Tapestry, our online learning journey system, has just been updated to include analysis of EYFS progress, Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoEL) and other features. More information here.

Professor Nutbrown's response to 'More Good Childcare'

If you have not yet seen Professor Nutbrown's respone to the report issued by Elizabeth Truss then find it here and join in discussions about its content.

Revised safeguarding guidance for professionals working with children - find it here and join in discussions about its content.

New Local Authority Members. We're delighted to inform you that  Central Bedfordshire and Derby City LA have joined the FSF Local Authority subscription scheme. Ealing, Somerset, Warwickshire, Slough, Rochdale, Oldham, Lincolnshire and Cornwall  have renewed for a second year.  West Sussex are renewing for a 3rd year.  A special welcome back for Kingston Upon Thamesand Herefordshire who have just renewed for a 4th year. We are especially pleased that  Guernsey, Norfolk, Windsor & Maidenhead, Reading, Darlington, Portsmouth City, Kent, Wigan, Cumbria, Northumberland and Leicestershire have just renewed for a 5th Year; and a great big welcome back to Derbyshire and Wandsworth, Middlesbrough, LB of Barnet, Northamptonshire, Hartlepool, and LB of Richmond renewing for the 6th year! Lastly welcome back to your friends in Essex, Leicestershire ,East Sussex, Southampton, Brighton and Hove and Worcestershire renewing for the 7th year, great to have you back again.  Delighted to report Sandwell, Suffolk, Hampshire, Birmingham and Bracknell Forest are back again renewing for their 8th year!  If you work in any of these authorities and would like to take out a free subscription, please click here. Current members from these authorities need do nothing: their account subscriptions will automatically be renewed. To find out more about the LA subscription scheme please feel free to contact us by email.

New Apr 25th, 2013

Aspects of Art: Textiles

Here is the fourth in our series on Art in the Early Years. This time the focus is on Textiles. Fabric is a big part of children’s lives. They wear it, they sleep under it and they sit on it. The familiarity of textiles is what makes them so much fun to explore with young children, encouraging them to look closer, ask questions and use fabrics in new and unusual ways. Some children might be interested in the textures of fabrics, brocades and lace. Others might want to investigate patterns and colour on fabric. Or children might enjoy manipulating textiles, weaving and stitching and knotting. Any textile project in the early years will become embellished with the children’s interests as they learn more about the fabric around them.

New Apr 19th, 2013

A Guide for EYP Work-based Mentors

Ruksana Mohammed outlines an effective framework of support to EYPS candidates through the work-based mentor. Her suggestions, however, would be of great use to anyone supporting students on a variety of courses, for example Foundation Degrees, and the upcoming Early Years Teacher courses starting September 2013. Ruksana is the EYPS Programme Leader and a Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at the University of East London.

New Mar 1st, 2013

Thinking Approaches for the Reflective Professional

Our aim as professionals is to achieve better outcomes for children, families and the community. We want to provide effective learning experiences for the children in our care, and strive for continuous quality improvement, but also want to ensure personal and professional development. With this shared understanding and vision of the early years, reflection, through adopting certain thinking approaches, is the tool that supports us to achieve this. Ruksana Mohammed, Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at the University of East London identifies some effective processes we can adopt to develop our skills of reflection.

New Feb 13th, 2013

Aspects of Art: Printing

We continue our series on Art in the early years with a closer look at printing.

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Featured article: What's critical about critical thinking?

Starting any form of Higher Education is a huge leap for most practitioners and along with the general concerns about issues like time management and referencing there is also a requirement to get to grips with what the lecturers mean when they use specific terminology. The request to think critically, or demonstrate critical thinking, is the essence of Higher Education (University of Canberra, n.d.) and in my experience of teaching on a foundation degree in early years for over 8 years, it causes students a lot of confusion. This is often because it is likely to have a specific meaning in academic circles, which is not related to how it is used in everyday life. Study skills books don't always seem to help clarify the issue with definitions such as:

"Critical thinking is the art of thinking about thinking while thinking in order to
make thinking better" (Paul and Elder, 2006, p.xvii),

which seem to suggest that critical thinking can be a complex and difficult matter.

Concerned about how to help our students, my colleagues and I embarked upon a project to identify the thinking skills, we believe, combine to create a 'critical thinker' on our type of course.

(Read more) (Subscribing members article)

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Featured article: Attachment Theory and the Key Person Approach

It is widely agreed among psychoanalysts that a bond between an infant and an adult who is special to them is central to a child's well-being. This is known as Attachment Theory. The concept was explored in depth by John Bowlby in his ‘Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis' from the 1940s to the 1970s, in which he claimed that an early attachment to the mother was vital for a child's emotional stability. This was expanded by Mary Ainsworth and her observations of toddlers left in an unfamiliar room with a stranger, known as the ‘Strange Situation' study. Faults in both studies have been highlighted and unravelled by subsequent psychoanalysts, and Attachment Theory has been buffeted by changing social expectations. In spite of this, Bowlby's research is recognised as the foundation for our understanding of the centrality of making secure attachments in infancy. More recently, Elinor Goldschmied and others have pioneered the Key Person Approach, which advocates the forming of special relationships between adults and children in the nursery setting. As the rising numbers of working parents continue to demand good quality childcare, the Key Person Approach is designed to bring the building of individual relationships into group care.

The Phases of Attachment

Attachment is a process rather than something that happens overnight. There are three clear phases of attachment: Pre-attachment, Attachment in the Making, and Clear Cut Attachment. These describe the majority of relationships between infant and main carer and generally lead to a securely attached child.

Pre-attachment refers to the first few weeks of life, when a newborn baby shows no definite preference for a particular person, but instinctively begins to hold their carer close by crying, gripping with their hands and making firm eye contact.

Attachment in the Making is the phase from six weeks to six months, during which a baby smiles, imitates, tells the difference between familiar and unfamiliar faces and shows a preference for their main carer. In turn, the main carer, usually the mother, often responds instinctively and with sensitivity to signals from her baby. Svanberg explains that this is known as ‘mind-mindedness or mindfulness...the ability to put yourself into the baby's head and work out what he is thinking' (p.7).

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