Nine Years in Life: The Effects of the Play and Learn through the Arts (PLA) Programme on Practitioners’ Professional Development

PLA has been introduced as an innovative pedagogy in literacy since 2015 with the first publication about its effects on children’s involvement. Since then, many more publications have derived from various research studies in the field of early years education. With a few exceptions, PLA has been tested with a specific focus on children’s performance, leaving aside practitioners’ perspectives. This piece of research seeks to address this gap and explore the effects of the Play and Learn through the Arts (PLA) programme on practitioners’ professional development. Early years practitioners who had implemented and participated in the previous research studies with the PLA were contacted to participate in this research project. A total of 17 practitioners from Greece and London agreed to participate. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews over a period of 3 months. Findings showed significant gains in their professional behaviour and teaching skills, more specifically in their confidence and understanding of their role, implementing child-led projects, reflective practice, quality of teaching, and increasing children’s participation and imagination. The sustainability of the PLA was confirmed as practitioners took several initiatives to continue the project on their own

Using different art forms to investigate the impact on children’s involvement in literacy activities

Much of the research into factors that affect children’s school performance has focused on parental involvement rather than the nature of children’s activities undertaken in school. More research is therefore needed to examine the kinds of activities that affect performance and, in particular, whether the degree of involvement children experience in those activities can affect school performance. Children in free play often choose to be involved in arts activities so the arts could be considered as a promising approach. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of ‘Play and Learn through the Arts’ program on children’s involvement during literacy activities in five-six-year-old children. It was examined if the arts in general or a specific art form could contribute more to children’s involvement in literacy activities. Children from four different settings participated in this study. To measure the outcome of the intervention the LIS-YC was used and items such as children’s concentration, persistence and precision were measured. The findings were analyzed using a mixed method approach and showed significant benefits in all the items in children’s levels of involvement in the arts group over the control group and no difference in effects among the different art forms

An Empirical Study Comparing Different Art Forms to Develop Social and Personal Skills in Early Years Education

Social and personal development is a very important area within child development. There are a number of researchers who provide empirical findings about this using art experiences in the early years settings. However, what is missing is a thorough investigation of different art forms and their effects in children’s social and personal development. Previous findings of a small-scale study, showed that child-led art experiences can have a substantial contribution on children’s social and personal skills. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of different art forms in children’s social and personal skills. The ‘Play and Learn through the Arts’ programme was used for the art intervention in three experimental groups that were compared against a control group. The sample included 61 5-6-year-old children from state and private early years settings in Attica in Greece. Data analysis showed that an arts-based methodology is indeed beneficial for children’s social and personal development such as confidence, independence, relationships etc. but there was no difference among the different art forms. This leads us to suggest that it is the arts in general and not a particular art form which contributes to child development

If you give them the chance, they will thrive: exploring literacy development through the arts in early childhood education

oai:repository.uel.ac.uk:8xv37Listening to young children’s voice is important to access their learning meaningfully. This is challenging in early childhood education, where children don’t always communicate their thoughts verbally, as they use multimodal means of communication. There is extensive research on empowering children in their learning journey in primary education, but there is a gap in the nursery. This project aims to bridge this gap by exploring the effects of a child-led methodology on literacy development. Building on previous research, this project focuses on three-year-old children and using a variety of art forms. The sample included 13 settings from London and Greece. The Play and Learn through the Arts programme (PLA), implemented as a child-led methodology over for four months, supported children to raise their own voice in literacy projects. Data were collected through weekly observations. The findings indicated significant improvements in children’s confidence, reading and writing habits, participation in discussions, and overall enthusiasm

A Comparative Study of Multimodal Approaches to Learning: To Support Children’s Learning in the Early Years

Multimodal approaches to teaching and learning within early years education support children’s diverse experiences and competencies. Within a multimodal process, different modes can communicate meaning in several ways. The Play and Learn through the Arts (PLA) programme and the Argyle project offer the opportunity to embrace the framework of a multimodal approach to children’s learning, though they have salient differences. This paper aims to explore the content of the PLA and the Argyle project as two practical examples which can be used to create a multimodal environment in early years settings. The discussion concludes with the significant contribution of the PLA programme to children’s learning using the arts as a teaching method through a child-led process within the multimodal framework; though the Argyle project presented the concept of multiliteracies which was also an important component for a multimodal environment. This paper can be useful to early years practitioners to explore different practical examples of children’s multimodal learning in everyday practice

Early years education: are young students intrinsically or extrinsically motivated towards school activities? A discussion about the effects of rewards on young children’s learning

Rewards can reinforce and at the same time forestall young children’s willingness to learn. However, they are broadly used in the field of education, especially in early years settings, to stimulate children towards learning activities. This paper reviews the theoretical and research literature related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational theory, with particular focus on the concept of rewards, discussing how this theoretical framework explains children’s learning and attitudes. It argues that rewards usually have a detrimental impact on young students’ learning and behaviour but in some cases can contribute beneficially to children’s willingness to learn

The Reggio Emilia and the Mosaic approach: Opponents or allies in multimodal teaching and learning? A discussion of their contribution to multimodal learning in early years education

Multimodality is an important element of teaching and learning in early years settings. It provides opportunities for young children to communicate using different resources they feel comfortable with. This paper focuses on multimodality and multimodal learning in early years education and the different approaches, which can be used to create a multimodal learning environment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how two powerful approaches, such as the Reggio Emilia and the Mosaic allow multimodal learning, which is crucial for children’s holistic development. The Reggio Emilia approach and the Mosaic approach are discussed, focusing on the strategies used to support children in their development using their multimodal ways of communication. The Reggio Emilia approach is analysed as an example that appreciates the artistic work of children (i.e., drawings to express their way of thinking) while on the other hand, the Mosaic approach is analysed as an example that supports children to have a leading role in their learning journey. This paper can be used as a starting point in raising awareness of practical multimodal teaching practices in early years education

Educational Assistants And Classroom Management: Increasing Self-Efficacy

The research question addressed in this project was, how can educational assistants increase their self-efficacy of established classroom management strategies at an urban charter school? The project documents the creation of a quick reference guide for educational assistants (E.A.s) in a local education agency (LEA) on the topic of classroom management. The project uses the two established classroom management systems already in use in the LEA as its base. The quick reference guide is designed in such a way that E.A.s can reference it on the go, take it home to study, and practice the skills in real-time, giving them opportunities to build their self-efficacy with these systems. The author was influenced by the work of Brock & Carter, specifically around the training and professional development of E.A.s. In addition, the work of Bandura was tantamount to the success of this capstone, since his groundbreaking work concerning self-efficacy was central to the research question. Finally, Prothero and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) proved to be a valuable resource. The data compiled each year on the growth of charter schools added some much needed hard numbers to the discussion of charter school growth, as well as the challenges faced by this burgeoning group of schools. The author synthesized the findings from the literature review and found that the training, education, and experience of E.A.s is inconsistent, teacher self-efficacy can impact student achievement, charter schools continue to grow in the U.S. (despite a variety of challenges), and classroom management is a serious challenge facing teachers