An Introduction to the Foundation Phase provides a practical guide to understanding and implementing the Foundation Phase in any early years setting in Wales. The experienced author team discuss and reflect upon a play based approach to learning and the importance of collaboration between various members in any early years settings. Students are introduced to key topics including: key theories of influential thinkers within early years education, both past and present; international curricula and perspectives on play and how Welsh curriculum compares; effective classroom practice; observational techniques; methods of assessment and how to be a reflective practitioner. Through interviews with different stakeholders, including educational ministers, policy advisors, practitioners and parents, An Introduction to the Foundation Phase concludes by discussing the challenges and complexities of putting policy into practice and considers implications for the future of early years education. Making links between theory, policy and practice is vital for a future workforce and this core text provides a solid foundation for any student within early years. Illustrative case studies, activities, reflective tasks and suggestions for further reading are provided throughout. Online resources for lecturers and students are also included.

This book explores important current social justice issues that confront young children in America. A broad range of topics related to the fair treatment of young children and their families are approached with a fresh and hopeful energy. The central argument of this volume is that a fair and just society must protect the basic needs of all children so they are able to reach their full potential to learn, grow, and ultimately become productive democratic citizens. The book includes contributions from an impressive group of authors who have been consistent voices for the fair and equitable treatment of children in school and society. Each chapter examines a critical issue in child social justice with a focus on the current problem, historical importance of the issue, potential solutions, and a vision for the future. The book has been developed to reach a wide audience of professionals whose work involves children and who have grown concerned about social forces that cause child suffering and threaten the well-being or even the survival of children in the United States. Readers will come away with up to date information and a renewed commitment to being life-long advocates for children.

Creating your Earth-Friendly Early Chlidhood Program, Redleaf Quick Guide offers an approachable, efficient entry point for ECE educators who wish to instill ecofriendly values and practices in their programs. The guide will help educators evaluate their current environment and practices, get families and colleagues involved, and make both immediate and long-term changes to make their program "greener."

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Developing a secure understanding of number in the Early Years is key to ensuring number confidence for future stages of learning. A wide variety of meaningful hands-on experiences are required to develop a child's deep understanding of number. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Exploring Number presents ideas that are all about doing - to not only stimulate the senses, but to also provoke thinking and talking, allow questions to be asked, and ensure that links are made between number concepts and the real world. The ideas require little preparation beforehand, can be used by practitioners without any specific expertise in teaching early number, and include easy-to-source materials. Each area of early number sense is covered from adding on and taking away to number stories, identifying and writing numbers. Alison Hutchison draws on her wealth of experience to present 50 ideas and experiences that make numbers fun and accessible so that, as they explore and investigate, children are fully engaged partners in their learning at this crucial early stage of their number journey.

In this volume, gender and schooling in the early years addresses a broad range of issues including, but not limited, to gender equity in education. We explore, for example, the complex world of play in Fromberg's chapter and are reminded that for young children, play involves issues of power and hierarchy in ways that parallel the role of gender in society. Miletta's study of preschool children in northern Italy, at Reggio Emilia, reveals a story of classroom interactions where gender differences are not part of the equation for the youngsters. Her chapter begs the question, "How does this environment empower all children, regardless of gender?" Two chapters provide a lens to the Montessori setting for young children. Wilgus studies the gendered patterns of young women teaching at a Montessori school, while Irby, Rodriguez, and Lara-Alecio explore the intersections of culture and gender at a bilingual Montessori public school. Further examining the preschool years, Plaster and Schiller address the current brain research and examine the ways in which the adults that staff early child care programs, and the environments that they offer, play an important role in the development of our children.

This book is an ethnography of teachers and children in grades 1 and 2, and presents arguments about why we should take gender and childhood sexuality seriously in the early years of South African primary schooling. Taking issue with dominant discourses which assumes children's lack of agency, the book questions the epistemological foundations of childhood discourses that produce innocence. It examines the paradox between teachers' dominant narratives of childhood innocence and children's own conceptualisation of gender and sexuality inside the classroom, with peers, in heterosexual games, in the playground and through boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. It examines the nuances and finely situated experiences which draw attention to hegemonic masculinity and femininity where boys and girls challenge and contest relations of power. The book focuses on the early makings of gender and sexual harassment and shows how violent gender relations are manifest even amongst very young boys and girls. Attention is given to the interconnections with race, class, structural inequalities, as well as the actions of boys and girls as navigate gender and sexuality at school. The book argues that the early years of primary schooling are a key site for the production and reproduction of gender and sexuality. Gender reform strategies are vital in this sector of schooling.

This book brings together a collection of research-based papers on current issues in early childhood mathematics education that were presented in the Topic Study Group 1 (TSG 1) at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13), held at the University of Hamburg in 2016. It will help readers understand a range of key issues that early childhood mathematics educators encounter today. Research on early childhood mathematics education has grown in recent years, due in part to the well-documented, positive relation between children's early mathematical knowledge and their later mathematics learning, and to the considerable emphasis many countries are now placing on preschool education. The book addresses a number of central questions, including: What is mathematical structural development and how can we promote it in early childhood? How can multimodality and embodiment contribute to early mathematics learning and to acquiring a better understanding of young children's mathematical development? How can children's informal mathematics-related experiences affect instruction and children's learning in different mathematics content areas? What is the role of tools, including technology and picture books, in supporting early mathematics learning? What are the challenges in early childhood mathematics education for teachers' education and professional development?

Early Childhood Studies: A Social Science Perspective explores key issues in early childhood studies from a variety of social science disciplines, including psychology, sociology, social policy and education. Each chapter considers a different social science discipline, identifying, analysing and critically assessing how that particular discipline enriches early years provision and research. User-friendly student features are included throughout, including: - Icebreakers introduce the main chapter themes - Objectives help readers to develop cognitive skills, moving from identifying to analysing to critically assessing - Formative activities encourage practical application of the content - Case-studies ground theory in practice - Research activities support those looking to take their understanding further - Self-assessment questions allow readers to test their knowledge - Further reading references and web links provide ideas for further exploration An essential course companion for all Early Childhood Studies undergraduate students.

For decades, politicians, businessmen and other leaders have been concerned with the quality of education, including early childhood education, in the United States. While more than 50% of the children between the ages of three and five are enrolled in preschool and kindergarten programs in the United States, no state, federal, or national standards exist for science or technology education in preschool or kindergarten programs. Knowledge about science and technology is an important requirement for all in contemporary society. An increasing number of professions require the use of scientific concepts and technological skills and society as a whole depends on scientific knowledge. Scientific and technological knowledge should be a part of every individual's education. There are many ways to enhance young children's scientific thinking and problem-solving skills as well as their technological abilities. The purpose of this volume is to present a critical analysis of reviews of research on science and technology education in early childhood education.The first part of the volume includes contributions by leading scholars in science, while the second part includes contributions by leading scholars in technology.

This book provides an important compilation and synthesis of current work in transition to school research. The book focuses strongly on the theoretical underpinnings of research in transition to school. It outlines key theoretical positions and connects those to the implications for policy and practice, thereby challenging readers to re-conceptualize their understandings, expectations and perceptions of transition to school. The exploration of this range of theoretical perspectives and the application of these to a wide range of research and research contexts makes this book an important and innovative contribution to the scholarship of transition to school research. A substantial part of the book is devoted to detailed examples of transition to school practice. These chapters provide innovative examples of evidence-based practice and contribute in turn, to practice-based evidence. The book is also devoted to considering policy issues and implications related to the transition to school.It records a genuine, collaborative effort to bring together a range of perspectives into a Transition to School Position Statement that will inform ongoing research, practice and policy. The collaborative, research, policy and practice based development of this position statement represents a world-first."

There's a lot of conversation in the early childhood community on evaluating teachers to improve their performance. Raising the quality of early care and education is a priority for policymakers and practitioners on local, state, and federal levels. As a result, much attention is being focused on early childhood educators to ensure that they do a good--and better--job teaching young children. This book provides accessible information, guidance, techniques, and tools to aid directors, coaches, principals, and others leaders as they evaluate and support teachers in a way that encourages and enables them to do their best work with children.

Readings for Reflective Teaching in Early Education is a unique portable library of exceptional readings drawing together seminal extracts and contemporary literature from international sources from books and journals to support both initial study and extended career-long professionalism for early years practitioners. Introductions to each reading highlight the key issues explored and explain the status of classic works. This book, along with the core text and associated website, draw upon the work of Andrew Pollard, former Director of the TLRP, and the work of many years of accumulated understanding of generations of early years practitioners, primary school teachers and educationalists. Readings for Reflective Teaching in Early Education, the core text, Reflective Teaching in Early Education, and the website, provide a fully integrated set of resources promoting the expertise of early years professionals. The associated website, www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk offers supplementary resources including reflective activities, research briefings and advice on further readings. It also features a glossary of educational terms, links to useful websites and showcases examples of excellent research and practice. This book forms part of the Reflective Teaching series, edited by Andrew Pollard and Amy Pollard, offering support for reflective practice in early, primary, secondary, further, vocational, university and adult sectors of education.

This annual series is designed to provide an academic forum for the publication of original research, critical reviews and conceptual analyses of theoretical and substantive issues related to the education, care and development of young children. The series is intended to stimulate research and to enhance communication among scholars in early childhood education, child development, social work, public administration and related fields. This volume reflects debates in the field about the relative weight given to disciplines in a field acknowledged to be interdisciplinary. It seeks to reflect the complexity of the early childhood education enterprise - classroom practice, teacher preparation, research and conceptualization in all its phases. It also reflects the deep scholarly roots that contribute to our thinking and that may link our thinking with practice. This book is intended for a broad audience of researchers, teacher educator and pre- and in-service teachers. Its purpose is to define prevailing orientations and to solidify significant issues distilled from a broad body of literature.

The purpose of this volume is to present a selection of chapters that reflect current issues relating to children's socialization processes that help them become successful members of their society. From birth children are unique in their rates of growth and development, including the development of their social awareness and their ability to interact socially. They interpret social events based on their developing life style and environmental experiences. The children's socialization is influenced by several important social forces including the family and its organization, their peer group, and the significant others in their lives. In "Theories of Socialization and Social Development," Olivia Saracho and Bernard Spodek describe the children's socialization forces and the different developmental theories that have influenced our understanding of the socialization process. These include maturationist theory (developed by Arnold Gesell), constructivist theories (developed by such theorists as Jean Piaget, Lev S. Vygotsky, and Jerome Bruner), psychodynamic theories (developed by such theorists as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Alfred Adler), and ecological theory (developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner). Each theory provides interpretations of the meaning of the children's social development and describes the different characteristics for each age group in the developmental sequences.