Chapter 2

Living and Learning with Others

The Family as a Social Context for Learning

We all need other people to help us learn and young children need adults and other children.

Learning with Adults in the Early Years Setting

The task of really getting inside childrens minds and understanding them can only be properly
achieved through observing their actions and conversing with them.
Observation is the basis for planning for young childrens future.
Access for communication is every young childs entitlement.
By the age of two, children start to use language to make sense of social boundaries but adults
need to contribute in order to develop and sustain conversation.
Some common conversational ploys:
*Tuning in
*Showing genuine interest
*Respecting a childs own decision and viewpoint
*Inviting a child to elaborate on an idea
*Gently recapping or clarifying what has been said
*Speculating on what might happen
*Offering an alternative viewpoint
*Sharing your own experience
*Asking open questions

Learning with other Children

We now recognize how important childrens relationship with one another is in assisting their
thinking.
Lev Vygotsky: mental activity begins with social contacts and exchanges between people.
Azmitias work highlighted the value of shared thinking and concluded from her observation
that: (1) Having a partner can increase the amount of time children work on task and prevent
children from giving up in a difficult situation and it can also provide added enjoyment to the
activity. (2) When children work together this can often increase their total work strategies as
different children bring different skills to a task. (3) The novice learns a great deal from
observing her partner and through benefitting from expert guidance.
Not all young children socialize naturally.
Sally Thomas introduced skills of turn taking and sharing through progression: (1) helping the
child to wait a minute with adult support (2) with a resource such as egg timer (3) freely chosen
activity
Elizabeth Jarmans useful kit encourages practitioners to look critically at how well their
environments are designed to support children to communicate with one another.

Monitoring the Development of Social Skills

Childrens social development is dramatic during the first six years of life.
The Social Play Continuum developed by Pat Broadhead provides a useful tool for observing and
assessing childrens social play and it highlights four domains- associative, social, highly social
and co-operative.

Growing to Be a Good Citizen

If children can learn to develop a social responsibility for them, then clearly this affect their
personal well-being but will also better prepare them to contribute in a larger social world.
 Chapter 3

Becoming Independent

Independence is an essential life skill and one that needs to be nurtured from the earliest stage
in order for young children to take steps to become self-standing individuals.

The Drive for Independence

Winnicott stresses, babies are going concerns whose growth and development are inevitable
and unstoppable. They make choices in about their physical needs and their subsequent levels
of independence which are significantly affected by the style of caregiving.
Jenny Lindon states, we need to resist over-loading young children with stimulation and to avoid
the build better baby type products that have emerged. Lindon suggests, babies and toddlers
need time to use their physical abilities and apply their ideas. To do or try again is ideal for their
learning.

Social and Emotional Independence

Every baby and child will encounter transition differently as children develop from birth they
move from home to different learning environment during the early years.
Common Stages in Transition:
Trying to Let Go- a stage when young children can feel confused and overwhelmed as they leave
a secure and familiar context for new horizons.
Being Uncertain- a stage even when a young child is able to separate from her parent she may
still feel apprehensive about the new experiences on offer, particularly when she encounters
something new to contend with.
Taking Hold- a stage when young child is able to feel secure and to be comfortable with others

Physical and Functional Independence

Healthy babies and toddlers strive to develop skills that enable them to become less physically
dependent upon adults.
Practitioners realize that those children who are already physically independent are likely to
adapt more easily to life in the setting.

Intellectual Independence

Lady Plowden: children should be agents in their own learning.

Using the Environment Independently

Space is essential to enable children to be physically independent. A setting which is organized

as a workshop can increase opportunities for children to use their initiative.
Reggio Emilia: Environment is the third teacher plans the setting to promote independence and
will take great care with the management and layout of physical space.
Different Philosophies of Early childhood are reflected through the environments to enhance
independence.
The Montessori emphasizes self-reliance and decision-making and encourages children to select
apparatus for themselves rather than have it readily available on tables.
The High Scope programme stresses the importance of the physical arrangement of a room and
the need for resources to be accessible to children and requires that resources in each area are
logically organized and clearly labeled.
Steiner settings put great store on children developing their ideas through using open-ended
natural materials.
 Tidying up is part of children learning to be responsible just like returning materials after use to
where it used to be.

Making Choices and Decisions

Active learners are not dependent on just doing what others tell them but to bring own ideas
and initiative to situations.
The Early Years Foundation Stage: an active learner goes beyond physical activity but rather
involves children being mentally active as they form their own ideas in response to experiences.
Not all children find it easy initially to make decisions so it is helpful to make suggestions as to
what they might start to do and to watch.
Organization in the setting should make it possible for children to make decisions about with
whom they wish to play and also to determine what they do with their time.
Tina Bruce: At times the adult leads and at times the child. Children who are given choices and
real opportunities to take responsibility for their actions are more likely to understand that
adults are there as a resource to support their enterprise.

Fostering Independent Thinkers

The most ambitious aim in fostering young childrens independence is to support and extend
their thinking.
Why is childrens thinking so important?
The growing interest in young children derives from:
*Strong support from research evidence
We dont have to teach babies to think because they are born with mental abilities that fully
function, which allows them to make sense of experiences and anticipate future events. Sue
Gerhardt (Why Love Matters): Being lovingly held is the greatest spur to development. Two
major research projects, EPPE (Effective Provision of Preschool Education), and REPEY
(Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years): One of the ways in which we could identify
high quality early years practice was where children were helped to improve their thinking
skills.
*Imperatives in National Frameworks
The Early Foundation Stage in England and the Foundation Phase Framework in Wales give clear
statements about the need to have regard to and offer support for young childrens thinking and
emphasize the importance of inclusion and the need to provide learning opportunities which are
personalized for each child. This means that practitioners must identify a childs interests and
thoughts which will be at the heart of all they plan and provide. If children have opportunities to
play around with ideas in different situations, they start to make connections and to alter and
deepen their understanding.

*Increased insights from practitioners in their day-to-day work

These research finding and requirements in national framework point up the significance of
young children thinking really reinforce what so many practitioners have intuitively long known
to be true. Practitioners also recognize that unless we understand ways in which children
express their ideas and thoughts, we may be in danger of under-estimating their potential for
learning.

The childs complex and original ideas which perhaps are revealed in self-chosen role play or
when he is engaged in constructing outside.
Practitioners also know first-hand from experience, that where young children are good thinkers
this is a pre-cursor to later achievement.
Children who are encouraged and become able to think for themselves are likely to become
eager and autonomous learners.

*Listening to the voice of children

 If given the opportunity young children will share with us their intimate thought like about
growing up in todays society.
High quality practitioners recognize how critical it is to encourage children to share and discuss
their thoughts and concerns in the interests of their well-being and their learning.

What is going on?

Thinking causes a mental imbalance or disequilibrium.

We cannot force new thinking. It can take considerable time for a young child to give up current
understanding and move on to adjust to a new idea.
Childrens thinking develops as they exposed to the ways of the world, they note how things
work and what people say and do.
When children think they may: wonder, imagine, deliberate, consider, connect, surmise, conject,
predict, recall, project, muse and reflect.
We cannot directly teach young children to think independently; there is no package of
structured materials that will achieve this.
Kahil Gibran (The Prophet): A wise teacher who does not bid you enter the house of his
wisdom, but rather leads you (the child) to the threshold of your (the childs) own mind

How do we recognize young childrens thinking?

Younger childrens thoughts are less visible and we need considerable skills to spot and
understand them. The following are important signals:
*Levels of involvement. When children are deeply absorbed in what they are doing this
assumes that there is mental activity going on.
*Preoccupations or schemes of thinking. When children have opportunities for similar
experiences where they can repeat their actions again and again as they work through their
interest.
*Representations. When children will relish rich curriculum experiences and then represent
their understandings and ideas in many ways like through dance or role plays.
*Talk. When children are keen to share their ideas and thoughts in conversations.

Talking about, recalling, and representing their actions help children evaluate and learn from
their experiences and more able to refer to them and draw upon them for later use.
Dr. Karin Murris developed a way of helping young children to think their way through big issues
through using picture books and asking questions and described this activity as philosophical
inquiry.

What conditions best support young childrens thoughts and ideas?

Some circumstances described by Tina Bruce which help childrens thoughts to take root and
flourish:
-When they are familiar setting with adults they trust
-When they are exposed to a wide range of thought-provoking experiences
-When they are supported to make their own decisions and select resources and materials for
themselves
-When they have time to pause, re-visit and re-consider, make connections and practice and
apply what we know
-When they are free to make mistakes and are encouraged to see these as a valuable way of
learning
-When they are encouraged to share ideas with others

Robert Sternberg argues that children need to learn to plan, monitor, reflect and transfer in
developing powers of thinking.
Lev Vygotsky stresses the role of language in thinking and making meaning from experience
Both emphasized that children will only be able to think well in familiar situations when they
make use of their previous experience and knowledge.
 Chapter 4

Emotional Well-Being

Feelings affect everything we do and this is a clear message echoed throughout the Early Years
Foundation Stage.
It is important for children to work with parents and to foster childrens relations early in life
and throughout their schooling, childrens personal, social and emotional development should
be given the same priority as their cognitive development.
Practitioners have always recognized the importance of young childrens emotional lives in
relation to their overall development.
In order to equip young children for living now and later, early years practitioners need to
understand how childrens emotional life unfolds and what is required to care for it.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional abilities have been underrated in the role that they play in helping to ensure a
successful and fulfilling life.
Rational and emotional abilities are now seen as being equally influential in determining how
people enjoy and what they achieve in life.
Howard Gardners well-known work on multiple intelligences includes reference to
intrapersonal and interpersonal abilities: the first (albeit implicitly) to knowing about ones own
feelings; second, tuning in to the feelings of others.
Nowicki and Dukes study: children who were aware of their own feelings and sensitive to
others were, not surprisingly, more emotionally stable, more popular and achieved more in
school than those with similar intellectual ability but less emotional ability.
Golemans study: the worrying consequences when people are not emotionally competent and
also the great benefits when they are; moreover, a persons emotional state of mind is closely
linked to her ability to think more effectively.
Piaget mentioned: it as a factor which energized intellectual activity
Lev Vygotsky stressed the importance of social relationships, he largely ignored the fact that
emotions are part and parcel of those interactions
Sarah Meadows: Work in emotions as the Cinderella of cognitive development
Ferre Laevers project Experiential Education (EXE): Childs emotional well-being as one of the
key factors to be considered when judging the means of a child learning effectively and the
quality of an educational setting.
Pascal and Betram: Emotional well-being is one of four factors seen in children who have
potential to be effective learners.
Social and Emotional Aspects of Development (SEAD): Emotional development as one of the
three building blocks of future success in life
Te Whariki: an expectation that the early childhood education setting is an enjoyable place to
be; a place where they have fun; and to develop trust that their emotional needs be responded
to.

How Feelings Influence Early Learning

Attachments. It provides a form of protection both for the early years and their future lives and
it is a basic requirement for children to establish wider social attachments as they grow up.

The Key Person

The key person plays a critical role.

The key person forms a special association with both the young child and his parents
Peter Elfer and colleagues:
Babies and young children will experience a close, affectionate and reliable relationship and are
helped to feel unique and special.
 Parents have a link with someone who is fully committed to their child and this can offer them
peace of mind
The key person feels that she is really important to the child and family which offer great job
satisfaction.
The manager or head recognizes some important requirements for quality provision are met:
that children are settled and well cared for, parents feel comfortable with the provision, and
staff are involved and committed to their work.
The quality of the key person relationship has a direct bearing on a very young childs learning.

Experiencing and Expressing Emotion

Childrens experiences and expressions of feelings develop tremendously during the early years.
Young children also quickly develop their unique means of expressing their feelings and then use
them deliberately to suit the occasion.
Young childrens feelings, positive and negative, will initially be best reflected through their
actions.

The Effect of Transition on Childrens Feelings

A young child on familiar territory at home or in a nursery is likely to feel secure and to be
confident and competent.
Childs emotional well-being is not secure; this affects their ability to learn.
Negative feelings can have an effect on childs working memory.
Young children who are new to all learning find everything and there is no so much more to
remember.
Although children will initially show their feelings through what they do, their spoken
language is important for them to learn to deal with emotions; children need to talk to
express their feelings and also to make sense of what is happening to them.

The Influence of the Family

Young childrens understandings and use of their feelings will be heavily influenced by the
significant people around them, initially their parents.
An important part of knowing ourselves is to be able to recognize the different feelings that
we have and that other people experience.
Elfer: empathetic behavior is dependent on the child having experienced a good
attachment where his own feelings have been understood.
Judy Dunn: once children can talk, they will show their understandings of other minds
Daniel Goleman: dire emotional effects on small children who have repeatedly physically
abused tendency, children suffered so much completely lack care and concern for others.
All they are doing is mirroring the behavior that they have received themselves.
In families, where feelings are not only expressed but are openly discussed, a young child is
helped to recognize and accepts his emotions and those of others.
Childrens emotional understandings are dependent not only on the degree of family
support but also on what sex they happen to be.
Young Childrens Developing Understanding of Feelings
Chapter 5

Dispositions for Learning

What are dispositions?

Lilian Katz makes a useful distinction between:

Attitude and Disposition. Attitude consists of a set of beliefs, a disposition demonstrate those
belief in behavior
Feelings and Disposition. Feelings can be powerful but with young children they can be
transitory; disposition are likely to be more stable and long-lasting.
Predispositions and Dispositions. A predisposition is the genetic gift that is present at
conception; a disposition is which are learned.
The Early Years Foundation Stage identifies dispositions for learning which include excitement,
motivation and interest and practitioners are urged to encourage children to concentrate and
develop autonomy.
Margaret Carrs five aspects of disposition- taking an interest, being involved, persisting with
difficulty or uncertainty, communicating with others and taking increasing responsibility. These
aspects analyzed in three parts- being ready, being willing and being able.

Developing Dispositions at Home

Dispositions to learn are grown in family life.

Children who live in a well-organized household will observe and become accustomed to daily
routines.

Learning is not Compulsory

One of the major tasks for any early years practitioner is to identify what learning has occurred
before the child starts in a group setting.
Learning is hard work for everyone; very young children have so much to learn and they must
feel energized to do.
Bruce and Spratt outlined a clear understanding of the significant steps in the childs natural
development in regard to developing childrens essential literacy skills- relating to others,
movement, making and using symbols, conversations, listening to sounds in language, rhythm,
rhyme, intonation, alliteration, and well-being.
The best literacy and numeracy sessions are creatively adapted to meet these needs through
flexible timings, good staffing ratios and regular use of enjoyable play methods to allow children
to practiced new skills and ideas.
Lilian Katz: appropriate pedagogy is one that takes into account the acquisition of knowledge
and skills in such way that the disposition to use them and positive feelings towards them are
also strengthened
Gil Barrett: children do have the power to withdraw their goodwill
We may insist on attendance but we cannot require children to learn.

Nurturing Dispositions to Learn

Lilian Katz important points relating to the nurturing of dispositions in any early childhood
programme:
(1) Newly acquired knowledge and skills will only be secured in learning if they are used.
(2) The way in which something is taught may either strengthen positive attitudes or damage
them.
(3) Dispositions are not easy to regenerate once they are extinguished.
(4) Any early childhood curriculum must take into account how desirable dispositions can be
strengthened and how negative ones can be weakened.
(5) Positive dispositions for learning should be strengthened as opposed to disposition for
performance.
 (6) There should be some means of assessing childrens dispositions in any educational
programme.

Dispositions are caught rather than taught

Katz makes it clear that while skills can be taught directly, dispositions are learned in a more
subtle way.
Real Learning is not something that other people can do for us; however, well-constructed
curriculum programme may be, it cannot ensure that young children learn.
The High Scope method of working is well-known for emphasizing an active approach to
learning. The study concluded that helping children to develop a sense of personal control is a
key factor in enabling their progress in learning and subsequent success.
Imaginative play is a sure way of building on childrens interests and giving scope for young
children to demonstrate their imaginative and creative powers.
Their imaginative play developed at a deeper level due to space and freedom mixing
resources concentration independence in relation to using material/resources extended
language and partnership with peers.
The EEL Project provides an additional and similar emphasis on the role of adult. The project
includes an instrument for assessing how well practitioners nurture learning namely the Adult
Engagement Scale. This refers to three core elements:
Sensitivity
Stimulation
Autonomy
Lilian Katz: If teacher want their young pupils to have robust dispositions to investigate,
hypothesize, experiment, conjecture and so forth, they might consider making their own such
intellectual dispositions more visible to the children.