Early Years Foundation Stage

This reflection has been triggered by the APD session in which we discussed the Early Years Foundation Stage.

My views about Reception and Nursery classes have certainly changed since starting my Primary Education course and by attending the minor specialism seminar sessions (EYFS). Through further reading, I have developed my own pedagogical practice believing that at this point of my training it is important to consider the environment in which young children work within. I have realised that it is the role of the practitioner to stimulate and encourage the interests of the children.

In Piaget's view of thinking children learn and form ideas of the world via their environment and interactions with others, therefore, children cannot make progress without a stimulating and interesting environment which the adult creates. This is a view taken by the EYFS curriculum.

During professional practice, I attended the EYFS trip to the local woodland as they needed an extra adult to chaperone the children. As a class the children were reading a book called Stanley Stick which linked to the ultimate purpose of the trip, each child was to collect a stick. The children were encouraged to explore the environment of the woodlands by climbing trees and rolling down hills. When the children returned to the classroom they were asked to design a use for the stick using their imagination. Some examples were: a magic wand, a broomstick and a coat holder. This experience fell under the theme of enabling environments. In my opinion, within the context of the Early Years Foundation Stage, Teachers standards 1 and 2 are interlinked. In this example, the outdoor environment was considered as important as the indoors.

My main form of evidence towards the two Teachers Standards' is my reflective journal produced from my reflections from sessions in university, my experience from professional practice and general observations​. This contains photographs of different EYFS environments and explanations as to how this has affected a child's behaviour and learning. This journal evidences my journey from first believing that children are given things to experience, evidencing a teacher-led approach, to a child led approach through play as the practitioner encouraged children's ideas. Both approaches can be as powerful as each other.

I have applied Piaget's views to KS2. During professional practice phase 1A I created display boards that directly targeted specific weaknesses of some children identified through a maths test. The aim of the display was to help the children remember the months of the year, therefore, increase general knowledge.

However during this placement, I had experience with the theory of Elizabeth Jarman. Jarman asks teachers to provide children with small, private spaces allowing time for reflection and independent learning, ultimately away from the classroom society. This deserves a reflection of its own.

My target for TS 1 and 2 is to continue to further my knowledge of the EYFS and monitor how the environment encourages the holistic development of children. During Professional Practice Phase 1B I plan to gain more experience within the EYFS and will ask to view some planning toward specific early learning goals, specifically looking at how they plan for the environment to help achieve this specific target.

#TS1 #TS2