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British Association for Early Childhood Education
Editorial and Contents of Spring 2009 Journal
The Spring Journal brings together a fundamental view of children, childhood
and respectful ways for practitioners to enter the world of children’s
thinking. The featured authors are all well grounded in their knowledge and
advocacy for appropriate, high-quality pedagogy and provision for our
children. The contributors bring together some of the principles
underpinning work
with young children.
The theme running though all the features is the way they link to the Early
Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
Dorothy Selleck’s work on the central role of the key person
emphasises the critical nature of the transition from home to school and the
importance of understanding the attachment needs of a four-year-old. The key
person will have an essential role in building relationships and developing
well-being. Happy children make happy learners and, as Dorothy clearly
states, because the key person is now embedded in the EYFS statutory
framework and guidance it is a child’s entitlement. The points for
discussion are helpful to reflect on and develop this very important role in
reception classes.
Sustained Shared Thinking (SST) can be a bit like ‘treading through
treacle’. We understand the importance of it for children’s thinking and
learning but it’s not always easy to see or provide for. Iram
Siraj-Blatchford’s work has stressed the link between SST and deeper
levels of learning for children through their co-construction of play with
other children or adults. Iram offers a much-needed insight into how we can
provide for SST and some very helpful links to the EYFS guidance. It’s
reassuring to note the points about adult-led and child-initiated activities
and my favourite line, ‘Allow children time to initiate conversations,
respect their thinking time and silences and help them develop the
interaction’ is a mantra we could all use.
Annie Davy makes the connection between outdoor play, children’s
‘internal landscapes’ and their developing self-concept and well-being. This
is an interesting link to the previous two articles and demonstrates the
holistic nature of children’s development. The ecological view of children’s
development and Bronfenbrenner’s model places the need for outdoor play in a
strong theoretical context along with the contrast between present-day
demands on children’s lives and those in earlier times. A contrast which
really makes you think.
Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram have led the way in promoting
assessment strategies that honour the child as a thinker and learner. The
AcE programme gets to the heart of children’s developing knowledge and goes
well beyond the superficial nature of assessing if children know their
colours, numbers and shapes. The AcE assessment process meets several needs:
predominantly, assessment of children’s deep-level learning, observation-led
assessments, involvement of parents, a focus on Communication, Language and
Literacy and Personal, Social and Emotional Development, and the use of
rich, relevant data to evidence progress towards local authorities’ outcomes
duty. Quite an achievement.
Quality is always high on the early years agenda, and Sandra Mathers
provides us with examples of how the Early Childhood Rating Scale can be
used in practice. Sandra describes the Scale is a reflective tool that looks
at the quality of what is happening in the setting rather than what we
anecdotally
think is happening. She helpfully suggests that while the scale can give us
a quantitative understanding of an enabling environment, we should also
focus ‘firmly on reflective quality improvement rather than on achieving
high scores’. The emphasis on reflective self-assessment is very welcome as
settings move into the era of self-assessment.
These are underpinning principles that still drive my work today and which
still excite me when I open the Early Education Journal. I hope they have
the same effect on you.
Di Chilvers
Chair of Early Education, Sheffield
Features
The Key Persons Approach in reception classes Dorothy Y Selleck
Curriculum, pedagogy and progression in ‘sustained shared thinking’ Iram
Siraj-Blatchford
Changing landscapes, changing lives Annie Davy
Accounting early for life-long learning Chris Pascal and Tony
Bertram
Enabling environments Sandra Mathers
Regulars
Editorial Di Chilvers
Diary dates
Early Education is the leading national voluntary organisation for early
years practitioners and parents with members and branches in England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Early Education promotes the right of
all children to education of the highest quality and provides support,
advice and information for everyone concerned with the education and care of
young children from birth to eight years.
Early Education is published three times a year [ISSN 0960-281X]
Editor Paula McDiarmid
Advertising officer Jenny Rabin
Cover photo © Apex, courtesy of Learning through Landscapes
Designer Sue Clarke for Expression, IP23 8HH
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