Early Years Pedagogy in Practice

A Guide for Students and Practitioners

Ruksana Beigi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9780429773075
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

This accessible text encourages readers to understand and confidently engage with distinctive early years pedagogy. It shows how pedagogy not only underpins the early years curriculum but is also inherent in the role of the adult and the experiences that are offered to young children.

The book explains what the differing early years pedagogies are, why they are encouraged, and the knowledge, skills, and practice that are required to work with them. Emphasising that what works in one situation may not in another and a wider pedagogical knowledge is essential to ensure quality outcomes for children, it considers key topics such as:

• the role of the pedagogue and developing your own style
• promoting a lifelong love of learning in children under your care
• sensitivity and inclusion for all children's cultures and communities
• promoting the rights of every child under your care.

Incorporating reflection points and research tasks to support independent learning, this is essential reading for students on Early Childhood Studies courses and Early Years Foundation Degrees as well as early years practitioners.

1

The early years pedagogue

Underpinning the role of the adult

This chapter will explore:

• What early childhood education and care is.
• The role of the adult in pedagogy and ultimately in children’s development, learning, and well-being
• The historical origin of the role of the early years pedagogue, and how this links with your role in the present
• Early childhood education and care as a signature pedagogy unique to the early years
• Developing pedagogy through a knowledge base of child development, pedagogical knowledge, developmentally appropriate practice, the early years curriculum, and teaching

Key question: what is early childhood education and care? And what knowledge, understanding, and skills on the part of the adult are required for this?

In a perfect world, pedagogy starts with the adults that are entrusted with the care and education of young children. The role of the adult in early years education is complex and demands many different responsibilities, fulfilment of many different tasks, and being many different selves (Rose and Rogers, 2012). Adding to the mix, early years educators further need to be able to discuss the pedagogical base upon which they provide children’s teaching and learning, and when doing so, need to with confidence. Before going onto explore what pedagogy for the early years means, this chapter presents an overview of the historical, theoretical, and practical underpinnings of the role of the early years pedagogue, meaning you, upon which the knowledge, understanding, and skills of early years pedagogy is dependent on. It is acknowledged that you may have a limited understanding, experience, and even expertise in early years pedagogy. However, an inability to articulate this may put a significant constraint on effective practice which will hinder support for children’s learning, and limit your own professional growth (Moyles et al., 2002; Stephen, 2010). Pedagogy is inherent in the work of early years education and care, and therefore understanding first and foremost the key role that you play is vital.

Reflection point: what is meant by the ‘role of the adult’?

Early childhood education and care

What is early childhood education and care?

Education has become an important factor in determining the progress of individual human beings and human society. Here, it provides knowledge and develops the skills and abilities to perform various socio-economic tasks in futures to come. However, it is also where learning is an important part of education (Jha and Bhattacharyya, 2013). Early years education and care (ECEC) is a distinct phase of the education system in many countries, generally covering the age range from three to six or seven years. In the UK it tends to be from birth to age seven and bridges from its final phase to the first two years in primary school. ECEC is based on characteristic values, beliefs, and practices which distinguish it from later phases of mainstream educational provision (Miller et al., 2012, p. 227). In brief, ECEC describes the theory and practice of educating and caring for young children; it encompasses development, well-being, learning, and teaching. The ‘education’ part includes stimulation, socialisation, guidance, participation, learning, and developmental activities through an appropriate early years curriculum and provision. Whereas the ‘care’ element includes health, nutrition, and hygiene in a secure and nurturing environment (UNESCO, 2012). Education and care are inseparable; they stimulate each other and can be seen as an indivisible entirety. Both are inherent in children’s experiences in creating a strong foundation for children’s lifelong learning, well-being, and their understanding of their surrounding world.

Since 1997, in England the government has increased investment in families and young children to create wide ranging out of home programmes to expand and reform ECEC. The first report of the House of Commons Education and Employment Committee, Early Years, was published in December 2000 (House of Commons, 2000). It set out evidence of an enquiry which examined content of ECEC; the way in which it should be taught, the kind of adults that are needed to teach it and the qualifications they should have; the way quality of teaching and learning is assessed; and the age formal schooling should start. The report recommended that the years between birth and five plus should be viewed as the first phase of education, in which the involvement of families and parents is crucial and that ‘education and care are inseparable’ (p. xii, para. 33). It also recommended that children below compulsory school age should be taught informally in ways that are appropriate to their development stage and their interests, and that more structured learning should be introduced gradually so that by the end of the reception year children are learning through more formal, whole-class activities for a small proportion of the day.

In the same year, the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA and DfEE, 2000) was published, in which the period from three years to the end of reception (at five to six years) was described as the foundation curriculum. Within this, a set of early learning goals was established as what was expected for most children to reach by the end of the foundation stage. All settings and schools received grant funding for the education of these children and were required to plan activities which helped children progress by promoting areas of learning through well planned play, both indoors and outdoors. In 2008, a review of the curriculum consolidated children under three years of age, making the foundation stage from birth to the end of the reception year. From this point, continual evidence emphasised that children attending high quality formal ECEC leads to improvements in their outcomes such as health, cognitive, behavioural, social, and physical development (e.g. Sylva et al., 2004; Melhuish et al., 2015).

As it stands today, a large proportion of young children, including babies, do attend some form of childcare or early education establishment. In England, the government’s investment in ECEC has increased the amount of time children now spend in childcare. The quality of care and education that is provided to young children here is affected by multiple policies and provisions in areas such as maternal health, family, welfare and protection, employment and poverty reduction, and gender and social inclusion policies. In 2013, the government rolled out the two-year-old free entitlement, which provides 15 hours of free care for children from most disadvantaged households. This is combined with 15 hours of childcare at age three–four that all children are entitled to, and 30 hours of funded childcare offered to in-work households from 2017/18. Here, families are increasingly afforded the opportunity to place their children in formal childcare for longer periods (Sim et al., 2018). The quality of funded early years childcare is then regulated through an inspection regime by the Office for Standards in Education Early Years (Ofsted). This is against the standards set out by the government in the now Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework (DfE, 2017). There is a requirement on ECEC provisions to plan through play activities both indoors and outdoors against seven areas of learning: personal, social, and emotional; physical; communication and language; literacy; maths; understanding of the world; and expressive arts and design. Yet, the EYFS provides no specific requirement that educators use a particular pedagogy or pedagogical approach to support children’s development and learning. Without a doubt, increasing numbers of young children spend long days in settings outside their family homes, so the connections they develop with educators – you – in early childhood settings, alongside positive parent–educator partnerships, strongly influence their development (Elfer et al., 2018; Murray et al., 2018). This is the key to ECEC and pedagogy.

Reflection point: what does early childhood education and care mean to you? What sort of experiences do you think children get in this phase? How do you think educators facilitate for it?

ECEC, a signature pedagogy and a branch of professional and practical knowledge

The idea of signature pedagogies comes from research which explored ‘types of teaching that organize the fundamental ways in which future practitioners are educated for their new professions’ (Shulman, 2005, p. 52). It goes onto define what counts as knowledge in each discipline and how things become known within it. The research found that there were some common pedagogical approaches across clusters of disciplines, but there were also distinctive practices within them, such as a placement with children for the training of professionals in ECEC, or the learning and mastering of the observation technique used to support children’s experiences. These distinctive practices are intended to do more than inculcate knowledge; they set out deliberately to teach ‘habits of mind’, i.e. the ways of thinking about early years education, doing early years education, and being an early years pedagogue. They induct trainee students and teachers into a ‘profession’ and its traditions, conventions, and more (Thomson et al., 2012, p. 10). This is through the theory and bodies of knowledge for the discipline, where ‘they must come to understand in order to act’ (Shulman, 2005, p. 53). Miller et al. (2012, p. 227) argue that ECEC is a signature pedagogy unique to its age phase, therefore understanding this provides a pedagogical platform for the role of the early years pedagogue. The starting point for any signature pedagogy is within the training and education of the profession itself. It is where you are provided with early socialisation into the practices of this field, and how you are instructed to build your understanding of the profession; in this case, ECEC and your role as the early year pedagogue. This of course starts with your qualification but continues as you build your role over a life-course.

Shulman (2005) notes three dimensions of signature pedagogies that training educators learn and develop: (1) surface structure; (2) deep structure; and (3) implicit structure. Surface structure involves the operational elements of development, teaching, and learning – how activities and environments are organised and how teaching and learning is done within ECEC. Deep structure delves into the assumption’s educators make about how knowledge is best learned and how a developing pedagogue learns to think like a professional about pedagogy. Finally, the implicit structures include the moral aspects of teaching and learning in ECEC, including beliefs, values, ethics, and attitudes about what it constitutes. Thomson et al. (2012, p. 11) describe signature pedagogies as epistemological – that is you deal with things that you have to know and know how to do; ontological – that is they are about the way you are in the world and the ways in which you orient yourself to being and making meaning in the world; and axiological – that is you value collaborative and cooperative ways of working with others. Each of these elements cannot be separated out in practice, and together they become a tacit knowledge in supporting your role in caring, nurturing, and learning – early years pedagogy.

It is evident then that you should be well trained in ECEC, where it may be similar to common knowledge, but relates directly to a specific area of study. When you study all the theories within a certain subject, you begin to acquire an extensive knowledge of that field that you can use to develop your pedagogy and practice – signature pedagogies. For example, trainee pedagogues’ study:

• early years theory (including psychology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and health sciences);
• diverse children and childhood;
• how children learn and develop;
• the factors that influence childhood, and of how this knowledge is critical in supporting the learning and development of children;
• early years pedagogy;
• pedagogical practices that are developmentally appropriate for children – develop lesson plans, activities, and learning objectives;
• the roles of parents, families, and wider institutions;
• equality and inclusion;
• multi-agency and interdisciplinary working.

Formosinho and Pascal (2016) further add that early years pedagogy is a branch of professional and practical knowledge, where it is a body of theory and practice that draws on the branches of philosophy, psychology, and social science. It is constructed in situated dialogue with theories, beliefs, values, and principles of the what, how, why, and when of early years pedagogy that you must learn and master. It is where you gain knowledge, understanding, and skills in the signature pedagogies for the early years – holistic and flourishing, play based, adult-led and child- initiated, participatory, relational, nature, creativity, parents and families, and culture and community. Having knowledge of these is vital to enact in practice, and the rest of this book will do this for you. However, in developing signature early years pedagogy, there is a need to understand the essence of your role as the early years pedagogue, starting with its origin.

Research task: talk to colleagues and research online programmes undertaken by adults working in ECEC. What more can you add to the list above that you must study as professional and practical knowledge? Is there any specific mention of ‘pedagogy’?

The early years ped...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the author
• Introduction: a case for early years pedagogy
• 1. The early years pedagogue: underpinning the role of the adult
• 2. Exploring pedagogy for the early years: building your signature early years pedagogy
• 3. A holistic and flourishing pedagogy: promoting a love for lifelong learning
• 4. The pedagogy of play: the natural language of the child
• 5. Child-initiated and adult-led pedagogy: moving from a balance to embracing the synergy
• 6. A participatory pedagogy: the human right of every child
• 7. Relational pedagogy: relationships in dialogic spaces
• 8. The pedagogy of nature: moving beyond outdoor play
• 9. Creative pedagogy: nurturing the characteristics of creativity
• 10. A pedagogy for parents and families: embodying the natural pedagogy of parents in early childhood education
• 11. A culturally responsive pedagogy: embracing children’s cultures and communities
• 12. Sustainable pedagogical leadership: the preservation and development of early years pedagogies
• Final thought: toward lived pedagogies
• Index