Jules

Who are observations really for? In Part 1 of this miniseries about observations in Early Years I explored when it can be best to document an observation. This next part will focus on the question ‘who are observations really for?’ With the third and final part of the series examining if there really is such a thing as a ‘right’ number of observations to collect on an individual child. Observations are one of the most important parts of being an Early Years Educator. They are a fundamental part of any Early Years Educator qualification and there is an expectation that all staff know how to complete them, but how often do we reflect on why we collect them? When working in Early Years we are ‘programmed’ to collect observations: we spot a moment that we consider to be ‘observation worthy’ and can end up robotically working through our methodical observation, recording and assessment process. Over recent years I’ve seen observations from many different settings and from a wide range of educators and they all follow a similar format: photo / videos + a description of what took place + assessment against a developmental framework + evaluation of a child’s well-being and involvement against the LEUVEN scales (links to more information on these at the end too). For the purpose of this however I want to dig deeper into the first two parts of an any observation - the use of photos / videos and the written description. In Part 1 of this miniseries we reflected on whether it’s easiest to get photos / videos ‘in the moment’ and write the narrative part and / or assessment later or not. The answer to that could be influenced by considering who the observation is actually for. There are several different possible target audiences for an observation. Are observations meant to be memories for the children? We all have those photo albums from when we were children that are brought out during family events, so if we are wanting to create a record of a child’s learning journey through Early Years, does part of this have to include memories from their childhood? This could be where videos play a key role - a video can make a memory come alive, they can convey the engagement and joy in ways a photo or written observation can struggle to. This isn’t to say the written narrative is not important, however. There are some brilliant ways you can include a written observation to bring alive the moment and to make the child feel at the heart of the journey, even when they look back in the future. Learning stories, originally developed by Margaret Carr and Wendy Lee, for example are a wonderfully rich way of writing the narrative observation (see the further reading at the end for more information), but very briefly they are written to the children directly, as a narrative of their experiences in an objective way, for example “you played with the blocks and built…” rather than “child A was playing with the blocks and building…”. Are observations for the families? Observations being gathered for the families themselves links to the previous idea of them being created as a journey of memories for the children, except rather than them being documented for the child to look back on in the future, they are provided as a way for the family to see a child’s engagement, learning and development in the present. They are also really important to enable families to ensure their children are happy in your setting, not just as evidence of their development. They can be used to demonstrate to parents / carers how you are supporting their well-being, especially when a child is new or struggling emotionally. When documenting an observation for a parent / carer, try and think about it from their point of view; would you rather see photos / videos of your child with an accompanying story of their learning as previously discussed? For observations that are aimed to provide both the child and their family with a memory for them to enjoy there is a really important question we must consider. Is assessment of these observations really necessary? These ‘wow moments’ could be included without being linked to any assessment framework. If this is the case, should we complete and share these observations immediately with parents / carers, in as close to real time as we can? It could be argued that this is particularly pertinent in the PVI sector where parents are not just our partners but also customers. Therefore we need to consider should we be providing observations as evidence of the experiences of their children in our care and to evidence the quality of the service the parents / carers are paying for? Are observations documented for assessment purposes? It is easy to feel pressured to document observations as supporting evidence for baseline / summative assessments. This pressure can be our own internal pressure to justify the impact of the teaching and learning we are providing for our own key-children or can come externally from leaders and managers, the need for external moderation or visits from external organisations such as your local Early Years team or Ofsted. Despite the current rhetoric, both now and ahead of the EYFS reforms effective from September 2021, that the collection of data and documentation is less important than previously, does it really feel that way on the ground? When reflecting on who observations are for and how many we should document it is important to consider how our observations help us. They are a prompt to remind us what a child can do, about the teaching and learning experiences they have had and they support us to understand where a child is on their developmental journey. They also help us to get to know a child and they help to build up a picture of the child for all adults. With that in mind, there is one last question to consider regarding observations. ‘Is there a right number?’. Can there be too many? What number is too few? And should each child have an equal amount? I will explore this in the 3rd and final part of this miniseries of observation in Early Years. Finally, in reflection on Part 2, it is probably the case that observations should be documented for a combination of audiences, factoring in all of the above. An observation made for the purpose of assessment could still provide a memory for a child and their families, for example. It is however vital we consider who the target audience is when we evaluate how we are documenting an observation as there are multiple different ways of collecting evidence and the why we are collecting it definitely has a BIG impact on the how.

Parents and carers who do not engage with services are often referred to as ‘hard to reach’. Though the term is not intended as judgemental, it does imply that these families are ‘difficult customers’. Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in the London Borough of Newham decided to put this notion to question. Julian Grenier, Headteacher of Sheringham, tells us, “We noticed that most of the families of children with SEND were staying away from our Children’s Centre. They only came into contact with us when their child was due to start nursery or reception. We had to think about what we were offering. Perhaps it was our services that were ‘hard to reach’? If you have a young child with SEND, you might not want to come to Stay and Play because it’s too busy or distressing for your child. It could also be that you’re fearful of how other parents or professionals might respond to you?” Some children were starting at Sheringham with a high level of need and developmental delay. Opportunities for early assessment and support were being missed. The families that would most benefit from early help services were slipping through the net. ‘Buttercup Group’ came about as an intervention aimed at addressing this problem. Its entire focus is to provide a setting that is suited to the individual child: being able to fit in or not fit in does not feature. (The term parents is used in its broadest sense throughout, referring to the child’s main care-givers.) Getting started The Buttercup team is led by Sue Cox, former head of a children’s centre. Althea Dove is the Speech and Language therapist and Marie Da Silva and Hazra Patel are the Family Support workers from the Children’s Centre team. The group functions in partnership with parents: this underlines all their work. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) reported in 2018: ‘parents play a crucial role in supporting their children’s learning, and levels of parental engagement are consistently associated with better academic outcomes. Evidence suggests that effective parental engagement can lead to learning gains of +3 months over the course of a year’. Where there is a language barrier other staff or family members are asked to translate, or an interpreter is booked. The parents are encouraged to enrol on classes to learn English (ESOL) when their children start their nursery placement. Initial discussions with parents made it clear that they needed a quieter group with appropriate equipment. They also wanted access to a specialist who could give them support and advice. Thus, Buttercup evolved as a small Stay and Play session, catering for just six children and running on a six-weekly programme. Sue points out, “A time-limited programme ensures that no-one is on a waiting list for more than a few weeks. We use our professional judgement to decide if longer participation would be helpful.” Work preliminary to attending the group Home visiting is the first thing. Sue explains, “We use this time to listen to what the family says about their child’s needs. This includes any cultural or religious perceptions of special needs and disabilities.” It is an important time to start nurturing a trusting relationship with the child and family. The EEF recommends that schools and early years providers should ‘consider offering regular home visits for younger children with greater needs. This can be an effective approach for parents that struggle to attend meetings in settings, and for building relationships.’ This works with Buttercup as every family visited has engaged with the programme. The next step is to collaborate with the family on outlining the child’s priorities and needs. These are addressed using an Early Help Record (EHR). This is written with the family, and focuses on family strengths and needs in relation to supporting the child’s health, early learning and emotional wellbeing. The EHR includes practical strategies that the family can try at home. The Family Support Workers follow these up regularly and offer additional support if needed. Further support is also offered through home visits. The group sessions The primary focus of the group is on children’s communication. The partnership with the Speech and Language Therapy service is, therefore, critical. For the large majority of children, difficulties in communication lead to additional difficulties in learning and distressed behaviours. The latter is usually the most pressing difficulty that parents identify and want help with. The room is welcoming and relaxing. Activities are organised around the three prime areas of learning and development in the EYFS. They are all adapted to meet the needs of the individual children. A variety of play activities helps to engage the children and encourage parents to join in. Adult chairs are located at all activity tables and the staff model interactions with the children. Toys and activities are kept simple so that families can replicate them at home. For example, demonstrating how to make play dough, playing with cars, trains, and variety of construction toys and mark-making with crayons and pencils. The type of development that each activity promotes is explained to the parent. There are a few specialised pieces of equipment, as recommended by Althea, the Speech and Language therapist, to engage the child’s interest and increase their attention span. Parents are supported by staff to use these with their child. During the sessions the staff help parents to develop their confidence as well as understand their child’s needs. “This helps them to support their children in all areas, including emotional wellbeing and managing behaviour,” says Sue. ‘Attention Bucket’ is the last activity, drawing on the work of Gina Davies. The lead adult has a collection of exciting resources in their ‘bucket’ and takes out one object at a time. They play with the object briefly in a fun and engaging way. Parents and children sit together, with the adults modelling anticipation as each object is brought out. This helps children develop joint-attention with an adult, which is fundamental to developing early play and communication. The session ends with bubble machine with the children leaving on a fun note. Assessments and reviews Althea develops individual plans for each child. “Initial assessments are done in a relaxed environment,” comments Althea. “I take case histories from parents and model helpful strategies and tasks that could be useful at home. We then check in with parents on a weekly basis to see how useful they have been. So, progress is constantly and consistently monitored and reviewed”. Althea also does assessments and makes early referrals to other services and agencies. She comments, “My participation means that parents don’t have to attend a health centre. All assessments take place in Sheringham’s Children’s Centre.” Althea also directs parents to high-quality online resources. The ICAN website has guides for parents about language development and how to support it. Althea works with parents to assess their child’s level of development and consider what would be the most appropriate input for their child. Tip Sheets from the Triple P Parenting Programme are also used. Triple P is an evidence-based programme that parents can access at Sheringham. Triple P or Triple P Stepping Stones (an adapted version for families with a child who has SEND) are both on offer. The four most commonly used Tip Sheets are: · Tantrums · Hurting Others · Bedtime Problems · Toilet Training Impact The staff asked parents the open question, “What has changed for your child?” as a means of assessing the impact of Buttercup group. Included in the replies are: - “Before these sessions he would never respond to his name, but this has improved. He was afraid of going out if there would be new people around – now it’s not a problem.” - “She is now using more words and better eye contact.” - “He is more confident, and his speech has improved. He has started using a lot more words.” - “She interacts with many more people now. At first she was very reserved but now engages with lots of others. Her communication skills have improved so much.” - “My child wouldn’t play with toys and explore – now she likes to. She wasn’t babbling but now she’s trying to make sounds. She enjoyed every session. Everything was brilliant!” - “It has changed my son. He plays with others and eats by himself”. Research Research highlights the multiple disadvantages faced by families and by young children with SEND. The Study of Early Education and Development (SEED): Impact Study on Early Education Use and Child Outcomes up to age five years says that, ‘children with an SEN are less likely to use formal ECEC [Early Childhood Education and Care] and are likely to have on average poorer cognitive and educational outcomes.’ (Melhuish and Gardiner 2020, p. 27). It also says that accessing high-quality ECEC is beneficial to children living with disadvantage. Conclusion Educational outcomes for children with SEND are concerning in England. The Education Policy Institute reports that children with SEND are 10 to 15 months behind in their development. This is a huge gap for children who are only 5-years old. Sue Cox states, “We no longer see the families as ‘hard to reach’. Instead, we see that services are difficult to access for the family of a child with SEND. Our children and their families now receive the early support they need during that sensitive period of time”. We can draw from this that Children’s services need to be pro-active in reaching out to families where access to regular services is not happening. Many more adapted groups like Buttercup are needed in order to reduce barriers to engagement. (Find out more: read the full report [PDF] about Buttercup Group)

Considering I had no intention of becoming a teacher, it’s very interesting how almost all of my experience as an educator has been spent supporting children with Special Educational Needs. Despite having considerable experience working with young people through various roles, this baby faced 22 year old had no prior experience working with children who had special educational needs. What’s more, I had never worked in a typical school setting. I had supported young people through sports and youth work but never in a school setting so my first role as a one-to-one for a non-verbal autistic child was a life-changing induction. In the early days of my career, I had supported autistic children and children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and SEMH (Social Emotional and Mental Health concerns). I loved every minute of it. I loved the relationships I developed with my students, my contribution towards their academic success and my influence on their wellbeing. It made me aware of the barriers to learning and the lack of understanding teachers had regarding these barriers. Ultimately, it opened my eyes to the lack of support both students, teachers and families received in mainstream schools when supporting children with complex needs. These revelations inspired me to pursue the SENCO qualification very early on in my teaching career but my first and most crucial decision was to first secure a teaching position in a special school for children with SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues). A strange but well-informed decision for a Newly Qualified Teacher. Unlike mainstream schools, there isn’t a statutory requirement for specialist schools to have a Special Educational Needs Coordinator. Some may argue this makes very little sense considering a school exclusively for children with SEN requires a coordinator even more than a mainstream school. Fair point. However, when you understand the roles and responsibilities of staff in SEN schools you realise there is a shared responsibility for the provision of children with SEN. When this is the case, there is an acceptance that everyone is a teacher of children with SEN. This is how it should be. The responsibilities of middle and senior leaders more often than not include an area of responsibility that a SENCO would typically do. For example, the head of school may arrange and facilitate the annual reviews and the head of departments may liaise with external agencies like the speech and language therapists or the educational psychologist service. Despite the shared responsibility of the SENCO role amongst various staff at my school, I made the decision to apply for my National Award in Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCO) in my first year of teaching. As If I didn’t have enough on my plate. I devised a 5-year plan for my teaching career and highlighted the NASENCO as the professional development necessary for the roles I wanted in the future. It was an unusual decision because, as I mentioned earlier, my school did not have a SENCO and had functioned for 25 years without a formal SENCO in place. Furthermore, I knew the training would provide me with research, strategies and resources that could be applied to an environment lacking in fresh ideas. With my mind very much made up, I enrolled onto the postgraduate course and qualified as a SENCO in my second year of teaching. Whilst training to be a SENCO, I conducted a research study that focused on an area of improvement for the school. I focused my research study on the poor engagement of parents in their child’s learning and the poor communication between the school and its parents. The research process and its findings presented an opportunity to create a solution to a problem that could improve pupil outcomes. The following year, I used the findings of the research to create a parental engagement initiative that was named “Coffee mornings”. Parents came into school to share ideas and concerns whilst eating biscuits and drinking tea. It was perfect. It’s been a number of years since I took on the challenge of being a SENCO in an all through specialist school. There are 80 children altogether across Key stage 1 – 4 and each and every student has an Educational Health Care plan. In one way, you can say my role is made easier because my students arrive at my school with educational health care plans so no assessments are needed. However, there are 80 students that still require the very best service and to do this, you need everyone on board, playing their part. A huge part of my role is ensuring that the need of every child is being met and the necessary provisions are in place to meet those needs. One of the best decisions I made was to buy in to Provision Map created by Edukey. This allowed me to list what provisions we had available to our children and create the ones we needed according to our children’s needs. The obvious provisions are one-to-one support, mentoring, speech and language therapy etc. Then there are some provisions that are a lot more niche and bespoke such as Lego therapy, music therapy and bereavement counselling. The provision map tool allowed you to list these provisions on a database, assign relevant provisions to each child and review the success of these provisions. A dream. My personal expectation for senior leaders is a high level of teaching ability and a clear understanding of learning. This is no different for me as a SENCO. I’ve been fortunate to spend 5 years of my teaching profession educating children with SEN and I’m currently teaching a year 6 class. My experience and qualifications make me somewhat of an expert in my field – one who can and will get better of course. I use my skills and knowledge to support my teaching assistants and colleagues in areas of teaching and learning and behaviour for learning. This is by far my favourite part of being a leader – the empowerment of others. This can be as simple and as organic as conversations in the corridor and it can be as formal as CPD training delivered by myself or by an external agency. As a class teacher myself, I’m never too far removed from my teachers and I embrace leading by example and setting the standard I expect from others. Class teachers have the opportunity to team teach with me and I make myself available to support them in their planning and resourcing. But it’s not all about the teachers. The silent and underappreciated heroes of our great profession are the teaching assistants. Being a former teaching assistant, I can appreciate the contributions made by our TAs when it comes to supporting children with SEN. I’m also aware that unlike teachers, TAs do not get the same level of support in their professional development. Line managing TAs to teach intervention groups is one thing. It’s important and it’s very well needed but it’s the role of a manager. Recognising the strengths of your teaching assistants and putting them forward for training that will benefit the students, the school and their career is another thing entirely. That is leadership. In September, I will begin my new role of Assistant Head in a mainstream community school as Head of Inclusion. I believe my experience as a teacher and SENCO in an all through specialist school will make me well placed to support the school’s aim in being inclusive. Unfortunately, in many mainstream schools, there is far too much pressure on the SENCO to ensure high quality education for children with SEN in the school. This is what they will be judged on and rightfully so but there should be a shared responsibility of all staff in a school to create an inclusive environment for its children with SEN. I’m looking forward to supporting my SENCO, teachers and teaching assistants in making this possible. I’m looking forward to spotting talent within my staff and empowering those who are struggling and I’m looking forward to strategically planning for the provision of all children across the school, particularly those groups who are far too often excluded and marginalised. I was under no illusion that the role of a SENCO would be hard but the wisdom I’ve gained and the lives I’ve affected has made it well worth the journey. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

Providing something for everyone is a tough challenge, but Birth to 5 Matters aims to do just that as ‘guidance by the sector, for the sector’. It is designed to support everyone implementing the EYFS, from new members of staff with limited experience and background knowledge of child development to their very experienced and highly qualified colleagues. In order to meet such diverse needs, Birth to 5 Matters(Bto5M) includes a range of formats and various levels of information to form a valuable, flexible resource. So where do you start? Though Bto5M has grown out of previous EYFS guidance, it contains a lot more material than the last Development Matters and engaging with it all could seem like a big project. And how can you use Bto5M in day-to-day practice? If you follow current advice and move away from using Development Matters statements as a ticklist, how can you use Bto5M to help you to understand children’s development and plan to support their progress, day to day and moment to moment? Where do you start? Young children’s experiences lay the foundations for the rest of their lives, and the privilege of working in the early years centres on the chance to offer children the best opportunities and most supportive relationships to enable them to flourish. The introductory sections of Bto5M outline features of the optimal environments, relationships and interactions that will support all children. Settings can consider how they lay this groundwork so they can have confidence that most children will thrive. The Statutory EYFS states that four guiding principles should shape practice in early years settings. Bto5M is firmly based on those principles to support your reflection on how they underpin your practice. As well as focussing on central issues such as play, care, and leadership, the beginning sections of Bto5M provide information and guidance organised under the EYFS principles of A Unique Child – including child development, self-regulation, characteristics of effective learning, inclusive practice and equalities – as well as Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments, and Learning and Development. This wide view of principled practice serves as a resource for practitioners at any level to consider the most important foundations of providing the best for children. For a quick overview, you could simply read through the ‘Key points’ identified in each section. To engage more deeply in any area you could read the full text, and then perhaps go on to explore the extra resources available on the website for more in-depth background, tools, case studies and research. Just as each child is unique, so is each practitioner and each setting. How you refer to these sections of Bto5M will depend on what is most valuable for your individual professional development, as well as priorities for developing the ethos and practice of your setting. These sections deal with areas which are fundamental to excellent practice, but they are not likely to be referred to on a daily basis in your ongoing work with children. If you take the time to become familiar with what is available, however, you may now and then find it helpful to look up particular sections and the linked extra resources in response to situations that arise for individual children or families. Supporting children without ticklists Beyond the background provision for all children, the detail of understanding, supporting and extending every child’s thinking and learning is the marker of excellent early years practice. The Statutory EYFS makes clear that practitioners have responsibility to ‘consider the individual needs, interests, and development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all areas of learning and development.’ It also describes ‘knowing children’s level of achievement and interests, and then shaping teaching and learning experiences for each child reflecting that knowledge.’ This is why the cycle of observation-assessment-planning is at the heart of early years practice. We need to be curious and attentive to notice what each child does and communicates (observation), think about what it might tell us about how the child is thinking, feeling and learning (assessment), and then think what we could do next to support them (planning). In many settings, this thoughtful cycle had been reduced to a fairly mechanical matter of looking for examples of children’s actions to match particular items from Development Matters, ticking them off, and automatically settling on the next statement in the list as a ‘next step’ to guide planning. It gave the reassuring illusion that we knew where children were in their learning, and where they were going. But it was a false picture because it narrowed our view to one prescribed learning pathway, rather than helping us to see and respond to the infinite variety of ways children are thinking, following their own motivations, and making sense of the world around them. The government and Ofsted are both clear in their messages that ticklist assessment and the associated heavy workload of recording evidence are not desirable. But this doesn’t mean that real observation-assessment-planning is to be thrown out the window – instead, it’s an invitation to up our game. Understanding development with Bto5M It’s important to be very clear that reducing paperwork and stopping checking hundreds of statements against each child does not mean letting go of observation, nor of being aware of each child’s learning and development. If we reduce attention to what each child is showing us and just assume that most children will be making good progress within our enabling environments, we risk not making the most of learning moments for each child. So we can’t stop observing, assessing and planning for all the children, but need to pay attention to each child in a different way. The grids in Bto5M look similar to those in Development Matters (2012) but can be used to support you to understand and respond to each child on their own learning pathway, rather than along a pre-set route. The guidance says the Unique Child trajectories ‘illustrate samples of what children may do along that journey. While these present some examples, children will do countless things that do not appear in the grids but are equally valuable for their learning. And as each child winds their individual path through the different areas, they will not necessarily show signs of each of the descriptors, nor in the same order presented.’ So it is up to practitioners to notice and reflect on what a child is doing, not to look simply for what we expect. Similarly, the grids contain ideas for adults but invite you to think for yourself about your children as you plan how to respond: ‘Examples of what adults might do or provide should be seen as suggestions or prompts for thinking, suggesting “next steps” adults might take to support children’s development and learning. Adults should use their creative and critical thinking to develop their own ideas, decide what to try, and evaluate its effectiveness.’ Using Bto5M in everyday practice The guidance can be seen as a flexible friend, to be called on to meet your needs when you would like some support. Some very experienced practitioners with a deep understanding of child development may not often refer to the trajectories, while others may find it useful to dip in much more frequently or even use it as a professional development resource for background reading. The main purpose of the grids is to support meeting children’s needs effectively, so the columns for the adult – what you might do in your interactions or what you might provide in terms of experiences and resourcing – are a critical part of the picture. It is of little use to understand children’s development unless we go on to respond sensitively and closely with what will support them best. So instead of thinking of ‘next steps’ as targets for children, it might be more helpful to think of the next steps adults will take to support and extend development and learning. In a sense, you will be constantly observing the children you work with, and the more you tune in and get to know the children the more information you will pick up. Most of the time you will be assessing and responding in the moment, interacting in ways that depend on the messages you are picking up from the children – what they are interested in, how they feel, what they are attempting, how they are responding to challenges, what they are thinking about. At these times you are not likely to refer to any guidance document. At other times, you may notice a pattern for a particular child, something new that you hadn’t noticed before, or perhaps a similar development for more than one child. In these cases you might decide that a little more reflection about your response would be useful. You might choose to make a record of these occasions, to support your thinking or to share with parents, the child or colleagues. The Bto5M guidance can be useful at times like this, to help you focus your mind on the learning that you are seeing. You could identify which Characteristics of Effective Learning you see in action, and which Areas of Learning and Development are in evidence. Then you can look within the grids to find a general area that reflects what you have noticed in the child. There are no ages listed in the grids, so the age of the child is not relevant here. Just find the rough area of development that matches what the child is showing you. Then the most important part: Have a look at the prompts for adults that are alongside that broad area of development, and decide whether any of these point you in helpful directions to plan how you can support the child’s progress, as in the examples below. Beyond this everyday attention to supporting children’s development and learning, you may at intervals – perhaps two or three times a year – find it useful to sum up children’s learning with best-fit judgements about which Ranges best describe their current development. This can be useful to see where children are making good progress, help to identify children who would benefit from additional support, and to identify any areas where the setting could improve practice. For each child, who is constantly learning in the present moment, the important assessment and response is the sensitive, timely support from an adult who is fascinated to understand more about the child and to help them along their own pathway. Case Study 1 Kim is the key person for Tommy, who has recently joined the nursery at 7 months, and she is keen to build a close, trusting relationship with him. She notices that at nappy changing time he sometimes seems tense, turns his head away and cries. To help her understand Tommy better (her assessment) and decide how to support him (her planning) Kim looks in PSED (Making Relationships) and finds in Range 1: Distinguishes between people, recognising the look, sound and smell of their close carer They will usually calm, smile or reduce crying when they hear their carers’/parent’s voice, or smell their clothing, for example Holds up arms to be picked up and cuddled and is soothed by physical touch such as being held, cuddled and stroked Begins to display attachment behaviours such as wanting to stay near their close carer and becoming upset when left with an unfamiliar person She also notices that in CL (Speaking), Range 1 includes: Lifts arms in anticipation of being picked up She reflects that Tommy is communicating that he still sees her as an unfamiliar person and is expressing his feelings (her assessment). For guidance in how she might respond, Kim finds in the Positive Relationships and Enabling Environments a number of suggestions for building a trusting relationship, including the following: Offer warm, loving and consistent care in your interactions with babies and young children, making good eye contact and handling children gently and respectfully. Respond sensitively and quickly to babies and young children’s needs, holding and comforting each child as they need. Learn from parents regarding caring practices at home so you can establish predictable and familiar patterns within your own interactions allowing the child to feel safe with you. Tune in to the meaning of babies and young children’s communications of crying, babbling, pointing or pulling and respond with interest, watching and understanding the cues they offer so they feel acknowledged and known by you. Spend plenty of time with your key children playing interactive games, finger plays and singing familiar songs that engage you both in mirroring movement and sounds, follow the child’s lead. Use care events to build a close relationship with babies and young children through respectful interactions and taking it slowly. Always explain what is going to happen and invite their participation. Kim decides the next steps for her are to focus on spending relaxed time with Tommy, to build a rapport and trust. She will be sure to slow down and respond to Tommy’s signals, including picking him up only once she has established contact and invited interaction by holding out her own hands, and waited for his response. She will also discuss with parents Tommy’s nappy changing routines at home to make the process as familiar to him as possible. Case Study 2 The nursery has a bed for growing vegetables, and the children have enjoyed pulling up the potatoes that are ready for harvesting. In the process, a few worms emerged and Sara and Elijah were fascinated to watch them moving. Both children picked them up and looked closely. ‘Have they got any eyes?’ Elijah asked. They remained engrossed in the worms for an extended time. The practitioner, Sam, would like to build on their interest and support their learning about the natural world. In UW (The World), Sam finds in Ranges 3, 4 and 5: Is curious and interested to explore new and familiar experiences in nature: grass, mud, puddles, plants, animal life Can talk about some of the things they have observed such as plants, animals, natural and found objects Comments and asks questions about aspects of their familiar world such as the place where they live or the natural world Suggestions for adult support include Use conversation with children to extend their vocabulary to help them talk about their observations and to ask questions. Make use of outdoor areas to give opportunities for investigations of the natural world. Provide story and information books about places, such as a zoo or the beach, to remind children of visits to real places. Provide opportunities to observe things closely through a variety of means, e.g. magnifiers and photographs, phone apps to listen to and recognise birds. Sam decides to enhance conversation opportunities by taking pictures of the worms that can be shared and discussed. In discussion, the staff decide to leave the empty potato bed as a digging place with magnifying glasses on hand, with a challenge to see if the children can find what lives there. Information books will be brought into the nursery, and online images shared. Beyond this, Sam wants to build on the children’s Characteristics of Effective Learning. She recognises that the children have shown: Playing and Exploring Finding out and exploring Showing curiosity about objects, events and people Using senses to explore the world around them Active Learning Being involved and concentrating Showing a deep drive to know more about people and their world Maintaining focus on their activity for a period of time Showing high levels of involvement, energy, fascination Not easily distracted Paying attention to details Sam would like to support the children in the third Characteristic, Thinking Creatively and Critically, particularly in: Making links (building theories) Making links and noticing patterns in their experience Working with ideas (critical thinking) Planning, making decisions about how to approach a task, solve a problem and reach a goal The guidance in Bto5M suggests: Use the language of thinking and learning: think, know, remember, forget, idea, makes sense, plan, learn, find out, confused, figure out, trying to do. Model being a thinker, showing that you don’t always know, are curious and sometimes puzzled, and can think and find out. I wonder? Give children time to talk and think. Make time to actively listen to children’s ideas. Encourage open-ended thinking, generating more alternative ideas or solutions, by not settling on the first suggestions: What else is possible? Always respect children’s efforts and ideas, so they feel safe to take a risk with a new idea and feel comfortable with mistakes. Sustained shared thinking helps children to explore ideas and make links. Follow children’s lead in conversation, and think about things together. Encourage children to choose personally meaningful ways to represent and clarify their thinking through graphics. Take an interest in what the children say about their marks and signs, talk to them about their meanings and value what they do and say. Represent thinking visually, such as mind-maps to represent thinking together, finding out what children know and want to know. Sam decides to support the children to be more aware of their own learning through conversation about what they know about worms, and what they would like to find out. They will be invited to draw what they already know, and then together they can talk about the drawings and how they learned these things. They will share ideas about how they could learn what they want to know, plan what to do next and illustrate these plans on a mind map.

I have been thinking a lot recently about the role of observations in Early Years. Especially with the opportunity to ‘reset’ that this September brings. This mini-series will be split into 3 parts (look out for parts 2 and 3 in August and September) where I will explore each of the following questions in more depth. 1. When to document an observation of a child? 2. Who are they really for? 3. Is there a ‘right’ number? Part 1: When to document an observation? There are so many things to consider when observing and assessing children in Early Years. One of the biggest challenges we face is what should you document and when. I use the word ‘document’ purposely. This is because we observe the children constantly. Everything they say, everything they do. All of it is observed. As you interact with children you are observing them. Effective communication and effective teaching requires observation, you need to observe in order to respond. Whether this response is immediate or planned for a time in the future, all of it requires observation. However, in Early Years sometimes it seems there is a belief that if it is not documented and assessed then it doesn’t count. As a result I often find myself contemplating how do I best focus on extending a child’s learning in my role as an educator whilst also ensuring I collect the evidence needed to observe and assess a child. Now I ask you to reflect on your practice, when you are mid-interaction and see something that makes you think ‘wow this a teachable moment’ or ‘this is a wow moment’ or ‘this would be evidence for x, y or z’ from your framework of choice, what do you do? · Do you always carry a notepad / tablet around with you so you are instantly able to make notes / take a photo to snapshot a child’s learning or when you see a ‘wow’ moment? · Do you ask another adult to take a photo / video or to provide you with some paper / tablet, potentially taking them away from what they were doing at the time? · Do you move away from the interaction to get it yourself? · Do you stay fully engaged in the interaction in the moment and only when it has reached its conclusion do you document it and therefore potentially sacrifice the photo opportunities etc and make notes from memory? It is quite the balancing act and I think all the possible answers have their own problems. I believe first and foremost we have to ensure we continue to provide the high-quality child-adult interactions that children need. Therefore, in order to provide outstanding teaching and learning, to extend a child’s learning as much as possible and respond ‘in the moment’ to the best of our abilities we need to carefully develop an observation method which strikes the right balance. Every adult will have a different method that works for them. Just like children we are all individuals and all work in different ways! If you prefer to write an observation mid-interaction then it is important to examine what takes the most time and what you could do to navigate this. If you usually write the full observation at the time, it is worth considering if it would be easier for you to take photographs in the moment and use these as prompts to verbalise what took place afterwards. Another thing to consider to help ease any possible impact on the teaching and learning in the moment is assessment. The new EYFS framework, Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters which are all effective from September 2021 are falling more in-line with the recent Ofsted narrative of trying to move away from the need to create lots of assessment. With this in mind it is definitely worth reflecting on whether every observation needs to be assessed and ensuring any assessments carried out are useful to help support a child’s development. Reflecting on both of these will help you to be more comfortable about this new way of thinking. If you prefer to retrospectively document the observation when the interaction is over then there are some pointers that could help to ensure any observation is as accurate as possible. As mentioned above you could use a notepad / post-it notes to make even the briefest of notes or ask another adult to take some photos as prompts. Or if you are going to do it completely from memory you should definitely write it up in full or at least make the notes immediately after. You can always revisit the assessment at a later date. As we all know a typical day in Early Years is so busy and full of so many teachable moments even the shortest delay could lead to key details being forgotten. Both of these strategies are however, not without problems. If you don’t complete the full observation and assessment at the time it can be easy to get overwhelmed with half-finished observations and easily fall behind. It is also easy to feel you aren’t providing parents with the updates they want / need of their child’s development / well-being and this can be exacerbated by not including photos or the learning experience. I would however argue that these cons are outweighed by the improved learning experience, improved adult-child interactions and the opportunity to extend a child’s learning to it’s fullest that can be achieved by making even small adaptations to the observation process, whichever method you choose! Nonetheless it is important to understand there isn’t a blanket approach that works for all or a perfect solution. It is about finding what works for you as an educator, your setting and your children. You can listen to a podcast we recorded with Adam here.

Perhaps it’s an age thing but I find shadows really fascinating. The fact that light has travelled almost 93,000,000 miles in 8 minutes and 20 seconds and in the last split second an object or person blocks it, stopping it reaching the ground, is quietly mesmeric. I love watching shadows, especially when out in the woods here in Devon - the sunlight streaming through the tall trees and the leaves choreographing a silent ballet on the floor. The Japanese word ‘komorebi’ comes to mind in these moments, literally ‘trees leaking through light’ a reminder of the joy of discovering how languages around the world attempt to describe and explain things that for other languages lie ‘beyond language’. To my mind the world is full of these moments - reflections, small sounds, the wind, even seeing the Moon in the daytime. I hope you notice these moments too as there is a real magic to be found in them and they tend to be a reminder to seek a slower pace of life as best we can. And it’s this magic that I love to immerse in. It’s what I call The Gift. It’s my belief that The Gift is what we need to show children, because when we do, they begin to see that objects, animals, the landscape, other people and they themselves all have learning and joy within them. They start to notice what is around them with increased awareness and delight and feel a sense of who they are both as learners and as people. Sharing The Gift requires a subtle shift in perspective from the Adult World. In her brilliant poem ‘Do Not Hesitate’ the late great American nature poet, Mary Oliver wrote the immortal line ‘Joy is not made to be a crumb’. To me, this is a really powerful statement about our interactions with childhood. I believe that it is joy that must come first. When we show the joy of mathematics then childhood leans in. When we share the joy of nature and its connections with us then childhood wants to discover and explore. When we reveal the joy of reading then childhood opens its eyes wider. Learning as Gift, not Graft. Whenever I’m around children, I’m reminded of The One Hundred Languages of Children’ poem by Loris Malaguzzi in which he talks about ‘marvelling’. Marvelling with children is one of the most extraordinary things we can do when in the company of childhood. When we do this, when we begin to give children choices and collaboration and creativity and step into these experiences too with a heart that honours and values the choices of childhood, we then begin to see the magic of children and how it craves to be acknowledged. This is why I am such a passionate advocate of co-play, of the Adult World waking up from its play amnesia to join the flow of childhood. I strongly believe in the ‘play-full heart’, a heart that carries wisdom and love and skills and joy within it, enabling adults to see childhood for what it is – a time and space of simplicity, invention, exploration and solidarity. When we are in this flow, we begin to put something into the world that it needs more than ever: the Bright Shadow. We start to show children that adults listen, have faith in their choices, advocate for them and want to be co-adventurers into learning, story and the world around us. We cast the Bright Shadow to amplify childhood, not diminish it. We are the Bright Shadow because we acknowledge the joy of being a young child, not ‘getting children to write’ but instead showing them the joy of writing so that they want to, so that they see and embrace the Gift. It’s for this reason I created Adventure Island, the Message Centre, Drawing Club, Play Projects and the Inventures of Noodle and Titch – to show both children and adults The Joy of Being You and The Joy of Being Me , to share with them the joy of make-believe, to show them how learning can be used like a spell within the world and how play is in the DNA of childhood and can never be taken away no matter how much the Adult World would say otherwise. It’s why Malaguzzi’s poem ‘The Hundred Languages of Children’ so readily springs to mind when thinking about early childhood and our role within it. In a way, these hundred languages and hundred more are the brightest of Bright Shadows, illuminating life and all its corners. And the Bright Shadow of childhood shines into us too, it can penetrate through to the Adult World showing it how to think and be and feel once more. So much of childhood is about feeling, an intense sensory-fed curiosity that makes the world around it a place for hands-on, heart-on exploration, discovery and invention and it is as though it reaches out and urges us to take its hand and BE. To a degree, when we are drawn into co-play with children, we are creating a Double Bright Shadow, as though both adults and children are a light source to one another, sharing the moment of being together on an adventure into childhood’s dreams of building, drawing, making, imagining, running and climbing. We become two Bright Shadows together. I’m sure you have felt this many, many times if you are one of the Play People, those of you who are passionately committed to the magic of children and singing the song of play. You sense that transmission of the Bright Shadow between you and children as you spend Time Together, seeing how childhood interacts with the world and re-imagines it. In order to witness the magic of children we know that we need to enable them to experience these three things across their days: Creativity, Collaboration and Curiosity. These are what childhood is looking for. It wants the myriad of possibilities that enter the room when we honour children’s problem solving, re-interpreting, the richness of their interactions, their questioning and their desire to unfold the world around them so that they can be within it for themselves. And all three things can only truly happen when we give childhood the ultimate gift of Choice. It always astonishes me that the Adult World, this world of supposed democracy and rights, this world that wants a ‘market’ of consumerism, seems to fall short when it comes to children. So often the Adult World seems to push children to the side of their own lives, dictating the who, the where, the what and the how. When it does this, it is the opposite of the Bright Shadow… It’s as though we too need to make a choice. We have the opportunity to put our finger on the Control Panel of each day and either slide it left towards More Control or right towards More Choice. The more choice we give, the more autonomy we enable. More autonomy, more developing independence and positive sense of self. Because this is the shadow that means the most, that sense of who we are that forms in the flow of childhood and stays with us as we move into the future that awaits. This self-perception, this understanding of our own great potential, our own courage to meet life with a Big Heart is one that can follow us for the rest of our days way beyond the time we finish our years in nursery and school. I deeply believe, and I hope you do too, that children are born with a creative energy and a sense of wonder for the world and as they grow, they need adults and children around them to nurture their inner world of confidence and courage. For indeed one day the children we are with now will be adults and it will be their turn to find their Play-full Heart and to seek the magic of children so that their own Bright Shadow and those of childhood can stand together once more and do the one thing that children want us to do: sing the song of play…

Context Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the world began to reflect on itself. Institutions began to reflect on the structures and systems they had in place, and many had to ask themselves if they are truly representative and this included the Education system here in the UK. There were questions about whether the curriculum was reflective of our students and whether the staff body including those in leadership reflected the student body. Of course, these questions have been asked before – but they were brought to the forefront by the unfortunate killing of an innocent Black Man and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. An opportunity arose to make a real transformation of the education system as we know it. Many of my staff and students began to ask uncomfortable questions. Working with older children who often have access to what is happening in the world meant that I had to prepare for some tough and difficult conversations about why even if Black Lives Matter, it still means that all lives matter and the importance of having Black and ethnic minority teachers. My experience The phrase representation matters has gained traction over the past year. For some it is because they want true change, for others it is a form of tokenism with no real intention behind it. For those that fall into the category of the latter, they don’t seem to understand the value and importance of having representation everywhere, most importantly in the education system. Now I want you to take a moment and to ask yourself three questions 1. Growing up – were you ever the minority in your class? 2. Growing up – did you have teachers that looked like you? 3. How did the above make you feel about your education and what you can achieve? For me, I was always the minority in the classroom, and I rarely had a teacher that looked like me. On reflection, I had about two Black teachers growing up and one Asian. I have never had a Black or ethnic minority headteacher. Personally, this meant that teaching was never seen for me as a profession that I aspired to as I never actually got to see myself represented in the profession. When I got to college, I had two Black teachers. Two Black teachers who changed my outlook on life and outlook on education and how I could succeed. Now, I could only imagine that impact as a 5- or 7-year-old girl. I am now a teacher of much older students, those who have navigated through much of their education already, many of whom have formed a stereotype of what a teacher or headteacher looks like, many of whom have ruled out teaching as an option because they can’t see themselves represented in the teaching and staff body. This is worrying and I have often asked myself what the solution could be. The only way we can change this is if we feed representation into every stage of the education system, including early years and primary school. A more culturally diverse education system can only do good, it can only bring together a diverse amount of thought, ideas, and experiences to create an education system which truly values all. Why is representation important Diversity is important in education. Students need to be able to see themselves in their teachers. Now, this isn’t to say that White teachers can’t bring value to Black and Brown students – they absolutely can. I had many White teachers who made a positive impact on my life. But there is something about having a teacher that you can see yourself in. BAME teachers give minority ethnic students a chance to see what academic success looks like and it also gives them something to aspire to. For children, to see an adult which looks like them possess great qualities and an abundance of knowledge will of course leave them feeling inspired. It provides hope and something to aspire too. You can’t be what you can’t see. This is also extremely important for White students. It helps to dismantle stereotypes and helps them to see the beauty of diversity for themselves. It also exposes them to different cultures and different views of the world. This is so valuable to students, especially if we are preparing them for the wider world where they will interact with people from all walks of life. But this can’t stop with teachers in the classroom. School leaders also need to represent their students. Headteachers and senior leaders must also be diverse. For BAME students, seeing school leaders that reflect them is empowering and it also helps them to aspire to reach those positions. Diversity vs Inclusion Despite all the positivity around diversity, it’s important not to confuse diversity with inclusion. Having a diverse teaching workforce is great but to see the full impact, your institution must strive for inclusion. Inclusion is giving all your staff equal opportunities and to ensure all staff feel comfortable and valued in the workplace. Only then will you see the real impact of diversity in education. All staff should be able to have an input on policy and curriculum if there is truly going to be an education system which values all. I believe that this is something which children should be exposed to from a very early age. Primary school is a time of curiosity and asking questions. If students are engaged in diverse and inclusive environments from this stage in their lives, it means that this will become their norm. When they move through their lives, they will be able to question if certain environments they are in are not inclusive and they can work towards creating this in their own institutions. What can you do? So, let’s think about how you can make change to have a real diverse and inclusive setting for your staff and students. What I am not suggesting is that tomorrow you begin an overhaul of the curriculum, begin to recruit only BAME teachers and hope that this will bring change. Instead take small steps towards a more diverse environment: · Training – it is important to raise awareness and tackle unconscious bias and stereotypes that both staff and students may hold. · Celebrate diversity in schools. Ensure that all holidays are celebrated and recognised · Use images/resources that reflect students. When delivering lessons think about the pictures you use and the names that are used. Can you use the name Emmanuel instead of Harry? Do you typically use images of white people – can you change this? · Get support – my organisation like some others support schools in creating diverse and inclusive environments · Commit to long lasting change for the right reasons. Don’t engage in diversity for diversity’s sake The push towards a diverse and inclusive education system is not easy but it’s worth it. Rhia is founder and CEO of Black Teachers Connect. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

As the parent of a baby, goal posts constantly change. Routines that work amazingly well, all of a sudden aren’t appropriate anymore. Strategies that were once golden become redundant. There comes a very significant point, typically in the second half of a baby’s first year, when one of the biggest shifts occurs. No longer can your baby be contained in a 1 metre squared space – they have discovered something magical – that they are able to travel around from one place to another! This is usually the point when some serious changes happen to the positioning of objects and furniture in the home, and the number of calories burned by parents increases exponentially. This intensifies further over the coming 6 months when a toddler discovers that it is quicker and more efficient to walk around on their feet. Cue even more alterations to the home environment! The learning and development that is achieved over this period is incredible – and not just in terms of physical skills. The newfound freedom that a young child experiences when they first learn to move independently leads to a wealth of opportunities. For the first time, they can take ownership of the direction that they would like to go and make choices about where and what they would like to explore. This also helps us to understand some of the frustrations that a toddler encounters when we burst their bubble by grabbing them just as they are about to touch something dangerous or stroll somewhere they shouldn’t! Everyone who works in the Early Years is aware of the power of child-led learning. As children follow their curiosity and try new things, they build strong neural connections which develop at their fastest in the first years of our lives. Now, consider a child who has barriers to their physical development. How impactful is this for their learning in all areas? Imagine that a child is permanently ‘restricted’ within a small space and remains entirely reliant on adult support to get from one area to another. What if this child was also not yet ready to communicate verbally, so it was very difficult for them to let others know their needs and choices? The impact of this limitation of movement cannot be understated, especially in the EYFS where our philosophy is based on children taking ownership of their learning. There can also be other knock-on effects for a child who is confined to the same position, for example if they are in a wheelchair for the majority of their day, they may experience constipation or pressure sores. There are multiple reasons why practitioners working in mainstream nurseries or schools feel anxious about how they can best support a child with physical disabilities. It may be due to the fact that they are inexperienced, or nervous about causing pain or discomfort to the child. It could be linked to concerns around other children being too boisterous nearby the child if they are not stationary/in their equipment. There are usually limitations in the amount of training or CPD that is available to Early Years settings linked to children with physical disabilities, and the quality can be variable. It is for this reason that a new programme, designed specifically for those working with children in the Early Years, is about to be launched by a reputable charitable organisation, the MOVE Programme. Since the 1990s, MOVE Europe has been coordinating and expanding the MOVE Programme in the UK. The MOVE Programme is a functional mobility framework that teaches the skills of sitting, standing, walking and transitioning between, enabling disabled children to better access the world around them and make their own choices. The programme aims to upskill the whole team around the child (education, therapy and family) to feel confident supporting the development of children with physical needs. A key strength of the programme is that it focuses on identifying and utilising naturally occurring, motivating opportunities throughout the day for the child to practise and develop their movement skills, which allows settings to continue following a child-centred approach to learning whilst supporting staff to develop their confidence supporting children with physical needs. MOVE Europe typically works with SEND settings, and so the impact of the MOVE Programme is often not seen until a child is over 5 years of age. It is for this reason that ‘Mini MOVE’ is being launched. Mini MOVE is an adapted version of the MOVE Programme, specifically targeting children who are under 5. The aim of Mini MOVE is to ensure that children with physical needs in mainstream early years settings receive high quality support to develop their functional movement skills and improve their physical outcomes as early as possible. Mini MOVE allows settings to effectively meet sector expectations, adapt to the challenges found in the recent ‘Supporting SEND’ report, and create robust evidence for Educational Health Care Plans. By using Mini MOVE, mainstream early years settings can effectively meet the needs of all children, creating an inclusive learning environment and facilitating greater access to learning opportunities. To find out more about how Mini MOVE can be used in mainstream education, specifically early years, you can watch this webinar.

I was chatting to a friend about writing this article, and he told me an anecdote involving his three-year-old daughter, Emily. When he arrived at nursery one morning, Emily’s key person asked to see him. She led them both over to a dilapidated sofa and, looking at Emily, said, “I’m very sad to say that Emily did this to our lovely sofa.” Somewhat bemused, my friend found himself staring at the sofa trying to envisage what one small child could have done to make it look so decrepit. Emily seemed equally baffled, though she picked up that something was amiss. Her father could tell that she didn’t properly realise she was being reprimanded, or why. Emily’s father spoke to her key person in private. I won’t share the details of that conversation. In brief, it turned out that a group of children, including Emily, had been bouncing on the sofa the previous day and ‘broken it’. Emily’s key person had asked to see her father in the full expectation that he would tell her off, there and then, and get her to apologise. This anecdote tells us a lot about apologising in itself, and particularly regarding young children. An apology is something that is said, written or shown through gesture to express sorrow and regret for the hurt or trouble caused. For this to happen, there are two essential requirements: the recognition of a wrongdoing and an expression of true sorrow. We are all familiar with those empty apologies produced in response to, ‘Say sorry.’ A non-apology of this kind could quite easily have happened in Emily’s case. Similarly, we regularly witness public apologies from prominent figures where the main function is to exonerate themselves rather than make genuine amends for their transgression. Having said that, nurturing children who are able to apologise is of great importance and pride to many parents and practitioners. How, then, can this be achieved without getting caught up in the fruitlessness of manners by rote? As long ago as 1931, Susan Isaacs made her views clear on the matter in her parenting column in The Nursery World. In response to an anxious mother, Isaacs (using the pseudonym Ursula Wise) states, “If one cares only for obtaining the form of politeness, the actual words “please”, “thank you”, “sorry”, and so on, one can as a rule get these by strict demands and punishments. But obtained in that way most of us would feel they were quite worthless.” She continues, “The whole point about these conventional modes of speech is surely that they indicate a real wish to please others, and a real sense of considerateness and friendliness. If one can ensure that state of mind, the conventional speech can be left to take care of itself. The state of mind, if genuine, will last on through life and ensure happy social relations wherever the child goes. The form of words, unless it springs from friendliness in the mind, will only last as long as we are there to demand it.” Few people would disagree with Isaacs. An environment in which respect and courtesy is shown to all is likely rub off on some of the children some of the time and, potentially, reap positive effects for years to come. In accordance with Isaacs’s advice, modelling desired behaviour is common practice for those who spend time with young children. It is not unusual for parents to say, ‘Thank you,’ on behalf of their young child who is not yet able to or ready to say it. Similarly, if a group of children are playing and a diligently built tower of bricks gets knocked over, a practitioner may say something like, “Oh, what a shame that happened, you were concentrating so hard on it, and I can see by your face that now you feel sad (or angry, cross, upset). Shall we build it again together?” This sort of intervention acknowledges the child’s feelings, expresses regret for what happened and tries to make amends. Sallie Poppleton, Baby Room Leader at Wood Street Nursery in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, reflects on her practice, “Whilst I’m keen to support and encourage children to be decent, caring and compassionate people, I don't get them to apologise.” She explains why, “Many practitioners insist that children ‘say sorry’ and sometimes include a threat of sanctions. A battle of wills may follow, or the child obliges and says sorry just because they want to get back to playing, or to be obedient. Another child may remain silent and look confused. It can waste so much time.” In line with Isaacs’s reply to the worried mother, Sallie emphasises the value of learning through the example of adults. “I frequently apologise to children, using my apology not only to show empathy, but also to help extend their language and communication skills.” Sallie gave several examples of this, “E aged 20 months, said to me, ‘More banana?’ I replied, ‘Sorry, E, all the bananas have been eaten - we need to buy some more.’ C aged 22 months exclaimed, ‘Mummy!’ when the buzzer rang. I said, ‘Sorry, this is T's mummy, but your mummy will be on the train. She’ll be here soon.’ Also, one day I was changing B aged 26 months, and struggling a bit, so I said, "I am sorry this is taking a long time, I’m getting in a tangle with your tights and dungarees." Saying sorry is a constant thread through Sallie’s practice. “I’m not always sure my apologies and explanations are really understood by the child, but my tone and the context may help lay the foundations for them learning what an apology is”. Sallie went on to talk about how she would handle a situation where she thought the child should apologise, such as cases of hitting and biting, or when one child grabs a toy from another. Her rule of thumb is to talk it through, with particular focus on the various feelings involved. Sallie never asks for a ‘sorry’, but tries to help the child make amends, “I look for ways to repair the situation: for example, to return the snatched toy or fetch a tissue for the upset child.” Alison Kriel, Independent Education and Leadership Consultant, thinks that being able to apologise sincerely is a complex matter and something that many adults struggle with, “It is little wonder that some children struggle with being able to apologise if they are in a context where it is rarely modelled for them. I recall a conversation with a pupil who had been hurt by his parent and his biggest upset was, ‘Mummy didn’t even say sorry’. More hurt was caused by the lack of apology than the physical hurt.” Alison, in her position as Headteacher, spent a lot of time working with children on apologising, “I was often asked to speak to a child because things had gone badly wrong. The first thing I would do was to help them find calm by inviting them to read, or do a puzzle, for example. Though this may have looked like a reward, it’s impossible to resolve a difficult situation from a place of anger, upset, embarrassment or fear.” Alison, in agreement with Isaacs, was not at all interested in the quick-fix ‘sorry’, but wanted to help foster apologies based on listening, reflection, and the desire to become a better person. Alison continues, “When the child was ready to move forward, I’d say, ‘We have a problem and I wonder how we can fix it together?’ This enabled the child to know they were not alone but would have support. It also helped them to acknowledge what the problem was and own their part in it.” Alison found this to be an effective strategy, irrespective of the child’s age, gender, culture. She adds, “Also, I took pride in the fact that when the pupils came to see me they knew I was going to be part of the solution rather than the person they were in trouble with – this trust always felt like a privilege.” It seems, then, that a very clear message has emerged: there is no quick route to children learning how to apologise in a meaningful way. It takes time and work from them and the adults around them. Throughout her work with parents, irrespective of the problem, Susan Isaacs consistently promoted a ‘kind and compassionate environment’, where caring for each other is of the utmost importance. Surely this cannot be a bad place to start? Finally, it is worth remembering Isaacs’s words of reassurance to her correspondent, “If a little girl of 3 years and 8 months were perfectly polite all the time one would surely suspect she was a little machine and not a human being at all!”

Approaching conversations about diversity, discrimination, and inclusion with young children can seem overwhelming, and there is often backlash claiming that children shouldn't be a part of such conversations. However, diversity exists amongst all age groups. This means that there is no lower age limit on experiencing discrimination, or on recognising the importance of inclusion, so to opt out of such conversations based on age comes from a place of privilege. By making conversations about these topics accessible to children, educators can validate the experiences of children from oppressed groups whilst encouraging others to develop an awareness of identity and the way it shapes our experiences. The idea that conversations about diversity are difficult is ultimately one that is taught. It is an idea that serves to uphold oppressive systems by creating a culture that discourages open dialogue about discrimination, reinforcing a wilful lack of awareness from oppressive groups. This means that in early years we have the opportunity to normalise open conversation and begin to break this cycle. Engaging children in such conversation isn’t necessarily a process of engineering dialogue. Children will talk about their differences, and will share their observations about the world much more freely than adults, so facilitating these discussions is a primary way we encourage open discussions about diversity. If a child starts talking about skin colour and educators become uncomfortable, or change the subject, this introduces the sense of it being a forbidden topic. If educators instead take the opportunity provided to open a dialogue about skin colour, race, heritage, and diversity, then children get the message that the conversation is not only allowed, but actively valued. A part of successful dialogue about inclusion, at any age, is the way in which we reflect on our own views and listen to others. Educators can start to encourage a positive pattern of questioning bias early on. Children often repeat things they hear from others or in the media, and sometimes these repeated ideas will be problematic. When these statements come from children, it's important to talk them through it. Of course, age and stage will mean the right way to go about this varies greatly. Ideally, educators should ask children about why they have said something and direct the conversation through questions that naturally lead to a realisation the statement isn't true. In situations where this isn't possible, it's important to give relevant examples as to why something the child said is wrong, as when we simply shut the statement down we lose the opportunity to meaningfully disprove it. Children change their mind a lot more frequently and freely than adults, and so if educators can normalise this process of new information leading to a shift in opinions, there is the potential for children to carry this pattern into adulthood. Educators must respect children's right to self identify. This can take a range of forms as children play around with and develop their own identities. Childcare and educational settings are often the first place children are spending a significant amount of time away from their parents/guardians. This means it’s likely to be children’s first opportunity to explore their own opinions, preferences and feelings outside of their family’s influence, and so it’s important to remember that educators have a responsibility to encourage that exploration. There's no set age at which a child becomes aware of their gender or sexuality, or when they assign language to their race or disabilities, and certainly the identifiers we use can change over time. When it comes to young children establishing their identity, sometimes encouraging them to express themselves might take the form of serious conversations wherein children are confiding something or expressing distress about their own identity. Other times this will take the form of a child insisting you call them their favourite character's name all day. Both are essential opportunities to affirm children's right to define their own identity, and to insist that be respected. There is rapidly increasing awareness of how inappropriate a lot of resources are when it comes to representation. Society treats white, heterosexual, cisgender, abled people as the default state of humanity and this is often reflected in educational settings. Educators must take the time to reflect on their resources and be willing to make changes as and when gaps in representation become apparent, even if that means getting rid of some things to make way for more inclusive alternatives. Every set of dolls, pictures, books, dressing up clothes and everything else needs to be visibly diverse in order to make meaningful changes to educational settings as opposed to tokenistic gestures. For cohorts that aren't particularly diverse it is just as important, if not more so, to actively create a space that recognises, and celebrates, human diversity. It's also essential to consider who makes and sells resources. There is always a lot of anger when people suggest moving away from bigoted authors and creators if their resources have been in educational settings for a long time. Celebrating diverse creators matters, as does where funding goes. The best way for children to see accurate diverse representation is to ensure resources are coming from lots of different creators to benefit from their lived experiences. A range of stories is essential, not only so that children belonging to marginalised groups see themselves reflected, but so that children who don't belong to these groups get used to the idea their experiences cannot and should not always be centred. Creating an inclusive bookshelf means examining not just the range of characters, but the range of stories we see those characters in. For example, if lots of effort and attention has been put into making sure less than half of your books have a white main character, but all of your books about astronauts, firefighters, and superheroes have white main characters, you’re still sending clear messages to children about what race means for their ambitions. Whilst more inclusive resources is an important step, educators must also take the time reflect on how best to use them. This requires an introspective approach to examining the ways we interact with our resources, and what message that might be sending to children. Lovely, diverse resources aren’t going to be of any use if they’re hardly ever out of the cupboard, if they’re not set out as part of exciting, and varied play opportunities, or if educators aren’t treating them with the same care and enthusiasm they show their old resources. Getting a new set of paints to better represent different skin colours is nice, but spending time mixing colours, using mirrors, talking about similarities, differences, heritage and looking at pictures of children and their families for reference is going to have a more meaningful impact. Educators must be able to explore resources that don't look like them and read stories about people whose identities differ from their own with the same enthusiasm and respect they treat resources that represent themselves. The most important resource will always be people, so educators need to recognise that toys and stories can only create meaningful change if they commit to being a part of that change. When conversations about discrimination do take place, it's essential that educators get across that sometimes there is a clear morally right stance, and that hate speech isn't treated as simply a differing opinion. Educators attempting neutrality in these conversations aids the reinforcement of oppressive systems. The idea educators must be apolitical leads to giving oppressive views an equal platform to anti-oppressive views and essentially treating human rights as something that's up for debate. There is no morally sound way to 'both sides' discussions around discrimination. Educators being clear about their own values isn't about imposing views upon children but rather about modelling the need for strong stances. Children can't learn to stand up for what's right if educators give weight and validity to oppressive viewpoints. This doesn't necessarily mean not acknowledging alternate viewpoints at all. In fact, it may be beneficial to bring up 'counter-arguments' as long as they're followed up by explaining, or questioning, why that's wrong. There must always be absolute clarity that discrimination is wrong, and that discriminatory viewpoints don't need to be respected. Whilst these topics are very heavy, there is still lots of room for joy in these conversations. Diversity is a beautiful thing and learning to celebrate that will only add to the depth of conversation when it does need to be more serious. If the default when talking about different communities is to jump straight to dangers and awful experiences then this also serves to reinforce negative perceptions. Children need to learn that identity can also be a huge source of joy and pride, both individually and as communities. There is space for conversations that handle the seriousness of oppression and conversations celebrating identity to coexist. Educators must talk to children about actively embracing differences in order to highlight that discrimination is the problem, not diversity.

The tagline on my website is “With the right knowledge and a little creativity inexpensive items can become effective tools for inclusion”. I wonder if perhaps there should be a reflection of this, that without the right knowledge it does not matter how much you spend on amazing sensory resources they are unlikely to have much effect. A good parallel to draw would be with mathematics, if we bought oodles of gorgeous maths resources and handed them to children how much would they learn? It’s likely that they would learn a bit. Perhaps if we had a bit of knowledge as we chose the resources, and the resources were especially well chosen, they’d learn a bit more. But ultimately there would be a limit on the understanding they could develop simply by being handed objects. And yet this is often what happens for children who have been identified as having sensory needs. Gorgeous sensory resources are purchased from glossy catalogues, perhaps they are identified in these catalogues as being for children with learning disabilities, or for autistic children, so we know we have bought the right stuff. The advertising promises that the resource will help the child calm down. We give it to the child. They like it. But a week down the line, two weeks down the line, could we really say it made a difference. In my work I constantly challenge people to reflect and question the given knowledge around them. So, let’s do that here. With just one simple sensory resource. Let’s explore how much there is to know about something so apparently simple. My resource of choice for this article is the settle jar. You will have seen these in one form or another, like an old-fashioned snow globe these jars are full of glittering particles that swirl around when agitated and then gradually settle to the bottom. They are beautiful! We buy one. We pay a bit extra for a particularly beautiful one. We give it to the child. They shake it and pause to watch the particles settle. Is that the calm we were sold? For starters if we model behaviour the effect will be more pronounced. Come alongside the child. Fix your gaze on the particles. Take a deep breath in through your nose and slowly steadily release it through your mouth. You may want to prompt the child to copy you but often there is no need. Our bodies are designed to fall into sync with the bodies of those around us, so you being calm will support someone who is trying to be calm. (For an insight into an opposite approach watch fly on the wall ‘documentaries’ following traffic police to witness very excited police officers yelling CALM DOWN at very agitated suspects – I’m not sure there is anything less calming!) Repeat the breath cycle seven times. Aim to be so calm yourself that the child cannot help but be overwhelmed by the calmness you are exuding. This alone can make a big difference in many settings, but there is more we can consider. For example: Why was it in the catalogue in the section ‘toys for autistics’ after all what is so autistic about glitter in a jar? Well perhaps it is a reference to the heightened visual processing many autistic people experience, perhaps the autistic child is better able to perceive the glitter? But surely that wouldn’t merit placing it in this section. I wonder what would happen if you rang up the catalogue producers? My guess would be they say that in their experience these products get used with children who are autistic. That’s a bit of a loop isn’t it? They’re sold to autistics, so they get used by autistics. But! There is a reason why resources like this can be especially pertinent to autistic children, and indeed to other neurodivergent people. And that is that often people who are diagnosed with a neurodivergent condition, for example autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, often have problems with their executive functioning and with their interoception. Interoception is your ability to perceive your internal sensations. And it is these internal sensations that inform us of how we are feeling. If I know I am feeling stressed I can walk away from the situation that is causing me to feel stressed and avoid conflict. If I am getting stressed but I do not know I am getting stressed I am likely to remain in the situation and stumble into that conflict. A simple settle jar can be a great way to help someone externalise and habituate their emotional regulation. The need to externalise and habituate coping strategies is something I talk about in greater detail in my online course Exploring the Impact of the Senses on Behaviour. But in essence if you cannot do it instinctually internally, as is likely for people who face difficulties with their executive function and their interoception then you have to learn how to do it externally (externalise it) and you have to remember to actually do it (habituate)! This often gets likened to driving a car with a faulty fuel gauge. If you drive a car with a working fuel gauge you are unlikely to run out of fuel as you’ll notice and fill up when the gauge indicates you’re running low. However, if the fuel gauge is not working in order to avoid running out of fuel you’ll develop strategies such as counting how many miles you’ve driven or trying to remember to use a dipstick in the fuel tank before you set off. The better you get at applying these strategies the less likely you are to run out of fuel. Here is how I would use a settle jar to support a child to regulate their emotions and feel calm: I would show them the jar at a point in time when they are able to focus and engage and would link it to emotions. “When you get angry you feel all agitated inside” I would show the feeling of anger and frustration on my face and shake the jar. “And you want to calm down.” I would place the jar on the desk breathing out a big breath as I did so. Incidentally the linking of the downward motion of the particles to the instruction to calm down can be helpful to autistic children who are more prone than others to taking language literally (why is calm down? Why isn’t it in another direction? Calm left, calm diagonally, calm up?) I would complete some cycles of calm breathing (in through the nose for a count of 3 or 4, out through the mouth for a count of 5 or 6). If the child understood Makaton, I would partner this with the sign for calm which is beautifully reflective of the process and involves the signer placing their hands in front of their body with their palms facing down, one at chest height one at hip height, and then rotating them in a downward motion. So, it is as if the one at chest height presses down until it is at hip height and the one at hip height is lifted to become the one at chest height. Ongoing I would make reference to the jar as I informed the child of their emotional landscape. It can seem counter intuitive to tell someone how they are feeling, but many children are not aware of their emotions until they are super big. So, I might make a point when I see the child sitting reading a book of saying “I can see you are really calm and still, like the settle jar is calm and still” and indicating the undisturbed jar. On another occasion when the child is becoming agitated, I might tell them “I can see you are getting a bit upset and annoyed” and shake the jar to draw the parallel between their internal state and the external representation of that in the jar. I might also tell them how I knew what they were feeling. “I knew you were calm because you were still, your breathing was slow and deep, your shoulders were dropped” Letting them know the external markers you used to understand their emotional landscape gives them the option of using them too if their internal sensing isn’t working too well (if their fuel gauge is playing up). Moving forwards, I might offer the child the jar at moments when they needed to calm down. Or I might ask them to tell me how they feel by manipulating the jar to indicate their emotional state. Ultimately what I would hope to gift the child in doing this is a way out of distress. So that when they felt the unpleasant sensation of anger, they could go to the jar, shake it and take a pause to watch the glitter settle, breathing deeply as they did so, and reach that place of calm where a resolution to whatever the problem was might be easier to get to. It’s a skill many adults could use too. I might also find that the child is able to use the jar to express their emotion to me. Where before rage might have been expressed through behaviour, if they can come to me and shake the jar hard and hand it to me, that can be extraordinarily powerful. Then that simple jar becomes a way of them saying “please help me”. With the right knowledge and a little creativity inexpensive items can become effective sensory tools for inclusion! To make your own settle jar select a container with a watertight lid. Depending on who you are sharing this resource with you may opt to choose plastic over glass, and to superglue the lid closed rather than just screwing it on tight. Add a few tablespoons of clear glue to the jar and fill with warm water. The glue thickens the water so that your particles do not fall too rapidly, and the warmth of the water will help to mix the two together. Add in some glittery particles. Fix the lid in place. Shake and away you go. Tip: Use glitter glue tubes, squeezing one or two into a jar load of water gives you both the clear glue and the glittery particles in one fell swoop. You can find Joanna on Facebook , Twitter and Linkedin where you can ask questions about your own situation. Joanna also has a website www.thesensoryprojects.co.uk where she is currently curating free resources for lockdown.

The last year has been an exceptionally challenging one as we all attempt in our own way to cope with the extraordinary impact of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The ripple effect of this has been massive with virtually every single person impacted in some way, even if they did not contract the virus themselves. In my 30+ years working in the early years sector, I have never known such unprecedented times. Issues such as the long-term closures of schools, interruptions to routine health services, isolation from family and friendship networks, and disruptions to everyday living have rarely been seen since the outbreak of the second world war over 80 years ago. But, true to form, the early years workforce, headteachers and school staff have soldiered on. Leaders have worked relentlessly to adapt their settings to ensure high quality provision remains in place for the children of key workers and vulnerable families. Despite public safety concerns, early years professionals and school staff have prioritised the care of children over their own anxieties about their personal health and well-being. Never has highly effective leadership been so important to navigate our way through these turbulent times. The effectiveness of a setting relies heavily on the influence of leadership and those responsible for making key decisions. Schools and early years providers have had to make significant changes to their provisions over the last year. Some of these may only be temporary, but others may remain. So, in these unpredictable times, how will leaders make the right decisions about what needs to change? In this article, I use the term ‘teachers’ to cover all forms of practitioner working with children in the Early Years Foundation Stage, whether they are based at home, or in a school or setting. Review and reflection have never been more important. What is working well? Why is this? What impact is it having on both children and staff? Some of the changes which have been made to the organisation of a setting may never have been considered necessary prior to Covid. For example, how children are grouped into ‘bubbles’. It is so unusual for year groups not to routinely mix together within the school timetable and is a structure which would not normally be planned for. But how is it working? Are there any positives to this? Or do the negatives outweigh these? Leaders have the ongoing demanding task of monitoring their provision and deciphering where change is needed. Scrupulous monitoring, review and evaluation contribute towards working out what is working well. Key to this, is ensuring children’s care, learning and development needs are consistently met. There is great coverage in the media about teachers needing to ensure children ‘catch up’ in their learning. Yes, there is some truth in this, but let us remember that not all children will have had negative experiences and fallen far behind in their learning during the pandemic. Let us not put even more pressure on our children who have experienced such a disruptive year. Overall, parents have played a key part in helping to ensure children continue to learn and make progress during lockdown. Obviously, home schooling will not have been able to cover all aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage in full, but, for some children, significant learning has taken place. We must not lose sight of this. So, now teachers must carefully assess what each child can still do and what they need to learn next. We must not be drawn into the media’s hype about ‘gaps’ and the need to accelerate children’s learning. Remember the saying, ‘We cannot run until we can walk…’ This applies to children’s learning too. Trying to plan a term’s worth of ‘missed learning’ into a fortnight will not work. We must focus our efforts on planning for children’s individual learning needs and styles, as we always do. Once this is established, the curriculum can be delivered accordingly. What we must consider, however, is the life experiences children have had during lockdown. In assessing their individual needs, we must fully understand their emotional well-being. We all recognise that for children to learn effectively, they must feel safe and secure. Returning to settings and school following a long period of absence is going to be unsettling. Every family will have had different experiences and Covid may have directly affected them, or those close to them. Social isolation will have been challenging for many parents without the support of close friends and family. Some families may have been directly affected with unemployment, poverty, long term sickness, domestic violence and other aspects of crisis. The impact of these factors on children will be great but may not be directly obvious. Teachers need to work with parents and carers, within the constraints of social distancing, to identify every child’s unique learning and development needs. These may be very different now, from those identified prior to March 2020. Leaders need to have a clear overview of what the information gained through assessment is reflecting. What is the priority learning need of each cohort of children? How do these differ from the curriculum that would normally be planned for at this time of the year? How will teaching need to be adapted to take account of this? Once these changes are made, how will teachers know children are making progress? These aspects link directly to Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework – the ‘intention’, the ‘implementation’ and the ‘impact’ of the curriculum. During the summer term, settings are routinely preparing children for the transition from early years settings into Reception, or the move to Year 1. So, assessment needs to be especially rigorous to assess how ready children are for this next phase of their learning. Focus is highly likely to be needed in supporting children’s social and emotional skills; their language and communication; and their abilities to solve problems and work things out for themselves. Previous long-term plans need to be thoroughly reviewed. Teachers need to focus on where children are at now. This is highly likely to be variable amongst all the children, and teaching will need to be even more precisely focused than ever before. There may be some training needs for teachers. For example, we know lockdown arrangements have had an adverse impact on some children’s emotional needs. Schools and settings are now being encouraged to train staff in mental health awareness. This is an aspect I fully support. We need to recognise that children may have silently witnessed, or directly experienced, trauma within the home. They may have not always felt safe at home and with settings being closed, have not been able to reach out to adults they trust to help them. This means some children may return to settings with significant emotional trauma. Other children may find the separation from their parents and carers particularly challenging having been at home with them for such an extended period. Conversely, some parents may find it hard to separate from their children and feel anxious about them returning to settings and be worried about their health and welfare. The complexities involved in reopening settings and welcoming all children back following lockdown are significant. Leaders need to work closely with their staff to continually review their provision. Teachers need to be fully involved in this. They need to be actively responding to what assessment information is showing. Is there a need for greater emphasis on the promotion of children’s language skills? Which aspects of children’s learning are they making less progress in than others? Why is this? Have younger children returned to settings and ‘forgotten’ how to play and explore? They may not have had such rich, stimulating learning experiences provided for them at home. Their perseverance, determination and curiosity may not have been fostered as well, as well-meaning parents and carers may have inadvertently inhibited children’s opportunities to do things by themselves, or with their own desired outcome. When reflecting on your provision, re-visit the characteristics of effective learning. As we know, these are the traits children need to learn effectively. Encourage teachers to observe children carefully. How well are children deeply engaged in their play and exploration? How long can they concentrate for without being distracted? How much patience do children have to achieve their own goal? Observation, assessment, and evaluation are crucial here. Teachers need to be continually monitoring the weekly changes in children as they return to settings and settle back into routines they were familiar with prior to lockdown. Some children may not be able to achieve as much as they could before. But what other skills do they now have? Are these contributing towards the progress they make, or could they be hindering their learning in some way? Never has a holistic approach to reflection been so important. These are challenging times and I do not underestimate the time involved for teachers to accurately identify the learning stage of every child in their setting. We need to focus on what information from today’s assessment is showing, rather than getting distracted with what a child needs to do by September. Yes, this is the long-term goal, but a child is not going to make rapid progress and be fast-tracked through to Reception or Year 1 without time being spent on re-visiting the fundamental foundations for learning. As teachers, we need to celebrate every child’s unique qualities. We need to acknowledge and respect their individual characters and praise them for being who they are. After such a disruptive period of time, we need to foster children’s confidence and emotional well-being. Put aside, for now, what children cannot do and celebrate what they can do. Through careful tracking and monitoring, leaders can make sure that the unique learning styles, interests and preferences of every child are accurately planned for. Identified training for teachers must focus on the here and now. What are the priorities? Is more emphasis needed on supporting one aspect of learning? How can teachers adapt their practice to include greater support for this through play and continuous provision? How will the impact on any training be measured? What success criteria will be seen when this is successful? Effective reflection and evaluation means monitoring takes place at every level. Teachers, and those working directly with children, continually review the learning and progress they see. They systematically evaluate the impact of provision and plan for the next stage. This process needs to continue with relevant oversight from leaders to ensure relevant changes are made when needed and new ways of working are fully embraced and embedded across a setting. Changes might not bring about instant improvement. Adaptations and modifications may need to be made before it feels ‘right’. Remember these are unprecedented times. Children who have not remained in schools and settings during lockdown have suffered significant absence from their typical learning routines. It will take time for some children to settle back in and pick up where they were previously. An analogy which often comes into my mind when thinking about children returning to schools and settings is a little like a field full of new spring lambs; all eager to explore and do their own thing. We are experts in early years. We know how children learn through play and exploration. We must not be put off by the challenges ahead. Teachers are the ‘shepherds’ which will gently guide the children and place them back on track so they are ready and fully prepared for the next stage in learning. The task is not always a simple one, but it’s one we can achieve if we plan for it carefully.

I was recently a guest lecturer on a university course for teachers studying inclusive classroom practice. Before I began, I asked everyone to let me know if they were neurotypical or not. With one or two exceptions where people said they were not sure everyone answered swiftly: “I am neurotypical,” “I am neurotypical,” “I am neurotypical” and so on. I pointed out to them that not one person had described themselves as “A person with neurotypicism.” But first and foremost, before your neurology you are a person. It is important that we state that first. You are a person with the brain that you have, not a person defined by it. Isn’t that right? Which part is you and which part is your neurotypicism? Could I point to a part of me that isn’t autistic? I, my very self, is autistic. We all know that it is good practice when it comes to speaking about people with learning disabilities to use person first language. To remind everyone that this is a person we are talking about, not a condition. But I wonder whether there isn’t something a little worrying within that. Do we need reminding that people are people? Let us look again? That ‘with’ is a form of judgement. What we are saying when we position something in a sentence away from the person, is that the something, whatever it maybe, is negative. We want to keep it separate from the person, to protect the person in some way from it. And the ‘with’ is what we use in language to do that. For example, in my own practice I would always say “A person with epilepsy.” I’d be very keen to separate epilepsy from the people I know who live with the condition, I wish that there was more I could do to those ends than just use the word ‘with’. If you told me you were looking to cure epilepsy I would be right behind you. That ‘with’ is a judgement that says the next thing is bad. Think of how you describe yourself: you probably state things like your gender, your sexuality, your race, you religion as “I am” statements. You do not hear people saying “I am a person with femaleness” “I am a person with gayness” “I am a person with whiteness”. When people state “I am white” they do not follow it up with an explanation that not all white people are the same, or that being white does not define them, those things are already understood. The autistic community is very clear: we prefer identity first language. “I am autistic” not “I am a person with autism”. And yes, everyone on the spectrum is different and some individuals will choose person first language and that is their right to do so. But in general, the autistic community choose identity first language. (This was something I researched extensively in writing The Subtle Spectrum if you are curious to read more you can explore the references provided below). Why does this matter? Is it just playing with words? Well it matters enormously because inherent in that judgement of ‘with’ is a prejudice that says an autistic brain is worth less than a neurotypical brain. Autism is a brain difference not a brain defect. Prejudice against autism, even little micro aggressions like ‘with’ing, has big consequences for my life outcomes. That prejudice has (as you can read in The Subtle Spectrum) threatened my life on occasions, both in terms of physical and mental health. And I am someone who would be described as having low support needs. That prejudice is dangerous to me as someone who does not lead a particularly challenged life, how much more dangerous is it to someone who faces more challenges than me? Research is also beginning to show more and more that adopting, accepting and embracing autistic identity, has a positive effect on outcomes for autistic people. There are parallels to be drawn with the gay community. Think of the incredible pressure homosexual people have lived through, and in some parts of the world continue to live through, to appear as if they were heterosexual. When you live under that pressure it threatens your mental and physical health. Would we conclude that being gay causes mental illness? Happily, not any more. But, in places where people have to lead closeted lives, then of course we see a rise in mental illness. When people are allowed to fully be who they are, and can celebrate that, that is healthier for everyone. Embracing difference is not just beneficial for those with clearly definable differences, it is beneficial to everyone’s wellbeing. In a world where difference is embraced we are all free to be our authentic selves. I am a woman. I am a mother. I am a daughter. I am a wife. I am straight. I am white. I am British. I am a teacher. I am an author. I am Autistic. Who are you? Joanna’s son became the UK’s youngest published author in 2020 with his book My Mummy is Autistic. Joanna’s 8th book The Subtle Spectrum comes out in June. Both books are published by Routledge.