Thus suggesting practitioners should embrace and accept the approach enabling them to “adopt learning strategies that embed the acquisition of knowledge and skills into meaningful context” (Macleod-Brudenell and Kay, 2008, p.311). Moss and Petrie (2002) support this concept by stating “pedagogy can be used to refer to whole domain of social responsibility for children, for their well-being, learning and competence” (p.138). Pugh and Duffy (2006) suggest a pedagogue is the one who leads and educates children’s learning. This effectively impacts upon children’s learning and enables them to become confident learners. As well as encouraging children to be in control of their own interests and learning (Every child matters, 2004).
Allen and Whalley (2010) adopt Whalley, Allen and Wilson’s (2008) notion that the role of the practitioner is extremely significant and address the idea that effective pedagogy is about improving outcomes for children’s learning. Therefore in order to provide an effective provision for children to learn and grow in practitioners must be able to maintain positive interactions with the children.
Allen and Whalley (2009) adopt Curtis and O’Hagan’s (2009, p. 156) concept that theorists such as Bruner and Vygotsky have influenced pedagogy by placing “emphasis upon the importance of the adult in facilitating children’s learning”. This promotes children’s learning. Good practice would be for the practitioners to try to extend and build upon the child’s knowledge by scaffolding their learning through ideas and questions (Bee and Boyd, 2007).
Additionally, Allen and Whalley (2010, p.7) highlight the forth theme of the EYFS as “positive relationships”. Bruce (2008) resonates with the National strategies (2009) no...
... middle of paper ...
...one year. Partnership with parents provides the teachers to be able to get to understand the child’s family to gain a greater knowledge basis of the child’s needs. Curtis and O’Hagan (2009) illustrate that parents and teachers meet up throughout the school year to discuss any problems they or the children may be having.
This is good practice as it ensures the practitioners are receiving all the information they can to help support the children within their care to reach their full potential. Reggio Emilia however, believes in continual assessment. This concept expects practitioners to record and review what children say and do on a regular basis. This system is viewed by parents at any point. Reggio Emilia values this system very highly and ensures parents know they are completing a reflective and extensive process that can help contribute to children’s learning.
This approach drives teachers to really understand and get to know their students, and to build upon a strong teacher-student relationship. In their key improvement strategies, Larburnum (2017) identifies that a learning environment is optimised through quality teaching practices which recognise the importance of the student-teacher relationship. They also place high emphasis on person-centred and family sensitive practice, and partnerships with families and communities. Engaging with families and understanding a child’s attained knowledge outside of school is one of the top priorities, as they recognise the positive effects this approach has on learning and teaching. In a study discussed in Moll’s Funds of Knowledge (2006, p.82-84), a teacher visited one of her students in order to gain greater insight into his life. She discovered that he sold candy in his local neighbourhood, and brainstormed ways she could implement it into her learning module for the upcoming week. The teacher opened up a discussion on candy with her students and worked with them to provide a definition. They were able to practice analytical skills, and grammar knowledge (ACARA,
By teaching thematically, it would enable me to integrate the four core National Curriculum subjects within a theme. This method of theme based units utilises and builds on children's interests and life experiences, therefore skills and knowledge are developed in meaningful ways.(Kerry. T (2011) Cross-curricular teaching in the primary school, Oxon: Routledge) The Intermediate Program Policy Grades 4 to 10 (1993) suggests that the more students become engaged in how and what they study, the more interested they are in learning. Likewise, Bruner also supports the notion of children to be involved in their own learning process, so that connections could be made through personal discovery and enquiry and not just being passive receivers of information. This clearly highlights the importance of children taking an active role of their learning. Therefore in my approach of delivering the core subjects, it would be necessary for me to collaborate ...
Doherty, J & Hughes M. (2009). Introducing Child Development. In: Child Development Theory and Practice 0-11. England: Pearson Education Limited. p6.
Whalley, M.E., and Allen, S. (2011). Leading Practice in Early Years Settings (2nd ed). Exeter: Learning Matters.
Effective partnerships between families and school emerge from a mutual trust, respect and understanding of each other’s values and goals. By maintaining such partnerships, we create a healthy environment for children to develop. All families have something unique to offer and educators need to recognize this and make the most of it by incorporating all families into the school community.
The Child Development Center of College of San Mateo provides early care and educational programs for children between the ages of 3 to 5 years old. Children are divided into classrooms with a “master” teacher, a “regular” teacher, and two or three “associate” teachers. Klara attended Classroom, “A,” a stimulating and well-resourced classroom. Klara was observed for two hours on Monday from 9 am to 11 am and for two hours on Wednesday from 9 am to 11 am. During these two hours, classroom activities consisted of “free time,” “story time,” and an outside “play time.” A “master” teacher, a “regular” teacher, and two “associate” teachers were present during observations. Additionally, a total of eighteen children were in attendance during the observed days.
What is the purpose of education? A question that has been asked for centuries and defined in many ways; each theorist will argue their views on education is unsurpassed, yet it remains a question, that the future of our children depends upon. My personal philosophy of education is to create an environment that allows every child the freedom and ability to discover, create and pursue their interests; ultimately becoming the best they can, for an evolving and unpredictable future. Within this framework, the purpose being to encourage learning through children’s interests, by personalising education for the individual and interlacing subjects to engage and entice learning. While discussing my personal philosophy of education, I will explain the aim of education, consider the role of the teacher and the learner and present effective teaching methods and practices for within the classroom. This essay will demonstrate that Dewey, Friedman, Neill, Noddings, Robinson, and Zhao, support my personal philosophy and prove in contrast with the theories of Skinner and Rousseau.
This assignment shall explore the services for children and the range of settings that provide care and education for children. It will look at the professional practice and the principles and values that underpin working with children including the promotion of their rights.
If a child is looked after or in care, their opportunities in general may be restricted. This in turn leads to their development being affected in many different ways.
Origin from a city in the north of Italy, the Reggio Emilia approach in Early Childhood Education is adopted by multi-countries over the past decades. This approach has a core philosophy, that children should play a leading role in education. Children are seen as full of knowledge and intelligence, with full capabilities to express themselves if only given the proper ways to do to so. They are protagonists of their own learning and have a say in what topics and problems they will study and research. Teachers provide resources to assistant children’s learning and developing. The curriculum is emergent, meaning the teachers choose topics and projects based on careful listening and observations of their student’s interests, needs and inquiries. Children are encouraged to use materials and media to demonstrate their learning and understanding of a topic or project. Documentations and environment have direct influences in helping children’s learning. Parents and community also play a supportive role in children education (O.E.C.D, 2004).
Furthermore, Vygotsky declares that knowledge is constructed by social interactions with people who surround the child. The author also presents the concept of “zone of proximal development” as the distance between what children do without any supervision and what they are not able to achieve unless a more knowledgeable person guides them through it. In other words, the zone of proximal development refers to activities children cannot do, though they manage to fulfill with certain level of difficulty by following their better skilled fellows' suitable guidance. In the educational field, teachers play an essential role on their learners’ developmental process. Educators serve as models and provide a vast range of learning opportunities that enable their students reach their next level of development and become more autonomous each
Educators produce a wide variety of experiences, perceptions, prospects, learning and abilities to their education (DEEWR, 2009, p. 9). In my career and through my studies, my philosophy and pedagogy have been closely linked with the constructivist theory from Piaget. Being able to focus on a child’s interests and creating learning activities that are implemented as fun is a big part of my motivation as an educator and teacher. The educational environment needs to sustain every single child along with inspiring significant work that can result in more advanced thinking (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 225). Following Piaget’s ideas while implementing the EYLF has made for a simple straight forward way of supplying quality learning experiences for children from birth to 12 years old and it has helped me widen the scope of each experience to allow for multiple levels of developmental stages. Using a constructivist approach to learning allows for the breaking down of the experience as a whole into smaller parts which brings the focus around to the process of learning (Evanshen and Faulk, 2011, p. 667). Overall I believe Piaget’s Theory to be one of the most important influences in modern teaching, allowing scaffolding of learning in a place that that
Observation is important as the practitioner can find out what the child is interested in and what motivates them to learn alongside their progress and how they behave in certain situations, additionally at the same time it identifies if children need assistance within certain areas of learning or socially (DCSF, 2008). Furthermore the observations check that the child is safe, contented, healthy and developing normally within the classroom or early years setting, over time the observations can be given to parents as they show a record of progress which helps to settle the parent and feel more comfortable about their child’s education. Observations are not only constructive within learning about an individual child, they can be used to see how different groups of children behave in the same situation and how adults communicate and deal with children’s behaviour (Meggitt and Walker, 2004). Overall observations should always look at the positives of what children can complete within education and not look at the negatives and all observations should become a fundamental part of all practitioners work alongside reflection (Smidt, 2009).
During this semester in the course human development and learning, the class has been learning about a range of ways that children develop and learn. This also develops the understanding of the human growth process in terms of different learning styles and what teaching strategies can be used. Learning about a child’s learning in primary school is vital in being able to successfully develop a range of strategies to benefit both student and teachers learning. Communication strategies to support learning, strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in learning, and organisation of the classroom and providing directions to learners managing challenging behaviour are all significantly important to uphold in
Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory (Kearns, 2010) advocates that students play an active participant role in their own learning and I firmly believe that children are not just empty vessels waiting to be filled with just my personal knowledge. Children’s diversity in learning can bring new perceptions to even a well-balanced curriculum; to this end my approach to curriculum planning is flexible and adaptable as children’s needs and abilities are constantly changing (Arthur et al.