions with people and materials, and opportunities to make choices about their learning.
What is HighScope?
Helping children learn through play, choice and discovery
Children learn by getting involved
At the heart of HighScope is active participatory learning: children develop understanding through hands-on experiences with materials, people and ideas.
Children make meaningful choices within a carefully planned environment designed to support learning and development. Adults work alongside them, listening, asking questions and helping them extend their thinking. A carefully organised environment and consistent daily routine support that learning.
An approach for different stages of development
HighScope has distinct curricula for infants and toddlers and pre-school children. Each provides guidance on the learning environment, adult–child relationships, routines and understanding children’s development.
HighScope in practice
In a HighScope setting, adults create opportunities for children to explore, make decisions and solve problems. They observe children’s play and use what they notice to plan meaningful experiences.
For pre-school children, a distinctive part of the daily routine is Plan–Do–Review.
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Step 1: Plan
Children express their intentions for play and learning, deciding what they want to do, the materials they will use and, where appropriate, who they will work or play with.
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Step 2: Do
Children put their ideas into action, explore materials and develop their play with adults alongside them.
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Step 3: Review
Children reflect on and discuss their experiences, helping them make connections between their intentions, actions and learning.
More than a three-step routine
While Plan–Do–Review is a distinctive feature of the Preschool Curriculum, HighScope is much more than a three-step routine. The approach combines active participatory learning, supportive adult–child interactions, a well-organised learning environment, consistent daily routines, and ongoing observation and assessment to support children’s development.
Working with families
Partnership with parents and carers is part of the approach. Sharing observations and experiences helps families and practitioners connect children’s learning at home and in their setting.
Training and support
Find the right training for you and your team
Whether you are exploring HighScope for the first time or developing established practice, our team can help you choose an appropriate training route.
Implementation courses
Explore the curriculum while putting the approach into practice. There are separate implementation courses for practitioners working with infants and toddlers and those working with pre-school children.
The published course requirements include attendance, assignment work and an end-of-course visit to the participating setting.
Professional development
Focus on a particular area of practice
Explore shorter learning opportunities covering topics such as observation and assessment, communication and language, mathematics, creative arts and social and emotional development.
Training for your whole team
Looking for training for colleagues across your setting? Contact us to discuss your priorities, delivery options and costs. Early Years’ published offer includes training for whole staff teams as well as individual participants.
Tools and resources
Understand children’s learning and reflect on your practice
HighScope offers different tools for understanding children’s development and evaluating the quality of provision.
Key Developmental Indicators
Children’s learning is supported across key areas of development identified within the HighScope Curriculum, known as Key Developmental Indicators (KDIs). These provide a framework for observing, understanding and supporting children’s growth and learning.
COR Advantage
Understanding children’s development
COR Advantage is an observation-based assessment tool aligned with the HighScope Curriculum. It supports practitioners to document children’s learning, monitor development over time and plan experiences that build on children’s strengths and interests.
Programme Quality Assessment
Reviewing your provision
Programme Quality Assessment, or PQA, supports reflection on areas such as the learning environment, daily routines, adult–child interactions, planning and assessment.
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Research
Explore the evidence behind the approach
HighScope’s development is informed by research and practice, including the long-running Perry Preschool Study. The Perry study began in Michigan in the 1960s and followed participants in a particular pre-school programme into adulthood.
Its findings relate to that programme and study population; they are not a guarantee of outcomes for every child or setting.
Contact
Bring HighScope into your practice
Have a question about the approach, a course or support for your setting?
Tell us whether you work with infants and toddlers or pre-school children, and whether you are looking for individual training or support for a team.
- Telephone
- 028 9066 2825