Conceptualising progression in the pedagogy of play and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education : a Vygotskian perspective

This paper is concerned specifically with the pedagogies applied in supporting learning through children‟s play, and it is framed outside mainstream discourses on the nature of play. The development of the paper also represents one stage in a continuing effort to develop a better understanding of sustained shared thinking in early childhood education. The paper also focuses on the educational potential of shared playful activities. However, given the overwhelming consensus regarding the importance of play in early childhood development, even a diehard educational pragmatist must begin by addressing subjects that are most commonly considered by psychologists. The paper begins with an account of „sustained shared thinking‟, a pedagogical concept that was first identified in a mixed method, but essentially educational effectiveness study. Then a consideration of the nature and processes of „learning‟ and „development‟ is offered. It is argued that popular accounts of a fundamental difference in the perspectives of Piaget and Vygotsky have distracted educational attention from the most important legacy that they have left to early childhood education; the notion of „emergent development‟. Pedagogic progression in the early years is then identified as an educational response to, and an engagement with, the most commonly observed, evidence based developmental trajectories of young children as they learn through play

A review of the evidence on the use of ICT in the Early Years Foundation Stage

This report reviewed existing evidence on the potential of technology to support the development of educational policy and practice in the context of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Reference is made to the use of ICT by young children from aged birth to five years and its potential impacts, positive and negative on their cognitive, social, emotional educational, visual and physical development

Performing against the odds: developmental trajectories of children in the EPPSE 3 to 16 study

The Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3 to 16) research project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-methods research that is following the progress of 3,000 children since 1997 from the age of 3- to 16-years-old. A focus for EPPSE has been the extent to which pre-school, compulsory education and children’s home learning experiences (HLE) can reduce inequality. Earlier EPPSE found that what parents did with their children was important in terms of the children’s outcomes, not simply ‘who they were’ in terms of social class and income. Following a pilot study with disadvantaged children who were ‘succeeding against the odds’ towards the end of primary school, this study provides in-depth exploration and explanation of how risks and protective factors in the lives of children shape their learning life-courses, and why they lead to academic resilience for some but not for others

Performing against the odds: developmental trajectories of children in the EPPSE 3-16 study

This study explores how risks and protective factors shape children's learning and why it leads to academic resilience for some, not others

The Development of Innovation Education in Iceland: a Pathway to Modern Pedagogy and Potential Value in the UK

This paper will discuss how Innovation Education (IE) has developed in the Icelandic school system; its character, pedagogy, ideology, ethical dimensions, and practical applications. In addition it will describe Iceland’s cooperation with other European countries in Innovation Education, as a new Minerva project, under the name InnoEd. The paper then considers IE as a potential tool for use in the UK National Curriculum

New learning pedagogy: a study in determining an appropriate pedagogy and pedagogical strategies to support phonetic awareness, whilst using new technology with young children.

This research comes at a time where the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is seen by the UK Government as having the potential to improve the quality and standards of children’s education in the earliest years of a child’s development (DfE 2011). At present, there is a significant discourse to introduce more appropriate forms of technology within the early years educational curriculum. New changes to the UK ICT policy (DfE 2010) suggest the need to reform the current early years ICT curriculum to provide for better and more effective methods of technological practice. Greater importance lies with ‘how to use technology’ rather than ‘what technology to use’ or ‘how much technology to use’ with young children. This research focused on The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, established by the National Curriculum in England which brings together the principles, pedagogy and approach of the Early Years Curriculum Guidance. It was guided by questions about the relationship between the effective pedagogic qualities in the early years and by determining an appropriate pedagogy used with young children. A central importance was to determine how an appropriate pedagogy applied with a new form of technology, can support phonetic knowledge and learning in young children, and to what extent can this appropriate pedagogy support good quality care practices and involvement with the children, within a planned learning setting. This study addressed the use of new technology of an educational website via the Internet, with the intent to support phonetic recognition and awareness, so that the process of reading can begin earlier. This was conducted against the backdrop of children failing to reach expected standards in literacy tests (DfE 2010). Taking the lead from the synthetic phonetics programme, introduced by the UK Primary National Strategy (2008), this study adopted the use of the online educational website, Alphablocks. It developed from the study of thirty telephone interviews and nine early years settings, the latter encompassing a total of 82 children. This study adopted pragmatism and included both qualitative and quantitative methodologies within the four stages of the research process. The first and second stage utilised Action Research Methodology in conducting interviews to scope out the research purpose and work closely with the early childhood practitioners, so as to understand their current pedagogical practices. The third and fourth stages employed Piaget’s Methodology, using his Non-Clinical Interviews in developing and determining an appropriate pedagogic dialogue and then his Teaching Experiments in transferring and validating the new found pedagogical knowledge with the early childhood practitioners. The final stage also employed Laever Ferre’s Scales to measure both well-being and involvement of the children, in planning an appropriate educational setting, within an early years classroom. The original contribution of this research showed that in determining an appropriate pedagogy, applied with new technology, a number of factors need to be considered. Pre-scaffolding issues of technical connectivity, small group structural settings and organisation of an active learning experience are first to be appropriately established prior to the application of the use of a pedagogy. Then through means of an appropriate pedagogy, that of the Communication and Collaboration early years pedagogic approach and Sustained Shared Thinking pedagogical strategies (Siraj-Blatchford, I., 2007), learning can be enhanced and enriched through appropriate forms of meaningful and shared dialogue between the participants. By using Ferre Laevers Scales of Well Being and Involvment, the quality of learning can be validated to take place both safely and appropriately, within a planned early years learning setting

Effective primary pedagogical strategies in English and mathematics in key stage 2: a study of year 5 classroom practice drawn from the EPPSE 3-16 longitudinal study

Reference:DFE-RR129 Publication Type: Research Audience: Researchers, Statisticians, Teachers The Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16) project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-method research study that has followed the progress of 3000+ children since 1997 from the age of 3 to 16+ years. A continuing question for EPPSE was whether pre- and primary school experiences or children's early home learning environment (HLE) could reduce inequality. The study aimed to examine the differences between poor, average and excellent teachers, and how their teaching practices could be linked to the effectiveness of schools. While the original studies found that parents' socio-economic status (SES) and qualifications were significantly related to child outcomes, they also found that the quality of the early HLE was important. Also important, and particularly relevant to this study, was the extent to which educational influences (pre-school and primary school quality and effectiveness) also shaped children’s educational outcomes. During the primary phase (EPPE 3-11) of the longitudinal study the research team conducted contextualised, value-added analyses for all primary schools in England across three years (2002 – 2004) from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. These analyses, based on multi-level modelling, considered children’s progress and attainment while controlling for a range of background factors (e.g. gender)