This essay will attempt to clarify why it is significant that early years practitioners retain knowledge of the historical and philosophical influences on early years policies. It will look at many pioneers, their philosophy and how their ideas have developed, it will look at how their work, historical influences and events of the past have shaped the early years foundation stage (EYFS). It will then detail why it is important for practitioners to learn about the contribution of the pioneers and history influences to improve their practice when working in an early years setting the penultimate section will then talk about the term practitioner and then will finish with a conclusion.
There are many early theorists from the Greek philosopher
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Practitioners need to be aware of Steiner’s theory so that they can help to support children holistic development and not focus on individual areas as this will develop the potential of the child.
Steiner, Frobel, and Maria Montessori believe that the development of the whole child is greatly important (Bruce, 2011), and that children should not be prepared for adulthood but be given what they need as children. (Bruce, 2011).
The views above have evidently fed into in the every child matters (ECM) policy document as it provides people working with children knowledge to build on children’s skills at the right level and to enable children to reach their full potential. (DfE, 2012).
Practitiones need to know about this so that they do not push children beyond their capabilities and support children at the stage they are at based on their individual needs. (Pound, 2006 ) reinforces this as it says that children who are pressured to succeed intellectually at an early age often will lack motivation to learn
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59) wrote that ‘Lev Vygotsky believed that what a child can do with assistance today, she can do by herself tomorrow’ this theory of his is known as the Zone of Proximal Development and has been reflected in the EYFS across the prime and specific areas as it states that learning and development in a child is achieved when challenging play opportunities are in place while being supported by practitioners.(DfE 2012 p.2)
practitioners need to know about vygotskys theory so that they are able to support and scaffold children’s learning in a sensitive way to enable children to reach the next levels in development this is seen in the EYFS as children have different milestones at different ages.
A teacher in early childhood education until recently has always been thought of as a qualified individual. The curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA 2000) defines the role of any adult working with children even teachers as “practitioner’. A teacher is commonly understood as a person who teachers others compare to a practitioner which refers to someone who works as a professional in a certain field. (fumoto et al, 2004)
Children have a different view point to adults entirely and don’t judge adults in settings on what qualifications they have they see they are all adults there to support their learning and development (fumoto et al,
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...
As a qualified early years practitioner level 2, I am a reliable and motivated, and delicate to children’s individual needs. Its really important for an early year practitioner to have a range of skills and attributes to a good level of knowledge in many areas such as child development, observation and assessment, safeguarding, legislation, policies and procedures also working with others.
Palaiologou, I., 2013. The Early Years Foundation Stage: Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. London: Sage.
Early years frameworks have an emphasis on a personal approach to learning and development as due to socio-economic changes children are having to spend longer periods away from their carers and therefore need extra care to support their emotional well being. There is also an emphasis on the needs of individual children. This is because children all develop at different rates, are unique and come from a range of backgrounds. All of this means that they will have different needs and will be interested in different things so in order to thrive will need a range of different
Interestingly it was through this process of sharing our professional experiences that we established the central idea of our exhibition. We had determined that the importance of play in the Early Years was a theme that was often debated by parents, colleagues and policy makers. By choosing this as our topic we hoped to have an enhanced understanding of the historical implications of play in Early Years Education, resulting in professional competence and the ability to guide and mentor others on the significance of play. Rodd (1996) endorses this importance of Early Years Professionals having the skills to build, establish and maintain credibility in the fast-changing sector of Early Years.
There are many different pioneers that have a philosophy and theories that had an impact. The education today and their theories are based on developing children 's skills in a perfect environment. However, there are three pioneers in education that most influence the education these days: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Fridrich Froebel, and Maria Montessori.
Works Cited Edwards, S., & Hammer, M. (2006). The foundations of early childhood education: Historically situated practice. M. Fleer, et al. Ed. of the.
Children have a natural inclination to play, alongside a natural instinct to learn and to be curious and inventive, which are characteristics of the human race in general. This quote taken from Janet Moyles is a good starting point for this essay. It is well known that children love to play. If a child were to be left to his/her own devices they would happily play and create new worlds anywhere they were left. It has been well documented and researched that children learn excellently through play. However they are not always given the opportunity to do so, instead being told to, ‘finish your work and then you can go play’. Obviously this is not always the case, but the fact that it is a common practice shows that we do not all fully appreciate the importance of play to children’s learning. This essay will attempt to show how children learn through play, making reference to current theory and practice. I will also give examples from my own first-hand experience of how children learn and develop as people through play.
Friedrich Froebel was a German scholar born in 1782 who did a lot of work on child’s play and how children use nature in their development. Although one of the early theorists (1782–1852), Froebel’s theories are still relevant today. He stressed the importance of play and recognised that the outdoor environment is vital to children’s learning and development. Each child should be allowed the time and space to play and develop through play activities.
..., J., & Garzoli, E. (2007, November 11). The Effectiveness of a Play-Based Curriculum in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://teachplaybasedlearning.com/8.html
Froebel believed that the kindergarten's primary focus should be on play–the process by which he believed children expressed their inner thoughts, needs, and desires so that's why Froebel's emphasis on play. For Froebel play is facilitated by children's process of thoughts, imitation of adult vocational activities, and socialization. By playing, children socialize and imitate adult social and economic activities as they are gradually led into the larger world of group life. The kindergarten provides an environment that encouraged children to interact with other children under the guidance of a loving teacher he also believed in outdoor play and nature. (hardy, 2013) (Notes, 2013)
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
I wanted to know where the term for kindergarten came from. This is exciting to me to read about the ideas of Froebel. He faced many challenges in his life which is very inspirational to me.
Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2000). Exploring your role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Sylva, M., Kyriacou, M., Wild, M. and Glenny, G. (2009). (2009). Learning, Playing and Interacting Good practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage. [online], available: http://www.keap.org.uk/documents/LearningPlayingInteracting.pdf [accessed 5 March, 2014].