Module 4 – Promoting Learning and Development
Promoting Learning and Development
Summary/What you will learn
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How the EYFS impacts the promotion of learning and development
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The characteristics of effective learning
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Best practices for promoting effective learning with respect to the prime areas of learning
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How to support effective learning with respect to the specific areas of development
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The importance of the observation, assessment and planning cycle
4.1 Module Introduction
Early years providers have to develop ways to optimise this window of time in a child’s life, in order to help them learn and develop to their full potential.
Whilst children are generally eager to learn as much as they can about the world around them, they do not automatically develop. Parents, carers, early years providers and other members of the community must work together to ensure children meet their developmental milestones.
This module discusses the promotion of learning and development in the early years. We begin by talking about learning and development within the EYFS framework, focusing on the areas of learning and how educators can help children succeed. We also talk about the observation, assessment and planning cycle, along with the many benefits to using that recommended approach.
4.2 Learning, Development and the EYFS
EYFS teachers can implement the framework in their own way, as long as they continue to meet all of the requirements. This flexibility is built into the EYFS itself, to allow for customisation, in order to meet the needs of a diverse range of early years learners.
Four Themes of the EYFS
As discussed in prior modules, there are four main themes of the EYFS:
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Unique Child. Each child in your care is unique and capable of constant learning, resilience and confidence.
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Positive Relationships. Children learn strength and independence through the positive relationships in their lives, including those with parents, carers and educators.
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Enabling Environments. All children learn and develop best when in an enabling environment, where parents, carers, educators and members of the community work together to meet their individual needs.
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Learning and Development. Children learn and develop in different ways and parents, carers and educators must strive to ensure that all unique learning needs are met. The EYFS covers all early years learners, including those with special educational needs or disabilities.
When parents, carers and educators ensure the first three themes are fulfilled, the fourth is a natural result. Make sure you keep these themes in mind as you develop lesson plans, activities and games for the children in your care.
Fact
67.2% of children attained a good level of development by age five, under the EYFS.
Source: Department for Education/National Statistics 2022/23
4.3 Characteristics of Effective Learning
The first characteristic is engagement, demonstrated through playing and exploring. Children who progress well become actively engaged in the world around them, finding out new things through exploring and playing with the things they know.
The second characteristic is motivating, which involves being able to focus and concentrate on a task, trying it repeatedly until they achieve success. Well-developed learners enjoy accomplishing tasks and feeling successful. Active learners have strong motivation, constantly aiming for success.
The third characteristic is thinking, meaning the development of a child’s own thoughts and feelings independent of the wants and wishes of their caregivers. Children make links between concepts, sometimes coming up with their own reasons for why things work the way they do. Creative learners and critical thinkers have strong skills in this area.
How EYFS Teachers Support Engagement
Children become engaged by exploring and finding out more about their world, showing curiosity, independent interests and enjoying open-ended activities. They play with what they know, both in terms of the objects they use and in the types of imaginative play they participate in. Engagement also involves an element of “having a go”.
Children who are engaged with their learning environments are willing to try new things, seek out challenges and learn by trial and error.
Fulfilling the second theme of the EYFS, developing positive relationships; helps teachers to support engagement. Encourage the children in your care to explore and discover new toys, games and activities. Joining in on their play helps you to encourage them to take controlled risks with confidence. Show your approval and faith in their abilities with words, tone and body language.
Providing an enabling environment also helps give children what they need to become engaged in learning. This means supplying the children in your care with stimulating, yet educational, games, resources and activities. Make sure you have a variety of toys children can use that do not require adult intervention, to encourage independence and exploration on their own. Learn more about the interests of the children in your care, incorporating them into your lesson plans as often as possible.
How EYFS Teachers Support Motivation
Motivation involves being actively involved and focused on one task, paying attention to details and showing fascination.
Children who are motivated do not distract easily, nor do they give up after experiencing difficulty.
They show persistence, working towards success when challenges occur. Motivated children try different approaches when one method has failed and show satisfaction when they succeed. They also enjoy rising above challenges for its own sake, not solely for a reward or praise.
Developing a positive relationship with the child helps them develop motivation. Give early learners the chance to choose their own activities to some degree, encouraging them to challenge themselves instead of selecting easy tasks. Support them as they try, offering encouragement when they fail. Express your pride at their successes through words, tone and body language. Be as specific as you can, praising qualities that help them continue to be motivated, such as their ability to concentrate on the task and to come up with different methods to achieve success.
Enabling environments encourage motivation in several ways. EYFS teachers who pay attention to the interests of the children in their care often provide toys and activities that are new, but related to those interests, encouraging children to try new tasks. Intrinsic motivation is hard to cultivate, but can be done when you customise your lessons to their interests. Make sure you give children enough time to become engrossed in a task, before transitioning to something new.
How EYFS Teachers Support Thinking
Creative and critical thinking requires a child to develop their own ideas, find ways to solve problems or complete routine tasks. Children who have these skills make links between concepts, noticing patterns in their day-to-day lives. They also cultivate their own interests and preferred methods of doing things, independent of their caregivers. They are able to problem solve to some degree, planning a course of action and making adjustments to ensure success.
As with the other characteristics of effective learning, forming positive relationships with the children in your care helps them attain this skill. EYFS teachers can encourage students by modelling “thinking” behaviour, such as asking questions aloud and speculating about the various answers before finding a solution. Always encourage open-ended thinking, by asking children in your care questions like “what else might be the reason?”.
Never discourage questions and never make a child feel as though their answer is silly or less important than another child’s. Even if they are wrong, it is still important to encourage them to continue coming up with and testing solutions.
Providing an enabling environment helps children develop their creative and critical thinking skills. Plan activities that give children the chance to figure out their own solutions to simple problems. You could also give children materials you intend to use in a planned activity in advance, allowing them to come up with their own way to use them before showing them what you think. Encourage them to continue to use materials in new and unusual ways, praising them for creative thinking when appropriate. Try to incorporate mind-maps when possible and focus on how and why things work, not just that they do.
Activity 1 – Looking Inwards
Estimated time: 10 to 15 Minutes
Think about the characteristics of effective learning in light of your own educational past.
Did the teachers you had in primary and secondary school teach you effectively? Were there areas in which they could improve?
Write down your answers to these questions, thinking about how you would better their techniques to ensure all students in your care are effective learners.
4.4 Promoting Learning and Development Across the Prime Areas of Learning
EYFS teachers need to focus on establishing a strong foundation built on these three areas, to ensure the children in their care excel at the other four specific ones. Generally speaking, lesson plans for children under the age of two only focus on personal, social and emotional development, communication and language and physical development.
4.5 Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Early years providers should focus on these three aspects when developing lesson plans and activities for the children in their care. Children who acquire those skills tend to develop well on personal, social and emotional levels.
Making Relationships
In the first two years of a child’s life, it is important that they have a special person or people in each setting who understand them well and can help them reach their goals. This person can help them learn how to form bonds and make relationships with other people, including other children and adults responsible for their care.
As children age, you can continue to help them make positive relationships by supporting them as they interact well with peers, praising positive encounters and offering redirection to avoid negative ones. It is important to pay attention to the socialisation of each child in your care and to provide additional support for children who struggle to make friends.
Self-Confidence and Self-Awareness
Early years providers are instrumental in helping children develop a good sense of self-confidence and self-awareness.
Always show your joy in being around the children in your care, making it clear that you are close by and available should they need anything.
Remain actively engaged with them, providing encouragement whenever they succeed. When children come to their own decision about a game or activity, be sure to provide lots of encouragement. As they age, begin intervening only when the children seem in distress or in need of help with a task, to help them feel inspired to complete it on their own.
Managing Feelings and Behaviour
A key part of managing feelings and acquiring self-regulation skills is the development of healthy coping mechanisms that a child can rely on when they feel distressed. Young children benefit from having their special person nearby, available when they are needed, but not always actively involved in play.
4.6 Communication and Language
EYFS teachers help the children in their care achieve in this area by focusing on listening and attention, understanding and speaking skills.
Listening and Attention
Early years providers can help children develop good listening and attention skills by communicating with them often. Be face to face as frequently as you can, giving the child a chance to see your expression and watch your lip movement. Children acquire language best by observing it modelled well by others, especially their special person. Encourage turn-taking and active listening skills at all times, including when the children in your care have free play.
Understanding
You can encourage understanding by interpreting and giving meaning to things young children are interested in.
For example
Talk about a fire truck with a child who seems fascinated by sirens and wheels.
Talk through your actions, so children can make a link between what you are saying and the things you do. Use stories in your lessons often, asking children to help retell them or to explain a sequence of events.
Speaking
Build the vocabulary of the children in your care by giving them choices and labelling items they use every day.
For example
You can offer them a choice of toy by labelling each one and identifying where the toy they did not select belongs.
Avoid telling children they are wrong if they make an error in speech. Instead, repeat their message using the correct pronunciation, without pointing out their mistake. Make sure you support a variety of communication strategies, including sign language and visual schedules where appropriate.
4.7 Physical Development
Two key aspects of physical development are moving and handling and health and self-care.
Moving and Handling
Encourage the children in your care to explore patterns of movement, as well as think about the way they move themselves. Use mealtimes and snack time as opportunities to help children develop their fine motor skills, with playtime and other activities used to build both fine and gross motor abilities.
Teach children new ways to move, such as dancing, tiptoeing and making up silly ways to move about.
Health and Self-Care
EYFS teachers can support health and self-care in numerous ways. Educate children about healthy food and lifestyle choices as young as possible, using appropriate language. Make sure the children in your care get enough physical activity and understand the importance of exercising regularly. You can also encourage them to make healthy food choices, stressing the importance of a good diet.
4.8 Promoting Learning and Development Across the Specific Areas of Learning
Children must acquire strong skills in these areas, in order to be fully prepared for Year 1.
4.9 Literacy
Good literacy skills can help a child learn more about the world around them, be entertained, or solve problems. There are two aspects that are essential to the development of literacy skills: reading and writing.
Reading
Early years providers can support the development of literacy skills by focusing on stories that are relevant to a child’s interests. Focus on books with large pictures and few words when you work with children under the age of two. Pay attention to their interest and try to pick books that include or elaborate on what a child already enjoys doing.
Writing
Encourage the children in your care to print as often as possible, starting as young as they show an interest in words. Go over the letters of the alphabet, focusing on the ones that are easiest to print or most meaningful first to ensure you hold the child’s interest. Talk about what sound or sounds the letter represents and encourage phonetic spelling in young learners.
Fact
A child’s vocabulary at age five can predict their educational outcomes and success at age 30.
Source: iCAN.org.uk
4.10 Mathematics
These goals are divided into three different aspects: numbers and shape, space and measure.
Numbers.
Introduce children to numbers and counting young, using songs and games such as “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”. As children age, encourage them to sing along with you, focusing on the counting aspect of the song. Educators should also be mindful of their use of numbers in speech, asking children “how many” of a certain item they have at any given time and helping them count.
Shape, Space and Measure
Use everyday games and activities to help the children in your care learn more about shape, space and measures.
For example
When you and the children clean up a certain activity, use this time to encourage them to think about logic and reasoning when it comes to where certain items are kept. Use comparative language, such as bigger, smaller and taller, when describing items.
4.11 Understanding the World
These skills begin in infancy and develop throughout their lives, with the most formative years being birth to age five.
As such, early years providers ought to focus on the following three aspects in their lesson plans: people and communities, the world and technology.
People and Communities
Give the children in your care ample opportunities to learn more about the people around them and their community. Encourage them to greet others in the facility by name and to learn more about their peers through songs, rhyme and circle time.
Make sure that each child has a chance to contribute to discussions and focus on the positive differences between people, to help support acceptance of others.
The World
Encourage children in your care to learn more about the world around them, by encouraging exploration of nature, such as parks and forests. Tell stories about other places and journeys from across the globe, to expose them to other cultures.
Technology
Early years providers can help children develop technological skills by encouraging fine motor skills in infancy. Things like twisting a knob, holding a crayon and playing with a lock all help children interact well with technology later on in life. Encourage older children in your care to speculate about how things work, using trial and error as a method of gauging success.
4.12 Expressive Arts and Design
There are two main aspects to expressive arts and design, each helping children to express themselves in different ways.
Exploring and Using Media and Materials
Make sure you give the children in your care a chance to work with as many different types of media and materials as possible. This includes clapping or dancing to a song, or using different types of material in a single arts and crafts project. Give them an enriched vocabulary, so they can accurately describe the materials they want to include in their projects, using words such as “rough paper” or “shiny stickers”.
Being Imaginative
Help the children in your care confidently express themselves by supporting their imagination. Give them opportunities to role-play and to dive into imaginary worlds. Pay attention to the type of make-believe they prefer the most and try to find ways in which to encourage it.
For example Some children may love to draw and create their own books, so give them as much material and opportunity as they can, to craft their imaginative story.
4.13 The Observation, Assessment and Planning Cycle
Identifying skills and milestones that the child has not yet acquired can help you to develop better tools and support systems. The observation, assessment and planning cycle is the best way to ensure that the level of care you provide matches each child’s needs.
Observation
Each EYFS teacher must begin by observing the child in natural situations, without singling them out or interrupting their play.
Observation should happen when the child is playing and interacting with other adults and children in the facility. Make sure you monitor the child during a wide range of activities, including those that are planned, spontaneous, everyday, child-led and adult-led.
If you do have concerns, capturing the full picture can help you to more accurately identify which areas of development are involved. It also gives you better tools to come up with supports and other solutions.
Early years providers with concerns should also speak with parents or carers, to learn more about the child’s behaviour and mannerisms at home. You do not need to have a formal meeting with the parents at this stage, although many early years providers do opt to meet with parents face to face whenever they identify areas of concern. Complete your own observations in advance of this meeting. It is a good idea to have a rough draft of your assessment finished, with parental information being the only outstanding part.
Assessment
The next stage in this cycle is to complete your assessment. Whilst there is no strict format for putting a formative assessment in writing, there are a few recommended guidelines that make this process much easier.
Begin by dividing your report into sections, using the seven areas of learning as your headings. Each section should have several subsections, dealing with the child’s strengths, weaknesses and whether or not there are developmental concerns in that area. Include one last section, after each area of learning, setting out your recommendations. Make sure you take the time to consider the next part of the cycle – planning – before you finalise those suggestions.
Planning
After you identify areas of improvement, you need to plan out how you can help the child achieve.
Take the time to think about the various types of support available to you and the child, taking into consideration the themes behind the EYFS. Focus on what you can do to provide an enabling environment and build positive relationships at the facility, but be sure to include at-home tips for parents and carers.
This process involves thinking about activities, experiences and other opportunities you can provide the child in addition to classroom supports they may require. You may want to start by listing the child’s needs and areas of weakness and matching each one up with an activity intended to help them improve.
Once you finish this process, you can include those suggestions in your assessment and discuss the results with the child’s parents or carers. If your plan involves referrals to others in the community, make sure you have all of the information to hand, so they can be made without delay.
Repeat the Cycle
After you put your plan into action, you must begin the cycle again. You need to return to the observation part of the cycle, to determine whether the child is improving. If so, you do not need to proceed with an additional assessment to demonstrate success. You can focus observation efforts on another child, but be sure to keep an eye on your current subject’s development. If you notice a loss of skills or the halting of progression in a child you have recently observed, you may want to talk with their parents throughout the next observation phase.
Activity 2 – Mock Formative Assessment
Estimated time: 10 to 15 Minutes
Pick one area of learning you believe you understand well, such as literacy or maths. Review the information provided about that area, as well as its associated learning goals.
Afterwards, engage in play with a child in your life, whilst observing them in that one area. For example, if you selected maths, play counting games with them, paying attention to whether or not they meet those learning goals.
Make notes about your time in play, organising them the way you would if this were part of a larger assessment.
Assignment
Promoting Learning and Development
Time: 30+ minutes
Hopefully, you took in as much of the information in this module as possible. To find out how well you have done, complete the following worksheet.
Download the worksheet below and complete.
Module Summary
This is the end of the fourth module of the EYFS teaching course. Take a few moments to review this information, as future modules build upon its base.
We began by talking about the role of the EYFS in the learning and development of children from birth to age five.
We also discussed the characteristics and areas of learning, giving you tips on how to help the children in your care excel in each one.
Finally, we covered the use of the observation, assessment and planning cycle as a tool to give each child the best start.
The next module discusses the curriculum for EYFS teaching, including the role of play in each area of learning.
WELL DONE!
YOU HAVE MADE IT THROUGH MODULE 4!
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