1 | Creating an enabling learning environment for boys and girls |
Introduction
Jack, a sturdy 13-month-old, takes his fingers away from his motherās outstretched hands and balances precariously for a few seconds. He takes one step, and another, and another . . . until he is halfway across the room. As he takes his first steps, he holds his arms high up in the air and claps his hands above his head, smiling triumphantly.
Jack knows that he is making his own personal history, and he knows he is doing something momentous. Never mind Neil Armstrongās first steps on the Moon, here is Jack taking his very first independent steps on Earth! So what experiences did he have to give him the motivation, the confidence and the perseverance to take on the immense challenge of moving from a vulnerable newborn baby to a mobile toddler, in just over a year?
In this chapter, we explore this question by investigating how all children learn in the first few years of life, and we look at evidence that shows how learning dispositions impact on childrenās ability to learn. We also ask questions about similarities and differences in the way children develop and learn.
What do we know about how all children learn?
Learning from birth . . . early brain development
(Eliot 2012: 6, 7)
In the first years of life, the brains of babies and young children are developing at an astonishing speed, making 700 to 1,000 new connections every second. Early life experiences, including secure relationships and a stimulating environment, determine the healthy development of the young brain, while risk factors that restrict brain development include emotional stress, neglect and poor nutrition. The environment we provide for our youngest members of society, at home and in Early Years settings, is crucial.
At the age of 3 years, a childās brain is twice as active as an adultās brain and it has a remarkable plasticity ā the ability to change in response to experience. Learning happens when synaptic connections are made between neurons, and plasticity allows the environment to sculpt young childrenās developing brains, influencing which connections are made, and which less well-used connections are āprunedā.
Environmental factors influence what children learn ā childrenās growing knowledge ā and they also help establish how children learn ā childrenās attitudes to learning and their beliefs about their identity within their family and in society. This places great responsibility on parents, carers and educators to be positive role models to young children and to be aware of some of the limiting messages that children meet as they step out into the world, so that they can counter them.
Social referencing: learning from other people
As children become increasingly socialised, they absorb messages at home from siblings, parents and the extended family, and then in the wider world from television, books and toy advertising, about how they should behave in order to gain approval. Nancy Stewart (2011: 39) describes this process as āsocial referencingā.
Wesley, aged 8 months, is sitting in his high chair playing with a cardboard tube. He puts his mouth on one end and makes some sounds, then he loses interest and puts it down. His mother takes the tube and she makes some sounds into the end of the tube and offers it back to Wesley. He hesitates, then takes it and plays with it. Then he hands the tube back to his mother. She takes the tube and makes some sounds and hands it back to him. He watches her carefully, hesitates, then he āsingsā into the tube.
His mother claps delightedly, and they take turns singing into the tube.
This wonderfully positive interaction between Wesley and his mother is two-way, as his mother models social behaviour and Wesley responds in an early āprotoconversationā (Malloch and Trevarthen 2009), watching and taking turns. Wesleyās enjoyment delights his mother, and Wesley responds to his motherās encouragement, strengthening the bond between them and encouraging Wesley to practise his new skill.
Through social referencing, children develop a belief system that influences how they respond to everyday experiences and more formal learning opportunities. Wesley is discovering that he can explore and experiment and try new things; he feels secure, knowing that his mother is there to share his learning and encourage him to try new things; learning isnāt predictable in the big world that he is entering, but it is fun and safe and manageable.
Sadly, not all children receive positive messages and reinforcement of their behaviour. Compare Wesleyās experience with that of Stevie:
Stevieās mum came to pick him up from his day nursery. When he saw her, his eyes lit up and he ran towards her, waving a painting that he had done that afternoon.
Stevieās mum gave the painting a quick glance and said: Itās a bit black, isnāt it?
She lifted Stevie up and strapped him into his buggy, pushing the painting into her bag.
When we are conscious of the messages that children pick up through social referencing, we can use the plasticity of the young brain to protect the developing child against limiting and negative influences. Providing encouraging and positive influences helps children to build a positive self-identity and it broadens their options and learning opportunities.
Learning that āI canā: developing a sense of self-efficacy
Arlo, aged 11 months, edges along a bench, holding on tightly as he isnāt too steady on his feet yet. Heās trying to reach his cup, which is at the far end of the bench. He takes a few steps, then he looks round at his mother to check that sheās there. She smiles encouragingly so he edges further along until he reaches his cup. His mother celebrates with him: Hey, youāve done it! Well done!
Balbernie (2011) emphasises the importance of this early phase of life for establishing powerful learning dispositions. Supported by his mother, Arlo is developing a sense of self-efficacy, which Bandura describes as a personās belief that they can make things happen (in Stewart 2011: 16).
Self-efficacy is a fundamental element of learning at any age. It challenges the view that ability is fixed and cannot be changed (Claxton 2008), and instead draws on the understanding that learning is a process which is challenging and involves hard work, even for exceptional achievers like Michelangelo.
(Michelangelo)
Children who have a strong sense of self-efficacy have an āI canā attitude to learning. They derive satisfaction and intrinsic motivation from the process of learning and this lets them rise to challenges rather than being overwhelmed, even when learning is a struggle. They are willing to try new things and they are able to learn from mistakes.
Children with a weak sense of self-efficacy can find new learning daunting and are likely to give up when things become difficult. They believe that learning is a question of talent and ability: if they find learning difficult, they must lack ability, so there is no point in making an effort.
So how do children develop a strong sense of self-efficacy? Children learn a lot through mimicry, and positive self-efficacy is learned from positive role models in the context of an emotionally safe and structured environment with adults who show genuine interest and encouragement. Adult expectations of children also play an important role in childrenās developing belief system about their effectiveness as learners.
We saw how Arlo already has a strong sense of self-efficacy:
ā¢ He is secure enough to try new things, knowing that help is there if needed.
ā¢ He has been allowed to set his goal himself, and to achieve it in his own time.
ā¢ His mother shows that she has belief in his ability to achieve his goal.
ā¢ She encourages and praises him when he does things for himself, and when he achieves something new.
From home learning to school learning: some questions to consider
ā¢ Do the young children that you work with have equally strong male and female role models for learning? Are they more likely to see women than men reading and writing? (National Literacy Trust 2012)
ā¢ Do your childrenās parents have equal expectations for boys and girls in different areas of learning? Is there a general expectation that boys are better at tasks involving physical activity and dexterity, while girls are better at reading, writing and drawing?
Mindsets for learning: learning that āI can get better at this, if I work at itā
Self-efficacy is one element in Carol Dweckās work on mindsets for learning. Babies are born knowing very little, but they have a vast capacity to learn and they arenāt daunted by the size of tasks such as learning to talk or walk. Babies donāt start off questioning if they have the innate talent and human qualities to be successful in the world. They rapidly pick up beliefs about their abilities as learners from people around them who reflect back at them: either āyou have the human qualities to learn all kinds of interesting skills and informationā; or āyou donāt have the human qualities to do very much with your life.ā As we grow older, how many of us face the challenge of learning a foreign language with the ease that babies learn to talk?
Dweck (2012) identified two mindsets in her research into how children respond to new challenges in learning: a growth mindset, where children believe in their ability to achieve something new: āIf something is difficult, I must work harder and then Iāll have learned something new.ā In contrast, children might develop a fix...