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BA [Hons] Primary Education & Teaching Programmes

All Year groups

Nursery Placements

Extra Guidance for School Experience

To be read in conjunction with the appropriate SERE Handbook for School Experience and the Generic School

Experience Handbook for Primary Education Programmes http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/Partnership/NurseryPlacements.cfm

2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2

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Contents

A note to Nursery mentors P.3

Introduction P.4 The School Experience Requirements and Expectations (SERE) P.4 Schedule of Dates: The School Experience Requirements and Expectations (SERE) P.5 Weekly Overview: School-based learning tasks: P.5 Key requirements of our Early Years student teachers, P.6 and how these might look in nursery settings Assessment of student teachers in nursery settings: P.8 Some specific advice for student teachers in Nursery placements P.10 The nature of good nursery practice – what to aim for: P.10 Play: P.12 The nursery curriculum: P.14 Planning: P.16 The learning environment: P.18 Assessment: P.19 Professional relationships: P.21 Components of a good teaching in Nursery placements: P.22 Developing your own knowledge and understanding: P.23

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A note to Nursery mentors: Thank you very much for giving time and energy to supporting our Early Years student teachers in your establishment. The good practice that they witness and develop here will help them become good teachers who are proficient, intelligent and sensitive in meeting young children’s needs and supporting their development and learning in appropriate ways. What follows is some advice about some key considerations that will inform the expectations that you should have of our students and the opportunities that they should receive during their time with you. We hope you find this advice useful. If you would like some extra guidance or clarification about this advice and how it might be reflected in your particular setting, then please do not hesitate to contact Steven Popper (our Early Years Co-ordinator) on 01243 812023, or by e-mail at S.Popper@chi.ac.uk.

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Introduction: This booklet contains advice about how student teachers can act demonstrate their progress towards the TDA Standards while in based in Nursery placements. Most Nurseries (and many Reception classes) do not operate like most classes in Key Stages One or Two, and can sometimes seem bewildering to the untrained eye. Student teachers unfamiliar with Early Years Foundation Stage principles and practice can sometimes wonder how to operate as teachers if it looks like the children in their setting are playing, running around and doing whatever they want without any structure or imposed educational agenda or expectations. But such appearances are deceiving and this is not the case. Student teachers can demonstrate their influence on Nursery and Reception children’s learning by focussing on the aspects of teaching and learning discussed in the rest of this booklet. NB: A note about the terms ‘school experience’ and ‘lessons’: The term ‘school experience’ is used to identify the components of student teachers’ training that require them to practice and develop their knowledge skills and practice of teaching; in other words, it is about the status of the placement experience that they will undertake with you. The term ‘school experience’ differentiates the type of placement experience that the students will undertake during this time from other possible nursery experience that they might have at other times - as part of their subject study modules or Special Interest Placements, for example. The term ‘school experience’ does not signify that it is expected that the student teachers will necessarily be placed in schools: indeed, the whole point of placing our Early Years student teachers in nursery settings is that they will experience good quality nursery practice in a range of settings not limited to those that categorise themselves as ‘schools’. Similarly, the word ‘lesson’ sounds as if a formal teacher-led session is always required but, of course, it is not. A ‘lesson’ can consist of the facilitation of useful child-led discovery learning or play, with the student teacher in an active and observant role, leading or supporting the children’s learning as seems appropriate. A ‘lesson observation’ therefore, can be of the student teacher engaged in any of these types of activity in a pro-active and substantial manner. The School Experience Requirements and Expectations (SERE) Schedule of Dates: Each phase of school experience is supported by a specific SERE document. The inside front cover of each of these identifies the schedule of lesson observations, link tutor visits (and so on) that is expected for that particular cohort of students. This schedule of activity is also identified in the Weekly Overview that can be found further on in each SERE document. It is often the case that these SERE documents indicate that certain lesson observations are to be focussed on the teaching of particular NC core subjects. Clearly this will not apply to lesson observations in nursery settings, or at least not as it stands. What is expected is that

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students are observed teaching in the closest related Area of Learning and Development (eg, ‘Communication, Language and Literacy’ when the SERE document says ‘English’, ‘Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy’ when it says ‘Mathematics’, and the ‘Exploration and Investigation’ strand of ‘Knowledge & Understanding of the World’ when it says ‘Science’).

It would also be useful for at least one lesson observation during the placement to be focussed on the teaching of PSED, as this is an area of such importance in nursery practice.

The School Experience Requirements and Expectations (SERE) Weekly Overview:

Rather similarly, the Weekly Overviews contained in each SERE document often refer to the expectation that student teachers will teach the NC core subjects. This will not apply to students based in nursery settings. What is expected from such students instead is that they take developing responsibility to teach all six EYFS Areas of Learning and Development as they progress through their school experience placement. Mentors and link tutors should look for evidence of students having taken on this range of responsibility when it comes to their final assessment review.

School-based learning tasks:

Each phase of school experience includes the requirement for students to complete specific school-based learning tasks (which are detailed in the SERE document for your cohort). These are learning activities in the areas of English, Mathematics and Science, and are set by the Programme’s curriculum teams.

Students might find that the wording of several of these might be more obvious to apply to Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2 settings. What is required is a little bit of common-sense interpretation. Students should try to identify what the gist and focus of each school-based learning task are, then (in conjunction with you and the link tutor) identify how these things find expression in nursery settings. Doing this will help identify what students should be observing and recording.

For example, one current school-based learning task (at time of writing) asks students to observe at least three sessions each of the teaching of reading and writing. Students based in classrooms with older children will have no difficulty working out what this means, but this might not be so obvious for student teachers based in nursery settings. They could, however, focus their observations on things such as

sharing books and stories with children,

the graphics area in the nursery,

the encouragement given to children to write their names on paintings and drawings,

mark-marking of any description,

the use of the book-corner,

the presentation and use of text in different parts of the learning environment,

the use of writing-for-a-purpose in role-play (pads and pens for waiting staff to sue in a role-play cafe, for instance),

any phonetic play, experimentation, modelling and reinforcement (as identified in Phase One of Letters and Sounds), and so on.

Nursery mentors will have a good idea of the work that their nursery does in such areas. In addition, nursery mentors will also be able to help their students decide how best to interpret and to complete these school-based learning tasks successfully.

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Key requirements of our Early Years student teachers, and how these might look in nursery settings: Our student teachers are expected to carry out a range of activities, duties and tasks during each phase of school experience that they undertake. How well these activities, tasks and duties have been achieved is assessed against the TDA’s ‘Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status’ (see below), and successful achievement of them is necessary for the student teachers to be recommended for the QTS award. Consequently, it is necessary for all our student teachers to receive sufficient opportunity to demonstrate such achievement while in their nursery placement. Some of the key requirements made of all student teachers might seem rather out-of-place in many nursery settings, particularly whole-class teaching, observing and undertaking teaching in other classes (if there are no other ‘classes’), and even lesson planning (if the nursery setting does not categorise its work with children as ‘lessons’). What follows is some advice towards ensuring that nursery-based student teachers get proper opportunities to demonstrate successful practice in these areas, but in ways that complement and flow naturally with good quality nursery practice:

1) Whole-class teaching:

All student teachers are expected to plan for and teach the whole class of children that they have been placed with as they progress through school experience. For students based in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two (and Reception, to some extent) this means that student teachers are expected to teach all of the children in the class at same time (eg, introduce a lesson to the whole group, lead a lesson’s plenary, etc). Clearly, this model does not apply to student teachers in nursery settings. What is expected instead are the following two things:

a) Planning and offering learning activities that are inclusive, available and

accessible to all the children in the nursery, should they wish to take part;

b) Planning and offering learning activities across all the different parts of the

nursery environment (eg: graphics area, role-play area, large construction

play area, outdoor area, etc), so that all the possible areas have been taught

in by the end of the placement.

In other words, all student teachers should have planned and offered inclusive and accessible learning experiences in each area of the nursery environment by the end of school experience. It would be very useful if, early in the placement, each student teacher and mentor could agree on a rotation for the student teacher’s planning and teaching responsibilities across the different environmental areas (eg: Week 1: graphics area; Week 2: large construction play area; Week 3: outdoor area, etc).

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2) Observing and undertaking teaching in ‘other classes’: If the nursery provision is organised by areas / rooms catering for children of different ages, then it would also be expected that student teachers have observed practice and planned and offered some learning experiences in all these areas / rooms by the end of the placement. (Each student teacher can have one particular area / room as their home base, of course.) If the nursery does not have different areas / rooms in this manner, then the expectation is that student teachers observe practice by a range of staff, particularly as these staff cater for their own particular key worker groups (if the nursery has these). (Obviously, if the nursery is part of a school, then student teachers would be expected to observe practice and plan and undertake some teaching is some of the other classes in the school - particularly the Reception class, if this is separate, as this would give a very good idea about the school’s approach to Foundation Stage provision overall). 3) Lesson Planning:

All student teachers are required to demonstrate their ability to plan lessons that facilitate ‘progression ... *and+ ... effective learning sequences’ (Standard Q22). As noted above, the word ‘lesson’ sounds as if a formal teacher-led session is always required but, of course, it is not. A ‘lesson’ can consist of the facilitation of useful child-led discovery learning or play, with the student teacher in an active and observant role, leading or supporting the children’s learning as seems appropriate. Student teachers are advised to plan an equal amount of adult-led activities and opportunities for child-led activities during their placement. Most importantly, they are

expected to plan and facilitate opportunities for children to play productively. Student teachers are advised that most of the adult-led activities that they plan and the child-led activities that they facilitate should contain a very large component of play.

Student teachers are required to record their lesson plans on the University of Chichester Lesson Plan Proforma (see exemplars on the Partnership Website for some examples). The University of Chichester link tutor attached to your setting will be very happy to go through this with you. More detailed advice about lesson planning in nursery settings can be found below.

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Assessment of student teachers in nursery settings:

The progress of all student teachers is measured by their achievement against the present version of the TDA’s ‘Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status’ (referred to from now on as the ‘Q’ Standards).

At the time of writing there are 33 different ‘Q’ Standards, which are in turn categorised into three different sets, as follows. Each set of ‘Q’ Standards is used to measure student teachers’ progress and achievements in a particular area of professional work:

‘Q’ Standards relating to student teachers’ ‘Professional Attributes’:

This set of ‘Q’ Standards considers such things as student teachers’ ‘high expectations’, their ‘awareness of professional duties of teachers’, their ‘commitment to collaboration and co-operative working’, their ability to ‘communicate effectively with children’ young people, colleagues, parents and carers’, etc. ‘Q’ Standards relating to student teachers’ ‘Professional Knowledge and Understanding’:

This set of ‘Q’ Standards considers such things as student teachers’ ‘knowledge and understanding of a range of teaching strategies and behaviour management strategies’, their ‘secure knowledge and understanding of their subjects / curriculum areas and related pedagogy’, their understanding of ‘how children and young people develop’, etc.

‘Q’ Standards relating to student teachers’ ‘Professional Skills’:

This set of ‘Q’ Standards considers such things as student teachers’ ability to ‘plan for progression across the age and ability range for which they are trained’, their ability to ‘teach lessons and sequences of lessons across the age and ability range for which they are trained’, and their ability to ‘assess the learning needs of those they teach’, etc.

It would be worthwhile for the mentor and student teacher to go through all the ‘Q’ Standards early on during the placement and have a conversation about what type of nursery-based professional work would count as evidence against them. The definitive UoC ‘Good Practice in School Experience: Support and Assessment’ document would be most helpful here. In addition, some very useful illustrative advice towards how these ‘Q’ Standards might be attained and demonstrated in nursery settings can be found in the CWDC’s ‘On the Right Track: Guidance to the Standards for the Award of Early Years Professional Status’ (This can be downloaded from http://publications.cwdcouncil.org.uk/download/EY32-0210_Guidance_to_standards_EYPS.pdf).

The guidance contained in this clear and nursery-friendly document is transferable to all related ‘Q’ Standards, and gives a strong flavour of how student teachers’ achievements against such ‘Q’ Standards could be seen in nursery settings. This might help staff and student teachers alike to picture what sort of professional work and quality of work is required.

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(Please note, however, that the definitive guide to what is required against each ‘Q’ Standard can be found in the UoC ‘Good Practice in School Experience: Support and Assessment’ document, which all settings have received copies of. (This is downloadable from: http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/Partnership/documents/GoodPracticeinSESupportandAssessmentLSJECShAug18Finaldraft_002.pdf). In other words, the CWDC’s ‘On the Right Track: Guidance to the Standards for the Award of Early Years Professional Status’ is illustrative only, and should be used in conjunction with our definitive (but less nursery-friendly) guide.)

OfSted Grading Criteria:

The ‘Q’ Standards are not the only measurements of student teachers’ quality and achievements. Ofsted have published definitive grading criteria of what the performance of very good, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory student teachers looks like, and these can be very useful frames of reference to measure judgements of each student teacher’s performance against. These can be found in the UoC ‘Good Practice in School Experience: Support and Assessment’ document, pages 59 – 63. Ofsted’s grading criteria also help indicate the types of professional work that student teachers should have the opportunity to pursue while in the nursery setting.

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Some specific advice for student teachers in Nursery placements: Mentors and Link Tutors, please read this section too. The nature of good nursery practice – what to aim for: One of the four key themes of the EYFS (see below) is entitled ‘A Unique Child’. It is important that you demonstrate sensitivity to individual children’s needs and achievements. You can do this through:

1) Positive and responsive relationships with the children (and their families, where possible);

2) Good observation and assessment of individual children’s needs and progress; 3) Planning and preparing resources and the environment to facilitate children’s

own explorations and discoveries (ie: planning opportunities for child-led activities);

4) Planning adult-led activities that have been designed to respond to and build upon individual children’s needs and progress;

5) Interacting thoroughly, constructively and reassuringly with children to help them build upon their discoveries, explorations and interests.

Please note that the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Report (2004) concluded that:

Effective pedagogy includes interaction traditionally associated with the term ‘teaching’, the provision of instructive learning environments and ‘sustained shared thinking’ to extend children’s learning. Sylva, K et al. (2004:ii)

‘Interaction traditionally associated with the term ‘teaching’’ refers to all teacher-led learning experiences that you plan and teach. ‘Instructive learning environments’ refers to the layout, design, resources, presentation and use of both outdoor and indoor environments to inform, enrich and facilitate children’s learning. ‘Sustained shared thinking’…

occurs when two or more individuals ‘work together’ in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate an activity, extend a narrative, etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend the understanding. Sylva, K et al. (2004:vi)

Mentors and link tutors will look for your contribution to all three of these factors when considering and assessing your progress. They will also look for your contribution to the following elements of good nursery practice (as identified by Ofsted, 2007):

• How well providers support children’s enjoyment of their play, learning and development…

• Children’s enthusiasm, sense of fun, and expressions of pleasure and satisfaction

from meeting challenges and doing well…

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• Children’s progress towards the early learning goals.

References: Ofsted (2007:9) Early Years: Getting on well: enjoying, achieving and contributing, London, Ofsted. Ref: 070059

Sylva, K et al. (2004) The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Final Report, London, Sure Start / University of London

These are very good things to aim for! Use the above as a good rule of thumb for judging the nature and quality of your performance and working out your own individual targets for professional development.

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Play: Young children use play to explore, discover, experiment, consolidate, compare, share, express and develop knowledge, concepts and social skills (among many other things). Play is hugely important educationally. You will be expected to plan and facilitate opportunities for children to play productively. Most of the adult-led activities that you plan and the child-led activities that you facilitate should contain a very large component of play and discovery learning. What this means in practice is that very often you will set up opportunities for the children to explore resources and lead the direction of their play in a very open-ended manner. Different types of play that you could facilitate include the following possibilities:

1) Discovery learning (playing with materials, resources and their properties, and the features of the environment);

2) Role-play opportunities (playing with narratives and scenarios and exploring different types of character, role and situation – possibly involving a component of dressing-up; any type of child-led ‘let’s pretend’ game or adult-led drama);

3) Repetitive stimulus – response games (such as ‘peepo’ for very young children);

4) Symbolic and representational play (eg: a line of chairs could become a bus or train);

5) Games with rules or some type of structure or particular resources (such as puzzles, dice, playing pieces, cards; board games, physical or singing-and-movement games or computer games);

6) Adult-led play, possibly involving leading children through a playful process or game (such as wearing junk-model binoculars to be explorers when looking at mini-beasts);

7) Play with language and sound (including phonics as well as music);

8) Play with possibilities (ie, exploring how a ‘let’s pretend’ story might play out, or how a hose might spray water in different patterns if moved in different ways, or ideas about what children could do if they were in a space-ship, etc)

You should also be alert to the individual or social nature of children’s play. Some children will be very content having moments of individual (and often deeply contemplative or therapeutic) play, and some will be faster to either play in parallel alongside other children sharing the same resources, or actively co-operate and play with them. Try to monitor and respond to children’s needs and personal approaches in this area – with interest and enthusiasm. Talk with staff who know the children about what type of support children might need in their play (including the support of staying out of it when adult intervention would be likely to spoil the play rather than add to it). There might also be some very productive learning about sharing, taking turns, following other children’s leads in play, maintaining temper when the play does not go the desired way, and even winning and not winning games that you could usefully support and engage with.

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Try to replicate the relative use of play-based learning and more formal learning that you witness in the nursery setting in your own planning and teaching. If in doubt about whether an activity should be play-based or more formal, go for play-based every time. A key tip is to ensure that the play experience is well-organised and attractively-presented, as these things can make all the difference in the world. Another key tip is to clearly demonstrate your interest in and high regard for children’s play choices and processes while the play is in motion. Children thrive when adults support their play and show delight in it, so do this!

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The nursery curriculum: Nurseries (and Reception classes) currently use the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ - available at www.teachernet.gov.uk/publications - though this is being reviewed at the time of writing. Please familiarise yourself with this document. It contains very useful guidance about Early Years principles, planning, teaching and assessment. The ‘Learning and Development’ section of the EYFS contains advice about the six Areas of Learning and Development (‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’, ‘Communication, Language and Literacy’, ‘Problem-Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy’, ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World’, ‘Physical Development’ and ‘Creative Development’). These are, if you like, the EYFS equivalent to NC subjects. The EYFS also identifies particular strands of each of these Areas of Learning and Development that any learning experience might focus upon (eg: PSED contains the strands ‘Dispositions and Attitudes’, ‘Self-confidence and Self-esteem’ and ‘Making Relationships’ among others). A key feature of the EYFS that is not shared by the current version of the NC is the ‘Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage’. This document contains advice about the types of practice that might support children’s progress through each Area of Learning and Development, arranged as below:

Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2008:38)

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The top of the page indicates which Area of Learning and Development is being focussed on, and also which strand of this Area. The page above focuses on the ‘Self-care’ strand of Personal, Social and Emotional Development, for example. The first column, ‘Development matters’, contains indicative learning intentions that you might base your planning around. There is an attempt to indicate the pitch of possible learning intentions for children at different stages of development; this is a useful frame of reference, but not a substitute for your (and the nursery’s) knowledge of individual children’s developmental situation and needs. (Note: The bolded-out developmental achievements at the bottom of the column are the Early Learning Goals for that particular strand of the Area of Learning and Development – ie, they are the general expectations of the achievements that children should have made by the time they leave the Foundation Stage at the end of the Reception year.) Please note that all the indicative learning intentions contained in this column are quite general. You will probably find it more useful to be more precise with your own learning intentions at times (though you will find that different nurseries have their own perspective about this – and you are advised to model your planning on your own particular nursery’s approach). The second column, Look, listen and note, contains advice about how children might demonstrate their progress against the indicative learning intentions put forward in the first column. This advice can be very useful in helping you decide what type of thing to record in your observational notes for your M&A file (see below). The third column, Effective practice, contains exemplars of the type of activities, learning opportunities and responses you could offer children to support the indicative learning intentions put forward in the first column. The fourth column, Planning and resourcing, contains advice and the type of behind-the-scenes planning and preparation that might facilitate children’s learning against the indicative learning intentions put forward in the first column. Taken together, these columns of guidance can stimulate your ideas about what type of learning experiences you could plan, and what the children are likely to get out of them. They are not meant to contain all possibilities, just give a flavour of them. The nursery staff will be able to show you how they use the Practice Guidance to good effect, so follow their lead.

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Planning:

It is expected that every lesson plan you produce identifies which strand/s of which Area/s of Learning (see above) most closely apply to your planned lesson. Do NOT try to record every type of learning that might occur in your lesson plan, as you will end up with an over-long document that is time-consuming, unmanageable and unhelpful in practice. For example, it is quite possible that a simple counting game might involve children in sharing (PSED), use of language (Communication, Language and Literacy), exploration of the properties of the playing piece materials (Knowledge and Understanding of the World), observation of colour (Creative Development) and physical dexterity (Physical Development). If you attempt to record all of these, then your resulting plan will have no direction or focus. It would be simpler and much more useful to reference your counting game to ‘Problem-Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy’ and leave it at that. Reminder: The word ‘lesson’ sounds as if a formal teacher-led session is required as a matter of course. It is not. You should aim to plan an equal number of adult-led activities and opportunities for child-led activities. Both of these types of activities count as ‘lessons’, and both can provide evidence about your achievements against the TDA Standards. The length of the lessons that you plan depends upon the needs of the children and your predictions of their likely length of engagement with your planned activities. (NB: It would be worth noting this likely length of engagement in your lesson plans.) In real life you may find that you host or facilitate an activity for a good part of the session, but the children who come to the activity spend varying amounts of time with it. Don’t forget that most Nurseries (and many Reception classes) have children who attend on a part-time basis. It is very likely that you will run your activities once in the morning for one group of children, then again in the afternoon for another. Feel free to revise your activity for the afternoon to take account of your evaluation of how it went in the morning. This will demonstrate that you are a reflective practitioner. You do not have to stick to your lesson plan if it would be productive to deviate from it. You could record any such decision as part of your lesson evaluation. You may be familiar with medium-term plans used in Key Stages 1 and 2. These tend to identify a class’s learning intentions for a half-term at a time. Nurseries (and some Reception classes) are more likely to use short-term plans (possibly fortnightly) to identify the skills, knowledge and understanding being targeted at any particular time. Please familiarize yourself with these and use them to give direction to your own planning and teaching. Planning for adult-led activities:

For much of the time, individual children will decide for themselves whether or not they want to engage with the activity you have set up. Unlike a formal lesson in Key Stages One and Two, there is little guarantee that children will engage with what you have planned! One of your aims is to prepare and present your environment and resources so that they entice children and make them curious about what you have to offer. Your lesson plans will be scrutinised for what they say about your proposed use of the environment and

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resources, and your actual use of these things will be scrutinised too. (Do not forget that you could negotiate to use some of your non-contact time to prepare resources.) If you have worked in Key Stages One or Two, you might be familiar with a whole-class lesson structure more or less like this:

Introduction; Group activities; Plenary. These three elements of a lesson can still be found in Nursery, though they will probably look very different:

As individual children come to your activity, you will introduce it to the children on an individual basis. You will then support them through ‘sustained shared thinking’ (Sylva et al, 2004:iv) and practical guidance as they engage with the activity. Once the children seem as if they are likely to complete the activity to their (and your) satisfaction and go, you will probably engage in some dialogue with them that sums up what they have got out of the activity. This process is equivalent to the introduction / task / plenary structure commonly found in lessons for older children.

Planning for child-led activities: As stated above, one of your aims is to prepare and present the environment and resources so that they entice children and make them curious about what you have to offer. Please note that a careful selection and presentation of resources in the environment can suggest lines of exploration and experiment to the children, and often these lines of exploration and experiment can be predicted and identified in your lesson plan. (For example, the children playing with vehicles in the sand-tray might think that they are completely in control of their play and discoveries, but you have predicted that they are likely to notice the different tracks made by the vehicles, and that the play the children engage with is useful towards the learning intentions about patterns identified in your lesson plan.) All lesson plans should be recorded using the generic UoC Primary Lesson Plan Proforma. Please see School Partnership website for a selection of previous nursery-based students’ lesson plans to give you an idea of ways to record your lesson ideas. As you read these exemplars, please look for how these plans have recorded ideas about the learning points to be emphasized during the proposed activities, the role of different adults, the use of play and environment, and students’ own setting of personal targets for their own development.

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The learning environment: In all Nurseries and most Reception classes children’s learning is promoted and facilitated through the provision of a rich, stimulating environment. You can expect to find clearly defined environmental areas (such as a role-play area, a ‘creative area’ with paints and glues, a construction area, a book-corner, a music area) though the exact nature of these will vary from placement to placement. Each of these environmental areas contains the potential for facilitating children’s progress in all six EYFS Areas of Learning. (IE: It is not the case that a ‘creative area’ is only used to promote ‘Creative Development’ or a drawing and writing area is only used to promote ‘Communication, Language and Literacy’.) Staff tend to take responsibility for each different environmental area on a rotor basis, and you can expect to be part of this. You will take some responsibility for planning, preparing and leading activities in each environmental area that you work in. Around half of such activities will be adult-led: in other words, you will set up an activity with a particular focus and structure, and lead or direct the children who come to the activity through it. The other half of such activities will be child-led: in other words, you will set up the resources and environment so that they stimulate children’s engagement and exploration, and you will follow the children’s own direction and exploration rather than lead it. Often this might see you operating as a ‘play partner’. Try to avoid tunnel vision over any activity you set up! If you are responsible for children’s learning in an environmental area, then try not to get disappointed if they don’t come to the particular activity you are leading, but support them as they follow their own interests in other parts of the area instead. (You can, of course, encourage the children to come to your activity - and if it is welcoming, intriguing, well-organised and well-presented, many probably will - but it is not the end of the world if they don’t. However, if children only rarely come to your activities and area of the learning environment, it might be best to re-design them!)

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Assessment: First of all, do ensure that you gain familiarity with the Nursery’s own assessment policies and procedures.

If you are working as a key-worker, you should get in the habit of observing and collecting data on children in your group. This might be difficult, as the children will not necessarily spend their time where you can easily observe them! Don’t forget that you can use some of your non-contact time to observe children and make notes about their progress.

Many Nurseries use post-its, sticky labels or observation sheets to record observations of children on, as these are much more flexible and individual than group assessment sheets. A useful post-it, sticky label or observation sheet can look something like this:

Purnima 10/11/2011 PSED When Michael was left by himself in the role-play area, Purnima went over and asked if he was alright, then invited him to join a new game. In this example, the most pertinent Area of Learning and Development has been indicated along with the actual observation. The advantage of this design of post-it, sticky label of observation sheet is that this particular observation could be filed under ‘Purnima: PSED’ (with others being filed under ‘Purnima: CLL’, Purnima: PSRN’, etc). This would make all your observational notes very accessible in your M&A file. Another approach to post-its, sticky labels and observations sheets is as follows:

Purnima 10/11/2011 When Michael was left by himself in the role-play area, Purnima went over and asked if he was alright, then invited him to join a new game.

PSED /

CLL

PSRN

KUW

PD

CD

The advantage of this design of post-it, sticky label or observation sheet, is that any Areas of Learning and Development related to the observation could be indicated. This particular observation is still focussed upon Purnima’s behaviour in PSED, but if the new game had been a balancing game or a puzzle, for example, then the commentary could have been extended to say something about this, and either PD (‘Physical Development’) or PSRN (‘Problem-solving, reasoning and numeracy’) could have been ticked as well. It is recommended that you follow the nursery’s own house-style of recording observations to begin with, and see how that particular method suits you. Whichever style of observational note you use, however, remember not to record every single thing that you

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see, as there will be too much, and not all of it will be useful! Select things that significant, and record these. (NB: Don’t forget to communicate with other staff about significant aspects of children’s progress and behaviour.) This type of data can be very helpful later on. You may also wish to record some analysis of your observations, as below: Observation Analysis

Purnima 10/11/2011 PSED When Michael was left by himself in the role-play area, Purnima went over and asked if he was alright, then invited him to join a new game.

This is another example of Purnima’s sensitivity to other children. She is showing consistent kindness to children who seem to be by themselves a lot.

Tip: When using post-its, sticky labels or observation sheets, try to file them on the day that you write them. This will prevent a back-log of observations developing, and help you feel in control. You may find that the Nursery staff put their observations into central class or nursery files. If so, you might find it useful to file some of your own particularly significant observations in these files too. If you do so, let your link tutor and mentor know so that they are aware of everything you do relating to assessment. Many settings also use what they call ‘learning journals’ which are narrative accounts of children’s progress and achievements that contain a mixture of observational notes, annotated photographs of children involved in learning processes, examples of any product they have made, and recorded dialogue with parents about the children’s needs and progress. If your setting uses such things, then do try using them yourself. If your nursery is part of a school, then you might find, for example, that it contributes towards the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. If so, take the opportunity to find out more about it, and, if appropriate, use it! Some familiarity with the Assessment Scales of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile will not go amiss, and might be very useful in informing your assessments of children’s progress. (The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, including its Assessment Scales, is available at www.naa.org.uk/eyfsp .) Please see the School Partnership website for some exemplars of completed observational notes and more guidance about learning journals. There is a direct link here: http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/Partnership/NurseryPlacements.cfm

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Professional relationships: Children:

Children require teachers who are warm-hearted, friendly, purposeful, knowledgeable, well-presented, and responsive and who model good quality behaviour towards others. This applies just as much to Nursery and Reception as it does to Key Stages 1 and 2. Do not adopt casual ‘baby-sitting’ habits when working as a teacher in nursery just because the children are very young. Remember, too, the importance of ‘sustained shared thinking’ (see above), and the notion that this should contain a level of challenge and some shared intellectual engagement with whatever process, discovery or resource is at hand. Good quality sustained shared thinking is indicative of good teaching. Many nurseries use a key-worker system, and children are likely to experience group times when they congregate around their key-worker for stories, snacks, etc. Be prepared to act as a key-worker, either taking a group yourself or working alongside the children’s established key-worker. This does not mean that you will only work with children in your group – far from it! Most nurseries see the children moving around the environment freely. This means that, except for timetabled group times, you will never know exactly which children you will be working with. Ensure that you treat all children who come your way with the same amount of consideration and attention. Adults:

You will probably be working within a team of staff bigger than that commonly found within a single Key Stage 1 or 2 classroom. Remember that your behaviour and manner affect all the adults around you as well as the children. Demonstrate your willingness to be a positive and responsive team member. Ensure that all your communications are clear, friendly, courteous and respectful. Remember, also, that staff within Nursery and Reception may have very different levels of training and experience – but all of them know the children and the setting you are in better than you. Do not think that just because you are training to be a teacher you know better than them, as such an attitude will actively work against your achievement of the TDA Standards. Remember that you are a part of the team.

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Components of a good teaching in Nursery placements: Good nursery teaching remembers that children are children (ie, that they have certain developmental needs and behaviour patterns), and that they learn best when they are physically and mentally active rather than passively receiving information from adults. A good nursery lesson involves several components:

1) Play (self-initiated or adult-directed) – MOST IMPORTANT; 2) Good use of an enriched environment (including, where possible, the outdoor

environment); 3) Physical activity and manipulation of resources; 4) Sustained opportunities for children’s own discovery and exploration; 5) Meaningful context – ie, all learning is related to children’s real lives and

experiences; 6) Sustained shared thinking that contains a level of challenge; 7) Clear and precise use of language; 8) Clearly demonstrated sensitivity to (and recording of) the children’s own interests

and observations; 9) Emotional support and encouragement; 10) Good communication with other team members (and parents).

Note that the intended focus of all the above can (and should!) be planned for. It is quite possible for the student teacher to equip and present the resources and environment to stimulate children in likely directions. There should also be an equal mix of child-initiated and adult-led activities overall. What is NOT appropriate in nurseries is for the children to be ignored, talked at rather than to, or entirely restricted to paper-based activities (ie, worksheets of any kind).

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Developing your own knowledge and understanding: Do not forget that there are many useful texts that can help you acclimatize yourself to Nursery and Reception settings. Below are just a few suggestions:

Basford, J. & Hodson, E. (eds)

2008 Achieving QTS: Teaching Early Years Foundation Stage

Exeter LearningMatters

Bruce, T 2011 Early Childhood Education (4th ed) London Hodder

Dryden, L, Forbes, R, Mukherji, P, Pound, L

2005 Essential Early Years London Hodder Arnold

Miller, L & Devereux, J (eds)

2004 Supporting Children’s Learning in the Early Years

London Fulton

Nurse, A.D. (ed) 2007 The New Early Years Professional London Routledge

Palaiogologou, I. (ed)

2010 The Early Years Foundation Stage: Theory and Practice

London Sage

Reed, M. & Canning, N. (eds)

2010 Reflective Practice in the Early Years

London Sage

Riley, J. (ed) 2007 Learning in the Early Years (2nd ed)

London Sage

Smidt, S 2010 Playing to Learn London Routledge

Sylva, K et al.

2004 The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Final Report

London, Sure Start / University of London

Whitebread, D. & Coltman, P. (eds)

2008 Teaching and Learning in the Early Year (3rd ed)

London Routledge

‘The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Final Report (1997-2004)’: available at: http://www.surestart.gov.uk/publications/index.cfm?document=1160 Finally, do not forget to enjoy yourself! Nursery children are at a very early stage of their education, and everything is new, exciting and fun!