In this newly revised edition of Understanding Research in Early Education, Margaret Clark demonstrates the continuing relevance of research in the homes of young children and in preschool units. Through rigorous yet understandable language, the text stresses the importance of research, acknowledging how easy it can be, amidst the change and flood of documents on early education and care, to overlook the insights to be gained from past research. The author draws on her own studies, and those of others, to illustrate how to avoid common pitfalls, ask the right questions to inform students' research projects, and critically apply findings in the classroom or nursery. The book is one of the few texts for students to bring research alive, analysing key research to consider its limitations and the extent to which results are relevant to policy and practice. Without requiring any prior expertise in research and research methodologies, the third edition will prove invaluable for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in early years' education, and practitioners undertaking continuing professional development. New content includes: fully revised chapters, an updated reference list, and a new chapter discussing current research on baseline assessment.

-Offers school-based mentors in Scotland a practical toolkit to develop their mentoring skills, giving them the guidance needed to effectively support trainee and newly qualified early years, primary, and secondary teachers. -Gives a broad overview of the mentoring process and of mentoring teachers for long-term career development, exploring the nature of the mentor-mentee role within the Scottish context, guiding the mentee through lesson planning, and offering strategies for observation and lesson analysis. -Includes lesson plans and feedback sheets, observation sheets, case studies, sample dialogues, and learning activities and exercise, giving mentors practical tools for use with teachers in a classroom setting. -Offers an online eResource offering downloadable resources and web-based training material.

_______________ 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. _______________ A collection of 50 fun and effective activities to nurture kindness and inclusivity in your Early Years setting. Covering important topics such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and mental health with positivity and openness, this book gives practitioners the confidence to build an inclusive environment for all children. Following the belief that children can be active agents of change, the ideas encourage children to ask questions, challenge prejudice and celebrate diversity through a range of learning experiences including making clay diyas to celebrate Diwali, exploring the world on a magic carpet, learning about other cultures through food and learning Makaton.

This innovative and user-friendly book uses a design thinking approach to examine transformative learning and liminality in physical education. Covering theory and practice, it introduces the important idea of 'threshold concepts' for physical education, helping physical educators to introduce those concepts into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. The book invites us to reflect on what is learned in, through and about physical education - to identify its core threshold concepts. Once identified, the book explains how the learning of threshold concepts can be planned using principles of pedagogical translation for all four learning domains (cognitive, psychomotor, affective and social). The book is arranged into three key sections which walk the reader through the underpinning concepts, use movement case studies to explore and generate threshold concepts in physical education using design thinking approach and, finally, provide a guiding Praxis Matrix for PE Threshold Concepts that can be used for physical educators across a range of school and physical activity learning contexts. Outlining fundamental theory and useful, practical teaching and coaching advice, this book is invaluable reading for all PE teacher educators, coach educators, and any advanced student, coach or teacher looking to enrich their knowledge and professional practice.

Speaking and Listening in the Early Years contains 70 practical activities for developing speaking and listening skills in children aged 2-5 years old. The activities are linked to all the prime and specific areas of the Statutory Framework for EYFS and will enable practitioners to support children's development throughout the foundation stage and to assess and monitor their progress. These enjoyable and productive play activities help children to develop the skills needed to listen, understand, express themselves and enjoy language. When children learn to express themselves clearly and to listen to others, they benefit from improved social skills and a greater self-confidence. The vital communication skills covered in this book will not only provide children with the language skills they will need to succeed at school, they will also enable them to develop friendships and the ability to work cooperatively.

Now in its second edition, this popular text explores classrooms where technology and critical literacies are woven into childhood curricula and teaching. Using real-world stories, it addresses what ICTs afford critical literacy with young children, and how new technologies can be positioned to engage in meaningful and authentic learning. Concise but comprehensive, the text provides strategies, theoretical frameworks, demonstrations of practice, and resources for teachers. Updated with discussions of media literacy and new pedagogical tools, the second edition features new classroom examples and experiences that highlight the ways in which critical literacy, technology and media literacy come together in everyday life in the early childhood classroom. The inviting examples model how to use the interests and inquiry questions of young learners as a springboard for creating a critical curriculum. Each chapter includes Reflection Points, pedagogical invitations, and Resource Boxes to imagine new possibilities of working with students in engaging and supportive ways. The inspiring stories, guidance, and tools this book make it a great resource for pre-service teachers and students in Early Childhood Education and Literacy Education, and primary teachers and educators.

Universal Design for Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom, Second Edition focuses on proactively designing PreK through Grade 3 classroom instruction, environments, and assessments that are flexible enough to ensure that teachers can accommodate the needs of all the students in their classrooms. Featuring updated language and examples to elevate discussions about inclusion and access along with a stronger anti-bias focus, this second edition includes new content on trauma-informed practice, strength-based approaches, social-emotional learning, family partnerships, and using remote and virtual technology. Highly practical and easy to use, this book remains THE essential guide to UDL in the early years.

-Offers an interdisciplinary, three-lesson module using project- and problem-based learning to help kindergarten students investigate and reduce human impact on the environment, designed to infuse real-world learning into K-12 classrooms. -Written and developed for kindergarten teachers, the book offers lesson plans guiding students to investigate various types of pollution, participate in a classroom recycling program, and share their scientific findings in a publication. -Anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which can be used in full or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools and teachers charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.

Used as a measure of quality in the ground-breaking Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project, Sustained Shared Thinking is fundamental to good early years practice. It costs nothing, yet research has shown that it improves outcomes for children by supporting their holistic development. This book clearly explains what Sustained Shared Thinking is and examines the skills and expertise needed to initiate, encourage and facilitate it. The book explores the attitudes, knowledge and understanding that a practitioner must adopt in order to start or develop successful Sustained Shared Thinking. Combining theory with practical guidance, it demonstrates how it can be achieved, covering all aspects of early years practice including the Characteristics of Effective Learning, the Prime and Specific Areas of learning development, the role of the practitioner, the environment and working with parents. Features include: boxed links to key theory and research; practical strategies highlighted in the text; consideration of children at different ages and stages of development; links throughout to the Early Years Foundation Stage. Written by a leading consultant who regularly delivers training on Sustained Shared Thinking, this will be an essential text for students on foundation degree and childhood studies courses as well as early years practitioners.

Leadership can be a challenging and complex area of practice, but this textbook will be your essential guide, teaching you how to master this important skill and find your professional voice. The book considers the challenges of leadership in the early years, exploring both the theoretical aspects, and the skills and tools needed to support and develop leadership and mentoring in practice. You will be encouraged to critically reflect on practice in a global context, looking at vignettes, case studies and reflections from international settings, which will equip you with valuable transferable leadership skills, applicable to any situation in practice.

Play has always been vital to the field of early childhood education, for teacher educators and early years teachers, as a pedagogy and way of organizing learning. With diverse perspectives from scholars around the world, Teacher Education and Play Pedagogy is a unique text focusing on teacher education for play pedagogy and uniquely blends research and praxis on authentically implementing play practices. This book is divided into two main sections: part 1 unfolds the different ways in which teacher educators have been preparing early years teachers to support children's play and consider professional preparation for a play pedagogy; part 2 provides information on how teachers take on different roles, act in diverse ways to effectively support children to develop play skills, to learn and develop. With contributions from across the early childhood spectrum, researchers present their empirical work through multiple forms of data with deep reflections and critical stances towards the play pedagogy implementation. Teacher Education and Play Pedagogy is a valuable text for early childhood education undergraduate and graduate courses, for early childhood education researchers, as well as an essential reference for professional development programs and seminars.

The Little Book of Reflective Practice is bursting with big ideas which will encourage you to be curious, reflective and courageous in your professional learning journey. It introduces the key reflective theories alongside case studies from educators to show how these can be applied to improve practice. The journey from being to thriving is set out in several chapters each providing different themes which will encourage you to capture your reflections, record your learning and development and apply theories of reflection to your professional practice. Full of practical guidance, activities and questions to prompt reflective thinking, the chapters cover: getting started how to write reflectively creating spaces to be reflective using reflective practice to set targets for your learning and professional development Spaces for capturing your reflective thoughts and reflective activities are provided througout, alongside sections where you may wish to stop and engage in deeper thinking. This book will be invaluable reading for early years practitioners, tutors and early years students on level 3 courses and Foundation Degrees.

How to make counting count! This influential book inspires preschool and elementary teachers to experience the joys and rewards of using two activities-Choral Counting and Counting Collections-regularly in their classrooms and in their partnerships with families. It paints a vision for how deeply and creatively children can engage with ideas of number and operations and mathematical sense-making through counting. Megan L. Franke, Elham Kazemi, and Angela Chan Turrou have collected the wisdom of mathematics teachers and researchers across the country who explore activities that are at once playful and intentional, simple and sophisticated. For teachers who want to jumpstart student participation and deepen mathematical understanding, this can be your go-to guide. In six clear, engaging chapters, accompanied by an online Choral Counting tool, you will learn: How to facilitate open-ended counting activities to deepen children's number sense How counting activities can produce both social and academic benefits How teachers can engage with families to build on students' mathematical thinking How to facilitate collaborative activities with multiple entry points and multiple ways to be successful Teachers will see that while the activities stay the same, the mathematics deepens over time and students' learning evolves. Let counting be a gateway into your students' mathematical insights. You might be surprised at what you learn!

As an early years practitioner, you will educate and care for children with a range of developmental needs and differences. This essential book introduces you to a play-rich approach providing both universal and targeted ideas that will support social and emotional development and ensure that children feel safe, secure, and nurtured. Using the four broad areas of need as a guide, each accessible chapter positions wellbeing at the heart of an effective approach to inclusion and offers meaningful and responsive teaching practices that create a sense of belonging and acceptance. Founded in the latest research, the book presents key knowledge alongside ideas and activities to support wellbeing, which can be embedded into the child's everyday experiences and adapted to meet their individual needs. This book offers: Evidence-based strategies and techniques that have a positive impact on the long-term social and emotional wellbeing of children with SEND. Guidance through the four broad areas of need, with a focus on play, learning, and developing an emotionally healthy early years environment. Examples of practice in action. Case studies, reflective questions, and activities that will upskill the reader and empower them in their role. Providing up to date, transferrable and essential knowledge on SEND in the early years, this is an essential resource for any practitioner looking to expand their repertoire and enrich the wellbeing of children with SEND.

This volume explores how television has been a significant conduit for the public consumption of changing ideas about children, childhood, and national identity, via a critical examination of programs that prominently feature children and youth in international television The chapters connect relevant cultural attitudes within their respective countries to an analysis of children and/or childhood in international children's programming The collection addresses how international children's programming in global and local context informs changing ideas about children and childhood, including notions of individual and citizen identity formation Offering new insights into childhood and television studies, this book will be of great interest to graduate students, scholars, and professionals in television studies, childhood studies, media studies, cultural studies, popular culture studies, and American studies

Reflection and Reflective Spaces in the Early Years will support readers in developing their own reflective practice and creating reflective environments for the young children and families they work with. Combining case studies and reflective tasks to compliment a range of theories, concepts and alternative approaches to reflection, this book shows how the reflective process can help practitioners adapt to rapid changes in the sector and improve professional practice. Drawing on action research alongside the use of Japanese words and concepts (such as Ikigai, exploring your reason for being, Hansei, the art of honest self- reflection, and Wabi-Sabi, reflecting upon your perfectly imperfect self), chapters are full of practical guidance, activities and questions to prompt reflective thinking, covering such topics as: Reflection and Reflective Theory The Art of Self Reflection The Reflective Underground Creating Reflective Spaces in the Early Years The Rainbow Researcher Framework How to create reflective spaces in Early Years Exploring Creative Methods of Reflection This book will be invaluable reading for early years practitioners, tutors and early years students on level 3 courses and Foundation Degrees, but also for anyone interested in reflection or starting an academic or professional journey where you are required to reflect upon your practice.

-Based on a comprehensive and exhaustive empirically-based analysis of children's play: the research observed and analyzed the play activities of 289 children who are developing typically, and 203 children who are developing with delays. -Use children's naturally occurring play activities for evaluation, as opposed to eliciting responses to contrived tasks or questions for the child or caregiver -Geared specifically for personnel who serve young children - from late infancy through the preschool period who are developing with delays: no other system covers the age span of late infancy through the preschool period. - The assessment is "language free" - does not require children to answer questions, thereby extending its use to children from various cultural backgrounds, children who are developing with language delays, and those with relevant disabilities. -Ideal where parents or caregivers may not be fully aware of what their child knows or can do. -The online training program for practitioners is designed for exclusive online use, rendering it appealing for wide-spread use.

This book provides a framework for designing behavioural systems in schools that recognize empathy as its core driver. It presents a systemic discourse on introducing steps in schools to promote inclusivity and acceptance. The book analyses how empathy can be integrated into every aspect of school education. It focuses on the role of schools in nurturing compassion in young children and providing a positive psychological atmosphere for them. The author outlines the concept of empathy and its application to organizations in general and its specific application within school systems. Drawing from theoretical and empirical literature, the book examines the designs for holistic empathy-driven learning, highlighting its role in fostering social integration and developing social and emotional skills in students of diverse backgrounds. This book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers of education, organizational psychology, organizational behaviour and child psychology. It will also be useful for educationalists, schoolteachers, school management professionals, heads of schools and parents.

The chapters in this book reflect on the major shifts in the views of early childhood thinkers and educators, who have contributed to contemporary theoretical frameworks pertaining to early childhood learning. The book also revisits and critically analyses the influence of developmental theories on early childhood education, starting in the 1890s with the work of G. Stanley Hall that established the close association of early childhood education and child development. Several chapters comprise critical examinations of the fundamental influence of thinkers such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohlberg, Adler, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and so on, on early childhood learning. The book also contends that these theoretical conceptions of child development have heavily influenced modern views of early childhood education. This book is a significant new contribution to early childhood learning, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Education, Public Policy, History of Education, Psychology, and Sociology. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Early Child Development and Care.

Drama Activities for the Foundation Stage contains 80 clearly laid out and ready-to-use practical drama activities, relating to every area of the curriculum, to enable any practitioner to lead and develop dramatic work with confidence and enthusiasm. The book explains the theories and values behind the activities and how to harness children's natural abilities and enthusiasm, so that practitioners with no previous drama experience may confidently create enjoyable and productive learning experiences from the beginning, while confident drama leaders will find new ideas and inspiration. A topic index links the activities to popular early years themes and children's interests, making it easy to plan drama sessions or to find a suitable activity for any occasion. In order to develop vital self-confidence and social skills, children need frequent, regular opportunities to work in groups and to express themselves through drama. This book makes providing these opportunities easy and enjoyable and encourages practitioners and children to create wonderful experiences and memories together.

Pete, Jem and Belle play hide and seek. Pete has a very good hiding spot - will they ever find him? Targeting Subject-Verb-Object sentences and prepositions, this book provides repeated examples of early developing syntax and morphology which will engage and excite the reader while building pre-literacy skills and make learning fun, as well as exposing children to multiple models of the target grammar form. Perfect for a speech and language therapy session, this book is an ideal starting point for targeting client goals and can also be enjoyed at school or home to reinforce what has been taught in the therapy session.

* The first English book introducing children's museum in China * Uses rigid and diverse research methods, including both quantitative and qualitative design (experiment, observation and survey) * Furthers the theory of informal learning and provides guidance on ways of elevating children's cognitive and noncognitive development and early childhood education in the informal space * Includes comprehensive measures of child development such as creativity, cognitive skills, language, problem solving skills, science literacy, self-confidence and approaches to learning (ATL) * Presenting multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives from the fields of informal learning, museum education, ecology and economics of education

Many Early Years settings are taking in children for longer periods and at a younger age. However, their day-to-day practice has not necessarily changed and instead leads to the 'management' of behaviour, rather than investigating why the behaviour is taking place. Through a combination of practice, theory and reflection, leading Early Years education consultant Penny Tassoni explores children's behaviour from a child-centred point of view. In doing so, she shows how, over time, children learn to be with others and the strategies that adults can use to positively support this development. Understanding Children's Behaviour is a practical handbook that is accessible and adaptable for Early Years practitioners looking to support children's behaviour by focusing on their personal and social skills. It includes a useful A-Z problem-solving section about dealing with unwanted behaviours for analysis and to guide practice.

This volume demonstrates how the ethnographic approach to research demanded by a 'Literacy as Social Practice' perspective can generate fresh insights into what happens when young children engage with schooled literacy tasks. Researching Early Childhood Literacy in the Classroom argues that the lived experience of young children encountering formal schooled literacy curricula should be the foremost consideration in educational reforms intended to improve rates of literacy acquisition in schools. To make this argument, the author suspends traditional concerns with 'learning' and 'progress' to concentrate on 'practice' and 'meaning' in a careful analysis of key classroom incidents. The author concludes that such insights suggest a need for re-considering the assumptions upon which educational policy rests. This book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, and libraries in the fields of Literacy Studies, Teacher Education, Education Policy and Applied Linguistics.

Providing a selection of papers presented at ICECE 2018, a biennial conference organised by the Early Childhood Education Program, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. The conference's general theme was "Finding Alternative Approaches, Theories, Frameworks, and Practices of Early Childhood Education in the 21th Century." Distinct from other periods of time, the 21st century is characterised by so much knowledge -easy to access but hard to grasp, borderless and hyper-connected society mediated by the internet, high competitiveness -not only within a country but across countries, high mobility, and widening economic discrepancy as neoliberalism has strengthened its influence on every sector of human life. The children of today will face many things that have not yet been invented or discovered, sometimes beyond expectations. Scholars and teachers of early childhood education need to be aware of these astonishing changes. The way children and childhood are seen cannot stay the same, and so does the way children of this century are educated. The conference opened a discussion about finding alternative approaches, theories, and best practices of early childhood education for a rapidly changing and globalised society.