Learning Together in the Early Years


Book Description

This book brings together contributions from international experts on early years education to explore and debate relational pedagogy across different countries and in the context of a broad international field.




Learning Together with Young Children


Book Description

Provides early childhood teachers a framework for collaborating with children to create a dynamic, emergent curriculum.




Learning Together in the Early Years


Book Description

Relational pedagogy underpins the core principles of both the cognitive, and social/emotional development of young children, as evidenced in the Reggio Emilia preschools and the Te Whariki curriculum in New Zealand. Emphasising the links between, people, places and ideas and the effects of these on education, educators and learners, it is integral to the English Early Years Foundation Stage, and forms the basis for early years provision around the world. This book brings together contributions from international experts on early years education to explore and debate relational pedagogy across different countries and in the context of a broad international field. The three sections of the book cover the following areas: culture, environment and adult child relationships - how children and adults relate to the culture, ethos and environment in which they function; adult-child relationships - how education and care environments directly relate to learning and teaching; adult-adult relationships for professional development - in training situations and parental partnerships. The book will be of interest to all those who want to delve deeper into how these interactions affect teaching and learning and to understand how the context can have its own impact on pedagogical outcomes. Researchers in early years education and students on early childhood education courses will find much here to inspire and challenge their thinking.




Early Childhood Education: Learning Together


Book Description

Early Childhood Education: Learning Together provides a comprehensive overview of early childhood education. This exciting new text encourages students to understand the need for flexible approaches in their work with children. Early childhood education is not a “one size fits all” proposition, so this text encourages students in multiple ways to reflect upon why they are doing what they are doing. With connections to NAEYC standards, case studies, and essays from real people on the front lines of early childhood education, students will leave the course with a superior foundation in both the theoretical aspects of ECE and the real world applications of those theories. In developing Early Childhood Education: Learning Together, we bring together the best research and the most effective practices in Early Childhood. We have heard that many students are using their first Early Childhood course to explore their interest in the field - perhaps to discover a new profession or a second career. These comments shaped every aspect of Early Childhood Education: Learning Together. The resulting textbook is infused with real cases, NAEYC standards, and graphs and tables for easy reference and student review. We also understand that college can be a financial challenge for students. Because of this, Early Childhood Education: Learning Together is half the price of comparable introductory texts.




Introduction to Early Childhood Education


Book Description

Dornbusch, Fischer, and Startz has been a long-standing, leading intermediate macroeconomic theory text since its introduction in 1978. This revision retains most of the texts traditional features, including a middle-of-the-road approach and very current research, while updating and simplifying the exposition. This revision focuses on making the text even easier to teach from. The only pre-requisite continues to be principles of economics.




Children and Families in the Digital Age


Book Description

Children and Families in the Digital Age offers a fresh, nuanced, and empirically-based perspective on how families are using digital media to enhance learning, routines, and relationships. This powerful edited collection contributes to a growing body of work suggesting the importance of understanding how the consequences of digital media use are shaped by family culture, values, practices, and the larger social and economic contexts of families’ lives. Chapters offer case studies, real-life examples, and analyses of large-scale national survey data, and provide insights into previously unexplored topics such as the role of siblings in shaping the home media ecology.




Play and Learning in the Early Years


Book Description

Providing high quality play experiences is an essential part of good early years education, but this can pose a challenge for practitioners who face pressure from a more didactic primary curriculum, and from parents worried that their children will fail to acquire essential skills and knowledge. By helping the reader to develop their understanding of the complex relationships between play and learning, this book examines current theoretical perspectives on play, alongside examples of recent and innovative play research from a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. With contributions from leading play scholars, it brings together theory, research, policy and practice in relation to play and learning in early years settings. The emphasis is on the relationship between play and learning, and play and pedagogy, and the need to understand these dimensions more substantially in order to teach with confidence. Included are chapters on: - the influence of play on thinking, problem-solving and creativity - cooperative play and learning - play, risk and outdoor learning - learning to play in cultural context There are chapter objectives, reflective points, reflective tasks and suggestions for further reading throughout, to facilitate critical thinking and encourage independent study. Suitable for early years practitioners, early childhood students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and all those who work with and care for young children, this is an exciting and thought-provoking book.




Rethinking Early Childhood Education


Book Description

Rethinking Early Childhood Education is alive with the conviction that teaching young children involves values and vision. This anthology collects inspiring stories about social justice teaching with young children. Included here is outstanding writing from childcare teachers, early-grade public school teachers, scholars, and parents.Early childhood is when we develop our core dispositions -- the habits of thinking that shape how we live. This book shows how educators can nurture empathy, an ecological consciousness, curiosity, collaboration, and activism in young children. It invites readers to rethink early childhood education, reminding them that it is inseparable from social justice and ecological education.An outstanding resource for childcare providers, early-grade teachers, as well as teacher education and staff development programs.




Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8


Book Description

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.




Teamwork and Collaboration in Early Years Settings


Book Description

This book looks at the challenges of restructuring services and working with people with different training and working practices. It suggests that the way staff work together will impact on the service offered to children and their families. It explains how to be an effective member of the team and encourage confident and open communication between colleagues. It looks at what makes an effective team; discusses how the organisational set-up affects the practice positively or negatively; suggests ways for creating listening environments where colleagues can discuss differences; and emphasises the importance of developing professional learning together.