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Articles Teaching and Learning

Cross-phase articles about teaching and learning

106 articles in this category

    All children are different because each brings different experiences into the setting but this individuality and diversity is in itself a great opportunity for children to learn to value each other and to appreciate their own special distinctivenes…
    Early reading and Phonics expert Emma Spiers takes a closer look at pre-phonics, and the importance of building a strong foundation for future phonics learning.
    What children need in settings is a chance to spend quality time with an adult, with reading material that excites the children’s interests, in a space that is inviting.  
    Child development is essential knowledge for everyone working in early years. It helps everything make sense and it enables better practice in supporting children; you know what is right for the child, you understand them and their individual needs…
    The use of milestones in the form of development checklists do not take on the individuality of each child. They are generic and imply that all children go through the sequential process. This article aims to introduce the concept of individuality of…
    This is the first article in what will be a series examining questions such as ‘What are next steps?’, ‘Who decides which next steps are appropriate?’, ‘What is the best way to record next steps?’ and ‘How often should next steps be reviewed?’
    Many of the FSF members follow Alistair Bryce-Clegg's blog and have attended his very popular presentations. Following a discussion here about his innovative 'objective-led planning', we invited Alistair to explain this approach.
    Planning for individual children is a statutory requirement.   However, such plans do not have to be written down.  A skilful practitioner is making several hundred “in the moment” plans every day.   
    The natural beginnings of written mathematics start within children's imaginative play. In this article, Maulfry Worthington describes children's mathematical graphics; children's own mathematical marks and representations, and gives examples colle…
    We all know that feeling of starting something new: a bit excited, probably quite anxious about where everything is and what is expected of us, worried about not knowing people, the nervous butterflies in the stomach that can range from a flutter t…
    Quality Early Years practice comes from an understanding of child development and also a belief that children should play the principle role in leading their learning. What we do and how we do it is built on centuries of theory, research and succes…
    If you would like to know more about how collecting evidence can support your reflective practice, or if you would like to explore the different research methods you can use in your setting, this is the article to read!  Being familiar with researc…
    This article is the first in a series looking at Reflection and its role in Early Years Practice. In this paper we focus on the theory of reflection, what the potential benefits may be and what it requires of practitioners.  This series of art…
    What exactly are schemas, and how useful are they in providing the right learning environment for our very young children? This article brings together various definitions of schemas, followed by a brief description of named schemas and a discussion …
    Having worked with children with speech, language and communication difficulties for twenty five years I am constantly surprised when I meet typically developing pre-school children with whom I can hold complex conversations.  Children who are abl…
    Why has ‘risk-taking’ become such a negative concept in children’s lives – or used so loosely as to defy any purpose or definition? ‘Challenging play’ and ‘adventurous play’ are considered acceptable and essential – but ‘risky play’ causes much con…
    As teachers, we are constantly making decisions. Choosing how to respond, to the events in any given day, is never a neutral undertaking. Our decisions have impact on not only our own experience, but also that of the children we teach and the commun…
    Natalie Bent and Denhue Harris share their reflections and ideas about why we need to nurture STEM in our early years settings.
    Drawing is an activity that most young children enjoy and there is much evidence to show how it can offer them a powerful means of communicating their ideas, experiences and feelings. In this article, Exeter PhD student Emese Hall tells us about her …
    You could be forgiven for thinking that outdoor play is a relatively new phenomenon, driven by The National Trust (2016) and their ‘50 Things to do before you’re 11¾’ project.  Children and being outside seems to be a recurrent theme in the media a…
    Mark making has an important place in the development towards children's understanding of standard symbolic languages, for example mathematics and writing. This article discusses children's mark making with reference to practice and pedagogy parti…
    It comes up on the FSF sufficiently often that I have begun to wonder if we, in early years, are perhaps looking for ‘an answer’ – the Next Step ‘Holy Grail’ as it were. Sensibly, we all know that there cannot be an answer, children are all different…
    This article is the second in the series looking at Reflection and its role in Early Years Practice. Reflection is a cyclical process. It isn’t something we ‘finish', we will always be seeking new information and new perspectives about some part o…
    This article will focus on the need for early years practitioners to develop their knowledge of reflective thinking. It will focus on some of the history and theory of reflective practice considering and discussing how theory can help develop practi…
    I’m fascinated by children’s behaviour and the possible reasons behind it.  It can be tempting to just look at what’s on the surface (the behaviour we see) and ignore what’s happening underneath (the underlying causes) but this only leads to short …