Laser Lessons - Lesson

Quality provision in Early Years Settings

This video ‘Developing creative learning environments for early years’ shows some high-quality environments for children in Coventry. Watch the video and make notes. See how the children use the prepared areas and see how effective the practitioners are in extending children’s learning and development and encouraging high expectations of their achievement. Are there any ideas in the video that you could introduce to your setting or things that you have tried that did not work with your rooms?

Table of Contents

Tutorial Video
Reading Materials

'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage: Setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five’ from the Department for Education
'Disclosure and barring service’ from the UK government.
'Safer recruitment’ from NSPCC Learning
Find and read your setting’s policies and procedures for monitoring:
'Early Years Pedagogy' on the Twinkl website.
'Pedagogy in early childhood education and care (ECEC): an international comparative study of approaches and policies’ by the Department for Education
'Guiding school improvement with action research’ on the ASCD website
'How to implement child-led learning in your early years setting’ from Teach Early Years.
'My space: Creating enabling environments for young children’ from Oxfordshire County Council
'8 Ways to Plan the Perfect Learning Environment in Early Years’ on the Teach Wire website
'Study of Early Education and Development: Good practice in early education: Research report’ produced by the Department for Education
'Engaging parents and carers: Guidance for schools’ from Healthy Schools
'How to evaluate your nursery’ on the Famly website.

Presentation

Click to launch this lesson’s first presentation on ‘Monitoring the environment’.
Click to launch this lesson’s second presentation on ‘Barriers to working in partnership’.

Good Practice Example
Interactive Quiz
Evidence Opportunities
Extended Learning

Bristol City Council has produced ‘Quality Improvement Framework for Family Support’.
This section of the TES website contains ‘Assessment grids and observation sheets to help you to evaluate learners’ skills and understanding.
In 2010 the Department for children, schools and families produced this document ‘Challenging practice to further improve learning, playing and interacting in the Early Years Foundation Stage’. It covers pedagogy and how to improve outcomes through better learning, playing and interacting.
The Department for children, schools and families also produced this document ‘Progress Matters: Reviewing and enhancing young children’s development’.
The Foundation Years website has a section on Pedagogy and early learning that contains links to a number of other resources.
This article ‘‘Go with the ‘Flow’: Pedagogy in the EYFS’ was written by Melody Lowe and appears on the Headteacher Update website.
Click to read this research paper ‘Pedagogy: The silent partner in early years learning’ by C Stephen at the University of Stirling.

Think And Challenge

This case study from Wellgreen Nursery in Stirling examines how the setting worked to evaluate how the environment meet the needs of individual children and made recommendations for change.Read the study and reflect on how all those involved in the setting contributed to changing the environment. When you have prepared areas within the setting have you considered input from the parents and children, or only those who also work in the setting?
It is rare that there is just one way to respond to a scenario or situation, so do not consider that the responses you have to the above scenario will be judged as right or wrong. Share your scenario with a work colleague or friend and ask them to tell you whether they think you have responded appropriately. Ask them to challenge your response if necessary. You do not need to submit this task for assessment unless asked to do so by your assessor.