The Early Years Educator develops children PDF

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the early years educator deloping and supporting children ...

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Alice Dunnett

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The Early Years Educator develops children’s school readiness through understanding of the current early year’s framework. Within this extended practise study I am going to cover a child’s transition in relation to school in order to prepare for school readiness, in addition to this I am going to discuss and evaluate a variety of topics ranging from emergent and emergent literacy to the reflections of the role of the practitioner and their own practice. D1, D2, C1 Emergent mathematics is one of the areas of learning a child in the early years will begin to understand and focus on in order to develop their readiness for school, the term emergent mathematics describes “how children construct mathematics from birth and continuing throughout the life of the person through a combination of cognitive development and interaction with their environment.” (Education.com, 2016) Practitioners are able to support each individual child with mathematical development by carrying out assessments in the form of observations, on the children in order to improve learning by adapting practise and activities to each unique child’s understanding and learning style. In addition to this practitioners are able to use a planning cycle in which the 2014 Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has included for practitioners which includes three sections as a way of assessing and planning for the child’s needs, this cycle is included in Appendix 1. Following this the children are given the opportunities to take part in group learning in order to complete tasks ad also own personal goals, for example a group of children are trying to set up their ideal farm using the different objects, including barns, fences and animals. Together the children are able to gain support and learn first-hand from one another, resulting in the children gaining knowledge, understanding and confidence learning from one another. Practitioners use the EYFS framework in order to support emergent mathematics as this includes guidelines on how to support a child within this area. The EYFS allows practitioners to assess the children, using the different areas of their development at different age ranges, which is distinctively laid out on the EYFS in order for the practitioners to track where the child should be at in relation to their development and progress. There are three main areas of development for children, these being ‘Personal, social and emotional development’ ‘Physical development’ and ‘Language and communication development’ these predominant areas scaffold the specific learning areas in order to encourage development and learning. In addition to supporting mathematical development the EYFS also supports emergent literacy. The term emergent literacy is defined as the “child's knowledge of reading and writing skills before they learn how to read and write words. It signals a belief that, in literate society, young children—even one- and two-year-olds—are in the process of becoming literate.” (Google.co.uk, 2016) Emergent literacy is also developed in order to prepare the children for school readiness. The EYFS includes specific areas in which cover other elements of the subject, literacy for example covers reading and writing. Mathematics on the other hand covers, Numbers and space along with Shape and measure. Following this the 1|Page

Alice Dunnett

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EYFS has a section for ‘an enabling environment’ in which it underlines that “Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and carers.” (Development Matters, P2. 2014) This section provides advice for practitioners and also parents/carers on how to create and support an enabling environment in relation to children’s learning and reaching their milestones. Furthermore within the EYFS there is a section called the unique child which supports children’s emergent literacy along with mathematical development as It gives the practitioners the opportunity to use their research from ongoing observations to make a comparison to the unique child in order to recognise whether the child is meeting expected milestones for their specific age. The early year’s foundation stage also highlights the role of the practitioner using the ‘Positive relationships’ and the ‘Enabling environment’ columns in order to justify how these two sections can support children’s mathematical and literacy development. Within both columns the EYFS goes into more detail using bullet points in order to explain the varied ways in which a practitioner can provide support for a child. An example of what the practitioner could do in order to support a two year old child is “Play games which relate to number order, addition and subtraction, such as hopscotch and skittles and target games” (Development Matters, P32. 2014) by incorporating maths into fun games the children have a greater chance of learning the numbers through repetition and memory. In addition to this a second example in which the practitioners can use in order to support the development of writing and literacy skills for a child aged three, “Model writing for a purpose, e.g. a shopping list, message for parents, or reminder for ourselves.” (Development Matters, P31. 2014) as a result of this children are able to recognise which words go with items they are familiar with such as ‘milk’. Following up from the planning cycle, it mentions that practitioners must begin to observe children whilst they interact in everyday and planned activities. Then practitioners must use the gathered information In order to assess the child in relation to the milestones under the unique child column of the EYFS. As a result of this the practitioners are able to report and record any concerns they may have referring to the child’s development, an example of this is if the child proves to not be reaching their milestones by a great deal then there is reason for concern. In other circumstances a child may be exceeding their appropriate milestones. The following step of the cycle is to plan for a child, practitioners are then able to plan suitable activities in which allows the child to develop and meet their milestones. It is vital that a child has the opportunity to learn through adult-led and child-centred activities. Adult-led activities lets adults have control ad involvement of the activity in order to “introduce children to new ideas, provide opportunities for them to develop their skills and ensure that they experience all areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage” (Development Matters, 2014). Child-centred or led activities are those of which children are able to carry out using their own initiative with other children which the adults in the setting are then able to observe and have limited involvement opposed to influencing the activity.

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Alice Dunnett

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Role play is also a good way of supporting a child’s emergent literacy other than using the EYFS. By supporting role play in to the environment children are able to expand on literacy skills along with build on current familiar ones. In addition to this a child’s vocabulary is developed along with their awareness of different situations and how they affect someone’s behaviour. Practitioners are able to influence the children’s role play by staging different scenarios, within my setting there is a designated area for the role play in which practitioners set up different scenarios to suit the week, these are usually revolved around supporting emergent literacy. An example of the type of role play which is set up is the post office which supports children’s emergent literacy as they can write letters and mark making to their friends and family, on the other hand they can also read other letters from their friends. All the items within the post office are labelled in order for the children to associate the word to the item, this beneficial to the children as they can grasp an understanding of letters and certain words. D3 It is important for practitioners to reflect on their practice in order to support children through transitions. There are several ways for a practitioner to carry out reflective practice, one being Kolb’s theory of self-evaluation. This includes four stages of evaluating which results in an easy broken down reflection on their practice. See Appendix 2 of the Kolb learning cycle. Practitioners carry out reflective practice in order to guarantee that their plan and the relevant resources provided support a child’s needs during the transitions. A positive to using this learning cycle is that practitioners are able to identify the distinct benefits and improvements that are able to be made in order to support the child. an example of this could be introducing days of the week boxes and inside are things relating to what they would need and come across during that school day, for example in Monday they will need their school uniform, a maths book, lunch box and art book, so the children get used to the new routines of school this could be a one day a week activity in order for the practitioners to begin to integrate school life within nursery in order for the children to become school ready. Practitioners can follow up this activity with the reflective practise cycle in order to understand how well It was executed and whether it was beneficial to the children along with whether it should be a continued strategy for the count-down to school. It is important for all children to have an equal and unbiased opportunities during the transition period, in order to ensure this is the case the practitioners are able to carry out a reflective practice. Practitioners must make sure that their activities are planned and implemented in a way that suits and benefits each child to the best of their ability. This lets practitioners alter and make improvements in order for all the children to take part, receiving the same support together so that they are a part of the same transition practice. Furthermore practitioners use the reflective practice cycle as a way of ensuring that they are sustaining a high level of partnership working. It is essential that practitioners reflect on this area within their role as a practitioner as it means they are able to gather relevant and important information of each individual child in 3|Page

Alice Dunnett

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order to support their transition to school. On the other hand if a practitioner was to not reflect this may result in them not receiving vital information, losing the high level of partnership with the child as they may not understand their needs in relation to the transition. Additionally with reflective practice it ensures that the practitioner is up to date with the settings policies and procedures which is equally important as it ensures that the practitioner is providing the best possible support for the child during the transition. Evidently both the practitioner and child benefit greatly from reflective practice. C2, A2 The Early year’s foundation stage (EYFS) guides practitioners in working in partnership with families and other professionals throughout a variety of different elements in this particular framework. Whilst practitioners assess and track a child’s progress it is important for them to keep the parent/carers of the child up to date with their development. Progress checks are carried out when the child is two years old, as a result of this the parents/carers of the child should receive a written summary of their child’s progress and how they have developed. Prior to this practitioners have a discussion with the parents/carers to decide when the review should be complete as at this age the child will also undergo a Health and Development review as part of the healthy child programme by their health visitor around the same time. If concerns are made apparent then practitioners are to adapt plans for the child with the involvement of the child’s parents/carers along with other professionals appropriate to the child’s needs. Following this an Early years foundation stage profile is undertaken after the child has turned five years old, like the progress checks the parents/carers of the child are shared the information and have the ability to discuss outcomes in order to discover a clear understanding of their child is in relation to progress and development. Furthermore if like the progress checks a concern is made apparent then practitioners must ensure that the child receives the appropriate support needed, in some cases this may require other professionals. The EYFS 2014 states that the EYFS profiles are to be sent to relevant government departments in which they provide specialist for them to study and make duplicates of the documents along with any other articles connecting to the profile and the assessments carried out. The Early years foundation stage (EYFS) also guides practitioners on working in partnership when safeguarding the children along with caring for their welfare. The parents/carers of the child are too of read the settings policies and procedures which include safeguarding and the welfare of the child in order to be up to date. Every child is allocated a key person in order for them to “seek to engage and support parents and/or carers in guiding their child’s development at home. They should also help families engage with more specialist support if appropriate” (Early Years Foundation Stage, 2014) It is important that the child’s needs are met which is why practitioners share information with the child’s parents/carers along with appropriate professionals, it is stated within the EYFS that practitioners are to only share relevant and accurate information within the confidentiality policy. All confidential information about a child is kept in a safe and secure place in which only those with authority are able to access. The parents/carers must also have access to all information about their child, following this the EYFS states that there is several bit of information in 4|Page

Alice Dunnett

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which must be shared with the parents/carers of the child. The being; the ways in which the EYFS is delivered within the setting, the varied range of activities provided for the children, the types of food and drink offered to the children, this being snack, milk and water in my setting, the ways in which the setting supports special educational needs and disabilities of the children, relevant details of he policies and procedures within the setting along with the staff who are present in the setting. The EYFS also guides practitioners to work in partnership with parents/carers along with relevant professionals when dealing with a child’s early years outcomes alongside their individual needs. By following this guideline and working in partnership practitioners are able to promote a child’s learning and development, ensuring they are school ready. With the EYFS it states that if a practitioner believes that there is reason for concern in relation to the way the child is learning with limited progress within the prime areas then it is imperative that the practitioner works with the parents/carers in order to discuss the child’s support strategy. It is important that practitioners consider appropriate professionals if they believe a child may have special educational needs or a disability in order to provide specialist support “They should link with, and help families to access, relevant services from other agencies as appropriate.” (Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage, para 1.6, 2014) By ensuring that practitioners work in partnership with parents/carers along with professionals the child is given effective opportunities in order to meet their early learning goals, within the enabling environments column of the EYFS adults are able to have guidance in supporting the child. in addition to this the support of the child’s needs can also be met at home as parents/carers can be supported by the practitioners in ensuring the child gets the best possible outcome and help they need in environments they feel safe and secure in, with this hey will feel more comfortable and willing to learn. C3 The High Scope Curriculum, previously known as the Pre-school Perry Project, was designed for disadvantaged children in Ypsilanti in the 1960’s. The High Scope curriculum sees each individual child as an active learner, encouraging them to go on to be independent problem solvers and decision makers, this programme is not ridged however it does provide a framework for children’s learning. High Scope target a child’s environment in order to arrange it so that it optimises a child’s learning , using key experiences in which the child has which they will go on to observe and plan for an individual child’s needs. An example of this is adult-led communication strategies, partnership with parents, observation and record keeping. The five main key experiences implicated in the High Scope concept of a child’s active learning are, using language, this is describing objects, events and relationships which the child might make. Active learning, this key experience is manipulation, transforming and combining material. Representing ideas and experiences, this is represented by role play and pretending activities. Developing logical reasoning, this is an experience in which the children learn to label, match and sort objects. Understanding time and space, the children recall and anticipate events, learning to find things within the classroom. These five key experiences not only prepare the High Scope framework for planning and evaluating activities but also enables the practitioners and teachers to guide each child from one learning 5|Page

Alice Dunnett

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experience to another. This framework suggest questions that they are to ask the children individually which enables the staff to access a child’s development along with providing a basis of discussion with the child’s parents. Three goals are implemented in order for the children to achieve, these are; A sequence of plan/do/review, this process allows children to explore, design and carry out activities whilst making decisions in their learning. The second goal is providing for many types of interaction, an example of this are small and large group work, adult to child, child to child along with times for both adult and child to work together. Thirdly providing the opportunities/ time in which the child works in a variety of environments, both inside and out. High Scope is promoted internationally as the headquarters is located in the USA, along with High Scope institutes in six other countries, in the northeast of England high scope works in conjunction with the children’s charity Barnardo’s, key values held by Barnardo’s include respect for the unique worth of each individual child. Encouraging people to fulfil their own personal potential, working with hope, and exercising responsible stewardship. (CommunityPlayThings.co.uk, 2015) High Scope prepares children for school as this framework allows practitioners and carers to use the plan, do, review cycle, as a way of recording the child’s development, which they can use in order to see if a child is ready for school or not by matching them up to their corresponding milestones. In addition to this High Scope also helps the children to individually understand time and space which is key to being school ready, involving the children learning to find items in the classroom. High Scope target specific areas of development in their day to day activities, following this they use the plan, do, review method of observation, ensuring that each child is developing according to the correct milestone. The practitioners then use the review to create the child’s next step which will ensure that each individual child is ready ...