I remember how I felt on the first day when I entered my placement. It was not the first time I had associate with young children but somehow it felt different. I always thought children were the easiest beings to communicate and that I can easily understand them just by looking at how they act. Unfortunately, I had so many things I did not know about them and I was perplexed just by handling one crying child. This booklet is created for early year’s practitioners that are just starting and it is aimed to provide practitioners about children, early year’s documents and play.
As an early years’ practitioner, there is much information that is useful to know. For example, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework is a framework that all settings in the United Kingdom (UK) have to provide for children and babies by the Department for Education. The EYFS ensures that all children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe according to the statutory standards that are set for the early years providers to meet (DfE, 2012). The EYFS aims to provide a secure base that will ensure all children with good progress through school and life, quality and consistency in all early years setting, partnerships between practitioners and parents or carers and equal opportunity for all children (DfE, 2012). Secondly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) document shows legal responsibilities towards children and their families and it is an international human rights treaty that sets out a comprehensive set of rights for children and young people (OGL, 2014). The document contains 54 articles that include the health, political, civil, social, health, economic and cultural rights of children. For practitione...
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...//www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf (Accessed: 9 April 2014).
George, F & Ellen, H (2005) Wondering with Children: The Importance of Observation in Early Education. Available at: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v7n2/forman.html (Accessed: 10 April 2014).
Hoorn et al. (2006) Play at the center of the curriculum. Ohio: Pearson.
Janet, M (2012) A to Z of Play in Early Childhood. England: McGraw Hill.
Ginsburg et al. (2006) The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. Available at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182.full#sec-2 (Accessed: 10 April 2014).
Cynthia, H (2008) Let's Play! Using Play-Based Curriculum to Support Children's Learning throughout the Domains. Available at: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=453 (Accessed: 8 April 2014)
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was implemented in England in 2008 and applies to all children aged 0-5. This new curriculum combined existing government ideas regarding the care of under 5s including the 'Every Child Matters' (ECM) policy: children's services have to respond to 5 outcomes for all children from birth to 18: being healthy, being protected from harm and neglect, being enabled to enjoy and achieve, making a positive contribution to society, and contributing to economic well-being. The statutory EYFS document stated a need for a 'coherent and flexible approach to care and learning' (DfES - Department for Education and Skills 2007; cited in Palaiologou, 2010, p.11 ), and ensures a quality experience for children regardless of the pre-school setting. EYFS and its direct predecessors were introduced based on the realisation that quality of teaching and management of schools play a central role in children's quality of learning, not socio-economic and educational background, as was previously thought. Pre-school education was seen as a method of helping children 'break the cycle of deprivation' (Baldock, 2009, p.20). However, research by Potter immediately prior to the inception of the EYFS concluded that due to 'insufficiently rigorous conceptual underpinnings, particularly in the area of language and communicatio...
Many theorists have tried to define play as a concept, however, no two agree on a set definition. Their backgrounds and induvial lifestyles influence the way they see the importance of play. Reed and Brown also believe that there isn’t an agreed definition of play because is something that is felt rather than done (Reed & Brown, 2000 cited in Brock, Dodd’s, Jarvis & Olusoga, 2009). In spite of this, it is clear that most theorists uphold the ethos that play is imperative to a child’s learning and development. There is a wide range of different studies and theories which helps us develop our own perception of what play is. In my personal experience I have found play to be a way of expressive our emotions, exploring and learning new things, thus
Tickell, C., 2011. The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning. An independent report on the Early Years Foundation Stage to Her Majesty’s Government. London: HMG
The current framework is the EYFS which support children’s mathematical and literacy development. One of the EYFS principle in the Development Matters is the “unique child” concept which means that “every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable and self-assured.”- Development Matters (www.foundationyears.org.uk) This means that every child are different but have many different skills and learning styles. The government initiative of a unique child is over the death and case study of Victoria Climbié which had an impact on the practice of Early Years practitioners. The aim of this initiative is that practitioners have to make sure that children are being supported to overcome hardship or to support those who are being neglected, “reduce their level of
Explain the legal status and principles of the relevant early years frameworks and how national and local guidance materials are used in settings
An Article by Dr. Leong and Dr. Bodrova (2016) stated that play is beneficial to children’s learning especially when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. When they engage in play activities most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. They also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people and to represent things significantly to regulate their behavior and actions in a cautious, intentional way.
My desire for children in my care is that their learning journey would be meaningful as they explore the ideas and activities they are interested in. This means that I believe that children are naturally motivated learners and should have the opportunity to learn through their own explorations and through collaboration with other children and educators. I believe this can be done through both teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities and supported through play. I also believe that play is a natural and enjoyable means through which children learn. In my practice I aim to encourage children’s natural ...
...ctive. Play is an essential learning tool and one that must not be ignored within the classroom. It is a catalyst to help children develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. It is not only an important part of a child’s development as a pupil but also a child’s development as an individual.
Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2010, July 20). Why is Play Important? Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Creative Development | Education.com.
..., J., & Garzoli, E. (2007, November 11). The Effectiveness of a Play-Based Curriculum in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://teachplaybasedlearning.com/8.html
Thinking back on my childhood, I first remember all the times I played outside in my backyard. I would pretend to dig up dinosaur bones or create imaginary realms of ancient lands; there I would perform diplomatic services for the people in need. I was usually alone, and those are some of my fondest memories. When I first decided to become a teacher and thought about what is important to my philosophy on how children learn, I immediately knew I was a strong believer in play. Although, many decision makers such as legislators and school district leaders believe in more academic types of learning styles, my paper will discuss why play is so powerful and important to children.
Children develop normally when they are exposed to different types of play that allow them to express themselves while using their imaginations and being physically active. According to the Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness, “Play is child’s work”; this is true because it is a child’s job to learn and develop in their first few years of life, in order for them to do this, they play. Not only is playing a child’s full time job, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights listed play as a right of every child. Through their full time job of play, the children develop emotionally, socially, physically, and creatively. Children need to participate in child-led play in order to facilitate healthy development of their minds, body, and creativity.
I am very much the type of person that prefers hard copies such as books, magazines, or newspapers so I started there. I looked at past textbooks I have used during my time in school and found two that were extremely helpful; the first titled Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum by Elizabeth Wood and Jan Attfield, and the second titled Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School by Edward Miller and Joan Almon. After finding two books, I decided it was time to look on the Internet. Instead of using the normal Google search, I decided to use Google Scholar as a way to find dependable sources. I used the key words pay based learning, childcare, and teaching styles. From those key words alone I found many scholarly articles and experiment papers. One article I really liked was by Ageliki Nicolopoulou, a professor from Lehigh University located in Pennsylvania. What stuck out about her article was that she also used the text by Miller and Almon. Another source I reference in this paper is How Dramatic Play Can Enhance Learning by Marie E. Cecchini, which I quickly mentioned above. Dolores A. Steglin wrote the last article I used. Her article Making the Case for Play Policy: Research-Based Reasons to Support Play Based Environments was really helpful when I started to link the NAEYC Code’s and Early Childhood Educator Competencies to play based learning strategies. I also used
Robert-Holmes, G. (2011). It’s the bread and butter of our practice’: experiencing the Early Years Foundation Stage, International Journal, 20(1), pp. 30-42.
The purpose of early childhood education is to firstly learn about one’s self and agency, how one’s actions can affect and impact others; to develop a sense of identity; who you are and how you fit into this world. Experience a sense of belonging through interactions with peers and teachers whilst celebrating and sharing diverse cultures whilst embracing others. Children need to have opportunities to explore, experiment, to gain insight and knowledge in numeracy, literacy, science and social structure through innovative and richly supported curriculums (DEEWR, 2009). I have very high expectations of all children as I believe that this assists in building self-confidence and