The Practical Guidance in the Early Years Foundation Stage series will assist practitioners in the smooth and successful implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Each book gives clear and detailed explanations of each aspect of Learning and Development and encourages readers to consider each area within its broadest context to expand and develop their own knowledge and good practice.
Practical ideas and activities for all age groups are offered along with a wealth of expertise of how elements from the practice guidance can be implemented within all early years settings. The books include suggestions for the innovative use of everyday ressources, popular books and stories.
This book will both raise the awareness of readers to how physical development impacts on all areas of learning and general development. The author encourages practitioners to think about what physical activity actually means for children and the importance of balancing risk and challenge, providing opportunities for children to be active and interactive and to use their senses to learn about the world around them.
Frequently asked questions
Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on “Cancel Subscription” - it’s as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time you’ve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlego’s features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan you’ll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Physical Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage by Angela D Nurse in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Pedagogía & Educación general. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
At the end of this chapter you will have recognised the two strands of research that apply to your work as an early years practitioner. First, you will have started to become familiar with ‘scientific’ research that has taken place in the past and is currently being undertaken in the field of physical development, health and well-being in the very young. Second, you will begin to recognise how the term ‘research’ applies to enquiries that you may undertake in your setting to, for example, gauge the effectiveness of changed routines or the introduction of new forms of experience. A brief discussion on research methodology and the importance of critically understanding the context and process of research will enable you to start to analyse the outcomes of this research and their relevance to your provision.
Introduction
It has often been argued in the UK that teaching and research proceed in parallel but rarely meet to inform each other. It appears that the rift has been more to do with distrust, even dislike, with overtones of an ‘ivory tower’ syndrome. It is usually difficult to discern where the relevant results of research (the other ‘three Rs’) have impacted fully on educational practice. Over the past twenty years, the Government's attitude towards young children's education and care has begun to alter, and this marrying together of research and practice has become more evident in reports and guidance. Now, the Sure Start website provides direct links to important research reports that impact on early years provision.
I climbed up the tree – so did the ant (2 years 9 months)
There has been recognition that the care and education of the youngest children is complex and involves understanding a great deal from a number of disciplines. To offer those who were interested and to provide progression routes for practitioners in the field, well over a decade ago universities started to develop degrees in early childhood studies which include a strong emphasis on research – both what researchers are finding out and the place of personal research in the workplace. This has been continued through the development of specific foundation degrees and now the EYPS. Many early years graduates are now moving on to programmes at masters level and beyond. At the same time, programmes have been on offer in initial teacher training, such as the postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) in advanced early years, which have emphasised these aspects within their preparation for teaching.
The impact of research
How much of this change has been the result of research into childhood in recent years? Some of it undoubtedly has, particularly in infant brain development; for example, the Government published Post Report 140 following a House of Commons Education and Employment Select Committee enquiry into early years education. The report intended to offer a resumé of research as follows:
First, research on the development of the brain and its relevance to early years education […] Next, research on the development of sensory, cognitive and emotional skills in children [with] possible implications for early years education […] [Finally] studies that have compared the outcomes of different types of pre-school education […] to assess the type of early years experiences that best suit the developing child's needs.
(SCEE 2000: 1)
This interesting enquiry was set in the context of many UK children, especially in England, attending formal infant classes at four years of age. It drew on named research studies from not only the UK but also the USA and Europe, summarising: ‘Research suggests that children under the age of four or five may not have fully developed the social and cognitive skills that facilitate learning from formal instruction’ (SCEE 2000: 12). More pertinently for the purposes of this book, it concluded, ‘Such research has led some to question the value of formal education at an early age and to suggest that a focus on social interaction, play and exploration might be more valuable’ (SCEE 2000: 12; my italics).
This was published at a time when the original curriculum guidance (Desirable outcomes for children's learning on entering compulsory education [SCAA 1996/DLOs]) was being revisited in response to practitioners’ anxieties, parental concerns and media campaigns which looked at systems in other countries in contrast to the UK. This original document, put together very quickly, owed little to knowledge let alone ‘practical’ or ‘scientific’ research. Within the UK, Wales was beginning to move away from what it saw as a too formal and rigid early years system to develop one of its own which owed far more to child development and research. Scotland published its own guidance which included a booklet on Reggio Emilia, revised in 2006 (Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum 2006).
Physical development in particular
Research that supports the physical development strand, in its widest interpretation, can be divided into:
● brain development;
● motor development;
● health;
● well-being.
Overwhelmingly, the whole area of neuroscience has dominated the early years sector in the past few years. In many ways this has been welcome, because it has given scientific, therefore acceptable, proof to what early years practitioners have always known about how children develop and what they need to do this successfully. David et al. (2003: 118) reviewed what is known about young brains, reflecting:
There are conflicting views about the extent to which environmental influences and stimulation shape early brain development and subsequently impact upon one's later physical and mental well-being. There are opposing views whether missed (or neglected) opportunities during early brain development can be regained later in life.
The brain has been described as the last unexplored territory on Earth, but many neuroscientists would say that the more we find out, the less we seem to know for certain. Although we possess the ability to see and measure what happens when the brain is stimulated through various brain imaging techniques, the apparatus that does this is still fairly crude. Minute details of what is happening cannot yet be isolated, though we now know that babies are born with many more neurons than they will need but need to make connections between these neurons to ensure their capacity to control the body, learn and understand. The role of experience, therefore, is crucial in making these connections, and there are ‘sensitive’ periods when it is easier for the brain to do this. The brain, however, is flexible and the connections can be made later, but perhaps not without more effort. Some findings from this research may seem contradictory and in need of interpretation, but it seems sensible to suggest that there is now agreement that the earliest years of a child's life are instrumental to optimal development in the later years.
As the UK begins to focus much more on physical development, results from other enquiries and research reports are being published. Recently these have included a review by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) presented in May 2008 and research into play and exercise by the National Children's Bureau (NCB), commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (April 2008). Both of these stressed the value of outdoor play and the importance and of quality in the resources provided, in design and in sensitive adult support. The latter stressed the importance of ‘ethos’ in good provision. Both provide substantial lists of sources for further reading; the NCB report is structured as a research report for those who are interested in pursuing research further.
What does ‘research’ mean?
‘Research’ carries a number of different meanings and it is important to distinguish between them and understand the varied methodologies if its value is not to be dismissed out of hand. Particularly during the 1920s and 1930s, research into children's development moved towards becoming, in the eyes of those involved, more ‘scientific’. The early observations of individual children, termed ‘baby biographies’, led to generalisations about developmental norms in a whole population, and the emphasis on ‘experimental design’ was intended to counter this and make researchers’ results more acceptable academically. Ethical standards were far different in these early days and some of the experimentation would be considered abusive today. Different conceptions of society and the child are explored by Prochner and Doyon (1997) who suggest ‘a lack of sentimentality in relation t...
Table of contents
Cover
Half Title
Practical Guidance in the EYFS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Theoretical perspectives: what we currently know about how the body works
