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'.
There is still much debate, however, about what exactly constitutes a disposition, as opposed to a skill, an emotion or an attitude.
Examples of dispositions might be curiosity, persistence, co-operation, problem-solving, reflection and pleasure in learning.
A child could be said to be curious if they explore, examine and ask questions about what they see and experience. The disposition could be described as 'robust' if the child typically responds in this way, and 'weak' if this response happens rarely.
Not all dispositions are desirable, however. Take, for example, a disposition to complain. It is important, therefore, that teaching strategies seek to weaken undesirable dispositions as well as strengthen the desirable ones.
Dispositions to learn
There are several very strong reasons why we should consider dispositions alongside knowledge and skills in the development of a meaningful curriculum.
- Acquiring knowledge and skills alone does not guarantee that they will be applied. For example, most children can hear, but they may or may not have the disposition to be a 'listener'. Similarly, research suggests that some children with social difficulties may have the skills to socialise, but do not use them often enough or with sufficient strength. Many skills can improve with use, so teaching strategies need to take account of the ways we can strengthen the dispositions associated with them.
- Some skills and knowledge may be acquired by teaching methods that may themselves damage or weaken the disposition to use them. For example, the formal activities often used to teach the skills of accurate reading, writing and numeracy at a young age may well damage children's dispositions to be readers, writers and mathematicians. In short, we may end up with children who have learned the so-called basic skills, but have no desire to use them.
- Some dispositions that are relevant in education, such as the disposition to investigate, may be thought of as inborn and more obviously present in some children. So, we need to make sure that early experiences support the development of an actively enquiring mind, rather than leaving it to chance. Although knowledge and skills not acquired in early life can still be learned later, damaged dispositions are harder to repair.
- Decisions about curriculum and teaching styles should capitalise on opportunities to strengthen desirable dispositions and to weaken undesirable ones. For example, if we want children to be accepting of the diverse backgrounds of other children, then we need to provide them with lots of opportunities to show such acceptance. Similarly, environments, activities, teaching strategies and interventions can be used to reduce the opportunities for children to manifest (and thus weaken) undesirable dispositions such as aggression or passivity.
- Research into children's motivations for learning suggest that although positive adult feedback is important for everyone, for some children pleasing the adult (the performance motivation) becomes more important than the learning itself (the mastery motivation). Children then become preoccupied with their performance and the judgement of others, rather than involvement in the task.
The learning, therefore, is acquired at the expense of their disposition to learn.
Such an attitude can have serious consequences as a child progresses through the education system, particularly if they feel their performance is judged as poor. These children are less likely to see the point of effort and learning for its own sake (even though they may be very capable) and they are likely to underachieve and to be considered to have a negative attitude towards their schoolwork. The origins of these later difficulties lie in children's very early educational experiences. Therefore, making close observations of children's reactions to feedback from adults raises practitioners' awareness and helps ensure that their praise and interventions are sensitive and appropriate.
- Dispositions cannot be taught; they are mostly to be acquired, as children experience being around people who exhibit them. This is true of both positive and negative dispositions. So, practitioners need to consider the dispositions they display when working with young children and ways in which, for example, they can make their own problem-solving, creativity or persistence more visible to the children. Parents, too, can be helped to appreciate the role they play in modelling dispositions, to strengthen the positive and weaken the less desirable ones.
Assessing dispositions
Measuring dispositions is very different from measuring the acquisition of concepts and skills, and we must be wary of using methods that are too simplistic. It becomes more important than ever that the practitioner listens to, talks with and observes the child in action to find out about the thoughts and feelings that underlie a child's dispositions.
The Child Involvement Scale, based on the work of Ferre Laevers, is one possible assessment tool. Laevers looks at how a child might be involved in deep learning, rather than just being busy, and suggests that there are certain signals or characteristics to look out for. These include:
- concentration
- energy
- creativity
- facial expression and posture
- persistence
- precision
- reaction time
- language
- satisfaction.
These signals can then be graded to show different levels of involvement, from 'little or no activity' at level one to 'sustained intense activity' at level five.
Dispositions and schema
If we try to support children's dispositions and inclination to learn, then we must take note of their interests and be aware of their schemes of thought. These schema can be described as patterns of behaviour that reflect children's deep interest in something (see 'All about...schemas', Nursery World, 6 June 2002, p15).
When children are allowed to choose and initiate their own activities, practitioners are better able to observe and act upon children's schema and are likely to notice higher levels of involvement.
Relevance
There is a danger that, in today's climate of achieving ever more targets quickly, strategies for teaching and learning will continue to become narrower. This can seduce people into believing that more learning has been achieved than is actually the case.
Setting targets for the number of words learned or the ability to sit still and appear to listen is ultimately about low-level learning. Learning at a higher level demands that children have an inner drive to learn for themselves, and, just as importantly, to want to go on learning. By putting dispositions at the centre of the curriculum, it is one goal that we are more likely to achieve.