The different areas of learning and development

1.1

The different areas of learning and development include six main areas which are also linked to the EYFS framework, education programme which applies to young children of all ages. These areas of learning and development include personal, social and emotional development. This focuses on children learning to make new relationships, building their behavioural skills and self control, also other important aspects of this area of development is that children should have a good level of self confidence and self esteem built up and has self-care as well as a sense of community.

(Children’s own self being). Communication, language and literacy are another one of the six areas of learning and development which links to children knowing how to read, write and knowing how to build up their communication skills. Language and communication is important for a child as this is the way in which they express their wants and needs and it is highly important as children grow they are building their communication skills and can use language correctly between themselves and other people.

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Children’s learning and development is communicating being able to use their speaking and listening skills as well as them learning to read and write these skills should all be supported in them and extended. Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy in children it is highly important their understanding of learning to solve problems to reason with things in different situations and understanding numeracy in broad ranges of context should all be supported by practitioners working with young children to ensure they are practising developing all these important areas of learning.

Other important key things that cover the six areas of learning in the EYFS include all children’s knowledge and understanding of the world which is based upon children learning how to explore in their own creative ways and investigate new things.

Children should be learning to explore things through feeling, touching and observing different things for babies and mostly toddlers in order to encourage their creative development it is important for practitioners to provide a lay out of various activities in the setting. For example treasure baskets and providing heuristic play. Their designing and making skills should also be supported to be developed, so children should have the opportunity to design and make things and explore their own ideas. Things such as equipment they might need before they start cooking and if they are cooking food from different cultural backgrounds (cultural foods) this would help develop their knowledge and understanding of the world because they are learning about the different types of food and where they come from in the world. They also learn to appreciate and respect their peers and differences their peers might have, different thoughts and ideas other people could also have.

Another good way of developing children’s knowledge and understanding of the world is through allowing them to undertake practical experiments working and exploring with a variety of materials. It is also highly important to encourage them to use different objects in their natural environments, to explore using different tools in a safe way, encounter plants and creatures as these are all apart of building their skills to them learning good knowledge and understanding of the world. Understanding how plants grow, the different types of plants and why there are different types of creatures which we find outside. They also would learn how plants survive and why they need the essentials such as water and sunlight to grow. Through exploring creatively these are all the important things young children can learn to help give them a better understanding of the world and how or why things happen.

Physical development, this area of development is highly important because it gives children the opportunity to do many things whilst keeping active and healthy so this area of development also links to children’s health and the concerns about child obesity however through active play and children exploring their physical development this helps lower any chances of health issues and encourages children to keep active which enforces good health. Also there are some children who could suffer from slow development for example, physical difficulties and this area of development would help them because it would enforce movement and physical activities which will help them develop. This area of development also helps children think about making good choices in regards to keeping themselves healthy it also covers safety, as well as hygiene which help encourage children to learn about making connections between what they do activities wise and also what they eat.

It helps children to reflect on their health overall. In order for practitioners in the setting to deliver this aspect effectively they should be providing all children with nutritious foods and should ensure children have the right balance of everything that is good for them. The use of equipment and materials also links to physical development because children should have plenty of play opportunities available to them to help develop their physical skills. For example babies could have toys such as a rattle to play with as this encourages their fine motor skills too because they are making small movements and children who are a little older in age at a toddlers stage they should also various toys to play with to help build their physical development.

Children developing their own sense of awareness and surroundings also in regards to space and a concept known as spatial awareness. Practitioners in a setting should ensure they help provide all children of all ages various opportunities to explore and experience different sensations and different types of spaces. Especially when children are playing outdoors in a big space it is important they have access to a range of equipment to help encourage and stimulate their physical development. With creative development this are of learning focuses on helping children explore different materials, different experiences also allowing children to get creative through dance and music. Children’s creative skills can be helped to be further developed through listening to different sounds which they can move their bodies to.

For example babies can hear the sound of music and would wiggle their bodies or shake their heads and toddlers could hear the sound of music and jump up and down in response to what they are hearing and these are all ways of them developing their creative skills. Also developing imagination and imaginative play this is all through allowing children to have the opportunity to use role play for example through dressing up games amongst themselves and other children. And allowing children to explore their imaginative thoughts as most children tend to act out stories they hear and could pretend they are super hero characters and this is all ways of them expressing their creative development which is another important area of learning development in the EYFS. In my own practice the ways in which I help to encourage children to develop all their area of learning is through allowing them to play freely with different equipments and laying out a variety of toys which can be available to them.

I try my best not to limit the children when they are exploring through play as I know it is highly important for them to express their creative ideas and develop their creative development. In my own practice I also support the children with learning their numeracy and literacy skills so I try to encourage the children to try new activities and play with activities such as number games or word puzzle games which will help improve their reading, writing, numbers and problem solving skills. Which are all very important skills they all need to be developing also encourage in-dependency with them so they are able to learn things for themselves. I ensure that I always provide good guidance, positive encouragement as well as support however I try to leave them to explore and experience things more independently.

I help to give the children more ideas of what they could do, what they could play with and I will give them information on anything they are curious about. For example a child asked me about plants in my practice and the child asked me why one plant was big and colourful and why the other one was wrinkly and flat. So I was able to explain to the child about different plants and how they grow and I explained the reason for this is because one plant is lacking enough sunlight and lacking water so it is dead. I told the child when all plants lack these important things they die and the reason for the other plant being so big and healthy is because it has been exposed to a lot of sunlight and water which keeps it strong and alive. By providing the child with this information I have helped to support their knowledge and understanding of the world which is one of their six areas of learning every child should be supported and developed in.

I also allow the children to express their imaginative thoughts and ideas freely as long as it’s done safely, for example allowing them to use costumes and other resources to dress up ad different characters and leaving out equipment for them to use which they can play with and act out pretend scenarios they have created in their heads using their imaginative skills. The things I could do better next time in my practice is, to help present more ideas as some of the children can use their creative skills very well and are able to come up with their own ideas and can express themselves freely however some children aren’t as developed and need more support in doing so. I could improve on this next time I also feel I could improve on not doing so much for the children because sometimes I feel as though maybe a child needs some support when I should just allow them their own space to explore and experience different things independently as that is the best way for them to learn for themselves through their own experiences.

1.2

The documented outcomes for children that form part of the relevant early years framework is the EYFS which was initially designed to ensure children have that access to quality early years education no matter what areas they could live in or their family circumstances all children must be given that equal opportunity to a equal early years education. The EYFS also focuses on the early learning goals which is put into place to ensure all practitioners in a setting have a good focus for their work and series of outcomes should be provided for each area of learning. Also the important aim is that each and every child should be able to meet their early learning goals by the end of their reception year. The early learning goals is also important because it is associated with children's learning development and the goals are put into place to help form the building blocks for the young children's later education.

Interpreting the early learning goals are important so children can learn the importance of keeping healthy and fit , the importance of staying active as this all links to their physical development which are things they need to learn throughout their years as they grow older. Keeping records and carrying out assessments on the children at the end of the reception year is something that practitioners are required to attained so they are able to record down how each child in the class is performing whether it's good or bad or maybe room for improvements these records are called the early years profile. A child would be assessed against 13 different scales each which has nine points, the teachers would be required to ensure they identify what each child can or cannot do based on observations they would have conducted during the whole reception year.

The documented outcomes could also include the five positive outcomes from the ECM every child matters framework which is for each and every child to be healthy, stay safe to enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and to achieve economic well-being. This is a highly important framework which has been documented so practitioners know what is required of them and know all the different areas in which all children should be achieving and excelling.

1.3

The documented outcomes are assessed and recorded through observations, so the teachers conducting regular observations on each child to monitor their learning development, to see how well they have improved since the beginning of the year to the stage their at now through planning assessments also through record keeping and practitioners using the the development matters guidance to help assess the child’s stages, milestones and accomplishments, they're also viewed as outcomes and how you know what they are and do is depending on the ways in which practitioners in a setting uses them.

Also through assessing the finding from the observations which have been taken place on the children, so that as a practitioner you can begin to develop a progression plan for each individual child to see how well they keep improving or what they need more support with. Each method of observations can have its advantages as well as it's disadvantages from recording a child's development so it is highly important members of staff use a variety of methods to do with observations for each child in order to gain holistic knowledge and understanding in depth of the child's development.

The documented outcomes are also assessed through keeping journey's and dairies and this is also apart of the ways to keep documented information also other documented outcomes for children include practitioners planning methods that check and consistently monitors all the children’s day by day development stages, and should include 2 year checks which help record all important information regarding each and every child.

3.1

The ways in which practitioners promote children's learning within the relevant early years framework is through use of effective planning and observations being done as these are highly important for practitioners to conduct in the setting. The ways in which practitioners also promote children's learning within relevant early years framework is through preparing and laying out various activities for children and helping to support them. Also through good organisation and management amongst practitioners this would include them having an effective system put into place that works well, practitioners would need to evaluate the routines they have set up in the setting and re-evaluate whether they provided enough opportunities for extended play for all the children. Other things include them having a specific key person that’s put in charge and takes full responsibility for the learning and development of each and every child.

According to Penny Tassoni (page 238) “In addition, settings have to put into place an effective key person system, not only to comply with legal requirements but also to ensure that someone is taking responsibility for the learning and development of each child.” The other ways in which practitioners promote children's learning within the relevant early years framework is also through supporting and facilitating so providing that additional support to any child that could need it whether its with their learning skills or to help them progress and improve in their development areas. Modelling this is another effective way to help children learn and practitioners can use this method to help promote learning within the early years framework. This is done by young children watching and observing what adults around them do, observing their actions and them following what they see, hear and learn from the practitioners.

According to Penny Tassoni (239) “Modelling is very useful to help children become interested in activities that they may not have noticed or explored before.” Sensitive intervention is also another way of practitioners helping to promote children's learning because sensitive intervention can enhance a play opportunity for each child and this therefore becomes a deeper learning opportunity. These are also a few things practitioners have to consider when it comes to sensitive intervention such as whether them intervening will disrupt or change the main focus of the play, how their presence will enhance the play opportunity and also the most important thing whether the child wishes for you the practitioner to get involved or not.

The purpose of sensitive intervention is so that children can gain something which in some type of way enhances their play and activity and it is not for any practitioners to take ownership of their play. Other ways in which practitioners promote learning within the relevant early years framework is through coaching. This is when practitioners are helping the children to feel confident enough in themselves to try new things and try to do new things independently without depending on adults support all the time. For example a member of staff could explain to a child the importance of hygiene and why they must always wash their hands because there is a lot of germs you can easily pick up, through this the child will learn knowledge about the importance of hygiene and they will remember to follow by this action of making sure they wash their hands often to avoid catching germs.

This is a way of an adult coaching the child because they are making them aware of what is important and can even show them what to do and from there the child will remember and learn on their own what is expected of them and they will abide by this. A balance of child initiated and adult led play and activity is also important to practitioners promoting children's learning because adult led activities is when the adult is helping to steer the children in the direction of which activities to play for example, a practitioner could be showing a child and pointing to the play dough area and they could be using the equipment and making creations for the child, rolling the dough themselves instead of allowing the child to do this themselves this is all adult led play whereas child led play is when the child initiates which activities they want to play with and freely chooses on their own accords which area they want to play.

Its their own ideas and they are involved and getting creative by themselves whether its doing painting or cutting and sticking as long as they are doing this themselves and chose to do this activity it is child led play and it is highly important to have a good balance between the two. Having a good balance of child initiated play and adult led play is important because if it becomes too adult led the child wont be able to express themselves in the ways they should or be able to express their full creativity which would affect their creative development skills. It would also limit a child as to what they could do so it is important it there is enough child initiated activities so they can learn for themselves, build their independent skills, express themselves freely and excel in their all areas of learning and development skills.

Following children's interests and stage of development is also highly important because through this practitioners need to ensure the various activities and opportunities open to the children are helping them to engage in the ways they should and are helping their different areas of learning and development and through doing this practitioners are able to make further planning based on the children's interests and their stage of development. These are basically all the ways in which practitioners can help to promote children's learning within the relevant early years frame work.

4.2

The importance of engaging with a child to support substantiated shared thinking is because it is a good way of helping children to develop their own ideas, this is also a good and important way to help children to develop their own skills of problems solving and learning to reason with different situations they could face. Another reason why engaging with a child to support sustained shared thinking is very important is because it helps a child to learn for themselves how to discuss and work as a team to find out other people's views and opinions and how to work out solutions for themselves or amongst them and other people. It is highly important skills like these are built and supported with children so it strengthens their mind and way of thinking. For example, practitioners in a setting could be carrying out a group activity with a set of children and it could be cooking but allowing the children to also participate in adding the ingredients, whilst doing this the practitioners could be telling them about important ingredients which are essential but could also ask the group of children what else do they think should be added.

And which ingredients they think is important (e.g. flour and eggs when it comes to baking) This is a good way of practitioners helping to enforce and support the children’s sustained shared thinking as they are using their own brain to think and are able to work out in their minds what's needed. According to Penny Tassoni (page 243) “sustained shared thinking could be thought of as an extended conversation with children that helps them to develop their ideas, while chatting to children can promote their development and so is good in many respects, using this style alone will not necessarily help children to develop the skills of problem solving and reasoning.