Practitioners need to be sensitive to the tendencies that children exhibit in their learning and encourage those that will lead to independence, says Anne O'Connor The need to support the development of children's positive attitudes and dispositions towards learning is mentioned frequently in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. But what do we mean by dispositions and how can we promote them in our early years settings?

Practitioners need to be sensitive to the tendencies that children exhibit in their learning and encourage those that will lead to independence, says Anne O'Connor

The need to support the development of children's positive attitudes and dispositions towards learning is mentioned frequently in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. But what do we mean by dispositions and how can we promote them in our early years settings?

Definitions

The term 'dispositions' was probably first introduced by Lillian Katz in 1985, and she has defined a disposition as 'a tendency to exhibit frequently, consciously and voluntarily a pattern of behaviour that is directed to a broad goal'.

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