This assignment is focused on identifying, interpreting and analysing a learning environment in an early childhood education and care centre, as well as the roles of educators in developing and providing that kind of an environment to the children. A positively supporting environment helps the children develop on multiple facets of their lives. This assignment attempts to understand the roles that the educators are required to play in order to provide positive environments for learning and development of the children. In order to respond to this topic, the assignment starts by providing a specific context for evaluation, followed by critically examining different literature published in this domain. General information gathered from analysing different publications and literature show that there is a strong connection between children’s positive holistic development and a nurturing environment being made possible by the educator.
The context selected for this assignment is an Early Childhood Education and Care centre based in Urban Australia, supporting nearly 350 students on a daily basis in two shifts. The children range from birth to 5 year old, following the age group as stated in the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009). The centre supports the children grouped into different classes called ‘rooms’. The case study conducted is on the “Wombats” room in the centre which holds a total of 28 children, among whom there are 16 girls and 12 boys. The centre has a total 16 staff members, excluding the centre’s director. The staff include, 7 senior educators 3 junior educators, 2 interns, 1 volunteer and 3 members of general maintenance staff. The senior educators have been teaching for almost 20 years in the early childhood education domain. The centre is located in a big open site with ample outdoor space, designed for the children to run around and play. The outdoor space has slides and swings, climbing structures, obstacle courses, trees with low hanging branches, sand pits and a small garden with a vegetable patch, located behind the centre. The centre is located at a reasonable location, not far from the city but not too close to the Urban traffic either, making it easier to teach as well as for parents and guardians to come and pick up the children. Inside, the planning of the centre suggest a strategically designed alignment of the room in a way that a supportive learning environment is presented for the children (Wombats room floor plan, Appendix C).
Guidance approach.
One of the first aspects of promoting learning and development in children is providing children with the right guidance and showing them the right path to developing positive behavioural traits. Cohen and Amidon (2004) have stated that one of the most popularly implemented behavioural amendment process has been the punishment approach. However, the guidance approach aims to provide a counter to the punishment approach by stating that children need to be guided in the right direction in order to develop positive behaviour, instead of being punished. Kohn (1999) in his book “Punished by Rewards”, states that although punishment works to control behaviour, it does not provide the children to develop self – control, nor does it guarantee that the behaviour will not return once the punisher is absent. Porter and MGifted (2002) makes the case that guiding children’s behaviour, which takes a predominantly non – compliance rectification approach, tends to do more harm than good to the children, as training obedience exposes them to abuse. Therefore, it is beneficial to use a guidance based approach and help the children develop the concepts of positive behaviour through understanding concepts of self and self-esteem (Porter & MGifted, 2002; Porter, 2006).
When it comes to aiding learning and development in teaching, there are several theories that connect the relevance of adult intervention in children’s learning. The first theory is that of the “Ecological Systems Model” by Bronfenbrenner (1994). The model suggest that there are stages in the development of a child that connects him / her with the outer world. While the closest system, the microsystem, holds the parents, siblings, schools, educators and peers, it indicates that the maximal development of the children happen in closest contact with the people who can support them the most. The role of educator is therefore of high significance when promoting children’s learning and development, as the model suggests, both the child and microsystem influence each other in significant ways.
The second theory that connects to this aspect is the psychosocial model by Erik Erikson (Dunkel & Harbke, 2017) which is divided into eight distinct stages, based on the ages of development of the child. In an early childhood setting, there are three specific stages, namely trust/mistrust (birth to 12 months), autonomy/shame (1-3 years) and initiative/guilt (3-6 years). Each of these stages represent a specific milestone of development, starting from the child’s ability to trust the adult, to taking initiatives and making choices that are supported by the adult. Educators therefore become a significant element when it comes to facilitating and providing positive learning and development environments to the children.
Given that a significant amount of children’s learning and development happen through interaction with peers and educators, Vygotsky’s Socio – Cultural theory becomes a key element. The theory describes that human learning is a largely social process (Jaramillo, 1996). Connecting that with ECEC, it is seen that most of children’s learning and development is also an outcome of active social interaction with others, mostly adults. It is therefore prudent that the educator provides the child with ample opportunities to develop, by facilitating positive learning environments for them.
Facilitating a positive learning environment is not only making the physical learning area in the centre engaging and supportive, but also ensuring that the child’s home environments are positively responsive to the child’s developments as well. This is where partnerships with parents and families become relevant. Hawkins states that a partnership between the educators and the parents/families, “seeks to acknowledge the parents/families as the child’s ?rst educator and honours their knowledge and expertise to develop mutual understandings that will positively impact on the child’s development and learning” (2016, p. 238). Effective partnerships is also supported by the Early Years Learning Framework Principle 2 “Partnerships” (DEEWR, 2009). Similarly, the EYLF practice “Learning Environments” also supports the positive correlation between the facilitation of a positive environment and children’s learning and development. Identification and discussion of data.
In order to support this discussion, the data that I have gathered include observation of educator’s interaction with children (Appendix A), small informal interview with the educator (Appendix B) and floor plan of the Wombats room (Appendix C).
The first aspect that needs to be highlighted while analysing this data is that of the layout of the Wombats room. As seen in Appendix C, the floor plan reveals a very systematic alignment of different areas within the room. At the centre of the room is the group activity area, whose justification was provided by the educator stating,
“Children’s group tasks like readings or narrations, all take place in the centre as this is where all of the aspect of inclusion comes into play.” (Appendix B).
The entire layout of the floor is systematically organised so that no activity at one point interferes with others.
Observation of the activities in the room revealed some significant aspects of development. First, it was seen that different children are engrossed in different activities throughout the room with different educators allocated, but there was a commonality of themes in all the activities. Besides, the educators were constantly engaged in asking questions to the children (Appendix A). Porter (2006) suggested that a significant amount of self-esteem is developed once the children are allowed to take initiatives and gain the approval from the educator, something which connects to the third stage of Erikson’s model as well. This indicates that the actions of the centre are directed towards providing positive learning and developmental outcomes to the children.
The informal interview revealed that each child has a progress card which is updated weekly for the parents to know their children’s progress (Appendix B). This suggests a strong compliance and valuation placed on the aspect of building strong and nurturing partnerships with the parents and families (Hawkins, 2016). This also connects closely with the importance placed in partnerships by the EYLF, signifying strong curriculum connections.
The information gathered from the data showed that the educators’ role in facilitating a positive learning and development environment for the children, is well performed and are complaint with research and studies, as well as curriculum links.
Conclusion.
The current assignment evaluated the role of educators in an early learning centre in providing the children with a positive learning and development environments. The assignment looked at relevant literature connecting to children’s learning and development, suggesting that educators play a key role in the same. In conclusion, it can be stated that the educators have a strong understanding of their actions as well as are able to perform it efficiently, maintaining connections with research based studies, children’s learning and development theories, as well as the curriculum for children’s education.
References.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models of human development. Readings on the development of children, 2(1), 37-43.
Cohen, J. H., & Amidon, E. J. (2004). Reward and punishment histories: A way of predicting teaching style?. The Journal of Educational Research, 97(5), 269-280.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], (2009). Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia. Retrieved from https://doc.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_the _early_years_learning_framework_for_Australia_.PDF
Dunkel, C. S., & Harbke, C. (2017). A review of measures of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development: Evidence for a general factor. Journal of Adult Development, 24(1), 58-76.
Hawkins, K. (2016). Relationships between sta?, children and families. In J. Ailwood., W. Boyd., and M. Theobald (Eds). Understanding early childhood education and care in Australia. Practices and perspectives, pp. 231 – 251. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin
Jaramillo, J. A. (1996). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and contributions to the development of constructivist curricula. Education, 117(1), 133-141.
Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by Rewards:: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Porter, L. (2006). Children are people too: A parent’s guide to young children’s behaviour. (4th ed.) Adelaide: East Street Publications.
Porter, L., & MGiftedEd, D. (2002). Guiding children’s behaviour. Educating Young Children with Special Needs, 210.
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