Reflective Teaching in Early Education

Jennifer Colwell, Amanda Ince, Helen Bradford, Helen Edwards, Julian Grenier, Eleanor Kitto, Eunice Lumsden, Catriona McDonald, Juliet Mickelburgh, Mary Moloney, Sheila Nutkins, Ioanna Palaiologou, Deborah Price, Rebecca Swindells

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781350127593
• eBook ISBN: 9781350127616
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación infantil

The book you can trust to guide you through your career in the early years, as the expert authors share tried and tested techniques in a range of early years settings. For this new edition, Jennifer Colwell and Amanda Ince have drawn together an expert author team to bring you guidance from top practitioners that is both cohesive and that continues to evolve to meet the needs of today's early years practitioners. It is designed for trainees whether in universities or early years settings and looks across the full early years spectrum, from birth to 8 years old. Reflective Teaching in Early Education uniquely provides two levels of support:
- Practical, evidence-­based guidance on key early years issues – including relationships, behaviour, inclusion, curriculum planning and learning, and teaching strategies
- Evidence-­informed 'principles' and 'concepts' to help you to understand the theories informing practice, offering ways for you to continue to develop your skills and understanding of early years practice in early childhood education and care New to this edition:
- Case Studies which illustrate the impact Reflective Teaching can have on your practice and your setting
- New Reflective Activities
- Updated references and guidance on Key Readings
- Updates to reflect recent changes in curriculum and assessment across the UK reflectiveteaching.co.uk provides a treasure trove of additional support. Readings for Reflective Teaching in Early Education, the supporting 'portable library' volume, is signposted throughout this book and provides convenient access to key texts.

Part one

Becoming a
reflective
professional

1Identity  Who are we and what do we stand for?

2Learning  How can we understand learner development?

3Reflection  How can we develop the quality of our practice?

4Principles  What are the foundations of effective teaching and learning?

To become truly reflective, we need to be willing to consider who we are, what we stand for and what the consequences of our actions might be.

Chapter 1 focuses on ourselves and on the significance of the contribution we can make to children and their families as early years practitioners. This is followed by an introduction to ways of understanding learning and how children come to know and understand in Chapter 2. The chapter on reflective practice, Chapter 3, discusses the process of reflection and how developing this process, both as an individual and as a staff team, can lead to improvements in the quality of our practice. The final chapter, Chapter 4, introduces and considers ten principles of effective teaching and learning and how they can offer a structure for developing and reviewing practice in the early years. These principles were developed as a result of a major UK research and development programme, TLRP. These principles are discussed drawing upon the latest research evidence.

Chapter 1

Identity

Who are we and what do we stand for?

Introduction

1Understanding ourselves as practitioners

Becoming an early years practitioner

Values informing early years practice

Practitioner identities

2Knowing babies and young children

How babies and young children experience early years education

Understanding children’s needs

Examining our perceptions of young children

3Learning and teaching through life

Developing a career in Early Childhood Education and Care

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is concerned with the practitioners working in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings, the babies and children attending those settings, and with the feelings and perceptions we hold in relation to ourselves and others.

A key issue we explore in this book is that of ‘identity’, that is our characteristics, in a context where the role and status of early years practitioners, as professionals, is continually evolving. We also consider how the identities of adults and children relate to each other and to the cultures and opportunities we encounter. To understand the identities of each other, and crucially of ourselves, we must consider how our individual life experiences shape who we become and how we see the world and others.

The first section of this chapter focuses on the role of early years practitioners and how this is perceived by ourselves and others. We consider why people choose to work within ECEC and the values that might inform and sustain our practice. We consider the debates surrounding the terminology and meanings of ‘professional’ we introduce what is known about the complex role of the ECEC practitioner and how practitioners respond to this complexity. This section also reflects the belief that there are always things that we can do to improve the quality of our provision for the benefit of our colleagues, the babies, children and families with whom we work and indeed ourselves.

Section 2 focuses on thinking about babies and young children. We consider how our values, that is our principles and standards through which we determine what is important, may influence how we think about babies, children and their learning and our expectations of them. We note that we can challenge our expectations to ensure we have the highest aspirations for all.

Section 3 considers the ways in which early education influences babies and young children as they develop, and how children’s early experiences of education influence their lives and future educational achievements. The section concludes with a discussion of the development of the careers of reflective early years practitioners, including the aspiration of matching personal values with practice.

Below we have indicated the evidence-informed ‘principles’ which are relevant to this chapter. We provide this information at the beginning of each chapter. Chapter 4 provides detail on the origin of the ten principles, their development, and how we believe these principles support a deeper understanding of the theories informing and underpinning early years practice.

See Chapter 4

TLRP principles

Two principles are of particular relevance to this chapter on identity and values in early education:

Principle 1: Effective teaching and learning equips learners for life in its broadest sense. Learning should aim to help people to develop the intellectual, personal and social resources that will enable them to participate as active citizens, contribute to economic development and flourish as individuals in a diverse and changing society. This implies adopting a broad view of learning outcomes and ensuring that equity and social justice are taken seriously.

Principle 9: Effective teaching and learning depends on teacher learning. The need for teachers to learn continuously in order to develop their knowledge and skills, and adapt and develop their roles, especially through classroom inquiry, should be recognized and supported.

1 UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES AS PRACTITIONERS

1.1 Becoming an early years practitioner

It’s rewarding seeing the progress that individual children make when you see them coming out of themselves more, making friends, making connections with the world and each other.

I’d worked with very young special needs children – all my holidays were based around that kind of work – and I knew that was where I wanted to go.

Everybody’s just so totally committed and really cares about what they’re doing.

(Practitioners from a Children’s Centre nursery; Beaumont, 2008, p. 142–9)

There are many reasons why people choose to work in ECEC. The diversity of settings in the UK, ranging from large maintained or private nurseries and schools to small and home-based settings, offers the potential early years practitioner a great deal of choice.

The range of opportunities in ECEC settings in the UK is accompanied, howev...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Dedication
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Using this book
• A summary of the book
• Part one Becoming a reflective professional
• 1 Identity Who are we and what do we stand for?
• 2 Learning How can we understand learner development?
• 3 Reflection How can we develop the quality of our practice?
• 4 Principles What are the foundations of effective teaching and learning?
• Part two Creating conditions for learning
• 5 Contexts What is, and what might be?
• 6 Relationships How are we getting on together?
• 7 Engagement How are we managing behaviour?
• 8 Spaces How are we creating environments for learning?
• Part three Teaching for learning
• 9 Curriculum What is taught in the early years?
• 10 Planning How are we implementing the curriculum?
• 11 Pedagogy How can we develop effective strategies?
• 12 Communication How does language support learning?
• 13 Assessment How can assessment enhance learning?
• Part four Reflecting on consequences
• 14 Outcomes How do we capture learning achievements?
• 15 Inclusion How are we enabling learning opportunities?
• Part five Deepening understanding
• 16 Expertise Conceptual tools for career-long fascination?
• 17 Professionalism How does reflective teaching contribute to society?
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Index
• Copyright