Early years professionals need to know how and when to intervene in children's activities, says Anne O'Connor
The Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage requires practitioners to use 'appropriate intervention' (page 11) to engage children in the learning process. But what is 'appropriate intervention', and are we striking the right balance when working with children in our settings?
When intervention does take place it usually does so with the best of intentions: we want to keep children safe, to educate them, to treat equipment and each other with respect and so on. But sometimes our responses and interventions may stem from habit or routine (or judgements that were imposed upon ourselves) and are not the outcome of informed thought and applied knowledge about young children and their learning. All interventions (and lack of them) will have an impact on children, both positive and negative (see table). It is our role as practitioners to tip the balance on the positive side.
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