Book: Thinking Through Pedagogy for Primary and Early Years

Tony Eaude

Eaude, T. (2011). Thinking through pedagogy for primary and Early Years. Learning Matters.

Abbreviation: Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP, 2006)

Pg 10

Chapter 1: Revealing assumptions about learning and teaching

pg 14

one long-standing debate is whether education is an art, a craft or a science. Those who see it as a science may emphasis the link between objectives and outcomes, the use of evidence and the value of being systematic. Those advocating for it as an art could cite the elements of playing to, or with, an audience and creativity, both in planning and adapting activities and in original means of presentation. The features of a craft are more practical, often with tasks involving design and adaptation, and an approach where the skill sand theory are learned from someone more experienced, in the view of the recognition of uncertainty and the limits of predicability (Wakings and Mortimore, 1999, p.2)

Pg 16

… to treat a four-year-old as a “non-reader ” rather than someone not yet able to make sense of text alters how we view their learning…

… summary of the TLRP’s evidence-informed pedagogic principles… effective pedagogy:

1. equips learns for life in its broadest sense
2. engages with valued forms of knowledge
3. recognises the importance of prior experience and learning
4. requires learning to be scaffolded
5. needs assessment to be congruent with learning
6. promotes the active engagement of the learner
7. fosters both individual and social processes and outcomes
8. recognises the significance of informal learning
9. depends on the learning of all those who support the learning of others

pg 18

“Learner or “learning” appear in eight of the principles; and “teacher” or “teaching” in none, suggesting that the educators ‘ main focus should be on learning.

pg 21

Jackson et al. (1993) conclude that what teaches really value is always evident in what they do rather than what they say. … this is evident at a classroom level in the detail of how a child is sensitively integrated, with home he or she is groups, how success is celebrated and challenges addressed.

Pg 22

What qualities are need to work with young children?

Moyles (2004) describes passion, paradox and professionalism as integral elements of working with children under seven. … pedagogy involves judgement, often in complicated situations, requiring the knowledge associated with being a professional.

Pg 23

Passion helps to enhance the child’s learning, promote partnership with those around the child and sustain the educator’s own professionalism.

Moyles sets out (pages 14-15) some of the paradoxes of working with young children, such as:

• the need to balance one’s knowledge of child development with the imposition of common standards;
• the challenge of encourages discipline and high standards of behaviour when (some) parents and other members of society are not always models of … socially acceptable behaviours.
• the low level of salaries set against high expectations of “professionalism”

Pg 27

Chapter 2: Exploring the historical cultural and political context of pedagogy

pg 28

Case study

Descriptions of Victorian elementary classrooms such as Speed (1983) highlight that the rooms were often crowded, with boys and girls in separate classes or schools. The teaching was heavily based on rote learning and drill, with a strong emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic, along with religious instruction and, for girls, needlework and, for boys, technical skills. Children were expected to listen, to copy and to be obedient, with disciple severe for those who did not. The teacher, often poorly qualified, was judged on a narrow set of outcomes. Children’s attendance was often poor, with prizes given for good attendance and punishment for those who had been absent. Parents were, largely, excluded.

Reggio Emilia is a town in norther Italy associated with an educational approach involving centres for children from three months to three years old and infant schools for children from three to six years old.

… children were seen as “empty vessels ” to be filled…

PG 31

The developmental tradition’s roots lie within romanticism, stemming from the ideas of educators in Western Europe, such as Rousseau, Froebel and Montessori and, subsequently in America, Dewey. It views the child as like a seed to be nurtured and education as an unfolding of natural abilities – as reflected in the term “kindergarten ” (children’s garden).

The developmental tradition tends to emphasis learning through activity and discovery, often following the individual child’s own interests, and breadth of experience especially through play and the arts…

Pedagogy tended to be based on the belief that experience will lead to learning, with the teacher’s role more as a facilitator, usually accompanied by a belief in educating the whole child.

Pg 38

Campbell and Kyrakides (200) argue that “standards ” include three different meanings of the term:

• those set by policy-makers;
• those set by teachers when planning;
• those achieved by pupils

They state that these may not match. Saying that 80 per cent of a group should reach a certain level does not mean they will. Black (2001, p 73) states that standards can only be raised by improving teaching.

Pg 39

Well-being

It is therefore necessary to understand how social and cultural change has affected young children’s lives, attitudes, and well-being.

Mayall (2010) argues that current and future priorities for pedagogy should take account of the changing nature of how childhood is understood in the light of social and cultural change.

Pg 41

A subtler trend results from a less deferential approach to authority, for instance shown by how the role and expertise of doctors or teachers are increasingly challenged.

Pg 2

Adults must take account of the social and cultural world outside school, both because, as Brooker (2002) argues, children learn a great deal, and in different ways, at home and , as the TLRP says, the conception of what is to be learned needs to be broadened beyond the notions of curricula and subjects associated with schools; and also because the influences on children outside school are so powerful and influential and how they think and act.

This is not simply about more, or less, or different types of homework, or whether children should be discouraged from reading comics; but about the sorts of knowledge valued in school and society and the types of people we wish children to be.

pg 44

Chapter 3: Making sense of young children’s development

pg 49

Development

Although his ideas have been misunderstood and challenged in several respects, Piaget remains deeply influential in understanding children’s development, especially of cognition. One of his great insights is that knowledge is constructed by the learner, with a conceptual structure which is reshaped as a result of new experience (though not only experience). He saw development as a progression through consecutive, fixed stages of development. As a simple analogy, one cannot build the fourth floor of a block of flats until the first three have been completed.

Drawing on Bruner’s word, Gipps and MacGilchrist (1999, pages 50-1) summarise three main views of children, and the learning process, as:

• imitative learners: the acquisition of know-how, with pedagogy based on an apprenticeship model, leading the novice into the skilled ways of the expert;
• learning from didactic exposure; the acquisition of propositional knowledge ( ‘facts’), with pedagogy based on presenting children with facts, principles and rules to be applied;
• thinkers: the development of inter-subjective exchange, with pedagogy based on discussion and collaboration so that children become increasingly active participants in their own learning.

pg 51

… learning depends not only on the type of experience but how the learner represents these. Bruner (2006, volume 1, page 69) highlights three main ways of representing experience, which are:

• the enactive, through actions;
• the iconic, through visual means;
• the symbolic, through symbols, especially language.

One respect in which young children’s minds differ from those of adults is in their ability to think abstractly.

Pg 52

Prior experience, context and physical and cognitive readiness affect how a child engages with a taste. Yet, all too often, as adults, we seek to impose meaning, rather than enabling children to find it for themselves. So, how a child responds will depend on her understanding of, or familiarity with, the type of task and she may move back and forward between modes, according to context, and the level of challenge. As they mature, children, learn new modes of representation but the old ones are not discarded (unless they are persuaded otherwise).

Interaction and modelling

Learning is not just an individual activity. Bruner writes (1996, page 93) we do not learn a way of life, and ways of deploying mind unassisted, unscaffolded, naked before the world.

Pg 53

Education involves being incorporated into a culture by learning to use the tools of culture in increasingly sophisticated and appropriate ways. This is why an unfamiliar, or an alien, culture makes learning so difficult.

pg 54

In the words of the playwright, James Baldwin (1961), children never have been very good at listening to their elders but they have never failed to imitate them.

Narrative

In Anning’s words (1991, page 37):

for children the function of narrative can be to enable them to move from the here and now of their immediate experiences to the more distanced ideas about what happened then and what might happen next. In other words, the narrative form is a potent resource to help children move to abstractions

So, stories work in multiple, subtle, often unconscious ways, including:

• connecting with other people and cultures;
• posing questions to encourage investigation of inference and motivation;
• nurturing the imagination;
• prompting reflection;
• helping to provide a language through which to explore feelings and beliefs.

1. stories are enjoyable and accessible
2. good stories are open-ended. The allow for alternative possibilities and courses of action, through one features of most stories is that they reach a conclusion. where whatever questions the story has raising are resolved
3. stories suggest and resonate, rather than preach, at least when told well, because they bear repeated retelling by both teller and listener
4. they link us to other cultures and generations and help to provide examples of what to do (or otherwise). Stories are basic to understanding history, religion and literature, rather like a framework for linking otherwise disjointed factual knowledge.
5. stories help us, in a safe space, to understand experience, both our own and other people’s, and to integrate the two. We recognise ourselves in other people and other people in ourselves. For instance, a story like The Gruffalo helps a young child realise not only that her fears can be overcome, but that she can participate in this, in a way that is exciting and amusing

Pg 55

Perhaps the most obvious use of stories, whether told or read, is to model aspects of both oracy and literacy in a way that is accessible, unthreatening and enjoyable.

The whole child

… the term “the whole child ” … tried to capture that learning was not just about cognitive and physical development.

… spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC)…

SMSC and cognitive development are like interwoven strands of a rope. If these become separated, one result may be young people, whether academically successful or not, with little idea how to make relationships or to make sense of their own lives; and another, too many children with low levels of attainment, and the resulting low expectations (both their own and those of other people).

Pg 57

Spiritual

• who am i?
• where do I fit in?
• why am I here?

Moral

• how should I act?
• what sort of person do I want to become?

Social

• how should I interact with other people?

Cultural

• where do I belong?
• what is my identity?

Pg 58

In Eagleton’s (2000, page 131) words, culture is not only what we live by. It is also, in great measure, what we live for. Affection, relationship, memory, kinship, place, community, emotional fulfillment, intellectual enjoyment, a sense of ultimate meaning.

Cultural development may relate to three different meanings of culture, namely:

• as identity, coming from the tending of natural growth… helping children understand the groups to which they belong, and their associated beliefs and practices, and similarities and differences of those in other groups
• in the sense of art, music and literature, introducing children to do a broadening and enriching range of experience
• as the environment in which we live, understand and interpret our experiences as in “classroom cultures” or “western culture”.

pg 61

Chapter 4: Understanding knowledge and intelligence

Knowledge

Pg 63

Too great an emphasis on propositional knowledge tends to encourage:

• children to see knowledge as something “out there ” to be gathered and hoarded;
• educators, especially teachers working with large groups to adopt a transmission style, where the adult speaks, usually, or demonstrates and the child listens or watches, passively

To great emphasis on procedural knowledge tends to encourage:

• children to try to apply skills without there being a realistic chance of success;
• educators to leave children to explore, and experiment, without the tools or support necessary to enhance their conceptual understanding.

The TLRP (2006) principles emphasis learners building on their prior experience and the need for activities, cultures and structures of intellectual, social and emotional support. Factual information ,on its own, is of little use till applied. Skills are rarely useful unless based on propositional knowledge. So “skills” and “content” need to be mutually supportive.

Pg 64

The focus on the curriculum, or the sorts of abilities which adults praise, give a message, however explicit or subtle, about which types of learning – and too often people – are most valued. Worryingly, adults often associate a wide range of experience with great intelligence and as Resnick (1999, page 39) argues, students who, over an extended period of time are treated as if they are intelligent, actually become more so. If they are taught demanding content and find connections… they learn more and learn more quickly. The [come to] think of themselves as learners. They are [better] able to bounce back in the face of short-term failures. So, educators ‘ views of what sorts of knowledge matter most is linked to their perceptions of intelligence and potential; and adult expectations exert a powerful influence on children’s view of themselves and what they aspire to.

Pg 67

What do these views indicate about ability, potential and intelligence?

… are gifted and talented children a breed apart or do all, or most, children have attributes of giftedness to be discovered and nurtured? Is giftedness largely an inherent and fixed quality or more like one learned and developed through the opportunities available and accessed?

Dweck (1999) describes two main views of intelligence, that it is:

• largely inherent and unchanging;
• to a greater extent learned, and multifaceted

She calls the former the fixed, and the latter the growth, mindset of intelligence. Simon (see Chitty, 2010, page 257) referred to the “educability ” of all children, and Heart et al. (2004) make a similar distinction in encourages us to think of children’s “transformability ” rather than “ability”.

…given the dynamic interaction of nature and nurture, inherited aspects can be enhanced by providing the best learning environment, though identifying what this involves will always be a matter of debate and depend on often-conflicting aims.

Pg 68

… low expectations are all too often self-fulfilling, which matters for those children whose cultural or family background is one of low aspiration.

Gardner (1993) suggests thinking of different types of intelligence, originally proposing:

• linguistic
• logical-mathematical;
• musical;
• bodily-kinaethetic
• spatial
• interpersonal

… multiple intelligences…

Pg 69

Emotional intelligence

The terms “emotional intelligence ” (EI) and “emotional literacy”, associated especially with Goleman (1996), have gained considerable credence in recent years, notable in schools through the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) programme and materials. As Claxton (2005, page 6) indicates, the strong appeal of concepts like ‘Emotional Intelligence ‘ reflects a shift in social attitudes generally, as well as in education, moving away from the previously held idea that abstract and rational thought was the epitome of intelligence. The recent focus on bullying, self-esteem, anger management and personal, social and health education (PSHE) as a separate subject are all manifestations of a greater emphasis on the affective, rather than cognitive, aspects of learning.

… Goleman initially presented EI as comprising knowing one’s emotions, managing one’s emotions, motivating oneself, recognising emotions in others and handling relationships skillfully, but with the concept later expanded to include (amongst many other things) self-confidence, initiative, optimism, leadership. In other words, just about everything except the traditional educational concerns of literacy, numeracy, analytical thinking and knowledge about the world.

Pg 70

…

How best can emotional intelligence be nurtured?

• circle time in which children are expected to listen, and respond to, other people in particular ways and articulate how they feel;
• explicit lessons on social, emotional and behavioural skills;
• training in mediation and conflict-resolutions skills;
• techniques such as calming and stilling.

… specific training in mediation and conflict resolution may help to empower children…

…Children become calmer when they have the chance to be still, and experience silence, though my own preference is more on providing opportunities for this than adopting a specific set of techniques. Emotions, and how they affect behaviour, can be explored, through a variety of approaches such as using puppets and playing games works best, especially with young children, in part because these work in indirect “unpreachy” ways.

… eg… circle time may help young children to take turns, but does not encourage interaction or dialogue if a child has to wait for several others to speak before responding…

pg 71

Explicit teaching of specific skills related to EI words best when related to the children’s own concerns, rather than following a set script. They become very skilled at “talking the talk”, but not necessarily adopting the strategies they have been taught.

Ecclestone and Hayes (2009) provide a wider-ranger critique of methods of teaching EI, arguing that an emphasis on feelings rather than knowledge creates a brief – usually unconsciously – that everyone is vulnerable and needs support.

pg 72

…children need to recognise their own emotions, regulate their responses and understand other people’s emotional state, both to develop their ability to behave appropriately according to the situation and to enable other sorts of learning. However, an uncritical use of some activities runes the risk of promoting particular types of response, of being simplistic especially for older children in primary schools, and creating a sense of vulnerability.

Habituation and metacognition

Perkins (cited in Gallagher, 2009, pages 123-124) distinguishes between three sorts of intelligence:

• neural – speed and precision of information processing;
• experiential – through extended experience, more like expertise;
• reflective – through metacognition and self-regulation

Experiential intelligence relates more to the application of skills and problem-solving, requiring resourcefulness and creativity, attributes demonstrated by my builder. In exploring what is meant by deep learning, this section considers both reflective intelligence and less deliberate and conscious processes.

pg 73

Rote learning can help provide immediate responses and embed habits. This is useful in many respects, but too much reliance on these stunts creativity and independence.

Studies of high-performing athletes or musicians suggest that thousands of repetitions are required to make good habits “second nature’. However, this is not so, if one practices the wrong thing. For example, practicing forming letters or holding the pencil incorrectly tends to embed a bad habit.

… one key role that an adult can play is to provide the child with metacognitive ‘prompts ‘ to help him regulate his anxieties and remember alternative strategies; and one great benefit of group work is that children are not left to themselves to struggle alone with the challenges of learning.

Metacognition is an idea closely associated, and often interchangeable, with those such as “higher-order thinking skills” and “learning about learning.” The idea of high-order thinking skills is associated with Bloom (1956), who emphasised that learning involves three domains: cognitive (knowledge), effective (attitude) and psychomotor (skills)…

	Cognitive (what to do/undertake a task)	Metacognitive (how to approach a task, possible processes and strategies)
Knowledge acquisition	Can read a text to find specific details	Knows ways for finding which texts might contain specific details
Comprehension	Can answer questions about a document	Knows how to pick out key features and how to identify what is not known
Application	Can use information/techniques in variety of situations	Knows which techniques to use to recall information/skills to use
Analysis	Can ask questions about information and compare and contrast with existing knowledge	Knows which techniques to use when questions are asked of data
Synthesis	Can assemble information form various sources and create a coherent outcome	Knows a range of techniques to create coherent outcomes when various sources of information are used
Evaluation	Can make decisions about information/ideas using specific criteria	Knows which techniques enable evaluation to be reasonable and reliable

Higher-order thinking and metacognition require tasks and activities which are cognitively demanding, rather than constant repetition of low-level tasks…

… pedagogy is a gradual long-term process intended to develop expertise and a wide repertoire of skills and approaches.

pg 75

… Sternberg (2004, page 609) writes, intelligent children know their own strengths and weaknesses and find ways to capitalise on their strengths and either to compensate for or correct their weaknesses.

Is all learning conscious?

Donaldson (1992, page 20) writes some kinds of knowledge are in the light of full awareness. Others are in the shadows, on the edge of the bright circle. Still others are in the darkness beyond. Caxton (1997, page 2) calls ‘conscious, deliberate, purposeful ‘learning ‘d-mode thinking ‘(where ‘d ‘ stands for deliberation). This involves trying consciously to use existing knowledge to solve a problem already defined as a problem…

As adults, we rely (too) heavily on d-mode and assume, often implicitly, but mistakenly, that this is the best, or indeed, the only approach for young children.

Claxton (1997) describes ‘slow ways of knowing ‘ in which the brain discovers patterns and develops responses, often patterns and develops responses, often without conscious thought, involving intuition and imagination as well as cognition.

pg. 76

… response seem to at times to be able bypass conscious processes, as when a child learns to use a saw by imitation or to appreciate an artist’s intentions. Too much effort or interference, may block the search for meaning. For the unconscious to be allowed to work requires space and time with the conscious not too busy, calling for opportunities for thought, reflection and silence, as well input, immediate response and words. So, an appropriate environment for learning must involve opportunities for both.

Pg 77

Chapter 5: Identifying the attributes of, and barriers to, successful learning

…without motivation, or if you were fearful or overanxious, you probably would not have persisted [learning].

… Although conscious theorising, for instance in recalling particular sub-skills or reminding oneself of what do to, or to avoid, may have helped, expertise is achieved, mostly without conscious thought, so that recourse to such theorising becomes necessary only at times of uncertainty. So, learning involves many different processes, individual and social, physical and cognitive. The relative importance of these depends on the task, the context, the support available and, especially, what the learner brings. Learning is like a structure built up of interlocking pieces, where each element, ideally, supports others.

Pg 79

Creativity and resilience

Dweck (1999, page 1) writes that the hallmark of successful individuals is that they love learning, they seek challenges, they value effort and they persist in the face of obstacles. She describes those who show these qualities as having a “mastery-oriented ” approach, associating this with a growth mindset of intelligence. She contrasts this with “learned helplessness”, which leads to children seeing obstacles as a threat, prompting self-doubt and withdrawal, rather than a natural part of learning.

Pg 80

..Robinson’s (NACCCE, 19999, page 30) distinction between historic, relative and individual originality. The first is confined to a few geniuses. Relative originality occurs when a child takes an approach or arrives at an outcome which is original compared with other children’s. Individual originality relates to the child’s previous work, so that a child trying out unfamiliar ways of applying paint or discovering a mathematical pattern new to him or herself can be seen as original. Relative and individual original roughly correspond to what Craft (Craft et al. 2001, pages 45-62) calls “little c creativity”, with “big C ” creativity original to themselves – but this requires an active and divergent approach, not just following someone else’s ideas. To achieve a successful outcome requires knowledge and skills, but imagination and divergent thinking come first. This involves some risk and part of adults’ role is to ensure that children can cope with the consequences of possible failure. Otherwise, they, especially those who lack resilience, will be discouraged from trying again.

Since each child constructs and creates the most important forms of knowledge anew, creativity and imagination are not optional extras, but central to how we learn and perceive ourselves.

Claxton (2002) coining the term “learnacy ” to describe what is involve in “learning-to-learn”, highlights what he calls the 4Rs, which are:

• resilience;
• resourcefulness;
• reflectiveness
• reciprocity

Engagement is more likely when children enjoy what they are doing, especially when they have set their own challenges.

… resilience – being able to persist in the face of confusion, frustration and uncertainty – is one key attribute of successful learning.

Pg 81

Resourcefulness entails drawing on a wide range of strategies and sources of information, rather than relying on only a limited repertoire. …require the confidence to take risks and make, but learn from, mistakes – a confidence dependent on how the learner feels, the nature of the activity and the context…

Reflectiveness implies giving thought to how to approach a task, being aware of one’s own capabilities and strengths, steeping back and adapting new strategies, and is closely associated with metacognition.

… reciprocity is essential in how very young children learn to understand themselves, how they and other people relate to each other, and to talk. Unless children recognise, and empathise with, other people’s feelings and responses and learn to co-operate and compromise, they will be isolated from one of the most basic sources of learning – other people.

… [Eaude suggests]…. many, including the 4Rs and sociability, are protective, while others such as curiosity or playfulness, imagination and creativity are transformational, with attributes such as thoughtfulness, insight and enthusiasm helping both to protect and to transform. These are the building blocks of successful learning.

Developing the attributes of successful learners requires practice and habituation. Claxton uses the metaphor of the 4Rs as being like muscles. They are strengthened by gentle but repeated stretching, rather than violent jerks. They may ache for a while after use, but soon recover, but they become slack or atrophy if not used regularly.

Pg 82

… One key aspect of he educator’s role is constantly to reinforce the attributes of successful learners. ery often, as we shall see, this involves little, everyday actions, os that children become habituated, over time, to be:

• responsible, by taking responsibility;
• resilient, by overcoming challenges;
• creative, by practicing originality;
• confident, by believing in themselves

Self-concept

pg 83

… we each have multiple identities.

All people’s identities are affected by factors such as gender and ethnicity and where and how one is brought up. Our social, cultural and historical background helps to shape who we become.

As Solmon (1995, page 63) indicates,

“identity… is forged out of interaction with others. Who we are is inextricably bound up with who we are known to be. Children bring to school very particular family identities, identities which facilitate some kinds of learning, but inhibit identities, identities which facilitate some kinds of learning, but inhibit others. Social relationships with other young people, and participation in school culture, act to produce new dimensions in the sense of self, which frame the meaning of pupils’ classroom conduct and closely govern what they may and may not do.

Learning involves from the very beginning making sense of a range of fragmentary, often conflicting, experiences. Therefore, our understanding of ourselves can be seen as a constant search for a coherent personal narrative...

Pg 84

… any child (or adult) has a fluid identity, a sense of self, though cultural beliefs and prior experience help to shape how we approach, and respond to, new experience.

Embarrassment, and the fear of public failure, is a major reason why children (and adults) are reluctant to take the risks which make success likely. One should not underestimate the influence of peer-group pressure, to conform, to belong, both within the classroom and beyond…

As Dweck (1999, page xi) writes, people’s belief about themselves … can create different psychological worlds, leading them to think feel and act differently in identical situations.

pg 85

… if a child perceives herself as stupid or inadequate, or as successful or resourceful, she is more likely to become so. This involves not just accepting who she is but imagining, and so helping to create, what she might become.

We tend to assume that success leads to greater determination to succeed. However, Dweck writes (1999, page 1) that rather than embolden and energise them, success in itself does little to boost [students] desire for challenge or their ability to cope with setbacks… and can have quite the opposite effect, especially when it makes them afraid of failure.

Cultural capital

As Cummins (cited in Hart et al,. 2004, page 26) states, the ways in which identities are negotiated in these interactions (in the classroom) can be understood only in relation to patterns of historical and current power relations in broader society.

… the challenge is to find what does motivate individuals and groups, not what should…

pg 86

Children, inevitably, come to school with a range of beliefs and knowledge, experiences and expectations – both of themselves and of learning. … some of these make success more or less likely… and school culture contributes to this…

So, it is not a “level playing field:. It is tempting to think that a background of poverty or of domestic violence makes educational success impossible; or that a professional background or one of secure relationships makes it inevitable. This is not so, but factors such as how children have been treated and their experience of language make success or failure more likely.

… EPPE study (Sylva et al. 2010), argues that what parents do is more important than what they are..

Pg 87

Cultural capital relates to the familiarity, or otherwise, of an individual or group, with the environment. Much of this involves implicit rules.

Parents/carers who find reading or maths difficult are likely to find it harder to support their child’s learning. However, educators should not devalue different cultural beliefs about learning to read or do maths which do not match school policy.

… Thomson & Hall (2008 page 89):

“children who “know ” and can “do ” school are.. advantaged in the classroom right from the outset, while those who are not privileged in having the required ways of speaking, acting and knowing start at a disadvantage. Through the … practices of pedagogy, the gap grows between these children and their peers who are born fortunate by virtue of their class heritage or gender.”

Pg 88

If children do not find their sense of identity reinforced by what happens school, they will often withdraw or search for it elsewhere

… educators must constantly be aware of what they expect, work to keep aspirations high and think how best to engages and motivate children with differing interests and abilities.

…. educators need to know and understand children’s social and cultural background, not simply treat them “all the same “.

The hidden curriculum

Learning is a social as well as an individual enterprise. … the learning environment is one area over which teachers, especially, have considerable influence. However, any social environment such as a classroom is complicated and constantly changing; and , especially for young children, the emotional and cognitive, physical and mental, social and individual aspects are closely enmeshed.

The curriculum can be seen as having three elements

• the formal (taught explicitly)
• the informal (what takes place outside the classroom)
• the hidden (the beliefs and values embedded in the DNA of the school or class)

Pg 89

…Jackson et al.’s book “The Moral Life of Schools “… having children sit in rows, or on the floor, or in different grouping is not simply a matter of convenience, but indicates, and shapes, the type of learning and teaching expected. Where teachers stand, or sit, and how they store their own materials, or treat children’s work is indicative, even when they do this unconsciously, of their assumptions and expectations about what matters.

Environments are not neutral. They give messages about who, and what, are valued. Teachers who are welcoming or a learning mentor who is sympathetic are doing more than being pleasant or kind. They are helping children (and parents/carers) understand how to act and interact; one reason why valuing young children’s cultural backgrounds and prior knowledge is so important.

pg 91

… educators need to be aware both of individual circumstances and of prior experience and expectations in planning appropriate ‘routes into learning”.

pg 93

Chapter 6: Creating an inclusive learning environment

… Gipps (1994, page 35) … [says] effective primary teaching are a good positive atmosphere in the classroom, with plenty of encouragement and praise, high levels of expectation of all children and high levels of work-related talk and discussion….

Pg 94

What motivates one class may not work for a parallel group in the same school. What helps to engage and include one child may lead to another feeling excluded.

Inclusion

Pg 95

Mayall (2010, pg 66) argues that variations in children’s achievement may be profoundly rooted in school’s social attitudes… educators provide both a protection for those who may otherwise be excluded and an example to those who may be included to exclude others.

pg 96

It is easy to pretend that children are included when they are not. Inclusion does not just entail putting all children together in the same class or school. It relates to them receiving the education to which they are entitled. For example, consider where:

• a girl with isual hearing impairment does not receive adequate support;
• a boy in the early stages of learning English is grouped with those with learning difficulties and not offered enough cognitive challenge;
• children are constantly placed in situations where they cannot cope

how children are grouped can, subtly or otherwise, affect how they are included, or otherwise.

…an inclusive pedagogy is one which enables all children to belong and to contribute.

Adult expectations are a vital element of inclusion, for example believing that the class like that in the case study, the group who disrupt lessons or the quite child who seems not to engage can succeed (albeit in different ways), maintaining and fostering the “growth mindset” of intelligence.

Pg 97

Hospitable space

‘Real-word’ pedagogy usually involves balancing varying approaches, depending on the aim, the activity and the child, to try to achieve, as far as possible, entitlement for all, while meeting the needs of individuals.

pg 98

One valid criticism of the developmental tradition was tat having a large number of different activities going on simultaneously was enormously demanding for the teacher and often confusing for the children who required explicit structure. However, too much whole-class teaching especially where children are not active participants, restricts their opportunity for curiosity and creativity – and practicing the attributes of successful learners.

pg 99

… metacognition often involves stepping back from the immediate situation, reflecting on one’s own learning and pondering about what to do next. However, having too much time can leader to children being bored or avoiding any definite outcome.

Children need to feel safe, but to be challenged.

More experienced and confident learners can cope better with change. Those who are less confident need more security and reinforcement.

For children to learn to regulate their actions is vital, but this is harder for some than others, and at particular times. Being worried or anxious is demanding and tiring, often making it hard to concentrate. … for such children thrive requires that they feel safe and nurtured and that their anxiety is contained. This does not entail adults accepting any behaviour, but rather recognising children’s need for car and attention, as well as for boundaries and challenge…

…the learning experience, for the most vulnerable learners, is too often fragmented and full of inconsistent relationships and responses – like their lives.

Pg 100

…successful learning involes elements which are:

cognitive		affective
propositional	and	procedural
collective		individual
conscious		unconscious

Pg 101

Motivation and discipline

… while behaviour management is often seen as separate from learning, the quality of learning, teaching and behaviour as Steeer wrote (DfES, 2005b, page 2) in his report on school behaviour and discipline, are inseparable issues and the responsibility of all staff.

… too insistent a focus on behaviour tends to mean that adults and children alike become concerned with that rather than learning.

While motivation is rarely entirely intrinsic or extrinsic, educators should work towards developing intrinsic motivation, if children are to become independent learners. External structures are essential, but the challenge is for children to learn to disciple themselves, to internalise how to conduct themselves and so to become less dependent on such structure.

pg 102

… think about how activities encourage their own discipline. So, creating music or dance, working as a mathematician or a scientist, gardening or fishing, all have their own internal discipline, necessary for success.

Pg 103

Engagement depends on a match between the child’s interests, the nature of the activity and the level of challenge. … A five-year-old who can concentrate for hours on a computer game may not manage two minutes of being talked at; or to learn to send text messages before they can write fluently, in part because they see the point, in part because of the physical difficulties involved in writing.

Unchallenging activities may lead either to contented passivity, such as wen colouring a worksheet, or to misbehaviour…

pg 104

Choice and consistency

Rules and boundaries provide a structure which helps to make clear what is acceptable and so to reduce possible choice and contain anxiety. However, rules must be applied both fairly and consistently and with some flexibility.

Pg 106

There may also be times when your expectations are different from usual or why you act differently from your usual approach – deliberately or not. In such situations, it is helpful, especially for children who depend on rules to regulate their behaviour, to let them know what to expect, and modelling how to regulate one’s behaviour – including (at times) saying that you wished you had acted differently – and of helping children to cope with the unexpected.

… repeated failures on the child’s part to access conscious ways of regulating his behaviour undermines resilience and tends to lead to a loss of self-esteem and to disengagement.

Making expectations explicit can be very helpful, though these are more effective when children understand why, rather than complying without thought.

Pg 109

Chapter 7: Providing breadth and balance

Alexander (2010, page 307) writes that pedagogy gives life to educational aims and values, lifts the curriculum from the printed page, mediates learning and knowing, engages, inspires and empowers learners – or sadly may fail to do so.

Play and playfulness

Pg 116

In McMahon’s words (1992, page 1) play is a spontaneous and active process in which thinking, feeling and doing can flourish since they are separated from the fear of failure or disastrous consequences. One fundamental feature of play is that things and people can assume or be given, different identities. So, a stick can become a magic wand, or a conductor’s baton or a gun. A timid girl can become a princess or a dragon and a macho boy can dress as his grandma or a world. The child can operate with the meaning of something detached from what it appears to be, or is “in reality”.

Tassoni and Hucker (2005, page 9) characterise five stages of play

• solitary,
• spectator
• parallel
• partnership
• co-operative

In Siraj-Blatchford’s words (1999, page 29), Piaget argued that reciprocity in peer relations provides the foundations for perspective taking and for decentring. This suggests that collaborative play is exceptionally important for children. Play offers an unforced way from individual to socialised activity.

Play also supports conceptual development and metacognition, since in Vygotsky’s words (cited in Daniels et al, 2007, page 261) action according to rules begins to be determined by ideas and not the objects themselves. So, play helps to move towards more general and abstract thinking, but in a way where the child remains in control.

First-hand experience

pg 118

A deep conceptual understanding requires practice and application, not simply instruction. The less the child’s experience in any domain, the more important first-hand experience is to provide the foundation of learning. Once learners have a greater understanding of concepts, they can think more abstractly.

the danger for educators is to assume a conceptual understanding which individual children do not have. Many people have been put off mathematics because they never understood what fractions or algebra were all about.

pg 119

One major challenge facing educators is how to engage and motivate children in a culture where they are used to instant responses. It is tempting to think that first-hand experience motivates young children and encourages creativity. …first-hand experience…may not engage children if this leads to anxiety, especially by being subjected to the judgement of, and comparison with, other people.

pg 124

Chapter 8: Supporting successful learning

… as Alexander (2010, page 305) writes, different kinds of learning demand different kinds of teaching – declarative and procedural knowledge require direct teaching while conceptual and metacognitive knowledge require co-construction and dialogue.

Scaffolding

pg 125

Tharp and Gallimore (cited in Bliss et al, 1996, page 41) suggest that scaffolding’s three major mechanisms… are modelling, contingency management and feedback.

pg 126

Langer and Applebee (cited in Daniels et al, 2007 page 319( highlight the key features:

• ownership – of the activity to be learned (the learner must be engaged with the task)
• appropriateness – to the student’s current knowledge
• structure – embodying a ‘natural ‘sequence of thought and action
• collaboration – between teacher and student
• internalisation – in gradual withdrawal of the scaffolding and transfer of control

pg 127

Bliss et al. (1996, page 39) cite Greenfield’s view that scaffolding … does not involve simplifying the task… Instead, it holds the task constant while simplifying the learner’s role through the graduated intervention of the teacher.

pg 128

One important aspect of scaffolding is to enable children to think, to plan, to formulate time for a response.

Feedback

Sucess is built on a high level of self-esteem – a belief that one can succeed. While a low level of self-esteem leads easily to disengagement, self-esteem is much more potent when it is ‘won through striving whole-heartedly for worthwhile ends, rather than derived from praise, especially praise that may be only loosely related to actual achievement ‘as Dweck (summarised i Claxton, 2005, page 17) argues.

Pg 134

Dialogue

Alexander (2010, page 306) suggests that exploiting the full potential of talk requires ‘dialogic ‘ teaching which is:

• collective – where learning tasks are approached together
• reciprocal – where adults and children listen actively to each other
• supportive – where children can articulate ideas freely without embarrassment
• cumulative – where adults and children build on and link each other’s ideas
• purposeful – where dialogue is steered by adults with specific goals in mind

pg 135

… educators need consciously and explicitly to establish and environment to enable this. This involves developing habits such as:

• children being encouraged to:
  • ask questions, especially when they are unsure
  • talk and interact rather than just listen
  • listen and respond respectfully but, where need be, challenge and make mistakes

• adults being prepared to:
  • raise questions, especially those which invite exploration and speculation and which challenge, to develop metacognition
  • model how to ask questions
  • talk less and listen more
  • allow space for thinking and for uncertainty
  • support children brave enough to articulate their thoughts, especially those who are reticent about doing so

Learning Community

pg 138

Watkins (2005, page 43) describes learning communities as aiming to advance collective knowledge and in that way support the growth of individual knowledge. One essential feature of a learning community is that all involved are learners. As educators, we created, often unintentionally, a belief that knowledge resides largely with the teacher and that young children’s learning depends on accessing this.

page 140

Chapter 9: Assessing and planning for learning

Goals and targets

page 141

Summative assessment is largely related to outcomes and so usually comes at the end of a teaching programme, though it can, and should, inform future planning and teaching. It frequently involves gathering quantitative data in the form of marks or grades, or giving these.

…evidence is never value-free or culture-free and always needs to be interpreted.

pg 143

…emphasis[ing] the importance of:

• being aware, and taking account of, the child’s background and prior learning
• assessing a wide range of ability and responses to different situations, looking for both strengths and weaknesses
• assessing over time, rather than with one-off tests, especially with young children and those still in the early stages of learning English

pg 144

Donaldson (1992, page 7) argues that setting goals for ourselves, often very diverse ones, is central to how we learn. As she states (page 257), children enjoy solving problems, but as Bruner puts it, “they are not often either predisposed to, or skills in, problem-finding.

Pg 145

Assessment for learning

Formative assessment is a process which seeks to enable children to know what to do next to enhance their learning

pg 146

Involving children in their learning and deciding on next steps can help them be active participants in, and steering, their own learning. Children setting and solving their own problems, although often difficult when outcomes are closely defined, can help to sustain engagement and motivation. Learning to evaluate their own, and each other’s work helps encourage reflection and metacognition.

page 147

A more worrying idea is the categorisation of children as visual, auditory and kinesthetic (VAK learners. VAK can usefully help remind teachers to present material in a range of different ways and to encourage inactive and iconic, as well as symbolic, representation – doing, masking and drawing, rather than just listening and peaking and writing. However, VAK has led in some schools to children being encouraged to identify themselves in one of these categories. The danger is that they may come to see themselves as able to learn only in one style, rather than trying to improve in areas they find more difficult. Learning does not involve just practising what (we think) we are good at, but taking on new challenges. As a simple analogy, surely one would not expect right-footed footballers not to practise kicking with their left foot; or those who are good at reading not to work at mathematics or art?

Too frequently children know what they are doing, but not what they are mean to achieve, or how to “get there”. Learning objectives are often made explicit at the start of each lesson… the advantages…

• children know what to do to improve and whether they have succeeded
• teachers can assess what has been learned
• head teachers, inspectors and parents can know whether the formal curriculum has been covered.

pg 148

Differentiation and grouping

…as with all pedagogical approaches…none of these approaches to differentiation are unproblematic. So, differentiation by:

• task may be valuable where children have very different levels of skills, but risks lowering expectations of lower achieving children
• outcome can encourage different approaches to the same material, but may not provide enough support to those who lack confidence
• support helps some children who may find learning difficult, but may reinforce a sense of inadequacy
• questioning has the potential to enable children to set their own challenges, but may provide insufficient structure

pg 150

While differentiation may help adults to match content to children’s current levels of understanding, it runs the risk of establishing self-fulfilling prophecies regarding success.

[children]… also form more information groups, for instance sitting with those who share common interests or actively excluding children whom they do not wish to sit next to. To avoid unintended consequences, educators need to be aware of such informal arrangements as well as the formal groups they establish.

pg 151

Grouping is not simply a matter of who children sit with, but how they work. The ORACLE research (see Galton et al, 1980) e.g. page 45-7) demonstrated that often children were seated in groups, but actually working on their own. … if one wants collaborative working or focused (as opposed to social) conversation, this needs to be explicitly planned for, by how the activity is set up and ways of working are explained and developed over time.

To make group work collaborative requires clear expectations and guidance, sensitive intervention to ensure that the group is working together – and the chance for children to draw on each other’s strengths and ideas without too much adult intervention.

Personalisation

Pg 152

Leadbeater (2005, pages 4-5) argues that personalisation is a way to mobilise children and families as contributors in their own education. The aim is to turn passive recipients into active contributors.

Chapter 10: Building up your expertise

pg 155

As the TLRP says, effective pedagogy depends on the learning of all those who support the learning of others; and in Gipps and Macgilchrist’s words (1999, page 47) teachers need to develop a much more sophisticated understanding about learning and the impact of their beliefs and attitudes about learning and learners can have on what – and how – they teach in the classroom.

pg 157

Equity

Children are concerned with whether adults’ actions are fair, from brothers’ and sisters’ constant concern about whether one has been favoured to the (justifiable) complaint when a whole group is punished for the actions of a few.

pg 158

Empathy and attunement

The empathy required to work with young children involves the attributes of emotional intelligence, such as:

• understanding one’s own and other people’s emotions
• regulating one’s own responses
• forming appropriate relationships

Expertise

pg 161

One fascination and challenge, of being a teacher, especially with young children, is the variety of roles. This may include being within a few minutes, a facilitator, a disciplinarian, a co-learner, a manager of other adults, a coach or a shoulder to cry on. Classrooms are such complex places that teachers and other educators have to choose what to do and what to avoid, both in planning and responding to events. This is usually more complex for teachers either because they are dealing with larger groups – and a wider range of responses – or because the subject knowledge required is more specific, such as how to teach phonics or to perform a cartwheel. Teachers must understand both the bigger picture of what they are trying to achieve and the processes available to enable this (and the hazards to avoid).

Educators require reciprocity to build the two-way relationships which young children need to thrive, both emotionally and cognitively. Reflectiveness is required if one is to remain a learner, avoiding the fate of the teacher who claimed to have 30 years’ experience but was told that he had, in fact, one year’s experience 30 times over.

…and expert teacher of young children is also:

• authoritative without being too controlling, with that authority usually stemming from qualities such as empathy and confidence at least as much as subject knowledge
• flexible, with the ability to adapt appropriately in the light of changed circumstances, so that she is not too dependent on planning at the micro level
• aware of her own strengths and weaknesses, so that she does not try to do, or to be, what she cannot

pg 162

Alexander (2010, page 416) argues that exceptional teaching… lies beyond mere competence and adds a degree of artistry, flexibility and originality whose precise features it may be difficult to pin down as measurable indicators; but we certainly know it when we see it; and (page 417) expert teachers appear to act effortlessly, fluidly and instinctively, apparently without calculation, drawing on deep reserves of tacit knowledge rather than explicit rules and maxims.

pg 163

Expert teachers draw on a repertoire of different types of skills in assessment, to understand children’s learning and to respond appropriately and flexibility. They comply with what matters most, without necessarily being compliant in every detail of pedagogy. Expertise consists in being able to move beyond the formula, but maintaining an emphasis on what really matters.

Repertoire

You wouldn’t expect, as a newly qualified surgeon, to perform a major operation straight away without support, would you? …Similarly, no teacher should expect, or be expected, to emerge as a fully fledged processional at the end of initial training. Berliner (cited in Alexander, 2010, pages 416-7) argues that teachers move through a spectrum from novice to advanced beginner, then competent, proficient and finally expert.

pg 164

Building up expertise comes primarily, but not exclusively through experience because teaching is a practical activity. Kolb’s learning cycle consists of four stages,…

Understanding how children learn, and how this applies to a particular class or individual, is an essential part of professional expertise, but theory is of limited use, if you cannot apply it. Without a theoretical underpinning practice may rely on recycling old ideas. … building up expertise requires constant thinking through of pedagogy.

pg 165

Alexander (2008, page 93) argues that we have two deeply seated pedagogical habits to content with: recitation and pseudo-enquiry. The first involves children essentially expecting , and being expected, to repeat what the teacher says, the second (to avoid this) that they are asked to find out for themselves, though usually the teacher knows what answer she wants – and the child tries to work this out. These deep habits are hard to avoid, especially when learning is seen largely in terms of performance. But if children are to develop the attributes of successful learning, educators must work against such habits and be helped to do so.

Continuing professional development

pg 169

Amoung the main challenges when you start in school are tiredness, isolation, lack of confidence and pressures external to the classroom. While working with young children can be a wonderfully enriching experience, it is incredibly tiring, in part because children are emotionally demanding, in part because life is so busy with the demands of planning and assessment, recording and marking. School life is often isolating, especially for class teachers, because they spend so much time with one group, and particularly when things are not going well. Probably the most common concern of those working with young children… relates to managing behaviour. This often leads to a cycle of working even harder and becoming more tired and often unwell. So, look after yourself, both physically and mentally; and do activities which nurture you, both for your own sake and the children’s.

pg 169

Knowing who you are, understanding your areas of expertise and the children you work with, recognises your strengths and limitations are all part of establishing yourself as someone confident and authoritative in the classroom.