Author: Andre Coleman

Only by listening to the questions (verbal and non-verbal) children ask we will be able to develop the perfect curriculum.”

Griffiths R. (1935).

This report has been set out to demonstrate a range of theories and their philosophy on four different curricular approaches, being; Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Steiner and Forest schools. As every child is unique, there are a number of factors that influence a child’s learning. This report will discuss how these approaches have influenced current best practice, meeting every child’s needs by having an effect on the curricular guidance in the UK. It will also make recommendations for development in the setting I work in, enabling effective learning and positive interaction, focusing on issues relating to inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice in order to provide them with equal opportunities that will create holistic development.

As development occurs rapidly during the early years, every stage of development should control the learning they are offered, meeting each child’s needs. Early year’s settings should focus on promoting care and learning opportunities for young children making it stimulating and rewarding. All the four approaches have taken into account that children’s brains thrive on stimulation and new experiences, and play can extend children’s development and learning. The findings of the EPPE project also suggest; that it is not enough to create a stimulating environment and simply let children play, as children learn best when staff actively teach them. This means modelling appropriate language and behaviour, sharing intelligent conversations, asking open-ended questions and using play to motivate and encourage them.

The early year’s curriculum is based on key theories of how children learn and current early years practice has grown out of the work of early years educators. By incorporating their ideas into forming the curriculum, early year’s settings encourage learning through first-hand experience. We will look into the four approaches and see how they have been embedded into the Early Years Foundation Stage by setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five.

Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) was the educational thinker who guided and inspired the ‘Reggio Emilia’ approach in the Reggio Romagna region of Northern Italy. The approach requires children to be seen as competent, resourceful, curious, imaginative, inventive, and possess a desire to interact and communicate with others. Dr Loris Malaguzzi helped us understand that children shouldn’t be expected to all have the same ways of expressing themselves, so he put forth the idea that there are 100 languages or ways of learning (paint, clay, music, drama, cooking, etc) in which expression and learning can take place.

The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education has been adopted in USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia and many other countries. The Reggio Emilia method is made possible through a carefully articulated and collaborative approach to the care and education of young children and has also influenced Te Wariki in New Zealand. Reggio is a way of thinking about how young children learn and is based on the philosophies of Dewey and Vygotsky that is a very large idea with many parts, not a curriculum that can be adopted and implemented. Malguzzi used this versatility of research and theory recognising the contributions to Reggio’s thinking by the great educators; Vygotsky, Piaget and Jerome Bruner and this concept is brought about in the Early Years Foundation Stage-Every Child Matters Framework. As stated by Bruner, (1995) “We are researching children researching their world.”

Some of the key principles of Reggio are:

Giving the child more autonomy.
The Image of the Child.
Education based on interaction and collaboration.
The importance of time.
The role of the environment.
The role of the teacher.
The role of parents, as it is all learning together.

Some of the key features of Reggio Emilia’s early childhood programme are:-

The environment is referred to as the “third teacher”.
The aesthetic beauty is an important part of respecting the child and their learning environment.
Children’s work and collections are displayed; at the children’s and adult eye level.
The piazza and the atelier are at the heart of the preschool centre.
Documenting and displaying are unique and is viewed as an important tool in the learning process.
Learning and teaching are reciprocal processes.
The teacher’s role is complex; as the teacher is seen as a reflective researcher and they stay with their class from the time they start to when they leave.
The children are seen as capable and inquisitive adults.

Programs in Reggio are family centred. Loris’s vision of an “education based on relationships” supports children’s reciprocal relationships with other children, family, teachers, society, and the environment. Reggio approach is not a formal model with defined methods (such as Waldorf and Montessori), teacher certification standards and authorization. But, the educators in Reggio Emilia speak of their evolving “experience” and see themselves as a provocation and reference point, a way of engaging in dialogue starting from a strong and rich vision of the child.

As cited by Brown,N (2004) “According to the documentation produced in Reggio Emilia pre-schools it would appear that girls and boys tend to work in single-sex groups. Girls also prefer smaller groups than do boys, and girls tend to discuss and collaborate from the start rather than, as the boys do, work independently before working collaboratively.” This suggests that there are differences between boys and girls which appears to start from the premise itself. There seems to be a view that these differences are rather accepted and nothing can be done about it except document them and accommodate the differences in future projects. This also gives an impression that Reggio educators view these differences as natural. Many who have reflected on gender issues in the ‘Reggio approach’ have felt awkward about the lack of critical thought about observed gender differences. Practitioners should ponder on this difference and ensure that their provision supports gender equity.

In a nutshell, the Reggio approach articulates children to acquire skills of critical thinking and collaboration. It is a prism, a crystal, for seeing all the things we have looked at: relationships with families, curriculum, time management, evaluation, etc. and it isn’t something one can apply. It is an approach to thinking about programs for young children and accepting children from all walks of life; where children with special needs are given first preference, making it totally inclusive. The Bristol standard aims at promoting the concept of reflective practitioners where they can become part of a process that protects and celebrates the wonder of early childhood through well informed and reflective practice. All preschool operators ought to benchmark against the Reggio Emilia school.

As children are developing physically, mentally and emotionally, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) believed that education should be designed to meet their changing needs, helping a child to accomplish their full potential in overall development and learning, as well as academic progress. His technique was systematic, and was based on his own wide experience as a tutor and on his study of ‘spiritual science’.

Edmunds (1979), portrays Steiner Education with these inspiring words “To educate youthaˆ¦ is to ennoble the mind, to fire the imagination, to fortify the will and to quicken initiative for life.” Waldorf nurseries all around the world endeavour to meet the needs of each individual child with the utmost care, providing a harmonious home life which children should enjoy up to the age of five or six, working with Rudolf Steiner’s key points which are:

Encouraging play, drawing, story telling, environment study and natural things up to the age of seven.
Children younger than seven should not be taught to read.
Teaching a child to write before teaching them to read.
Allowing only one teacher to teach the same class for seven years. (This concept is taken from Reggio Emilia).
Letting the child focus on one subject at a time.
Find links between subjects like art and science.
Connect with the child to make sure that they are keen about the material being taught.
Showing the child good values but not enforcing a specific set of beliefs.
Encouraging knowledge for its own sake and not just working towards exams.
Allowing children to work at their own pace to ease their learning “as each child has its own tempo and thrives best when this is allowed for.” (Edmunds, F. 1979: p22).

Rudolf Steiner made specific curriculum suggestions for all subjects including handwork, gymnastics, painting, music, shorthand and many others. A Teacher was given the freedom to build up the curriculum according to his own perspective. In a Steiner pre-school, no formal schooling takes place but there is an ordered life in the way children are received and engaged in activities.

“There is an extreme case of a general and widespread tendency today to intellectualize children without counting the costs. By robbing the life of children we are stultifying the life of adults.” (Edmunds, F. 1979: p23)

There is too much emphasis on getting small children to read and write at an early age which leaves them little or no time to play. This gives vent to frustration making them incapable human beings unable to solve problems and to make compromises as adults. Rudolf Steiner realised the fact that premature educational demands on the child, sap the life forces needed for further development later. He was also not in favour of sitting children in front of the television or a computer as there was much more to be learnt by doing things practically and get first hand experience. According to Steiner, “creative, imaginative forces spring from a healthy life of will like flowers from a meadow; they are crippled by ‘clever’ toys invented by clever adults.” (Edmunds, F. 1979: p24). The objects of play in Steiner schools are simple so that the child can dress them with his or her own imagination as a child sees everything to be alive and real.

Even today Steiner schools exist, and they are distinctly different from other schools. In the 1970s, 80s and 90s, United Kingdom and other parts of the world saw the formation of new Steiner Schools. Its founder was so self-motivated that everyone concerned knows that he would not have allowed his school to stay as it was, but would have found new and creative ways to meet the changing needs of present times. Nowadays it seems difficult for the people involved to know what course to take, without losing the essence of education that was brought to the world by Rudolf Steiner.

Education must no longer be regarded only as a matter of teaching children, but as a social question of the highest importance, because it is the one question that concerns all mankind.” (Montessori M, date unknown)

Born in Italy in 1870, Maria Montessori moved to Rome with her parents in 1875 at the age of five. Maria Montessori is often referred to as “ahead of her time”. Throughout her life Maria Montessori had a particular interest in the development of children, especially those with special needs. She learned from the work of others, but evolved her own theories and believed that ‘the child was a truly miraculous being’ and later on Steiner adopted this fact from Montessori. In 1906, Maria Montessori founded the first “Children’s House”. Montessori discovered how naturally young children adapted and enjoyed learning everyday tasks. The Montessori Method focuses on the individuality of each child in respect of their needs or talents as its goal is to help the child maintain their natural joy of learning.

Some of the inventions of Maria Montessori are:-

Sand paper alphabets and the Spinda boxes.
Phonics; this has been taken up by the National Curriculum.
Furniture and equipment scaled down to the child’s size.
Encourages independence and freedom with limits and responsibility.
“Practical life” skills: domestic skills and manners are emphasized with the goal of increasing attention spans, hand-eye coordination, and tenacity.

The structure of work and constructive activity gives the children a sense of self-worth that they have never experienced before. The Montessori approach does not emphasise play or the free flow of ideas, neither are the children allowed to undertake creative activities until they have worked through all the graded learning activities. Montessori believed in the “natural unfolding of the child’s intelligence” that follows a specific path which must be aided by the adult by observing, as she did not believe in forced learning by children.

“When young children feel confident their energy for curiosity and exploration is considerableaˆ¦ If to the children the practitioner feels detached or remote- not like a secure base- then their energy and curiosity is very reduced or disappears.” Elfer (1996). Montessori did not think there was a need for adult ‘correction’ and little parental involvement was encouraged. This concept would go against the principles of Vygotsky, who identified the ‘zone of proximal development’ emphasising on the role of adults to intervene and help children learn, moving into the ‘zone of actual development’ as adults provide the ‘intellectual scaffolding’ to help children learn and progress through the different stages of development.

The Montessori Method does not see children as part of a community, but are made to work largely on their own in a peaceful environment of total concentration. Current mainstream practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework has not accepted this philosophy as it would not usually leave children to work through activities on their own. According to Lillard, P (1996) the Montessori theory is to adapt education for each developmental stage through materials especially designed for a child’s exploration and self-discovery, encouraging children to be active rather than passive learners at all levels. This has been acknowledged by the recent curricular guidance and some Montessori materials and ideas are used, for example, graded sizes of particular shapes, such as small, medium, and large blocks. The Montessori theory allows children to acquire the skills to answer their own questions, learn to manage freedom with responsibility, and maintain a high level of intellectual curiosity. Its teaching; aims for the fullest possible development of the whole child, ultimately preparing him for life’s many rich experiences.

Maria Montessori realised that children pass through sensitive periods of development early in life, and said that “education starts from birth”. This is now recognised by the Early Years Foundation Stage. Dr. Montessori described the child’s mind between the time of birth and six years of age as the “absorbent mind” and has written a book about it. It is during this stage that a child has a tremendous ability to learn and assimilate from the world around him, without conscious effort. During this time, children are particularly receptive to certain external stimuli. A Montessori teacher recognizes and takes advantage of these highly perceptive stages through the introduction of materials and activities which are specially designed to stimulate the intellect.

“If a person develops the ability to respect themselves, the people and the things around them, they will take an increased interest in the long-term effects of their actions on the environment and the people who live within it”.

(Director of Operations – Archimedes)

‘Forest Schools is an innovative educational approach to outdoor play and learning.’ It is a concept originally developed in Denmark for pre-school children (under seven years). The philosophy of Forest Schools is to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through positive experiences and participation in engaging and motivating achievable tasks and activities in a woodland environment, helping to develop personal, social and emotional skills which will lead to independence, self-discovery, confidence, communication skills and raised self-esteem. Each Forest School Site is unique, designed to meet the needs of the group making it inclusive. Children become comfortable with an outdoor approach to education and play in familiar surroundings. It allows a more child led outdoor curriculum with opportunities for projects to be taken back to the indoor setting to be continued.

Forest Schools have demonstrated success with children of all ages through the following methods:-

Learning takes place in the natural environment through play.
Use of own initiative to handle risks and solve problems.
Co-operate with others.
Programmes are held throughout the year in all weathers.
Children use full sized tools, play, learn boundaries of behaviour; both physical and social, grow in confidence, self-esteem and motivation.
Use of tools in the wood promotes trust and self-confidence; it develops motor skills and fine motor skills.

As children need time to thoroughly explore their thoughts, feelings and relationships this method encourages them to understand the world, the environment and everything within it through use of their emotions, imagination and senses. This principle has been adopted from Reggio Emilia which considers the environment to being the ‘third teacher’. Malguzzi (1996) “We place enormous value on the role of the environment as a motivating and animating force in creating spaces for relations, options and emotional and cognitive situations that produce a sense of well-being and security.”

This ethos was introduced to the UK during the 1990’s and has proved to be an effective educational tool in a variety of settings. Children attending Forest Schools were arriving at school with strong social skills, the ability to work in groups effectively, and generally children had high self-esteem and confidence in their own capabilities that proved to be an effective foundation and raised academic achievements. Since its introduction Forest Schools have developed opportunities in an outdoor setting for children of all ages to develop a variety of life skills.

Participants gain confidence in their own ability.
Kinaesthetic learners (learning by doing) are particularly suited to learning in this woodland outdoor environment.
It aims at meeting children’s basic needs before any higher learning can take place.
Children feel safe both physically and emotionally as care is taken to ensure that children have proper clothing and footwear, healthy meals and plenty of hydrated water and hot drinks.

The Forest School sites are usually away from main entrances requiring the group to walk long distances and terrain, but all this depends on the abilities of the group. A hard surface approach may be necessary for wheel chairs and buggies making it as inclusive as possible. Each time the children leave the woods they take something with them to encourage parental interest and communicative interaction. All sessions are designed around the needs of the group, ensuring that they are learner-led. Sessions are designed around a theme, such as Romans, butterflies, spies, fairies or nature investigators.

Many areas of the National Curriculum are intrinsically covered in the Forest Schools Experience without the programmes needing to be curriculum led. The activities are set up involving the capabilities of every person within the group. Teamwork skills are developed through games and activities such as hide and seek, shelter building, tool skills, lighting fires or environmental art. Each activity develops intra and inter-personal skills as well as practical and intellectual skills. Activities are constantly evaluated and re-adjusted through out the day to meet each the group’s requirements. The children may be asked to shout out, draw, act or play a game to review the day they have just experienced, reflecting about what they have done during the day. Individual’s progress is observed/monitored and a thorough evaluation process is used to ensure that aims and objectives are being met.

All the four approaches have in a way had an effect on forming the current curriculum, as all the approaches have one thing in common which is to ‘meet the needs of the child’. The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework has realised the need to provide the materials, opportunities, interactions and experiences that allow children to pursue their own interests and be creative. This is done by stimulating them through motivation but not overloading them with the things we want them to be interested in. The concept of supporting children’s development through their interest has been outlined in Tender care and Early Learning from High Scope and is currently used by Birth to Three Matters focussing on children’s strengths and interests. Reggio Emilia and Forest Schools provide models of excellence in developing high quality physical environment and this has been taken up by the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. The Living, Loving and Learning exhibition (1999) and the British Association for Early Childhood Education explains the main principles and purpose of physical environment as it is essential in our work with young children that we consider the outdoors as a natural ‘extension’ of our indoor learning environment, as very young children need to be offered the opportunity to move and think freely. This is vital for their physical growth and development of their minds. Advancing children’s physical and intellectual competence is the heart of much of the early childhood curriculum.

Montessori and Steiner do not use display boards to celebrate children’s achievements and this would go against the principles of Reggio Emilia, who believe it to be an ideal way of communication with parents, who can view their children’s experiences and learning on wall panels in the form of annotated photographs and displayed work. It is an important documentation inviting parents to feel close to their children’s experiences in the setting. This approach has been considered by the setting and there are a number of display boards for different age groups.

“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of human kind can unfold” Joseph Chilton Pearce

Critically discuss how practitioners can meet children’s all-round care, learning and development needs by adopting a holistic approach.

Recent government publications have focused on frameworks which support a holistic approach to the care and development of children.

This essay will explore recent and historical theories of ‘holism’ and the merits of such in the context of early learning. It will investigate how differing approaches meet the individual needs of children. It will discuss how the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce enables the five outcomes of Every Child Matters: Change for Children (ECM) to be delivered through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS); simultaneously embracing a holistic, play based approach to learning and development. It will also identify the need for practitioners to truly understand and fully embrace their principles in order to deliver a ‘child centred’ curriculum. Additionally it will explore the writings of those who appose the EYFS and establish if these notions are justified. References will be made to the writers setting and this will be referred to as ‘the setting’.

Through play, the holistic development of the child is encouraged. ‘Holistic’ is a term devised from the Greek word meaning ‘whole’ and ‘entire’. A true holistic approach is child centred, recognises that every child is individual and unique, and should be treated with respect, regardless of age, race, religion, social status, disability. Every child has the right to a safe, secure, happy childhood with accesses to outside agencies who can offer support if needed. Play is a means through which children explore and make sense of their world preparing them for adulthood. Children are naturally curious, and by providing space, resources, opportunities, positive interactions with adults, peers and a safe environment for them to explore, learning and development will take place. Research undertaken by ‘play for change’ (2008) revealed that play is vital to a child’s development and practitioners should hold a sound knowledge of it. It is through play that children learn from their mistakes and build relationships with others. There is no right or wrong way to play, it is something that morphs and changes constantly. It becomes, evolves and is built upon by the child. Pound mentions that;

Play encourages creativity and imagination. It is intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically and linguistically challenging and encourages children to work in depth (alone and with others). It can offer all children the chance to explore and learn at their own pace and stage of development. It has a crucial role in enabling children to consolidate learning…

(Pound 2008 p74)

Children should all have the right to an individual, experience rich learning environment, which is provided by practitioners, who have a clear understanding of how to meet their learning needs and styles. This in turn will engage children’s learning and enable them to develop and reach their full potential. Lindon defines the term holistic in a child context as;

A holistic or whole child approach stresses the importance of thinking about and behaving towards children as entire individuals, that all their skills are important and support their whole development.

Lindon (2009) p10

And Miller (2000) describes holistic education as;

…each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace. Holistic education aims to call forth from young people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning.

The Children Act (2004) and ECM underpinned all legal changes to the children’s services. The ECM document, aims to protect children from harm, keep them healthy and help them to achieve their goals in life. Prevention, intervention and protection are at the forefront of this wider vision by promoting multi-disciplinary working and effective protection for children.

The EYFS is the framework central to a ten year strategy that brings together all other existing frameworks. Integrated within the EYFS are the five outcomes of ECM, which are, be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well- being. Also the principles of the Common Core of skills and knowledge, which are; effective communication and engagement with children and families, child development, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child, supporting transitions, multi agency and integrated working and information sharing. These combined frameworks provide a child centred approach to the care and education of children. This is underpinned by a holistic, play based approach. It will ensure that all children have access to a consistent approach to care, learning and development. It is essential that all practitioners have a sound understanding of current frameworks and how to relate them to every day practice thus ensuring they are meeting the needs of all children.

Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs forms the basis of a holistic approach. Maslow identified five levels of need, starting with food and water. The next stage is safety and love followed by self esteem. At the top of his pyramid is self actualization. He believed that a child can not progress to the next stage until all their current needs have been met. He considers it the priority of the curriculum to meet the needs of children inside the classroom. The practitioner must provide an environment where children are safe, secure and emotionally stable and have a sense of belonging. A safe and happy childhood is the bedrock for children’s future learning and development. This concurs with the principles of the EYFS when providing a holistic education for children and the DCSF write that;

A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right, and it provides the foundation for children to make the most of their abilities and talents when they grow up.

(DCSF 2008, p7)

Children begin learning and developing before they are born and research proved that;

…90% of a child’s brain connections will be made by the time they are five. That means that their development and learning from birth to the age of five has significant influence on their future lives.

(CWDC, 2010)

During this period children are more responsive to the care and experiences they encounter. Bertram and Pascal (2006) p.70 discuss how high quality effective experiences provided in the early years improve ‘life chances’. Looking at the child holistically, with distinctive needs, interests and learning styles is beneficial to their development, and it is the belief of Hutchin that;

To ensure children are confident, happy and engaged in learning their individual needs must be met.

Hutchin (2006) p30

The notion of a holistic approach to education is not a recent one, and was identified as far back as 1805 by Pestalozzi (Pound 2008 p8). He was of the opinion that education was personal, and must appeal to the learner’s interests. He stressed the importance of recognising the uniqueness of all, and believed everyone had the potential to succeed. The EYFS integrates these principles into the framework and believes that;

The EYFS and the Early Learning Goals…provide sufficient flexibility for practitioners to follow children’s interests, respond to their ideas for developing play activities, and provide structured activities (which can also be playful to teach specific knowledge and skills.

DCSF (2009) p4

Te Whariki, the curriculum of New Zealand also stresses the importance recognising children as unique, and that working closely with families is crucial to a child’s development. It emphasises the important role play has in learning and development, and through its holistic approach aims to ensure all children grow up competent and confident, and can contribute positively to society. It also aims to ensure children are physically and mentally healthy (Pound 2008 p67- 69). Howard (2010), pointed out that;

Early Years Education today needs to be far more creative than it has been in the past, as it needs to equip children with the skills and processes for an unknown tomorrow.

(Howard, 2010 p51)

Addressing children’s individuality and uniqueness through a holistic approach will ensure they progress to healthy adults, and enable them to remain a confident, stable member of an unpredictable world.

Palmer (2006) p198 discusses how every child has a desire to learn and has an indication of what they want to learn. If the adult is aware of the child’s interests, they will incite their enthusiasm and desire to learn more. He also writes that a rigid curriculum which gives no thought to a child’s interests, or what inspires them, will not facilitate learning.

The core principles of the EYFS are that, children learn and understand the world in which they live through play. Purposeful play primarily facilitates the development of social and emotional skills. These skills then assist all other areas of learning.

Learning must be pleasurable, stimulating and challenging and performed in surroundings that reinforce holistic development. It is essential that it provides them with enough skills and self assurance to become a competent learner.

All children’s individual needs and interests should be planned, through analysis of careful non judgemental observation. Planning should be individual, and incorporate a child’s unique interests and developmental stage.

Some do not fully understand the principles of a holistic approach and the aims of the EYFS, or how to implement them correctly, to ensure the children are happy, engaged learners. This therefore, highlights a need for settings to ensure that all practitioners are suitably informed, and educated regarding its principles and delivery. A true understanding of its core values and aims is vital, and all who implement should understand that;

Play underpins the delivery of all the EYFS.

DCSF (2008) p 6-7

Many of the children within the setting can become restless in situations which are of no interest to them. The most common is during the extremely formal registration period. The relevance of such an activity, should, be considered to determine whether it holds any learning potential. The Setting Manager considers the formal approach to learning favourable, and insists all children gather together at the beginning of each session for thirty minutes carpet time and registration. It is believed, that this is an unrealistic time scale for children to sit quietly listening to one adult. Unfortunately, the Foundation Stage Manager has a differing opinion. She is of the belief that children “do not learn through osmosis” or “child initiated play”, and that an adult must have constant input in order for any learning to take place. Adult initiated activities are interpreted as; the children are given worksheets daily and asked to complete them following a model on the board. All children are given the same worksheet regardless of their ability. These worksheets are then used as evidence to add to their ‘port folios’. It is her belief that the purpose of observation is for expanding the content of a ‘port folio’ and not the main source of evidence for assessment.

To try and counteract these issues the larger of the two areas in the Foundation Unit has been re-organised. Low level print and interactive displays have been added. All areas have been made more accessible and enhancements such as materials, pictures and books added, to provide a good continuity of provision. Mark making tools have been placed in baskets around the area, these can then be transported by the children into other areas to encourage, and promote early writing skills. Numbers have been placed around the unit in various forms and interactive displays where shapes, numbers and colours can be sorted, have been added to promote problem solving, reasoning and number as well as fine motor skills. Photographs have been added to shelving units to help children to when tidying away. All provision is now accessible at all times allowing the children free flow play whenever possible.

The two outdoor areas have also been improved, adding various materials to support learning. There are still many more improvements to be made both indoors and outdoors. Contrary to the manager’s beliefs, children are observed when possible by all other staff members. These observations are used to inform the planning of some team members. More in depth training as to the holistic aims of the EYFS, and its correct delivery would be advantageous. However, following her retirement in July, September will bring new changes to the routines of the setting, and promote a more child centred approach to learning.

It was the belief of Montessori (Pound 2008 p 29-31) that a child’s natural ability to learn stems from solid experience and the use of objects to explain ideas and concepts. Observation played a major role in her work and a fundamental part of the EYFS is assessment through observation and it identifies;

Providers must ensure that practitioners are observing children and ….use these observations and assessments to identify learning priorities and plan relevant and motivating learning experiences for each child.

DCSF(2009) p16

Italy’s Reggio Emila approach to learning not only agrees that all children have potential, and are individual and unique, but it also believes that observing and recording children’s experiences and play through various means e.g. photographs, videos, written observations is crucial to learning and development. (Pound 2008. P52, 53)

Nutbrown and Carter (2010) p114 write that;

Watching and learning are the essential tools of assessment with which practitioners can both establish the progress that has already taken place and explore the future…The role of the adult in paying careful attention to children’s learning, and reflecting upon that learning, is crucial to the enhancement of children’s future learning.

Observation plays a key part in establishing a child’s developmental progress, interests and learning styles. Observing children in everyday activities enables practitioners to build up a precise image of the child, their understanding, and personal interests. These judgements should be based on children’s actions that are independent and uninfluenced by an adult. A holistic practitioner must be able to identify a child’s individual learning needs and care requirements, as well as establish how their learning and development has progressed. Coates and Thompson agree that;

In recording development and progress, relationships and actions become significant and illustrative of the progression in children’s learning.

Coates & Thomson(2010) p68

The holistic approach of the EYFS promotes the use of observations and maintains their importance in a child’s development. It writes;

…observe children’s activities carefully, trying to discover what the child is thinking about and learning and the goals of the play, so they can accurately support and extend the child’s learning focus either at the time, or later by changes to the environment or in planned activities.

DCSF(2009)

The project approach is a more recent approach to education and believes that all children have the desire to learn and want to make sense of their experiences through hands on experience. They must identify situations where learned skills will be useful and used appropriately to solve problems. Children build on their existing knowledge and they need the practitioner to aid the progression of these skills Classrooms must offer flexible learning which supports the needs of all children (Chard). A skilful practitioner will have the ability to engage with children and support these concepts.

The EYFS recognises the importance of these ideologies and makes many references throughout the document on how to implement these measures and incorporate them into the curriculum successfully.

It has been established that learning through play is central to the ideologies of the EYFS and indoors and outdoors are both equally as important as learning environments, and both equally as important in a child’s development. It states that;

Play underpins the delivery of all the EYFS. Children must have opportunities to play indoors and outdoors. .

DCSF(2009) p7

The EYFS believes that children should be allowed to have responsibility for their learning and be able to make decisions and learn from their mistakes. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the fact that what a child can already do and are interested in, is a starting point for their learning Tassoni and Hucker agree that;

Play is considered to be one of the primary needs of a child. Play is often said to be child’s work… Play is the main way in which children learn, and therefore play affects all aspects of a child’s development.

Tassoni & Hucker (2000)p.1,5

The EYFS offers a developmentally, flexible continuum of goals for children from birth to five. For practitioners who agree with its principles and understand its true pedagogy implementation should be reasonably unproblematic. There are six areas of learning and development within the EYFS, which are broken down into, one hundred and seventeen scale points. Scale points four to eight are not hierarchical and can be achieved in any order. Scale point nine reflects those children who are beginning to move beyond the early learning goals. Many of the scale points interrelate and are often achievable together. The developmental stages of the EYFS overlap recognising that children are unique and will develop, grow and learn at differing rates. The children in the setting have a broad spectrum of abilities, and the flexibility and overlapping developmental phases of the EYFS enable practitioners to effectively identify where children are in relation to their development. It also assists some practitioners to plan and resource for individuals, as well as small groups who share similar abilities and interests. One member of staff works solely with a child who has special educational needs and she finds the EYFS guidance a valuable tool for establishing his progress when planning activities to support his learning, using the Look, listen and note section.

This exemplifies the EYFS has a true understanding of the holistic approach to children’s development. Kelly agrees that;

An important feature of the EYFS is the principle of it being a developmental framework. Rather than prescribing a set of learning objectives or “targets”, it is intended to provide a continuum of development (milestones) which acknowledges the fact that children are unique and may not progress in the same way or at a uniform rate.

Kelly (2009)

But is the EYFS as holistic and child centred as it claims to be, some think not, the Open Eye Campaign believes it is;

…overly prescriptive, potentially harmful to the development of children and a breach of the human right of parents to have their children educated in accordance with their own philosophies.

Open Eye (2007)

However, the DCSF counter argue that;

There is no obligation in the EYFS for children to reach any particular standards… The EYFS is founded on the importance of play. It doesn’t require any ‘formal’ approaches, and in fact discourages them, recognising that children need to play to have fun and to learn about the world around them, by playing freely with support from adults.

DSCF(2008) p9

And the QCDA( Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency) states that;

Parents can apply for an exemption to the school that their child attends, if they consider that the learning and development requirements of the EYFS framework (or some element of them) are in conflict with their religious or philosophical beliefs.

QCDA (2010)

These statements reinforce that the core principles of the EYFS places the child at the centre of its practice, and any parent has the right to withdraw their child from any aspects of the curriculum they disapprove of. It also confirms that parents do have the casting vote on how their child is educated.

Within the developmental stages are the early learning goals. These are not necessarily attainable by all children, and the goals cover a wide range of achievable objectives. In agreement with the earlier citation by Kelly (2009), it is believed that it ensures all children, whatever their stages of development have their learning needs identified and met. Most children will not have achieved all scale points at the end of their reception year and ideally implementation of the EYFS should continue into KS1. In their letter to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Siraj-Blatchford, Duffy and Nelson request that the EYFS;

Continues the Early Years Foundation Stage to the end of Key Stage 1.

Siraj-Blatchford, Duffy and Nelson (2008)

Kirklees are in agreement with this fact and write that;

Teachers in Y1 can continue to use the EYFS Profile as their assessment tool for children where they consider this to be appropriate. This will be particularly the case for children who have not obtained any or most of the Early Learning Goals (ELG) – scale points 4-8 – in a particular EYFS Profile scale.

Kirklees (2009)

Transitions can sometimes prove stressful for children and this is recognised by the Common core of skills and knowledge. This asserts that, supporting a continued approach will enable the child to adapt more easily to stressful situations they encounter throughout their lives. These could be between classes or family issues. Within the setting a great deal of training and discussion has taken place to implement these measures, ensuring the Year One Teacher plans effective, responsive activities that support continued development. Many changes have been made to the ‘set up’ and structure of the Years One classroom to guarantee a continuum of good practice which will enable children to carry on achieving.

It is also essential that practitioners listen and respond to children’s needs and feelings. Assisting them to overcome difficulties and address any problems they face. Sharing these fears and worries with others will help them deal with them in a controlled, safe environment, with attentive, understanding impartial adults The children within the setting attend ‘circle and nurture time’ on a weekly basis. This session allows the children a chance to discuss how their actions, and the actions of others impact, both positively and negatively on feelings. Children are given the opportunity to discuss their feelings, worries and concerns with a member of staff who is trained to deal with them. Any serious concerns are forwarded to the designated person in charge of ‘child protection’. They are dealt with in a tactful and sensitive manner following the relevant policies. This activity also reinforces social skills such as turn taking and sharing. One of the achievable goals outlined in the EYFS is;

Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding that there needs to be agreed values and codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously.

DCSF(2008)

During this session they also participate in ‘nurture time’ this is based on the premise of play therapy and the children are given the opportunity to address their feelings through carefully controlled play situations. It gives them a chance to deal with, and express their emotions in a calm controlled way, with staff who are trained to deal with and support the child through any difficult and emotional times.

The EYFS’s holistic aim puts the child at the centre of all practice and recognises their individuality. It welcomes and celebrates difference and diversity in all, and great importance is placed on communicating effectively with parents and involving them in every process of their development.

Parents are recognised as the child’s main educator. Part of this involves each child having a key worker who will help them to develop whilst offering support to both the child and the family. Key workers provide a safe and secure attachment for the child and their parents. They are a point of contact, with which parents can discuss any worries or concerns. They are responsible for a small group of children who they help to settle and observe. They liaise with parents and other outside agencies where necessary. This concept relates to Bowlby and Goldschmied’s theory of attachment. Both believed that secure attachments are essential for positive social, emotional and intellectual development, and that children will show a preference to one adult, and that these attachments are a normal part of development. (Pound 2008 p44-45). Jackson (2009) draws our attention to this and writes;

…the key person system is designed to ensure that each child in a day nursery has a special relationship with an individual staff member.

Jackson (2009)

There are two Teachers, two Nursery Nurses and two Classroom Assistants within the setting and although certain children and parents have formed attachments with staff, there is currently no key worker system in place. This decision was not undertaken without due consideration. Many incidents have occurred, where one of the Classroom Assistants had ‘miss’ informed parents and wrongly recorded information, she was offered the relevant training and self development but declined the offer, stating that she did not have the time or the confidence to drive to other locations. Other members of staff offered help and advice, but this too was declined. These concerns were brought to the attention of the Head Teacher, who recommended that a well informed member of the team should be readily available whenever parents are in the building, and all recorded information should be checked before being placed in the children’s profiles. At this present moment in time these issues are still been addressed, and it is hoped that in the near future an effective key worker system will be established.

Although children may appear the same and share similar interests they are all individual and unique. This not only relates to their interests, development, and learning styles but also their race, religion and cultural heritage. By celebrating and embracing difference and diversity the EYFS maintains that every child is included and not put at a disadvantage. It is important that every child must learn to value the differences and diversity in others and mature into confident adults that will make a positive contribution to society. In her introduction to diversity, inclusion and learning in the early years Siraj-Blachford identifies that;

In modern, diverse societies, and a world that increasingly recognizes the realities of global interdependence, it is essential that children learn social competence to respect other groups and individuals, regardless of the difference. The learning must begin in the earliest years of a child’s education.

Siraj-Blachford (2010) p151

Pound (2009) p 9-11 discusses how Bronfenbrenner developed the ‘Egological Systems’ this theory relates to how everything that surrounds a child has an influence on their development, and that practitioners must treat all children, their families, beliefs and culture with respect and create a setting that is both welcoming and accepting.

In recent years the setting has become a more diverse environment and now welcomes families of differing religions, countries and heritages. In order to ensure each individual felt accepted and valued, a display which contained the words ‘hello’ and ‘welcome’ in several languages was added. This was displayed along side a talented wall which contained a picture of each child engaged in their favourite activities and the words ‘I am talented, together we are awesome, because I can……’.

The Leeds Gypsy Roma Traveller achievement service also provided a range of resources which were displayed around the setting. The aim was to raise awareness and overcome prejudice of the Gypsy, Roma and Travellers in the setting and highlight the values of their culture and heritage. A parent informed the setting that she had enjoyed looking at the displays and artefacts and had gained a great deal of knowledge and understanding from them. One child became greatly interested in the objects displayed on a table. He took ownership of the toy caravan and placed it into his pocket at the beginning of every session. He removed it at intervals during the day and used it to enhance his play in various areas. He then placed it back on the table before he left, usually hiding it behind a bigger object where it was ‘safe’ for the next day.

All current frameworks place a strong emphasis on safe guarding, multi-agency working and information sharing between settings, social services, health professionals and all those who come into contact with children. The common core of skills and knowledge emphasises the importance of practitioners holding a sound knowledge of how these agencies work and interrelate. Early intervention is vital. When effective, operational partnerships are formed between various organisations relevant information can be obtained and acted upon rapidly ensuring problems are detected and addressed before they become harmful to the child. A practitioner who recognises the holistic approach to the child must be aware of the policies and procedures when dealing with safe-guarding issues. The common core of skills and knowledge are not yet legal requirement any many settings and practitioners are unaware of its existence. Making this legal requirement will guarantee all practitioners are capable of delivering its aims in the correct manner with the child at the forefront of their practice.

This outlines the necessity for practitioners to be reflective and undertake regular personal development to ensure they provide the best quality of care and learning. It also requires practitioners to regularly reflect on and develop their own practice, in order to improve the provision, learning potential and wellbeing of individuals in the setting ensuring their individual needs are met.

Conclusion

When delivered as intended the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge, ECM and the EYFS’s principles do place the child at the centre of all good practise. They stress the importance of meeting a child’s individual needs and care requirements. None the less it has been established that some do not comprehend how to deliver it effectively understanding truly the child’s uniqueness. This has identified a need to further train practitioners in its aims and principles.

Many theories and approaches have been considered when compiling the EYFS and the most vital components have been added. John Oates (2007) one of the writers of the EYFS, states that it recognises the importance of uniqueness and developmental differences between children. He claims that assessing children is not to establish success or failure, but to stress how the main areas of learning are built upon from previous experience.

Although the school that the setting is attached to aims to provide a holistic approach to care and education, it has been established that the setting and its staff needs to go through man

The idea behind Forest Schools is that it is a long term sustainable approach to outdoor play and learning. It’s about providing children with holistic development; it looks at every area in terms of their physical development, intellectual development and cognitive skills, also looking at their linguistic and language, both verbal and non-verbal. Forest Schools also looks at their emotional, social and spiritual development.

What’s interesting about the culture in some Scandinavian countries is being in and outdoors are a part of how the family and culture works what? Sorry -I don’t understand. But in Britain children are getting more and more isolated from the natural world. Forest Schools is very much about giving children the opportunity to learn in and from nature.

Forest Schools is also about free play, it’s about self directed learning but it’s also about allowing the children to develop freedom and choice in order to be able to become competent and effective adults.

In Every Chid Matters it states that ‘every child should make an equal contribution’. (Ref). The only way that children can do this is if they have sound self-esteem and sound emotional well-being and sound social skills and function in as many social situations as they choose. Forest Schools is about allowing children given their developmental dependant age the ability to be able to achieve social comfort.

Forest Schools is an inspirational process that allows children to access outdoor space in order to grow and develop into successful, happy, rounded individuals. There is a misconception that Forest Schools is for Early Years; some of the most successful projects have been with older young people, adults with mental health problems and children in secondary education. (Ref). The ..?……..about allowing children and young people to grow with a sense of value of who they are and giving a positive contribution. It’s all about using nature as the teacher as opposed to being adult lead.

LO5 – Activity Plans and Evaluation.

Plan – (see appendix …….), Rationale behind choice of activity and Learning Objective.

This activity was chosen as the reception class were looking at the Handa Surprise book and focusing on healthy foods. The day the activity was carried out a new student was present with his mother which added extra pressure for all the professionals. The learning environment offered opportunities for the children to experience tasting different fruits as the kitchen area was adjacent to the table in which the activity was carried out. The setting also had a large copy of the story so all the children were able to see the story (for Communication, Language and Literacy) and had all of the elements needed to create the masks (Creative Development).

I thought the topic would lend itself to the next day’s topic of healthy lunchboxes, which the whole school were focusing on. I chose to focus on any existing knowledge the children may have of different fruits and try and extend their understanding of why fruits are good for us. This leads into Early Learning Goal (…) of ‘…………………………..'(QCA, 2000).

My main learning objective, therefore, was to introduce the children to new fruits and tastes, using language and listening to each other to find out what each child thought, in an accessible and enjoyable environment, so as to encourage respect for each other’s views and turn taking.

What happened?

The week before carrying out the activity, I prepared the resources needed in school and discussed the other activities that my fellow practitioners would carry out. This involved printing, cutting and laminating the necessary pictures and masks. Also finding all the different fruits that were in the story. I was unable to find one fruit in particular so I improvised with a fruit drink that was made from the fruit so at least the children were able to taste the favour.

I carried out this activity with a mixed ability group of 9 children. I began by asking the children to wash their hands as they were going to be eating fruit. When all the children were back in their seats, I gave each of them a bowl and a cup. I asked the children if they could remember the fruits in the story of “Hands Surprise” which was read earlier. The children seemed to have a positive attitude about being able to remember. With a small copy of the book I asked the children which was the first fruit that the monkey took out of Handa’s basket. I then cut the banana in pieces and gave each child a piece and asked questions such as ‘what does the banana taste like?’ ‘How does it feel?’ ‘Do you like the banana?’ The children gave mostly good descriptions of the fruit and used appropriate vocabulary such as ‘creamy’, ‘slippery’ and ‘lovely’. I carried out the same routine of cutting the fruit into sections and passing a section to each child and asking them to describe what it tasted like and how it felt and whether they enjoyed it. With the Guava fruit (which was the fruit I could not purchase) I informed the children of the situation and showed them the picture of the fruit on the carton of juice. I gave each child a taste and asked their opinion, the overall opinion was that the fruit tasted ‘delicious’ but one child said that they ‘didn’t like it’. The most interesting discussion came when i asked the children what they thought the passion fruit would look like inside, one child said that ‘it might look like an orange’, the same child that said the banana was creamy (extension). Overall most of the children enjoyed the fruit tasting apart from one (standard) child who kept giving negative reactions to the fruit saying that he ‘doesn’t eat fruit at home’. I was happy that at least he had tried some.

While the fruit was being eaten I passed around picture cards of the fruit and asked each child in turn to pronounce the name of the fruit after me, most children had no problems with the pronunciations but one child struggled with ‘avocado’.

I encouraged each child to have a little taste of each fruit and if they didn’t like it then they didn’t have to eat it and ‘well done for trying’ was always encouraged. The extension child suggested that ‘trying different fruits was good for us’, ‘as fruit was good for us’. Which then led a child that was refusing to try a certain fruit to try it. At one point the dismissive child asked if we were finished and could he go and play.

Once all the children had tried all the fruit and we had discussed them and I asked the final question “which was everyone’s favourite and their least favourite”, the overall result being orange best, avocado worst. I then told the children that they could go put their bowls in the sinks and wash their hands and go and play.

Evaluation.

I believe this activity resulted in all the children achieving the main learning objective of introducing the children to new fruits and tastes, using language and listening to each other to find out what each child thought and to encourage respect for each other’s views and turn taking. The idea that the children’s peer could influence the decision of another child ……………………………..

An effective learning environment does not leave children entirely to their own devices, but builds on what they can already do and challenges them to try new things. The role of the practitioner is vital in this process and sits within the social constructivist approach to learning. This theory was popularised by Vygotsky (1978, in Smith, 1999), who identified the ‘zone of proximal development’, (ZPD) as being a reason why children’s learning can be helped by others. Smith (1999) explained:

‘The ZPD is the distance between the child’s developmental level and his or her potential level of development under the guidance of adults or more competent peers’ (Smith, 1999: 429).

As this was a ‘hands on’ activity, the children were taking an active part in their own learning progress. It was Piaget (1966, in Smith, 1999) who first postulated that the child is a ‘lone scientist’, processing information and constructing meaning through encounters with their world. Most of the children focused their attention on the fruits they enjoyed using positive language and engaging in using words to describe what something tasted like or felt. One child tried to extend the activity to see what the fruit sounded like when bounced on the table saying ‘ the orange sounded like a ball’, this then encouraged the children to continue testing the sounds of fruit by knocking on them. The (extension) child asked ‘if there was nothing in the fruit would it sound the same’?

The relative success of this activity highlighted that children of this age learn best through concrete experiences. When working with children of this age group it is preferable to adopt teaching strategies which allow for plenty of practical activities and exploration.

The fact that one child lost interest in the activity, implies that I might need to develop this activity in some way to keep the attention of the less able or enthusiastic children. This was particularly noticeable when asking some children to use descriptive words to describe the fruit, as some children just repeated the word that their peer before them used. The language of one child was not as developed as the other children in the group, and this excluded them from full participation.

On reflection, a different teaching strategy could have been employed to involve them more fully into the activity. It could be that they were more of a kinaesthetic do you know what this means?learner than the others, as he kept looking at the children playing, so maybe using an activity that involved movement may have kept his attention.

Also the activity was extended longer than anticipated as I had to cut each individual fruit into segments. If this activity was done again in the future maybe cutting the fruit into segments before the activity took place would be a more successful approach.

As a result of this evaluation, I would have changed my plan to include more opportunities for the children to be involved in the activity in a more physical way, perhaps by using safety acceptable knives the children could help me cut the fruit. This may help some of the children with their fine motor skills as well. Also another way of engaging less able children might include asking them to participate in the preparation of the resources by asking them to bring their favourite fruit from the story in so they feel they have a more ‘personal’ involvement. Finally, the only thing I would change would be to ask the children to put on aprons, as it got very messy, including me, as I too got very messy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, recently there has begun to be a realization in the UK that play is important. There has been a surge of initiatives funded by government, such as Arts Council projects on creativity in schools and communities. The publication of Excellence and Enjoyment by the National Primary Strategy (DfES, 2003) puts a major emphasis on the importance of embedding the Foundation Stage and the Birth to Three Matters Framework in the work of local authorities across the maintained, voluntary and private sectors.

Increasingly, research findings indicate the importance of the first years of education. Children’s ability to use spoken and written language fluently and with confidence and for a range of purposes enables them to access at an early age what education has to offer. The adults working in early year’s settings and classrooms have both the opportunity and responsibility to affect the future learning of their pupils in a far reaching and powerful way.

Play is, it seems, about the universe and everything. It often has to function in a hostile environment, but when it is encouraged, supported and extended, it makes a major contribution to, and sophisticated impact on the development of individuals and humanity as a whole.

Lifespan development entails various elements such as change, and movement from one life stage to the other. Trying to understand early childhood development using life span approach has many positive implications to early childhood professionals since it will help them in playing an important role in helping children and their families develop sound social policies. Lifespan development results to life transitions and can be associated with various skills such as fine motor skills, overregulaization, centration and private speech among others. Some of the lifespan developments are permanent while others only last for a while. Lifespan development is used to describe growth progression through several stages. Development is used to measure the level of maturity.

To illustrate this I chose a 3 year old girl. This little girl is a pupil of a daycare center. I got to know the girl because my daughter works in that institution. The girl’s mother works in the same institution and this was one of the reasons I considered using the girl in my case study since her mother would help me in giving answers for questions I needed in order to identify certain special skills. In order to understand early childhood development skills interviews concerning various observations and interactions both physical and social were used in order to determine which skills the child had.

The main objective of conducting this project was to identify various skills and changes that are associated with three year old child. The girl I used represented a sample of three year old children. Three years in childhood development is a transition period and its during this age that a child is able to start learning about himself and the surrounding world. As a result this stage is considered a preoperational stage since the child learns a lot in this age. According to Piaget’s theory, its during this stage that children develop private speech and show animated thinking since they can not manipulate information mentally (Goetz & Allen, 1986).

Most of the developmental skills such as child rearing styles, gender identity and centration are acquired at this age. The family has been keen in helping this girl develop at this age. Usually her mother who is also the teacher for the daycare center has developed a consistent schedule since at this age it’s important to train the girl on rituals that are associated with this preoperational stage. By doing this project I wanted to determine the level of maturity and skills of the three year old girl. To determine the maturity level I used various action and skills that are associated with children aged 3 years.

Physical development refers to changes and improvements in physical parts. Some of the attributes that are used to describe physical development include control, movement, coordination and manipulation. For a child of three years, these improvement attributes are easily scored by analysis the performance of the child. For girl used in this project showed various physical developments. The girl was able to hop on one foot one of the coordination physical development associated with three year old child. In addition, the girl’s walking coordination is good hence she was able to walk in a line.

This girl like other children of three years was able to walk on toes. The girl also was able to wash her hands, brush teeth and retrieve own drink. The girl also enjoyed helping in household chores as well as she is able to put on shoes. These are some of the physical developments that are expected for a three year old child. These activities define the over regularization skills that are associated with three year old child development. The child at this age tries to learn almost all aspects of life.

In addition other physical development skills that this girl showed was that she does not wet her bed occasionally as children of her age are expected to. The girl has also ready learned how to use toilet. When got doing something wrong, the girl feels shamed and has already learned to differentiate between similarities and differences. The girl also showed she has gender identity skills by being able to differentiate parents’ gender.

In addition, the girl showed the following motor physical development. She was able to walk with a swift this showed that she had better walking coordination as the walking was almost adult style.

The girl was also able to run around obstacles and to catch balls throw overhead thou inconsistently. Her in ability to catch the ball consistently showed that the girl’ centration skills were not fully developed. The girl who was interviewed and observed during this project could ride tricycle and was able to alternate feet when climbing stairs. Hence the child demonstrated fine/ gross motor skills (Esther, 2010). Fine motor skills are used to determine development requiring smaller movements and interactive capabilities such as movements that require use of hands, and legs. Demonstrating fine motor skills shows that the child is able to use both her hands and legs properly. Gross motor skills on other hand are used to show a child’s ability to move various body parts as expected at that age.

The girl’s ability to solve puzzles and manipulate clay and figure paints clearly demonstrates her development of fine motor skills. Another aspect that was used to determine the physical development of the child is through studying her language and thinking development. The girl showed to have developed some of these skills since she was able to understand some concepts such as concerning now, later and soon. In addition, the girl was able to match pictures with objects and to recognize cause and affect relationship. Developing of puzzles of 5-6 years child is an appropriate behavior for 3 years age and can be used to indicate fast development phenomenon. Cognitive development refers to ability of a child to learn and solve problems.

For 3 year old kid, cognitive development enable the child to learn how to draw some images, build blocks with the intention of making specific structures such as trains, towers or buildings. In addition a three year old child enjoys showing what they already know. The child also likes seeking attention and making comments especially on stories touching family events. Another cognitive development for three year old child is that they are able to construct a sentence of three or four words and also are able to pluralize items, produce verbs and also to negate ideas by using no, and not. This cognitive development noted showed that the girl had already developed private speech skills. Private speech skills enable the child to pass information as per their understanding and require one to have the ability to negate ideas, to differentiate ideas that are in plural among others. Private speech enables individuals as they develop to correctly pass their information.

The girl who was used for this project has most of the attributes associated with cognitive development for three year old child. The girl enjoys following directions and orders skills which are also associated with pre operation stage. In addition the girl speech is understandable and is able to construct 3-5 words sentence. The girl is also able to match pictures to objects. Like other children of her age are expected to the child learns by doing and through sense rather than being told concerning something in order to understand. From the project it was noted that the child is in preoperational stage and has developed her initiative Vs guilt aspect. The initiative V guilt aspect was demonstrated by the girl’s ability to feel guilt when found on the wrong (Esther, 1986). This can by illustrated by her cognitive development of being able to follow orders and to try to learn things by doing them. All the cognitive development behavior that was observed in this girl rhyme with those expected for children of her age.

Social and emotional development

Some of the skills that are associated with this social and emotional development of children aged 3 include gender identification, centration and sociodramatic play. Some of the skills that can be used to show centration include liking to help in household chores and being more bossy hence making demands and orders to their parents and care givers. The girl used in the project showed this skill since she at her own will enjoys helping but also her own will chooses not to obey and orders her will to be done. This shows that her social and emotional development is self centered; it’s her own will that determines if she can help or share or not. In addition, the girl demonstrated sociodramatic play by her skills that enables her play pretty well with other children thou it was also observed that she prefers playing alone implying that this social emotional development has not fully developed.

The following social and emotional development skills were also noted about the girl, child rearing skills which are mostly employed by children when they notice other people feelings and moods. When her mother is sad or angry the child tries employing these social and motional development skills by trying to be too sweet (MamaHealth.com, 2009). The child rearing skills are developed by child to show her concern for other people just the same way she expects to be shown concern.

It was also noted that the girl expresses some animistic thinking social and emotional skills since she does not like sharing especially when instructed unless on her own will. Other social and emotional skills that the girl shows which are associated with her age is the ability to realize her own limits and hence seeking help for what she can not achieve on her own.

Conclusion

Early child hood development entails the acquisition of various skills. It’s the skills that a child acquires that can be use to determine if the child’s development is regular or not. Unlike other forms of growth, development milestones can be identified at the first glance. There are several separate development areas which should be analyzed when analyzing life span development. These separate development areas were in this project analyzed and used to identify certain special skills associated with them.

The development analysis not only identifies certain developments but also is used to detriment the stage and how the development ahs occurred. For instead when determining physical development of the girl, the research did not just observe if the girl is able to walk bit also tried to probe further and identify how she walks, if she has steady pace and if she is able to put one foot in front of the other. It’s through analyzing these developments that one is able to determine the development skills that a child at a given age has already achieved and which ones they have not.

It was noted that the girl showed gross/fine motor skills development and this was determined by the research observing the girl’s general ability which are associated with 3 year old development. In addition, by identifying the activities that the girl is able to do with her hands such as manipulating clay it was concluded that the girl’s physical development was rhyming with that of three year old child. The girl’s cognitive and social and emotional development also rhymes with that of three year old children.

These were determined by the observation of various skills such as private speech development, identification of some child rearing styles associated with this particular age and demonstration of sociodramatic play which are also reflected in various development theories such as Piaget’s cognitive development theory. The family especially her mother has played an important role in fostering the girl’s development. The mother has developed a schedule on the activities to be done and this can be attributed to the girl’s ability to do things even beyond her age such as solving puzzles for 5-6 year children. In addition, the family’s effort to train the girl to use potty at 1 and half years also can be attributed to the girl’s successful lifespan development.

CHILD LABOUR AND INDIA- AN ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY PROVISIONSINTRODUCTION

Child labour has been in India from a long time in some form or the other. Practice of child labour in match box industries, glass bangle industries and is very commonly seen in cheap restaurants and dhabas etc. Generally speaking child labour can be said to be the exploitation or abuse of children in factories, industries etc, who are below the age specified by law working (mentally or physically) to earn for his/her own survival or to support his/her family partially or fully, and which prevents his/her social and education development may be said to be “child labour”. The reasons which are generally responsible for child labour may include [1] :

Poverty,

Ignorance,

Illiteracy,

Population explosion,

Lack of knowledge of their own rights,

Big amounts of debt on the parents,

Large size of family but not enough income to support such big family,

Lack of social security scheme in the country,

Weak enforcement of labour laws.

According to an U.N.O report India has the maximum child labour in the world i.e. approx 20 per cent. [2] On the basis of Census 1991 and various governmental and non-governmental organizations following are the number of child labourers in India [3] :

Census 1991 – 2.63 crore,

Organization research group, Baroda, 1994-95 – 4.44 crore,

Centre for concern of Child Labour – 10 crore.

Extra-governmental volunteer organization – more than 5 crore.

The numbers may vary according to different organizations but the fact is clear that the numbers of child labourers in India are in crores, which is again a pathetic sight, especially with all the various child labour legislation and the Constitutional provisions. In a report by the Labour Ministry every 4th child is a child labour, aged between 5-14 years and there is one child labour in every three families. [4]

But it’s not as if Indian governments haven’t done anything about this grave social stigma, over the years it has enacted many statutory legislations and Constitutional provisions in order to eradicate the problem of child labour, to name some of them, we have:

Labour legislations:

The Child Labour Act, 1986,

The Factories Act, 1948,

The Mines Act, 1952,

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009,

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948,

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000

Constitutional provisions [5] :

Article 24 provides: strictly prohibits children to work in hazardous environment.

Article 21, 45 gives the right to education to all the children below the age of 14years.

Article 39 declares the duty of the State to provide the children a free facilities to develop in conditions of freedom and dignity in a healthy manner.

India is also a party to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1959. India is also a signatory to:

ILO Forced Labour Convention (No. 29);

ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105);

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

World Declaration on the Survival,

Protection and Development of Children.

The Government of India adopted the National Policy for Children (NPC) in August 1974. This Policy provided that [6] “It shall be the policy of the state to provide adequate service to children both before and after birth and through the period of their growth, to ensure their full physical, mental and social development. The State shall progressively increase the scope of such services so that, within a reasonable time, all children in the country enjoy optimum conditions for their balanced growth.”

Indian is also a party to United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1959 and Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1992 and has formulated its labour laws in accordance to International Labour Conference resolution of 1979.

The first part of the paper aims to look into the various legislations relating to child labour. In the second part we shall look into the various precedents set by the Supreme Court of India on the issue of child labour and finally the conclusion.

Chapter 1

CONSTITUTIONLA AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS

Constitutional provisions

The government of India has enacted various labour laws has in accordance to International Labour Conference resolution of 1979. The Constitution of India, through various articles enshrined in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy, lays down that:

Article 21 (A)

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to 14 years;

Article 24

No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. The word hazardous employment in Art 24 also includes construction industry, also in P.N. v. U.O.I [7] , it has been laid down that Art 24 is enforceable even in the absence of implementing legislations; [8]

Article 39(e)

States that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength;

Article 39(f)

States that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment [9] . Hence Art 39 in whole requires the state to ensure and protect the children and provide proper child care.

Article 45

The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years

The framers of the Constitution imposed a duty on the State under Article 45 as one of the directive principles of the State Policy to provide free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 year with the sole objective of completely eradicating illiteracy and child labour. Also many of the states had passed various Acts providing for free and compulsory primary or elementary education to children. But unfortunately years after the commencement of the Constitution the goal set by this Article which was to be achieved in 10 years, have yet not been reached. But the provision in article 39(f) and 45 of the constitution gave certain directions in providing a better quality of life of children employed in the factories.

Labour legislations

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986:

The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in 13 occupations and 51 processes that are hazardous to the children’s lives and health listed in the Schedule to the Act [10] .

The Factories Act, 1948:

The Act completely prohibits children working below the age of 14 years [11] . It further states that if a child is between 15 and 18 years of age, can be employed in a factory only if he has a certificate of fitness granted with reference to him under section 69 which is in the custody of the manager of the factory. The Act also says that no child shall be employed or permitted to work, in any factory for more than four and a half hours in any day;

The Mines Act, 1952:

The Act prohibits the employment of children in mines, who have not completed their 15th year.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000:

This Act was last amended in 2002 in conformity with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child covers young persons below 18 years of age. Section 26 of this Act deals with the Exploitation of a Juvenile or Child Employee, and provides in relevant part, that whoever procures a juvenile or the child for the purpose of any hazardous employment and keeps him in bondage and withholds his earnings or uses such earning for his own purposes shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable for fine.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009:

The Act states that all children aged 6 to 14 years shall be provided free and compulsory education. It further states that all private schools should allocated 25 per cent of their seats for disadvantaged and differently abled children.

Chapters 2

Precedents set by Supreme Court

Though the government of India has enacted various labour legislations to prevent child labour still there are some contradiction among them, mainly the definitional debates on child labour as different legislation provide different definition of a ‘child’. Section 2(ii) of The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, defines ‘child’ as ” a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age”; Section 2(c) of The Factories Act, 1948 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed his fifteenth year of age”; Section 2(e) of The Mines Act, 1952 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed his fifteenth year”; Section 2(c) of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, defines ‘child’ as” male or female child of the age of six to fourteen years”; Section 2(k) of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed eighteenth year of age”; Section 2(c) of The Plantations Labour Act, 1951 defines ‘child’ as “a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age”

Hence, we can clearly observe that these legislation are at contradiction to each other in defining who’s a child and setting an uniform age limit. Therefore the centre and respective state governments should set a uniform universal minimum age of the child as these contradictions adversely affect the objective of protection from child labour and providing a better educational and social development to children of India.

Following are few of important Supreme Court cases that have helped in framing better laws regarding child labour:

In Democratic Rights V. Union of India [12] , it was contended that the Employment of Children Act, 1938 was not applicable in the matter of employment of children in construction works, as it was not mentioned in the act. But the court held even construction work is a hazardous employment and no child below the age of 14 years can be employed as given under Art 24 of the Indian Constitution, even though construction industry has not been specified in the schedule to the Employment of children Act, 1938, thus the SC rejected the contention.

In Salal Hydro Project vs. Jammu and Kashmir [13] , the Court has restated the principle laid in Democratic Rights V. Union of India [14] that Construction work is hazardous employment and any child below 14 cannot be employed in this work.

In Sheela Barse and others vs Union of India and others [15] , Bhagawati, C.J. quoted from National Policy for the welfare of Children incorporated to provide better social and educational development to the children of India : “The Nation’s children a supremely important asset. Their nurture and solicitude are our responsibility. Children’s programme should find a prominent part in our national plans for the development of human resources, so that our children grow up to become robust citizens, physically fit, mentally alert and morally healthy, endowed with the skill and motivations needed by society. Equal opportunities for development to all children during the period of growth should be our aim, for this would serve our large purpose of reducing inequality and ensuring social justice”.

In M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu & Ors [16] , the SC gave direction to the Union and state governments to identify all children and withdraw them from working in hazardous processes and occupations, and to provide them with free and proper education as incorporated into the Constitution, Artcle 21-A. The Court also directed the Union and state governments to set up a Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund using contributions from employers who breach the Child Labour Act.

In Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh, [17] the SC held that every child has the right to free education till the age of 14 years. Artcle 21-A which was incorporated into the Constitution, reflects this standard.

CONCLUSION

It is said that “child is the father of man”, and the children of our country are our biggest asset. The government of India has enacted several laws in order to provide healthy social and educational environment for the children. But in spite of all the laws enacted, problem of child labour still persists in our Indian society that is because child labour laws are themselves flawed in some way or the other or suffer from poor implementation of programmes. Though awareness towards child labour has increased and now there are several NGO’s trying their best, but today what we require is to take concrete actions, the central and respective state governments need to provide for better machinery for enforcing child labour laws. Unless this is achieved our country won’t be completely free the burden of child labour.

Young children learn through exploration, active participation and through imitation and as such quality arts programme comprising of all art forms – visual art, music, media, dance and drama should be included as part of the curriculum in the early childhood classroom. As stated by Spodek,1993 (cited in Isenberg & Jalongo, 2001) through participating in the art activities children are able to express themselves and it provides opportunities for development of creativity , symbolizing and enhances their learning about aesthetics which further helps them gain academic knowledge. Smith, 1982 (cited in Wright, 1991) mentioned that children are able to organise their experiences and know about themselves and their world through participating in the arts. Dyson (1990, p.52) further stated that ‘art and play have critical roles in children’s growth as symbol makers ‘. Like play, art is voluntary and intrinsically motivated as children are free to choose the content and direction of the activity. There are no external demands or expectations and children are free to explore, experiment and investigate with the people, objects and materials provided. He also mentioned that children pursue art activities for intrinsic pleasure rather than external rewards. Furthermore, the gestures and first words children use during make – believe play reflect upon people’s action’s and things around their daily lives which is the early understanding of symbolisation as well as the basic foundation that develops into drawing pictures, spoken and written words in their later stages. Based on my practical experiences in the classroom and as well as through the readings from books I believe that arts is just as important as any other subject in the curriculum and children do learn and develop their physical, intellectual, emotional and social skills through participating in the arts activities. It is also a requirement by the Ministry of Education that the arts be included as part of the curriculum in the Singaporean classroom. (cited in Framework for A Kindergarten Curriculum in Singapore, 2006).

This essay is a brief attempt at looking at the importance of the arts in the education of young children drawn from two art forms which are music and drama.

According to Isenberg & Jalongo, (2001) four types of learning are promoted through the arts and they are 1) knowledge about the arts 2) skills in the arts 3) dispositions towards the arts and 4) feelings about the arts. As knowledge about the arts is developed through sensory experiences and explorations of materials, children provided with such opportunities to observe, explore and discover about the world, develop their cognitive ability and it further enhances foundation for later learning in the preschool years whereby they use symbols, language and make – believe play develops. Skills in the arts are developed when children are allowed to explore and experiment in a safe and healthy art environment provided with a variety of tools and materials under the guidance of an adult who has already acquired these skills. For example, children creating a paper use the skill of printing, painting, tearing, rolling, and colour mixing. They use their fine motor skills, eye – hand coordination and social interaction skills. Throughout the activity they engage in the process of problem solving as they experiment with colour and texture to create the paper. There is a certain amount of trial and error while they experiment with the tools. Self – expression as children are able to use their own imagination and creativity to express themselves while creating the paper. (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2001) Vygotsky, according to Berk, (2000) viewed children’s cognitive development as a socially mediated process whereby processes and skills are transferred and supported from more knowledgeable adult as children try new tasks. He also believed that as long as children acquire language, their ability to communicate with others leads to changes in thought and behaviour that vary from culture to culture. As such, the third type of learning – dispositions towards art depends on the adult being the role model and the interaction with more competent peers and teachers to support the child to participate successfully in the arts. Providing feedback as stated by Wright, (1991) is part of summative assessment that guides children’s learning and helps them acquire the elements, concepts, forms, and vocabulary about the arts. When children are given opportunities to respond to art works created by others, for example, when they are taken for visits to art galleries and teachers model ways to respond thoughtfully while viewing the works by professional artist children learn to respect the work of others and when teachers value children’s work and display them, these develops their sense of efficacy and enables them to have positive feeling about the arts.

On the other hand, Swanwick, (1998) mentioned that the three elements of play applicable to learning through the arts are mastery, imitation, and imaginative play. Mastery involves learning of a skill associated with an art form for example children learning to make finger puppets for a drama performance or trying to keep to the rhythm while experimenting with a musical instrument during a musical percussion session. Children being able to identify things and people other than themselves as well as learning how to express sympathy, empathy and show concern explains the expressive nature of the art form known as Imitation. Based on my classroom experience, preschoolers making musical sounds for pigs running away from the wolf and moving their bodies to suggest movements of a wolf and expressing through facial expressions as an angry wolf for a drama performance of the story Three Little Pigs are examples of imitation. Imaginative play focuses on the structure of an art form. Examples of imaginative play during the Three Little Pigs drama are when children experiment with different musical instruments until they are able to create the sound that best resembles the pigs running away from the wolf and when experimenting with the different ways as they can move that suggests the movement of the wolf. Swanwick, (1998) also suggests that all three elements of play must be in action for all ages in order to learn through the arts.

Isenberg & Jalongo, (2001) claim that music contributes to the total development of the child – cognitive, physical, social, emotional, cultural and aesthetics. In my centre, we have a music and movement area equipped with a variety of musical instruments like bells, tambourines, triangles etc. Children participate in music and movement activities whereby they move as well as sing along and play musical instruments. Through these activities children develop their large muscles of their bodies as they invent actions to go along with the songs .They develop fine motor skills as they play musical instruments and become aware of beat, tempo, and pitch. These activities also build kinaesthetic intelligence. Gardner, (1973, cited in Isenberg & Jalongo, 1997) Children gain experience with music and use of language as they sing the songs for instance when singing the song ‘If you happy and you know it clap your hands ‘they link words with actions and focus on the sequence and task and all these involves children’s ability to process mentally the tone, rhythm, and melody and thus involves thinking skills and cognitive connections between music and learning. As mentioned by Isenberg & Jalongo , 1997 that Bruner’s three learning stages – enactive, iconic and symbolic suggests developmentally appropriate musical experience for children and they add that Bruner’s enactive stage relates to Piaget’s(1952) sensorimotor stage and Erikson’s (1950) trust-building stage where physical activity and music are intertwined. Thus, musical activities stimulate the children’s senses, cognitive development and also build social relationships. Children’s creativity is enhanced when they are asked to decide on the other actions and movement apart from those suggested by the teacher. As stated by McAllester, (cited in Isenberg & Jalongo, 1997) music encourages participation, sharing and cooperation .Through participating in the musical activities, there is cooperation and sharing when children get together and work with a partner or in a group and these develops their social skills. Music is also an excellent tool to familiarise children with the different culture. When children are given the opportunity to experience and listen to different cultural music, they begin to appreciate and understand what each ethnic group is about.and these develops their aesthetic skills and understand the art form.

Cornett (1999) supports the need for teachers to integrate creative drama in the classroom as she states that drama being a part of everyday life, prepares an individual to connect to real life situations.

Cornett (1999) adds that when children are participating in the drama, they are able to look at problems from different points of view, respect diverse thinking, and realise that there are many ways to settle one problem. She further states that through drama, children learn to exchange feelings and emotions with each other. This enhances their personality development.

Cornett (1999) also states that personal development takes place when children control their body and words as they express ideas and feelings during the drama activities. She also indicated that positive self – image and confidence are developed through the problem solving situations.

Cornett (1999) reiterates that children engaging in situational confrontations during their role play, also become aware of the different emotions people feel for example happiness, sadness .anger, fear. She adds that the children learn that these feelings can be dealt with, thus developing a tolerance towards them.

Isbell & Raines (2007), agree that social skills can be developed in drama as children working in a group overcome difficulties through problem solving skills. They experience working with peers as they negotiate plans to stage the drama. During interactions, children learn to negotiate with each other, work cooperatively, and develop respect for each other.

In my centre, besides the dramatic play in the home corner, my class of four year olds involve in simple puppetry and mask drama using rhymes and children’s stories. Rhymes like ‘This little pig went to market’ are taught to children using puppets and later children retell the rhyme using the puppets. In addition, children take turns to dramatise the rhyme – each child given a mask of a pig (mask designed and made by child), actions like going the market, eating roast beef are incorporated. Puppets and mask are excellent props in focusing children’s attention. Through such activities children are able to participate in dramatic action using the element role, as they pretend to be someone other than themselves. Language is enhanced as they retell rhyme and children are able to express ideas and feelings through dramatic movement. (Isbell & Raines, 2007)

.As mentioned above, experts strongly believe that musical activities and drama enables children to develop their physical, cognitive, social, emotional and aesthetic skills as well as to provide opportunities for development of self – expression, creativity, symbolizing all of which enhances their academic knowledge .There are many opportunities for children to learn and develop skills, knowledge and processes through participation in the arts , as such having discussed the benefits and leaning outcomes of children’s participation in the arts , I strongly believe that the arts is important in the education of preschoolers and all art forms should be integrated into the preschool curriculum with equal emphasis as any other subject in the curriculum.

Learning of children in early ages

Question:

Consider the ways in which children learn to read and write. Illustrate, using Kenner, Al-Khatri, Kwok, Kim and Tsai’s study (2004) how young children pay attention to directionality, shape, size, spatial orientation in producing different writing scripts.

Introduction

It is necessary to encourage the children towards learning since childhood. Motivation towards learning and thinking is important when child is young because at that time, child grabs the thing easily. If child gets training about the importance of learning and practices writing in the early childhood, then it will be beneficial for his rest of life. It is a fact that a child changes in a lot of ways during the years of primary school. These years are so much important to develop a habit of learning and thinking in the child. Cognitive development is necessary to be developed in young children. Cognitive development includes learning skills such as languages, strong memory, planning and paying attention to the work. In these initial years, parents have to play their role. (Australia, 2012)

By the help of different activities, parents can motivate the children towards learning new things. But it is also a fact that training young children is not an easy task. It is neither easy for the parents and nor for the teachers. By the help of various sessions, activities and games, we can encourage children towards learning. Child sometimes faces difficulty in learning different stuffs at a time but with the passage of time, he becomes habitual. In the book, Becoming Biliterate Kenner C. (2004) explains about child’s learning of different languages. He also discusses about different ways by which we can motivate young children to read and write. Furthermore, in the paper, we will look on different ways of teaching children in young ages and also discuss relevant techniques.

Emergent literacy

Term Emergent literacy defines the interaction of young children with books. This term explains that when a children is in the state of learning something and when he is not in a position of writing or reading some stuff. Marie Clay used this term for the first time. Emergent literacy is process that starts from the birth of a child and continues until and unless child trains in writing or reading in a conventional sense. This term is used in the field of psychology, linguistics, sociology and education. (Anon., 2011)Process of reading and writing starts in the young ages of an individual. A child tries to contact with different types of communication from the beginning. It is observed that most of the children starts recognizing different signs and symbols in the age of two or three years. It is because of the fact that every time, their mind is in the state of learning and interacting with different things. As far as this matter is concerned that either the child starts writing first or reading, it varies from child to child. But researches show that most of the children face difficulty in reading during their early ages and start writing quickly.

Issues in the acquisition of literacy

Acquisition of literacy for the young children is not easy. Although, child starts observing all the things by using his five senses but still some guidance is necessary. By the help of guidance and training, child learns the things easily. There are different issues that a child faces in the acquisition of literacy especially in terms of learning second language. Learning of different languages becomes a big problem for young children. In the article, Literacy and Second Language Acquisition: Issues and Perspectives, Weinstein (1984) explains that there is a strong relationship between the acquisition of second language and literacy. Author explains that understanding different languages and learning second language is difficult. (WEINSTEIN, 1984)In another article by Philip and Mikko (2003), it was explained that most of the children in European countries complete their acquisition of language before starting their early school education. English is at the top in the acquisition of languages. Children learn English easily as compared to other languages. (Philip H. K. Seymour, Mikko Aro, Jane M. Erskine, 2003)Another issue that is faced by the children in learning is their mental state. It is not always necessary that mental state of every child is same. Therefore, we cannot apply same strategies for all children. Some children do not grab these thing quickly and to develop the sense of learning in them, it is necessary to apply alternate techniques.

How young children learn different writing systems

There are different writing systems working in the world. It is not necessary that everyone knows all writing systems. Most of the people knows one or two writing systems usually. Talking in terms of learning different writing systems for the children, it is good to trained them in their early ages. For example, if a child is born in Europe and parents want him to become familiar with English writing system, then they have to guide him about English writing alphabets in the early ages. There are basically two types of writing systems. First type is known as alphabets and second type is called as Syllabaries. Both types are divided on various sub divisions. List of major classification is as following.

Consonant alphabets
Abugidas
Alphabets
Syllabaries
Semanto-Phonetic writing systems
Undeciphered writing systems (Anon., 2007)

Now, the question is how young children learn different writing systems? There are different ways by which we can guide young children in learning various writing systems. First way to improve literacy is by teaching Morphemes. Morphemes is a collection of words that consists of different units of meaning. By the help of morphemes, children can easily pronounce the words and spell them. Teaching morphemes is a best way to teach vocabulary to the young children. (Nunes, T., and Bryant, P, 2006, pp. 14) Another way to teach different writing systems to the children is by using cardboard books. Parents can use different pieces of clothes, and cardboard books to teach different alphabets to the children. Colorful pictures can play an important role in attracting the young children towards learning.

Writing different scripts and the design of symbols

For writing a particular language, specific writing system is used. Writing system is usually known as Script. On the other hand, symbols are also used to guide children about languages. Types of scripts are as following.

Script support
Alphabets
Right to left alphabets
Syllabary
Syllabic alphabet
Ideographic script

Depending upon your language style and script, you can teach your child about the language. If we take the example of English writing system, then it is seen that it starts from the left hand side whereas in case of Arabic, script starts from right hand side. So, it is necessary for the parents that they teach child about these basics. Suppose, you are from the Arabic background and make familiar your child with the Arabic writing system, then it is necessary for you to focus on the Arabic writing system. You should select those books and cardboards on which Arabic words are written so that your child starts recognizing these words. Following is an image that tells you about the basic Arabic writing system.

Another way of guiding your child is through symbols. You can teach your child by using different symbols and pictures of something. In the early childhood, child easily understand words by the help of its illustration. Kerner (2004) focused on the illustration of symbols and pictures. (Kenner, C. Al-Khatib, H., Kwok, G., Kam, R. and Tsai, K, 2004, pp. 35),

In this picture, we can see that with all the English alphabets, different pictures are used so that child cane identify the word easily. By the help of symbols and pictures, identification of words become easy.

Embodied knowledge

In order to teach the children to read and writing, actions also play a great role. Education in which body involves actions and knows how to act on something is called as Embodied Knowledge. The best example of this type of knowledge is riding a bicycle. Almost, everyone knows how to ride a bicycle and we do not need to memorize the procedure of riding bicycle. This is a type of knowledge that is automatically imprinted in the mind of an individual. It can be said that embodied knowledge is present in our unconsciousness. Children learn this knowledge by observing the environment. Embodied knowledge is somewhat similar to the Cognitive science.

Conclusion

To conclude the entire discussion, it can be said that parents can play an important role in teaching their child in early years. Young children are quite sensitive and in the early ages, their care is the duty of parents. Parents should teach their child by using techniques and activities. Before sending the child to school, a child should have a basic sense of recognizing and understanding different words and things. So, that he may not face any difficulty in future.

Works Cited
Anon., 2007. Types of writing system. [Online] Available at: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/types.htm [Accessed march 2014].
Anon., 2011. what is emergent literacy?. [Online] Available at: http://www.lincoln.dubuque.k12.ia.us/School-Wide/Literacy/EmergentLiteracy.htm [Accessed march 2014].
Australia, c. o., 2012. About thinking and learning. [Online] Available at: https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/sites/default/files/public/KMP_C3_CDTL_AboutThinkingAndLearning.pdf [Accessed 2014].
Kenner, C. Al-Khatib, H., Kwok, G., Kam, R. and Tsai, K. (2004), Becoming Biliterate: Young Children Learning Different Writing Systems, Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham Books.
Nunes, T., and Bryant, P. (2006), Improving Literacy by Teaching morphemes, London, Routledge.
Philip H. K. Seymour, Mikko Aro, Jane M. Erskine, 2003. Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94(2), p. 143–174.
Seymour, P., Aro, M., and Erskine, J. (2003), Foundation Literacy Acquisition, in British Journal of Psychology, 94: 143-174.
WEINSTEIN, G., 1984. Literacy and Second Language Acquisition: Issues and Perspectives. TESOL Quarterly, 18(3), p. 471–484.

In this essay it is required to choose and evaluate one of the seven learning areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage 2012 (EYFS), as well as including the influences on the making of EYFS (2012) and the principles, beliefs and values that led to the creation of a national framework for early childhood education. These beliefs and values underpin the approaches to learning and teaching in the EYFS. The essay will also include the current practical, theoretical and legislative context; that has given rise to the EYFS.

The specific area of learning that the assignment focusses on is ‘Communication and Language (CL) in the EYFS. In particular how this is supported by the practitioner. In addition I will discuss different theories that influence work with under lives. To conclude, the essay will examine how play and exploration form a crucial part of the principles of the EYFS (2012) as well as observing the part they play in the teaching practice in the setting and how it develops children’s education.

The EYFS (2012) is divided into seven areas, three of which form prime areas of learning; Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Communication and Language. In addition the are four specific areas of learning reformed to as Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. However it is important to remember that each area connects to the other. Underlining the curriculum is believe that develop and learning is holistic. (Martello, 2013)

Moving on to the term curriculum, the general definitions, refers to the course of deeds and experience through which children grow to become mature adults. Kelly (1999) prescribed curriculum of seen in school it is prescriptive, and is based on a more general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard. She mention about curriculum as, ‘All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school (Quoted in Kelly 1983: 10; see also, Kelly 1999).

However Saracho and Spodek (2002) mention that curriculum developers to establish goals, develop experiences, designate content, and evaluate experiences and outcomes. They go on to say that most curriculum developers consistently use such terms as curriculum planning, curriculum development, curriculum implementation, and curriculum evaluation, and many others to describe curriculum related activities.

Moving on to early years curriculum, Bruce (2000) who is a social learning theorist influenced by the work of Froebel, in considering early childhood education, looks at the three parts of the curriculum which are the child (context) the people and places and the content which is what the child knows and wants and needs to know. In consideration of Bruce, Saracho and Spodek theories, Practitioners acknowledges that the best way to prepare children for their adult life is to give them what they need as children. Children are whole people who have feelings, ideas and relationships with others, and who need to be physically, mentally, morally and spiritually healthy; with Bruce Practitioners are contracting the early year’s curriculum by stressing that the context of child’s life is considered play.

At the heart of the EYFS is ‘Play’. The word ‘play’ can come in many definitions but Bruce (2000) suggests that play co-ordinates learning. However, Jennie Lindon (1999) defines play as giving children a range of activities that involve their own interests and the satisfaction that results. The writer believes that this happens in the setting as children are motivated and they feel that they have ownership and control over their play. The practitioner in the setting does not take over the activity because then the activity will stop feeling like play to the children. Bruce2000 and Lindon 1999 both agree that play should be open-ended as well as having the idea that play is a mechanism for the integration of learning; this is especially relevant to what takes place outdoors, and the reason would be for the greater autonomy children have both to direct their learning and to interpret their sensory experiences.

In addition the Early Childhood Education (2012) is usually defined as before the age of normal schooling in other words the term relates to educational programs and strategies geared toward children from birth to the age of eight. This time period is widely considered the most vulnerable and crucial stage of a person’s life. Early childhood education often focuses on guiding children to learn through play. The term often refers to preschool or infant/child care programs. It refers to the formal teaching of young children in the setting outside the home.

Childhood education often focuses on children learning through play, based on the research and philosophy of Piaget (). This belief is centred on the “power of play”. It has been thought that children learn more efficiently and gain more knowledge through play-based activities such as dramatic play, art, and social games. This play theory stems from children’s natural curiosity and tendencies to “make believe”, mixing in educational lessons.

At the setting every day children play in the garden which provides an environment which allows Child A, Child B and Child C to freely explore their feelings, ideas and relationships. It supports their learning as well as developing the use of the natural world that stimulates and shape their play (this is shown in assessment A – Observation one). This helps the writer who is a practitioner considering play and its role in learning to be useful when he can focus on different areas of development while still acknowledging the complete nature of play and that any episode of play would be embracing more than one, and possibly all of the seven educational areas, mentioned above, at the same time.

History

The EYFS 2012 is at the heart of nursery education and now the way forward is in working in partnership with parents. This is presently being practised involving the seven areas set out by the government.

The historical background is located in the new labour’s national childcare strategy. The hope was to create a national framework curriculum for under-fives. It created a framework that replaces the three previous early year’s documents – Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, Birth to Three Matters and National Standards for Under 8s Day-care and Child-minding. These were, in effect, updated to be manageable with common principles that everybody involved in early years will be working towards:

‘The overarching aim of the EYFS is to help young children achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes of staying safe, being healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution, and achieving economic wellbeing.’

(EYFS Statutory Framework, p7)

Setting-

The school is a mixture of cultures and ethnicities, like every other school in Central London. It is a primary school for children three to 11 years and most children who attend live in the surrounding estate. Within the setting there are more children from a Bengali background. In order for observation to be effective it is important to deliver the knowledge in a way that adults and parents can understand and make sense of it.

Curriculum Area Communication and Language – Observations

The curriculum area of development I chose is Commination and Language which is a prime area. I believe that the area works all round and is used in child life regular has being part of them. (See Appendix 2 – Observations)

Piaget () cited in theories of Childhood (2000) describing what I was trying to discourse, that of the mental structures or “schemas” of children as they develop from infants to adults. Piaget () goes on to say that through their interactions with their environment, children actively construct their own understanding of the world. Child A, B and C’s were observed to reflect the development of their logical thinking and reasoning skills in “periods” or stages, with each period having a specific name and age reference. (See Appendix 2 – Observations)

However, according to Vygotsky (year) mention that language is a social concept that is developed through social interactions. He mention on his books about the 20th-centur of Soviet psychologist that, language is acquisition and it involves not only a child’s exposure to words but also an interdependent process of growth between thought and language. His theory of the “zone of proximal development” asserts that teachers should consider a child’s prospective learning power before trying to expand the child’s grasp of language.

I focused on three children in the planning file in assessment A which I outlined the seven main areas of development. I maintained an on-going observation to see how the curriculum is supporting their learning in term of planning activates and implementing and reviewing and evaluation achievements if set targets fail. The EYFS (2012) encourage in working in partnership with parent which help the writer to link the learning and extend the child knowledge and understanding and gives the parents an insight of their child’s progress, in maintain a good relationship with parents as well as enabling the child to develop in the seven areas of EYFS 2012.

Child A was observed in many areas of the school as well as involving all areas of his learning. He is 4 years of age and has shown on-going progress in his learning development. He is now writing and drawing meaningful pictures that are well in his stage of development (See appendix 2 – Observation)

Child A took part in acting out the story that Child B was reading and later this developed in both of them going on to making the own story out of Lego (See Appendix 2 – Observation 1). I done a number of observations on Child A and in his Literacy activity, he has the capacity to explain and write a few words after phonics about the picture he saw. He has good use of sentence to tell us what he drew and what he wrote (See Appendix 2 – Observation 4). As the EYFS (2012) stresses about the particular importance to Communication, Language and literacy, it recognises its important contribution to children’s learning, wellbeing and belonging. (REFaˆ¦http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/58917/factsheet_6_finaltemplate_ready_comm_lang_lit.pdf )

Communication and Language is an important in the role of play. As EYFS identifies children’s ability to communicate ideas, express feelings and share them worth others as one of the seven key areas of development in early years. Young children aged 3-5 are naturally sociable and curious and interested in communicating with other people in a variety of ways including eye contact and developing language. Communication and Language is the fundamental to young children’s learning and development because it is a fundamental aspect of life. It enables the formation of relationship and friendship and exploring feelings. Children learn to communicate in lots of ways, not just through speech, but also using gestures, signing and others bodily expression, creative skills such as drawing dancing and through their play.

Child B is five, she has maintained a steady progress according to her profile and from the observation (See Appendix 2). Child B drew a picture and was able to write her name. she was also able to explain with eqse that the picture was about her best friend.

I had assisted a few of the children with writing the names and finding out which can sound out the letters. Each child was given a name card which had different sahpesaˆ¦..

Child C enjoys playing outside either sitting watching other children playing games and then participates in chasing on another. He also sits to look at books with his friends and likes to point out things of interest. He represented a kite with his hands, attaching a small string to his finger. The Practitioner then helped him to make a real kite which he flew outside (See Appendix 2 _ observation…) In Literacy Child C finds it difficult to understand what sound goes with what pictures, needing more time and practice to help him concentrate to take more care in his understanding skills. Overall he did well.

By observing Child C he displays a lot of symbolic play this goes into developing literacy with good and emergent language portraying his development of representational thoughts. Both literacy and symbolic play require the ability to use words, gestures, or mental images to represent actual objects, events or actions.

Symbolic play is also seen in Child A and B, allowing them to imagine with no objects at all, it is useful for Practitioners to use props and substitute actions of all types, and evokes imaginary situations through words. However Piaget (year) mention that symbolic development are seen in the child’s being able to take on a variety of diverse roles in collaboration with peers, engaging innovatively in fantasy.

The above mentions the importance of the role of planning and assessing which a process is of activates that helps to identify areas of learning like Children A, B and C. as well as moving displaying the children’s next levels. They all have different learning abilities, (as every child is different) by doing observation this gave working Practitioners a clear idea when we do our planning. All children in the setting had an assessment file, which is kept in the record file to monitor areas of concerns and areas of development. In the setting Practitioners need to deliver good quality of support for encouraging learning and the development of play.

Conclusion –

The bases of the conclusion I believe that the EYFS 2012 has been successful in ensuring that there is consistency of care and standards between early years settings, planning across the ages is unified making monitoring easier, good practice is shared with other settings. But the most importing of all is promotion the areas of development that planning for children’s specific needs. This is done by analyzing all the areas of development and the setting can see how each area interlinks with others.

However I gained that including communication and language to be in curriculum for the children needs to be followed and learned to enable good planning and upon looking the type of records of how vital it is to keep these up to date. In the setting it is delivers the EYFS. The curriculum has several millstone that a child’s needs to reach. Children are, monitored has several milestone that child needs to reach all and all practitioners and teachers deliver high quality support for leaning and play.

If I had to change the essay I would have talked about all the areas rather than focusing on one aspect. I also feel that this particular module gave me a greater insight to paper work, like the cycle of observation assessment and planning. By inviting the parents into the setting it is very helpful to get the whole picture of the children. In my opinion, this is proving to be successful as who well know better about the child then the parent.

2,500 Words

Appendix One – Permission slip

The father to Child A gives permission concerning Abdul to take pictures, drawing and any other effects to help him to complete his task. I also give him permission to look at my child’s profile or anything related that he might need to use.

Parent ______________

Abdul Ali

The mother to Child B gives permission concerning Abdul to take pictures, drawing and any other effects to help her to complete his task. I also give him permission to look at my child’s profile or anything related that he might need to use.

Parent ______________

Abdul Ali

The father to Child C gives permission concerning Abdul to take pictures, drawing and any other effects to help him to complete his task. I also give him permission to look at my child’s profile or anything related that he might need to use.

Parent ______________

Abdul Ali

—————————————————————————————————————-

I __________ Mentor for Abdul at the school, give him the permission to take a serious of observation on Child A, B and C to complete his task.

Teacher ____________

Abdul Ali

Appendix Two – Observations

Play is the most important part of the childs development. Play allows the children to enhance their physical development, psychosocial development and cognitive development. Most parents see cartoons with their children as a way to help their child learn. I have watched many children’s television programs like blue’s clues, the go show, and Dora the explorer, to understand how these television programs help in children and baby’s development. I chose the Dora the explorer cartoon show to enhance my understanding about the child development. Dora the explorer is an animated children’s television show. Dora the explorer show programmed to engage preschooler activities in a play-along, computer-style adventure. Dora the explorer is an example of physical development. Physical development focuses on the physical growth and the development of both gross motor skills (e.g. Walking, jumping) and fine motor skills (e.g. Finger movements, eye coordination) control over the body. Dora the explorer on-screen character talking with the child encourages the child to take part, label objects, songs and dance actions allow for movements with control and coordination. ” Dora the explorer” animated also influences the cognitive development theory, cognitive theory is a change and stability in mental ability such as learning, thinking, and memory. The Dora the Explorer allows the children to think of a way to get out and to get to their destination, so this helps children gaining knowledge and solving problems in daily life, which enhances their memory capability. Television provides the children with a valuable tool at home for great learning. Another theory is influences psychosocial development by Erik Erikson to get through the idea of personality. Watching and learning from on screen shows allow children to gain knowledge of social learning; this enhances their self-esteem, learning about the culture and society and teaches them how to interact with people. Cartoons also use expressions that allow children to copy and apply in daily life. Learning new expressions from play allows children how and when to show the emotions. These allow the children to encourage self-awareness about the world around them. The play is very essential for child development.

Reading books to young children is the best way to promote language development and language skills like speaking, reading, and listening. Book reading is good for a child’s development to gain imagination. Reading books to children at home can encourage their reading skills. Books should have something like shapes, short stories, pictures, bright colors that children will find interesting, enjoyable, and fun. This will help develop a sense of reader appreciation. When children have books in their home, they are more likely to sit down and read them. Parents can and should encourage an appreciation for reading (Elrod, n.d). When reading a book to children the reader needs to keep few things in mind for best results. The books you choose for the children need to be short and simple, attractive, use appropriate language, speak clearly, slowly, and use the expression, as some children learn verbally and some non- verbally. Reading books to children that influence the social learning theory by Albert’s bandura. “In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways” (McLeod, 2011). Children learn many different ways; some learn quickly by visibly, for example, books that got colors, picture, and shapes with it and some learn verbally, for example- imitating the expression and words. Using various techniques to enhance language development, tunes of the voice and getting them to turn the page that influences the theory of positive reinforcement. If imitated behaviors and consequence are satisfying so the child is likely to perform behaviors. If parents are encouraging and giving them positive feedback, then the behavior is likely to repeat as it provides the child with strengths. Simply using the booking reading tools at home helps them learn.

Children are very sensitive. We need to handle them with care. So far, the information I have gained through the education of play and language development of babies, and children provided me with a greater understanding that could influence my future practice as a health professional. Skills that I have gained from the knowledge of reading books to children are to create an environment that allows children to understand their personality, which will help children to be more interactive. As a health professional, I build a warm and open environment for children to feel secure. In order to achieve my nursing practice, I need to use or put the techniques in my practice, and they are distractions, communication, and education. Have a conversation with children for example- about their favourite show, asking questions with slow pace and allowing them to answer and educating them for being healthy. This will enhance their understanding while mine. The use of distraction techniques in my practice can enable me to complete a difficult task with children like taking medicine; I can get the child to act like a super hero and be strong and asking them to stand straight like a strong soldier. These skills can help me to build a trust and a relationship when I am working or handling kids. Building a relationship creates an environment where children feel secure take risks.

In my conclusion, “play is a cherished part of childhood that offers children important developmental benefits and parents the opportunity to engage fully with their children”. Thus Influences children and babies physical development, cognitive development and psychosocial development. Play allows children to learn new things and to understand the world around them. Reading books is another important aspect to enhance their development. Reading books to children will help children gain language skills. I have gained many skills that can be relevant or may influence my nursing practice as a health professional .The knowledge of children and babies about their play and book reading. I learned many techniques that will make my nursing practice easier when I have to assess children and babies. Distractions, communicating techniques are helpful in nursing practice. Communicating with children about their favorite shows and asking them questions. Thus, all knowledge I have gotten of the play and book helpful.

Initially, this essay illustrates the importance of play by describing its categories. Play theories are briefly demonstrated and divided into classical and contemporary ones. Thereafter, it mentions the characteristics of language through the theories of two highly respected scientists, Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget, in order to understand the correlation between language and play development. It also illustrates the existence of nine basic communication skills and why non-verbal and verbal communication is so important. Moreover, this essay analyzes research which explains the direct relation between play, language and communication. Through detailed references, the idea that the role of play is salient in a child’s development is supported. Next it illustrates the importance of finger, mime and rhyme play to explain that even the most common games possess a significant role in language and communication development. Last but not least, it analyzes how play reinforces the literacy development and finally demonstrates the opinion of the writer.

The Importance of Play

Arguably, play is a vital part of children’s development which has many implications in their lives. Despite the difficulty of referring to a commonly accepted definition, play is a vital part of the developing child (Sheridan & Howard & Aldelson, 2011). It is a fundamental action which occurs throughout children’s lives and is divided into two categories, free play and structured play. To be exact, free play is an action where the child can choose the rules and the form of play, without the participation and the engagement of an adult. Hence, the child becomes the leader of play (Tassoni & Hucker, 2000).

Moreover, many researchers have claimed that free play offers more educational opportunities to children. Whereas structured play is defined as an action which is directed by adults and limits children’s learning potentials. Adults are protagonists and possess a primary role in this type of play. For this reason, Thomas, Howard and Miles proved by a study they conducted, that free play, in other words playful mode play, is capable of fostering children’s ability to learn. They state that through this mode children’s communication is benefited, because playfulness creates the ability to enhance various types of behaviors. As a result, educational settings use the playful method to foster children’s language and communication development (McInnes & Howard & Miles & Crowley, 2009).

It is of importance to mention that there are play theories which are separated into two categories, classical and modern theories of play. In particular, classical theories consist of the Surplus Energy Theory, Recreational or Relaxation Theory, Pre-exercise Theory and the Recapitulation Theory of play (Sheridan & Howard & Aldelson, 2011 & Stagnitti, 2004 & Tassoni & Hucker, 2000). Modern theories concluded by the Arousal Modulation Theories of Play, the Psychodynamic Theories of Play, the Cognitive Developmental Theories of Play and the Sociocultural theories of Play. The last category is divided into two sub-categories which are the Play as Socialization and the Metacommunicative Theory (Stagnitti, 2004). Moreover, there are five types of play, which are cited as physical play, play with objects, symbolic play, socio-dramatic/pretence play and games with rules (Whitebread, 2012).

The above five types of play help children to expand their abilities not only in the language and communication domain, but also in the physical, cognitive, social and emotional domain (Sheridan & Howard & Aldelson, 2011). According to the constant evolution of language and communication, play and its benefits in this domain must be analyzed in depth, in order to evaluate children’s developmental potentials through play.

Language and Communication

Language is a strong communication tool (Moyles, 1989) which fosters children’s abilities. Through language we can live the past again, evaluate the future and use this vital tool when we face complex situations (Crain, 2000). Also, many developmental theorists have tried to explain, how children adopt primal abilities as they grow up and some of them, have given special emphasis to the language and communication development and how it is related to play. They have evaluated children’s development from birth to adulthood.

Vygotsky, who was characterized as the ‘Mozart of Psychology’ (Gray & MacBlain, 2012, p.85), claimed in his social constructivism theory, that language is the cultural tool which facilitates the processes of thinking and learning. It was his firm belief that children must comprehend language, in order to interact in the society. Hence, according to Vygotsky, play and language are interrelated (Moyles, 2005). Due to the fact that through play children master communication skills, they interpret the use of objects and imitate the attitudes and the habits of adults (Gray & MacBlain, 2012). In addition, he stated that children gain knowledge when they participate in social communication and consequently, they adopt new meanings. Therefore, according to Vygotsky, children act in the zone of proximal development (Whitebread, 1996), which means that every child has limited potential when accomplishing an activity but he can expand his skills with suitable help (Lindon, 2001).

However, another respected scientist Piaget did not lay emphasis, as Vygotsky did, on the importance of language during children’s development. Piaget stated that language mechanism is used by the young child only to express some basic satisfactions and not to foster more complex functions such as thought and logic (Gray & MacBlain, 2012). Furthermore, Piaget’s opinions did not promote children’s abilities; instead he undervalued them, by applying activities that were too complex for children competence (Whitebread, 1996). On the contrary, some scientists argue that children’s thought, starts to function logically as they learn how to use language. This happens because language skills are difficult for children to assimilate, but when this gradually occurs, logic develops (Crain, 2000). Nevertheless, Piaget did not support the above notion by mentioning that logic derives from actions (Gray & MacBlain, 2012).

On the grounds that language is an integral part of communication, it is important to pinpoint some of the skills that children develop in this domain. In other words there are nine basic communication skills.

Initially, children learn to request reinforcement, to request assistance, to accept and reject offers. Furthermore, they respond to the order ”wait” or ”no”, they respond to directions, follow a schedule and finally they are able to make a transition from one place to another (Frost & Bondy, 2002). For instance, when children pretend to be a patient in a hospital, they learn when they have to wait their turn in order to be examined by the doctor and they give orders such as ”wait”, “stay”, “come”.

Communication is a complex function. Before the emergence of words, children can communicate adequately before adopting language production and language comprehension (Sheridan & Sharma & Cockerill, 2008). The above aspect describes the non-verbal communication type which is very important. Newborn babies communicate non-verbally to express their needs. Facial expressions, body language, proto-sounds and perception of feelings are the attributes of non-verbal communication (Whitehead, 1999).

Hence, adults start to communicate with children initially non-verbally and eventually verbally. Research proves that conversation between children and adults which contains a large number of open questions is essential because children have the opportunity to respond to spoken language. In other words, when children feel that they are active participants in an adult-child conversation, they feel playful which is salient for the development of language (Howard & McInnes, forthcoming).

Fostering Language and Communication Skills through Play

To begin with, studies have proved that there is a strong connection between language and play. A research which was conducted in Japan in 1989, showed remarkable signs that play and language are strongly correlated. Specifically, the four children who participated in this research were observed twenty times each in a free play mode, where the adults had a passive role. The intention of the study was to analyze early language development and play development (Ogura, 1991). Thus, six features of language were illustrated in order to analyze the findings better. These were the emergence of first words, naming words, vocabulary spurts, word-chains, nonproductive two word utterances and the emergence of productive two-word utterances (Ogura, 1991 p.278). Furthermore, this research divided play into thirteen subcategories. The findings showed that children managed to obtain the ability of naming words because they had been involved in preverbal communication. Also, children began to name objects when the conventional naming act category of play appeared. Furthermore, words and sounds have a strong relationship with each other. It was proved that children through the functional relational manipulation play and the container relational manipulation play, managed to adopt the above important function and the production of first words as well. Moreover, it was stated that early language development is related to subsitutional play. Also, this study illustrated that the environment plays a major role in the development of symbolic play. As a result, language is influenced by social interaction. Moreover, children’s vocabulary spurts appeared in subsitutional play. Word-chains appeared when pretend doll play, subsitutional play and pretend other play took place during the observations. In addition, the fifth language category appeared with planned play and combinatorial symbolic play. The last language category was related to planned play (Ogura, 1991). Undoubtedly, this paper shows the unique interrelation between language development and play.

Researchers evaluated the connection between symbolic play with play materials and symbolic play with play situation. Firstly, during children’s play with unstructured play materials, they found that children who are at the age of three to four could imitate the activities of adults. However, in structured play children were able not only to imitate but also to engage slightly in role play. At the age of four to five children’s unstructured play evolved and they started to express questions and ideas with the mediate tool of spoken language. On the contrary, in structured play they used more conversation. This study showed that in the first type of play children at the age of five to six used their body language and voice to clarify a situation. Also, both in structured and unstructured play, children preferred to play in groups of their own gender. We can notice that structured materials are better for younger children because they do not put limitations on their ideas while playing. In other words, younger children need to enhance their expressive ideas by playing with structured play materials to be adequately prepared for school (Umek & Musek, 2001).

At the same time, symbolic play related to play situation showed that phonetic imitation (Umek & Musek, 2001, p.61) is promoted and that at the age of four children use social speech. Moreover, they use social markers, in order to speak like adults (Ervin-Tripp, 1973). Later, at the age of five children use metacommunication in their play. Metacommunication is very important because children can discuss play. They stop in order to negotiate the next step of the game. Indeed, it promotes dialogue among peers. It is very important because it can be used as scaffolding to children’s language development (Andersen, 2005). According to this study, metacommunication levels are higher when children are older. Moreover, the same study proposes that it is better and more helpful for children to play in mixed groups rather than in groups with members of their own age. Hence, children can play in the zone of proximal development. Therefore, they foster their language and communication skills. Again, this study shows us that play which is dependent on materials or situation is correlated with language development.

Apart from the above studies there are play activities which enhance language and communication skills. For instance, children are benefited by mime because they develop an alternative thought. This occurs by observing various children demonstrating their thoughts. Consequently, they can think of more complex situations and they are able to express their ideas with enriched vocabulary. Furthermore, finger play helps children with the counting process (Woodard & Milch, 2012). Moreover, rhymes can provide many opportunities for children to enhance their language skills. According to a study, rhyme awareness helps children to recognize phonemes which are very important for reading skills. The sensitivity to rhyme enables children to group words together with the same spelling features (Bryant & MacLean & Bradley & Crossland, 1990).

Play Fosters Literacy

Vygotsky evaluated the role of make-believe play in children’s development and he argued that literacy is enhanced by play. He describes that children initially act spontaneously when they play, and the process of learning happens with their will. On the contrary, when children go to school they must change their behaviors to a planned and a structured environment. Vygotsky stated that make-believe play is the important mediate tool for children to adopt written language and to succeed in school (Roskos & Christie, 2007).

Furthermore, drawing is considered to be a necessary play for children. Research has shown that children can expand their ‘graphic vocabularies’ and they can represent their meanings, which means that through drawing communication is enhanced (Whitebread, 2012). Besides, Vygotsky’s research has shown that drawings in early childhood are connected with the ability of writing and spoken language, which means that the meaning of children’s drawings is not only the drawing as a picture but the drawing as an expressive tool of their thoughts (Roskos & Christie, 2007).

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning, that in children’s play the repetition and the renaming of play materials fosters the ability of the direct relation between words and the objects they portray. The above function is called metalinguistic awareness and it has been proved that it is necessary for written language (Roskos & Christie, 2007 p.193).

Conclusions

It is clear, therefore, that the above essay illustrates the direct correlation between play, language and communication. Despite the fact that it has been proved that play fosters the learning process, there are still opponents of this view, who state that formal learning strategies are better than playful approaches. However, this essay contradicts the notion of formal learning methods by supporting the theory, that play does enhance language and communication by citing adequate bibliography to prove it. Children can reach high standards in the learning process of language because during play they are motivated and are not possessed by the feeling of fear (McInnes et al., 2009).

To sum up, due to the fact that play has been decreased in school settings, it is salient to ensure that play must exist in preschool and in the first school years of a child, because “a child is always above his average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself” (Roskos & Christie, 2007, p.199).