Guiding principles for the early childhood curriculum using examples from four countries Early childhood education has been recognized as important in laying the foundations for the future of a child. Early childhood education is important in its own right: a time when children investigate, explore, and discover much about the world around them and establish attitudes toward learning that stay with them throughout their lives (Wilks et al., 2008). It is therefore imperative to integrate a learning framework into the early childhood education system. This framework is in most cases identified as a curriculum. Curriculum refers to planned approaches to teaching and learning, an area of ​​study or topics, which fit together according to predetermined criteria guided by theoretical and philosophical beliefs about the nature of students and the types of knowledge that should be taught (Lim and Genishi, 2010; Marsh, 2009). The curriculum therefore represents a set of objectives that represent the aims of children's education; in essence it represents a value statement of what a society aspires for its children (Spodek and Saracho, 2003). The curriculum takes on many labels and perspectives in different countries, such as "core subjects", "core subjects" or "key learning areas", depending on the aim or purpose of education in each country. Early childhood curricula vary from guiding principles and features through to major learning areas and descriptive outcomes. For example, a curriculum perspective prescribes specific content knowledge, objectives and targets, teaching procedures and assessment strategies: the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) can be said to belong to this category. Another perspective conceptualizes…half of the paper…in practice. Theory in Practice, 46(1), pp. 5–13. Samuelsson, I. P., Sheridan, S., & Williams, P. (2006). Five preschool curricula: Comparative perspective. International Journal of Early Childhood, 38(1), pp.11–30. Soler, J., & Miller, L. (2003). The Struggle for Early Childhood Curricula: A comparison of the English Foundation Stage Curriculum, Te Wha¨riki and Reggio Emilia. International Journal of Early Years Education, 11(1), pp.57–68. Spodek, B., & Saracho, O. (2003). “On the Shoulders of Giants”: Exploring Early Childhood Traditions. Early Childhood Education Journal, 31(1), pp.3 – 10.Staggs, L. (2000) A guide to the early years curriculum, Early Years Educator, 2(6), pp. 21–23.Wilks, A., et al., (2008). Analysis of the curriculum/learning frameworks for the early years (from birth to 8 years). Victoria: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority