Guest Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hi Was wondering if anyone could help me. Am writing an assignment at the moment and part of it involves the new EYFS. I know we are supposed to implement a balance of child initiated and adult led activities but am struggling to fing the actual written reference to this in the EYFS documentation. Like so many things in childcare "someone said we have to do this" but actually pinning down who said it / where this originated from can be challenging. If anyone can enlighten me I would be very grateful. Sally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 (edited) Page 7 of the EYFS Practice Guidance (May 2008 version) states:- 1.19 The EYFS requires providers to ensure a balance of child-initiated and adult-led play-based activities. Providers should use their judgement and their knowledge of the children in their care in deciding what the balance should be. When a child engages in a self chosen pursuit, this is childinitiated activity. For example, a child might elect to play with a fire engine – fitting the driver behind the steering wheel, extracting the driver, replacing the driver, throwing the driver back into a box and introducing a different driver. Another instance of a child-initiated choice may be where a child takes ownership of an activity and ‘subverts’ it to a different purpose than intended. For example, a child might prefer to pour water into a hole to make a puddle rather than watering the plants as the adult intended. Other child-initiated activities may be instigated when the child brings something to the setting – such as an experience of having been on a bus or visiting hospital. This might lead to the provision of resources, stories and pictures to support this interest. Whatever children bring is an indication of their current interest and should be supported. 1.20 Small group times are good example of an adult-led activity – the adult has selected the time to encourage a particular aspect of learning, or discuss a particular topic. The adult may introduce a particular material, skill or idea. Often when an adult initiates an activity, for example demonstrates the skill of weaving, the child’s need for adult involvement will decrease over time as they master the skill. You can download a PDF of the documents by clicking here - and once you save it to your computer you can do a search within the document - the above text was the first instance of 'initiated' in the practice guidance document. Makes it much easier to check when someone tells you that the EYFS says you have to do something! Maz Edited February 16, 2009 by HappyMaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hi Maz You are a life saver - thank you for that. I have looked at my EYFS book and it is one of the first ones out - not your May edition- and isn`t the same as you have quoted so this would seem to be why I was struggling. I will go to the link you included and look at that as it is definately what I have been searching for. This forum is wondeful - without help here I would have been struggling for ages and this assignment is hard enough without more challenges! Sally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I have looked at my EYFS book and it is one of the first ones out - not your May edition- and isn`t the same as you have quoted so this would seem to be why I was struggling. I know what you mean about looking through the book - it can be hard to find what you're looking for (and I even have trouble deciding whether I need to look in the Statutory Framework or the Practice Guidance! ). And the wordsearch facility in the PDF is just fab! Good luck with the assignment! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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