It is important to note that the Specific Areas of Learning very much depend on effectively understanding and using the Prime Areas to inform practice and provision. This ultimately means understanding how each unique child is known in the provision, and why acting on informed observation is vital.
It is worth pointing out here that the term ‘provision’ covers all settings that work with children from birth to five as they are all covered by the Statutory framework.
WHO IS THIS FRAMEWORK FOR?
This framework is for all early years providers in England (from 1 September 2021): maintained schools; non-maintained schools; independent schools (including free schools and academies); all providers on the Early Years Register; and all providers registered with an early years childminder agency (CMA).
Recent Ofsted publications suggest that there is a difference between the provision in schools and that in non-maintained settings. This is not the case and we need to be wary of guidance that purports otherwise.
So we all have to use and understand the statutory Overarching Principles, the Areas of Learning and the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning.
With this is mind, I think the fourth Overarching Principle should more properly be known as ‘Development and Learning’ rather than the reverse as it is currently.
There is so much to understand about development – both physically and emotionally – before real learning can take place. And that is why this series of articles has focused on supporting wellbeing – emotionally and physically – through the Prime Areas and effective observation. Unless we proactively look, listen and really notice what we see, use the significant moments that we observe and develop them, then many a powerful teaching opportunity will be missed.
The current English approach to early childhood, particularly with regard to ‘learning and development’, is increasingly narrow. The revision of the Statutory framework has brought with it new tensions about the what, why and how of teaching in early childhood education. Which is odd because, while the Educational Programmes and Early Learning Goals have been completely changed and are problematic, the aspects of the document about how we develop teaching and learning remain the same. So we need to filter everything that we read, and subsequently teach, through a lens of wellbeing.
This is why informed observation is crucial; with the caveat that there is no requirement to write everything down, or have a certain number of observations on a particular format every week.
Ferre Laevers famously said that a child with a good sense of wellbeing is like ‘a fish in water’ and developed the Leuven Scales of Wellbeing and Involvement that can be used to inform observations and underpin the wellbeing that is so central to involvement in learning.
CASE STUDY
I often use this story when I do training on wellbeing and involvement. As in the previous three parts of this series, there will be questions at the end. As you read, reflect on the three Overarching Principles that we have previously looked at. How are they being reflected and informing what happens here?
It was Freddie's fifth birthday and he was very excited. His mum had pinned his birthday badges across the front of his school sweatshirt and he was showing them off to everyone as they all waited for the school day to start.
At 9 o’clock, the doors opened and the children followed their teachers inside. Freddie's excitement built as he was hanging up his coat as he had spotted a visitor in his classroom and he wanted her to see his badges. The visitor was delighted to be part of his chat about birthdays and a brief interaction followed before Freddie went to the carpet for registration time.
As the names were called, Freddie couldn’t sit still. He was bouncing and nudging everyone around him and pointing to his badges. Registration finished, and the teacher brought up a picture on the interactive whiteboard. She announced that they were going to talk about ‘Being a Good Friend’. She proceeded to scroll through pictures of characters demonstrating friendship. Freddie remained bouncing up and mentioning his birthday to all around him.
At around 9.20am, the session about friendship ended and the teacher changed the picture on the screen. It was now a picture of the front cover of Mr Gumpy's Outing. This was the book of the week and the children were about to be introduced to it.
At this point, Freddie could no longer contain himself to just those around him.
He burst out loud with ‘It's my birthday!’. The teacher stopped talking and turned to him saying, ‘It's not time to talk about your birthday now, we’ll do that later.’
Freddie, who was sitting cross-legged, shrank into a ball with his head virtually on his knees. He stayed in that position until the session on the carpet finished. By which time the children had been sitting there for 35 minutes.
QUESTIONS
Part one of this series looked at the Prime Area of Personal, Social and Emotional Development and its component parts:
- Making relationships
- Sense of self
- Understanding emotions (Birth To 5 Matters).
Use that article to inform your thinking here about the crucial need to understand emotional wellbeing and how it underpins ‘learning and development’.
The questions here will be largely the same as it emphasises a point:
- What did you notice?
- Why do you think the child behaved that way?
- Why did the adult do what they did?
- What would you have done?
- What do you understand to be the role of the key person?
- How could this whole situation have been managed differently?
- How many rules and routines in your setting are for the adults’ convenience?
- How do you feel about the length of time the children were sitting on the carpet, and what they were doing while they were there? Remember that wellbeing is about physical as well as emotional confidence and comfort.
- What was the intention of this carpet session?
- How could Freddie's birthday have become integral to what was happening, and been used to develop the thinking?
The aim of each article in this series has been to refocus practice and provision back onto the unique child. The intention has been to bring to the fore the importance of skilled observation, particularly of wellbeing. This means that we must be developmentally informed, understand that chronological age is not the same as stage of development, and our practice and provision must demonstrate this knowledge.
Learning and Development are inseparable and interlinked, but this is the final Overarching Principle for a reason. The Statutory framework is clear:
‘1.11 Practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all areas of learning and development. Practitioners working with the youngest children are expected to ensure a strong foundation for children's development in the three prime areas. The specific areas of learning provide children with a broad curriculum and with opportunities to strengthen and apply the prime areas of learning. This is particularly important in developing language and extending vocabulary.’
We would do well to remember this.
Dr Sue Allingham is an author and early years trainer. Visit her consultancy, Early Years Out of the Box, at https://eyoutofthebox.com