Care and Education in Early Childhood : A Student's Guide to Theory and Practice

The authors draw on their extensive early years expertise to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the key issues in the field of early childhood care and education.In this timely and accessible text, students will find: an overview of the principles of effective practice discussions on equal opportunities and children's rights an examination of how children learn and the learning difficulties they may face investigations into what working with parents really means consideration of the different early years systems in operation summaries of key management issues and useful information on how to address them comparison with European perspectives on early years care and education. The book covers the whole age range from birth to eight years with a special section on the birth to three years age group. Each chapter is fully referenced to enable the reader to follow up on research or new materials. Informative and engaging, the book challenges the reader to think about how underlying theory may be reflected in practice. It will be essential reading for all students of early years care and education, and early years practitioners. PRELIMINARIES......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 5 INTRODUCTION......Page 6 1 The welfare of the child......Page 9 6 Confidentiality......Page 10 10 Reflective practitioner......Page 11 The reflective practitioner......Page 16 Reflecting-in-action......Page 17 Reflecting-in-practice......Page 18 Stage 3: Re-evaluating the experience......Page 19 References......Page 20 The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989......Page 22 The Children Act 1989......Page 24 Human Rights Act 1998......Page 25 Child Protection......Page 26 Refugee children......Page 28 Non-discrimination......Page 30 International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World: explanation and implementation......Page 32 References......Page 34 What is development?......Page 35 Old versus new thinking about the brain......Page 36 Memory......Page 37 Intelligence......Page 39 Classical conditioning......Page 42 Observational learning......Page 43 Assimilation and accommodation......Page 45 Schema approach to learning......Page 46 Stages of cognitive development......Page 47 Criticisms of Piaget......Page 48 ICONIC REPRESENTATION......Page 49 Lev Vygotsky......Page 50 References......Page 51 What is language?......Page 53 The pre-linguistic period......Page 56 Acquisition of English morphemes......Page 58 Negative sentences......Page 59 Speech acts......Page 60 Theories of language development......Page 61 Nativist approach......Page 62 Social factors affecting language......Page 63 Bilingualism/multilingualism......Page 64 Role of the adult in children’s language development......Page 65 Communication disorders......Page 66 Autism......Page 67 Dyslexia......Page 68 What are some of the characteristics of dyslexia and how do they affect learning?......Page 69 Some useful addresses......Page 72 References......Page 74 CHAPTER 5 Working with the under threes......Page 76 Physiological development of the brain......Page 77 Communication with and between babies......Page 78 Factors that may affect children’s development......Page 79 Heuristic play......Page 81 Infants/young children in day care......Page 83 Working in partnership with parents......Page 85 Sure Start: an intervention initiative......Page 86 References......Page 87 First relationships and feelings......Page 89 Relationships between children......Page 91 Relationships with adults outside the family......Page 93 Managing children’s behaviour......Page 95 References......Page 99 Definitions and terminology......Page 101 Partnership with parents or parental involvement?......Page 102 Empowering and engaging parents......Page 106 References......Page 108 CHAPTER 8 Play......Page 110 Characteristics of play......Page 111 Friedrich Froebel......Page 112 Sigmund Freud......Page 113 Susan Isaacs......Page 114 Jerome Bruner......Page 115 What are the functions of play and how does it contribute to young children’s learning?......Page 116 Fantasy/socio-dramatic play......Page 118 Case study: a group of four children aged four years......Page 119 Value of play in children’s emotional development......Page 120 Cultural and gender differences in children’s play......Page 122 Role of the adult in children’s play......Page 124 Conclusion......Page 125 References......Page 126 Managing the establishment......Page 128 Managing people (human-resources management)......Page 130 Managing quality-of-service delivery......Page 131 Management styles......Page 132 Leadership......Page 134 Assertion and communication skills......Page 135 Managing conflict and dealing with difficult people......Page 138 Quality-management systems......Page 140 References......Page 141 Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852)......Page 142 Maria Montessori (1870–1952)......Page 143 Rudolph Steiner (1861–1925)......Page 145 Susan Isaacs (1885–1948)......Page 146 What is a curriculum?......Page 147 What are the principles for early childhood education?......Page 148 Principles into practice......Page 149 Children with English as an additional language......Page 150 The role of the adult......Page 151 Early learning goals......Page 152 Personal, social and emotional development......Page 153 Communication, language and literacy......Page 154 Mathematical development......Page 155 Knowledge and understanding of the world......Page 156 Creative development......Page 157 High Scope Curriculum......Page 158 Developmentally appropriate curriculum......Page 159 STRAND 3: CONTRIBUTION......Page 161 Evaluating children’s progress......Page 162 Quality in early childhood education......Page 163 Global Guidelines......Page 164 ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN AND LEARNING OUTCOMES......Page 165 References......Page 166 CHAPTER 11 Core subjects in the National Curriculum at Key Stage 1......Page 168 English: literacy and oracy......Page 170 Writing......Page 173 Reading......Page 174 PHONIC METHOD......Page 175 What are some of the factors that contribute to successful reading?......Page 176 Mathematics......Page 177 Number......Page 180 Space, shape and size......Page 181 Measurement......Page 182 Value of problem solving......Page 183 Science......Page 184 Humans and other animals......Page 185 Changing materials......Page 186 MAKING AND DETECTING SOUNDS......Page 187 References......Page 189 CHAPTER 12 European perspectives......Page 191 Changes in Eastern Europe......Page 192 Ministerial responsibility for provision......Page 193 Diversity of Provision......Page 194 Transition from kindergarten to primary school......Page 196 Staff:child ratios......Page 197 Curriculum......Page 198 To read or not to read?......Page 201 Children with special educational needs......Page 202 Children from minority ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups......Page 203 Training......Page 204 Step by step project......Page 205 Instapje (First steps)......Page 206 Opstapje (Leg-up)......Page 207 The Reggio Emilia approach......Page 208 The Stockholm Project......Page 210 References......Page 211 INDEX......Page 213 "The authors draw on their extensive early years expertise to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the key issues in the field of early childhood care and education"--Page 4 of cover