Early Childhood Theories and Contemporary Issues - An Introduction (PDFDrive) PDF

Early Childhood
Theories and
Contemporary
Issues
An Introduction
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Early Childhood
Theories and
Contemporary
Issues
An Introduction
Mine Conkbayir and Christine Pascal
Bloomsbury Academic
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For Paul and Delilah
Contents
Foreword viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xiii
List of Tables and Figures xiv
1 An Overview of Theory and Practice in the Early Years1

2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78)9
3 Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852)21
4 Rachel McMillan (1859–1917) and Margaret McMillan
(1860–1931)31
5 Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)41
6 John Bowlby (1907–90)53
7 Jean Piaget (1896–1980)65
8 Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934)75
9 Jerome Bruner (1915–)87
10 Colwyn Trevarthen (1931–)97
11 Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005)109
12 Bridging the Gap: Understanding the Use of Neuroscience
in the Early Years123
13 What Next? Reconceptualizing Early Years Education139
14 Bringing the Theories Alive – How to Undertake Action
Research in Your Setting155
15 Back to the Future: Lessons from the Past into the Present171
Glossary of Terms 189

Bibliography195
Index205
Foreword
T his book brings theories alive and places them right at the heart of the setting.
It can be difficult to make theories immediately accessible to busy staff but
this book achieves this not least because of Mine Conkbayir’s combined skill as
a writer and experience as a nursery practitioner and tutor and Professor Christine
Pascal’s academic credibility. Together they see the importance of practitioners
understanding the relevance of theories to better inform high quality practice. They
acknowledge that theories are not truths that can apply to every situation but support
the use of theories as a helpful way of guiding practitioners to act responsibly and
enable learning to take place successfully. Mine is clear that what matters is for
practitioners to be able to make informed decisions about how best to respond to the
needs of children, their families and the communities in which we work.
Written eloquently with many ideas, questions and suggestions, Early
Childhood Theories and Contemporary Issues: An Introduction illuminates
the salient ideas of traditional theorists and more modern thinkers. The book
takes into account the more challenging aspects of embedding learning in the
workplace by ensuring questions are built into each chapter to further stimulate
debate and dialogue as we work together to ensure practitioners become
increasingly more reflective in their work.
As CEO of the London Early Years Foundation, I will be delighted to see this
book in our nurseries for staff to use as the need takes them. It will also be on our
library shelves as a reference book for those staff who are currently making deeper
studies including completing their Early Years qualifications.
June O’Sullivan mbe, Chief Executive, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF).
Preface
H aving a good grasp of early childhood theories and what these look like in
practice can make a positive difference to how you understand babies and
children and the ways in which they learn. This book provides early years practi-
tioners with easy access to a wide range of theories – both traditional and more
recent, which can helpfully address the dilemmas and issues faced by today’s
workforce. We have therefore used those theories that we think have a resonance
today, as a platform to discuss three key contemporary issues that practitioners
grapple with at present. These being:
●âŠ‘ Practitioners’ knowledge base concerning development from conception to
three.
●âŠ‘ Creating inclusive and enabling environments.
●âŠ‘ The importance of parents and the home learning environment.
These contemporary issues were highlighted by the practitioners as being particularly
challenging in terms of providing high quality provision for babies and the
under-twos. A range of sub-issues were also identified by the practitioners which we
have categorized under each of the three contemporary issues.
The final chapter (15) is where it all comes together, because putting your
knowledge into action then acts as a catalyst for reflective practice – a vital charac-
teristic of professionalism. The work of Donald Schön (1983: 68) on ‘reflection
in action’ encompasses the importance of not only seeking new information but
allowing oneself to modify existing beliefs and ways of behaving in light of this
new information:
The practitioner allows herself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in

a situation which she finds uncertain or unique. She reflects on the phenomenon
before her, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in her
behaviour. She carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new
understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation.
We each enter the realm of early years from vastly different cultural, religious and
social backgrounds, and hence, bring with us different perspectives about how
x Preface
children should be looked after and educated, but few of us question why this
should be. The result can be practice that is influenced (implicitly or explicitly),
by a collection of beliefs that have rarely been reflected upon or challenged. The
collection of theories in this book is aimed to get you thinking deeper about what
you do to promote children’s learning and development and why.
We cannot stress the importance of reflecting on your practice while reading this
book, so that you can start thinking about the changes you want to make to your
personal practice – and that of your team’s. The chapter on action research will help
you to achieve your desired changes in the setting. This is how new theories and
ways of doing are created – by you, the practitioner being the catalyst for change.
It is one thing to read and absorb information, but to create new knowledge takes
courage and we hope that this book can help to instil that bit of courage needed to
dare to do things differently in your setting. How many times have you thought ‘I
would do things differently if I could’ – this book is the starting point you need, to
help you to put your knowledge into action! As Lewin (1948: 202) rightly identified:
Research that produces nothing but books will not suffice.
Why this book is needed

Our sector is still child development light (Nutbrown, 2012), with practitioners at
different levels having a scant knowledge and understanding of the underpinning
theories and how these inform practice. A book like this will prove critical in helping
the current workforce (including students) to understand how some of these theories
still have relevance by locating them in a contemporary context. We decided on this
selection of theories having liaised with a diverse group of early years practitioners
who all expressed similar opinions about their areas of concern.
We felt it important to include a balance of ‘old and new’ because these tradi-
tional theories still have something to say concerning current practice even though
aspects will not be so relevant today. Our argument is that if you do not understand
history, you cannot hope to understand the present, and we certainly cannot afford
to have practitioners caring for children who do not understand the sheer impor-
tance of their role in promoting children’s learning and development – especially
when it can make all the difference to their outcomes in the long term (Marmot
Review, 2010).
Structure of the book

This book comprises two broad sections. The first section (Chapters 1 – 11) consists
of those theories forming the bedrock of early years provision, which many practi-
tioners have hitherto been guided by and base their work upon. The second section
Preface xi
(Chapters 12 – 15) consists of theories that look to the future – these being findings
from neuroscience and the reconceptualization of childhood. (We use the term
reconceptualization in place of postmodernism, although the two are often used
interchangeably.)
This book begins with an introduction to theory, with an explanation of how a
theory develops in light of the social and economic conditions which exist at the
time. Each chapter follows a similar format, which comprises of a discussion of the
individual theory (or concept) and how you can apply this to the babies and children
with whom you work. Practical tips are also provided on how you can test these
ideas out for yourself in the early years setting, alongside questions for reflection
which encourage you to think about the theories in relation to the work that you
do. Early language consultants, family support workers, nursery managers, nursery
officers and head teachers, have each provided case studies which serve to bring
some pertinent early years issues to life, across the 15 chapters.
Each chapter concludes with two sets of questions which are designed to help you
to reflect in line with some of the reconceptualists’ thinking and to question aspects
of the theories that you feel do not conform with your experience of working with
children and their families.
You will also see an annotated bibliography at the end of each chapter which
we strongly recommend you refer to, especially if you are particularly interested in
undertaking some further reading for study purposes.
A synopsis of well-known theories of child development is provided along with
an overview of what this would actually look like in the setting. Take for example,
Jean Piaget’s theory of object permanence and egocentrism – some practitioners
grapple with such concepts let alone how to support very young children through
these developmental stages. In this book readers have an accompanying guide
showing how they can support children through these stages and extend their
learning and development.
As mentioned, the burgeoning discipline of neuroscience and its implications
for understanding children’s behaviour more effectively is examined, with practical
tips on how practitioners can organize the learning environment and activities to
best support babies’ and children’s holistic development. The reconceptualization
of childhood is explored, in order to offer a possible way forward in understanding
how babies and children develop – and of the adult’s role in facilitating this process.
As part of this overview, aspects of traditional theories are challenged, while
encouraging practitioners to reflect on the children with whom they work and their
capabilities at different ages. The widely accepted notion of developmental norms
is challenged with accompanying explanations. Practical tips are provided to help
you interpret your observations of babies’ and children’s behaviour, in light of the
more current theories of child development. We recommend that where possible,
these activities are undertaken in groups, in order to generate debate and new ideas.
A glossary of terms is included at the end of the book to help familiarize you with
any words that you might not be familiar with. In this book, we use the term ‘early
years’ when exploring theories and issues in early years provision. We mean this to
xii Preface
encompass both the care and education aspects of early years provision, as the two
are inextricably linked and cannot occur effectively without the other being in place.
We also use the term ‘she’ when referring to individuals of both genders.
The aim of this book is to provide a bridge between theory and practice. We hope
that you will be enthused and enabled to reflect on your current practice in light of
this understanding and use this reflection to innovate and make changes which help
you better realize your goals and ambitions for your work with children and families.
Throughout this book you will notice this icon in the margin. This icon
represents keywords which can be found in the Glossary of Terms
section on pages 189 to 193.
Acknowledgements
W e would like to thank those practitioners, head teachers and Early Years
consultants who have given their valuable time to contribute to this book.
Their continual hard work in the care and education of children and support for their
families is helping to make a much-needed difference to raising the aspirations and
life chances of children.
We are grateful for the involvement of Richard Hunter, Andrea Anastasis and
Michael Jones. Many thanks are also due to practitioners at the London Early Years
Foundation (LEYF) for their reflections and input, especially Chief Executive, June
O’Sullivan.
List of Tables
and Figures
Tables
1.1. Overview of theories and practice in the early years 4
5.1. Freud’s five stages of psycho-sexual development 44
5.2. Erikson’s five stages of psycho-social development 47
6.1. Types of attachment behaviour 56
7.1. Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development 67
7.2. Types of schematic behaviour 68
Figures
2.1 Example of an Interest Board used by one nursery 14
8.1 Vygotsky’s sequence of language development 77
8.2 Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development 83
11.1 The London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) model 111
13.1 Answers to question 1. (What do you think is the most important
element of quality?) 143
13.2 Answers to question 2. (Legislative and guidance documents each have
their own definition of quality provision. Are these in line with your view of
quality?) 144
13.3 Answers to question 3. (Do you feel under pressure to conform to
definitions of quality in legislative and guidance documents?) 145
14.1 Kurt Lewin’s model of action research 158
An Overview
of Theory and
Practice in the
Early Years
1
T his chapter provides an overview of the theories considered in this book and
what each means in the contemporary context of the early years sector. There
exists a wide range of traditional and current theories of pedagogy and child devel-
opment that influence practice today. What is essential is that as a practitioner, you
can interpret these theories and put them into practice in a way that is meaningful to
the children in your setting.
Having a sound understanding of these theories and of what informs your
thinking and practice, will put you in a good position to implement the spirit of them,
as well as critique and challenge them as you think is appropriate. Alternatively
you might want to use them to support further experimentation and innovation in
your practice. One theory does not necessarily ‘fit all’. It is about using the theory
confidently and applying it to inform your practice within your local community and
working environment.
What is a theory?
Before you read on, it is worthwhile starting with a firm knowledge of what a
theory is. A good working definition that we like is provided by the Oxford English
Dictionary (2001: 947). A theory is explained as:
An idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain something.
To summarize then, a theory can be an idea that is repeatedly tested, in order to

prove its validity (Gopnik, 2001; Bowlby, 1953; Freud, 1949). However, not all
theories are tested out (Rousseau, 1762; Locke, 1693; Plato, 473bc). They can be
philosophical or hypothetical. As a reflective practitioner, it is up to you to judge
2 Early Childhood Theories and Contemporary Issues
the relevance of the theories that you read about, in order to confidently interpret,
compare and put them into practice. In the main, a theory is a useful tool to help you
think about your practice.
So, a theory can be understood using three alternative approaches:
●âŠ‘ as explanation for some phenomenon
●âŠ‘ as explanation for a way of doing something (for example, theory of good
teaching)
●âŠ‘ as a tool for thinking.
Any of these approaches to theory can have empirical evidence to support it (for
example, theory of attachment), or could be an untested hypothesis.
Where do theories come from?

All theories reflect the time and context in which they emerge. For example, they
can be devised in response to government policies or as a response to the socio-
economic events of the time. One example of this is Bowlby’s theory of attachment
(1953). His theory was devised and tested not long after the Second World War and
emphasized the role of the female parent in having the most powerful influence on
early emotional development. Much of the initial research came from his studies
of children whose lives had been disrupted by the Second World War as well as
children in residential institutions and in hospitals. For more information about his
theory, read Chapter 6.
Theories are not ‘truths’ that you can apply to every situation or child with whom
you work. They arise very often, from asking questions and observing patterns of
behaviour. For example, theories such as Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
(1952) were based upon his observations of children, and interactions with them
while they worked on exercises he set. He did this because he wanted to understand
how children learn at different ages and stages. His primary method of doing so was
by carrying out observations of his own three children.
However, aspects of some theories like Piaget’s do not stand the test of time.
This is because of challenges made to some of his ideas by Gardner (1985) and
Donaldson (1984) to name but two, as well technological advancements that have
enabled us to learn more about how the brain develops. Refer to Chapter 12 for more
information.
Nevertheless, theories have immense practical value. When educators, therapists
or policy makers make decisions that affect the lives of children and their families,
a well-founded theory can guide them in responsible ways. As a practitioner, how
you interpret theories and concepts concerning early years curricula, can make all
the difference to the quality of care and education that you provide for the children
in your setting.
Chapter 1â•‡ An Overview of Theory and Practice in the Early Years 3
How do I use theories in the nursery?

Early years provision is informed by theories and approaches to learning that have
been devised by educational thinkers throughout the ages. The McMillan sisters,
Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner have had their ideas translated into practice in early
years settings globally.
In order to put these theories into practice in your setting – and indeed, to
challenge them by testing out your own theories, you need to have a firm under-
standing of child development as well as an understanding of the theories of
pedagogy and child development. Table 1.1 (see over) summarizes key ideas for
each theorist, the implications of these for practice and their usefulness in addressing
some contemporary issues. This table can then serve as a quick reference for you,
and further detail can be found in each chapter.
You will notice that the contemporary issues are in bold. This is because these
issues are set out as main headings in the book, with their related sub-issues
identified in Table 1.1.
In conclusion, being able to interpret these theories and using those elements
which you think are most helpful in informing your practice will prove advantageous
to your team and ultimately, the families you serve, in the following ways:
●âŠ‘ You can use them in staff meetings to stimulate debate and dialogue.
●âŠ‘ You can test out current practices against them to see if they sit with what is
known.
●âŠ‘ You can use them to identify areas of practice which might need
improvement or development or further research.
●âŠ‘ You can carry out action research to support your team in making those
changes to your practice that can best enhance the learning and development
of babies and children.
●âŠ‘ You can use the theories to check out the validity of suggested policy
changes or to prioritize where change might be needed or resisted.
●âŠ‘ You can use them to ensure you and your team will be better positioned to
act as catalysts for change in your setting.
These are some ideas concerning how to use some key theories and indeed to
generate your own research. Theories are only useful if we can put the ideas into
action and through this, give them meaning in our practice. Chapter 14 will give you
guidance on how to use these theories in action research.
Table 1.1â•‡ Overview of theories and practice in the early years
Theorist Contemporary issues Practice implications

Jean-Jacques Creating inclusive and enabling ●âŠ‘ Practitioners facilitating
Rousseau environments children’s learning by
●âŠ‘ Socio-cultural learning knowing ‘where they are at’
developmentally
Importance of parents and the ●âŠ‘ Planning the environment to
home learning environment enable successful learning
●âŠ‘ The impact of positive early encounters
interactions ●âŠ‘ Formatively assessing
and observing children
to promote all-round
development
Friedrich Froebel Knowledge base concerning ●âŠ‘ Planning for meaningful play
development from conception experiences which promote
to three holistic development
●âŠ‘ The role of very early ●âŠ‘ Importance of the outdoor
experiences on development environment
●âŠ‘ Close work with parents
Importance of parents and the
is key, as they provide the
home learning environment
first and most consistent
●âŠ‘ The impact of positive early educational influence in
interactions their child’s life
●âŠ‘ Providing a wide range of
play resources that vary in
texture, size and weight
Rachel and Margaret Creating inclusive and enabling ●âŠ‘ Regular provision of outdoor
McMillan environments play and experiences
●âŠ‘ Cultural participation beyond the nursery to
promote physical health
Importance of parents and the ●âŠ‘ Provision of healthy meals
home learning environment and educating children
●âŠ‘ Countering poverty and and their parents about
disadvantage the importance of healthy
eating
Chapter 1 An Overview of Theory and Practice in the Early Years 5

Sigmund Freud Knowledge base concerning ●● Supporting children
development from conception to behave in socially
to three acceptable ways
●● Socio-emotional learning ●● Providing plenty of play
●● The role of very early that encourages children
experiences on development to express their emotions,
for example, the arts,
Importance of parents and the imaginative play and music
home learning environment and movement
●● The centrality of emotional- ●● Sensitively helping children
social development work through their
●● The impact of positive early emotional crises
interactions
John Bowlby Knowledge base concerning ●● Carrying out home visits to
development from conception get to know the child and
to three observe them in familiar
●● Socio-emotional learning surroundings
●● The role of very early ●● Supporting babies’
experiences on development emotions through sensitive
interactions
Creating inclusive and enabling ●● Ensuring that an effective
environments key person is in place,
●● Behavioural and academic with essential information
expectations concerning the child, shared

●● The centrality of emotional-
social development
●● The impact of positive early
interactions
●● Countering poverty and socio-
economic disadvantage
Jean Piaget Knowledge base concerning ●● Identifying the range of
development from conception schematic behaviours that
to three children demonstrate in the
Creating inclusive and enabling setting
environments ●● Supporting and extending
Importance of parents and the children’s schematic play
home learning environment – and supporting parents
to do this, through daily
experiences

Lev Vygotsky Creating inclusive and enabling ●● Observing children and
environments supporting them to achieve
●● Cultural participation competency when it is just
●● Socio-cultural learning beyond their capability,
independent of help
●● The role of a support network
in promoting language ●● Providing a wide range
development of activities which utilize
children’s different cultural
and linguistic backgrounds
Jerome Bruner Creating inclusive and enabling ●● Supporting the child by
environments providing a ‘scaffold’
●● Cultural participation (for example, through
●● Socio-cultural learning demonstration, breaking
down a task or explanation).
It also involves knowing
in promoting language
when to remove this scaffold
development
●● Working with all parents to
●● Behavioural and academic
incorporate their children’s
expectations
cultural backgrounds and
knowledge in the curriculum
Colwyn Trevarthen Knowledge base concerning ●● Ensuring that staff are
development from conception confident in engaging in
to three respectful and meaningful
●● Socio-emotional learning interactions with all babies
●● The role of very early experiences and children
on all-round development ●● Raising the status of the
voice of all children in your
Creating inclusive and enabling planning and work with
environments families
●● Cultural participation
●● Socio-cultural learning
expectations
in promoting language
development

social development
interactions
Chapter 1 An Overview of Theory and Practice in the Early Years 7

Urie Bronfenbrenner Knowledge base concerning ●● Reflecting on your setting’s
development from conception position within the
to three community and building on
●● Socio-emotional learning these relationships, for the
benefit of the children and
Creating inclusive and enabling the families with whom you
environments work
●● Socio-cultural learning ●● Taking the time to truly
understand the contexts in
Importance of parents and the which family stressors occur.
home learning environment This can help you to be
●● The impact of positive early effective helpers
interactions
The use of Knowledge base concerning ●● Working closely with
neuroscience development from conception parents to support them in
in the early years to three their role as primary carers
●● Socio-emotional learning and educators
●● Qualifications of the ●● Having an effective key
workforce person system
●● The role of very early ●● Showing sensitivity to
experiences on development babies’ current interests and
Creating inclusive and enabling supporting them in their
environments explorations
●● Cultural participation ●● Helping young children to
build those emotional skills
that are needed to help the
●● The role of a support network child to deal with a range of
in promoting language difficult situations
development

social development
interactions

The Knowledge base concerning ●● Challenging universal truths
reconceptualization development from conception concerning early childhood
of early years to three theory and the hierarchy of
education ●● Socio-emotional learning knowledge
●● Qualifications of the workforce ●● Daring to question the
●● The role of very early experiences concept of quality in order
on all-round development to further improve your
provision
Creating inclusive and enabling ●● Redistributing power less
environments hierarchically between
●● Cultural participation practitioners, parents and
●● Socio-cultural learning children
expectations

Action research Knowledge base concerning ●● Critically looking at your
development from conception provision and making
to three changes which will best
●● Socio-emotional learning refine your practice
●● Qualifications of the workforce ●● Senior staff supporting
●● The role of very early team members to become
experiences on catalysts for change
●● development
Creating inclusive and enabling

environments
●● The role of a support network in
promoting language development

social development
interactions
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
(1712–78)
2
An introduction to Jean-Jacques Rousseau
and his contribution to early child care
and education
Rousseau was a philosopher and writer. Self-taught, he constructed theories
concerning education that are still highly regarded today. Rousseau’s beliefs with
regard to his approach to education can be summed up perfectly in the above
quotation. Rousseau argued that the momentum for learning was provided by the
growth of the child (nature) and that what the educator needed to do was to facilitate
opportunities for learning.
In this second chapter, some of the key ideas concerning Rousseau’s philosophy
of education will be examined in relation to current early years provision, followed
by an examination of some key aspects of his ideology. This is in order to help you
to reflect upon and make links to your practice as appropriate. Aspects that will be
examined include the role of the adult, the role of the child as learner and the nature
of knowledge.
Rousseau’s life: Key events

Rousseau was born in Geneva, on 28 June 1712. His mother died a few days after
childbirth and he was raised by his father during his early years. His father taught
him to read and instilled in him an appreciation of the countryside – which is said
to have inspired his belief in the power of the outdoor environment on children’s
natural curiosity in their world. His father gave him up to his relations who cared
for him early on in his childhood. He was never formally schooled but was greatly
influenced by his own reading of Plutarch’s Lives. He found work as an apprentice
to an engraver aged 12 but at the age of 16 he ran away after being badly treated.
In 1745 he started courting a seamstress, with whom he had five children. However,
Rousseau gave all five of his children to an orphanage, a decision he later came to
regret. His reasons for giving up all five children included a lack of money to raise
them and the belief that they would be better off in an institution as opposed to
living with him (Wokler, 1996). Given that Rousseau was so passionate about how
children should be cared for, raised and educated, his decision to give up his children
is highly questionable.
Significant writings
In 1762 Rousseau published two great works:
●âŠ‘ The Social Contract
●âŠ‘ Émile (or, On Education)
In this book, we will provide a brief overview of Émile only, as the ideas discussed
by Rousseau in this text are most transferable to your experiences in the early years
setting today. Case studies and reflective questions are included to help bring his
ideas alive for you in the current context.
Émile: Significant issues and links to

current early years provision and thinking
If you’re wondering how Rousseau’s work is of relevance or use to you, read on.
Many of his beliefs concerning childhood and how a child should be educated, can
be found in his book, Émile – and surprisingly, even though it was written over 200
years ago, the issues remain the same. So, as you read, keep making connections to
practice in your setting.
This seminal book continues to influence educational epistemology today,
because of its contributions to developmental psychology. In this key text, Rousseau
puts forward a range of powerful arguments concerning the role of education in
childhood – each of which lends itself to current issues in the early years field.
For example, he emphasized the need for individualized learning that is aligned to
children’s stage of development and interests, as well as adults carefully planning the
environment in order to effectively control the learning that takes place. However,
this latter point can be challenged in the current climate given that spontaneous
learning and unplanned experiences are embraced.
Chapter 2â•‡ Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 11
The role of the adult in supporting the

child’s learning
Encouraging children to make sense of the

world in their own way: To be active leaders
of their own learning
Let us begin by exploring the role of the adult. Rousseau firmly believed that the
adult’s role was not to use rote learning to teach children but instead, encourage
them to think about how to discover facts and knowledge for themselves:
There is so much to be done that it is madness to try to make your child learned. It
is not your business to teach him the various sciences, but to give him a taste for
them and methods of learning them. That is surely a fundamental principle of all
good education. (Rousseau, 1762. Cited in Darling, 1994: 33)
Encouraging children to seek out facts and consequently acquire knowledge for
themselves is perhaps the greatest skill that adults can impart to them. This lends
itself to instilling a sense of autonomy from the earliest stages of development, by
encouraging children to make decisions about the experiences they wish to engage
in and showing them how to do things for themselves.
Reflection in Action
1a In which ways do practitioners in your setting encourage the curiosity of
babies and children?
1b Identify the ways in which this can be improved.
When early years practitioners have a good understanding of how learning takes
place in babies and children, they are often more confident in encouraging the child
to discover facts and knowledge for themselves. This approach will motivate the
child to develop their own ideas and solve problems as they explore their world. In
babies this strong curiosity and exploratory drive can be observed as they crawl or
‘cruise’ around their environment, constantly investigating different objects, textures
and play resources. Practitioners can enhance these early investigations of children
by providing a wide range of natural resources (for example, treasure baskets and
heuristic play opportunities), and ensuring that the environment is stimulating and
challenging, but uncluttered, safe and conducive to independent exploration and
discovery.
1 Consider the layout of your indoor environment. How far and in what ways
do you think it encourages babies’ and children’s independent exploration
and discovery?
2 List the areas which you think could be improved. Share this with your team
in your next team meeting.
The adult’s role as facilitator

In line with Rousseau’s beliefs, the role of the adult is mainly to facilitate learning
through careful planning of the indoor and outdoor environment, and by engaging
sensitively with the children during the experiences that are provided. This means
offering a stimulating, open and exploratory indoor and outdoor environment,
observing the children closely and engaging in genuine exchanges with them that
help them to think about how the world works, and resisting the inclination to do
things for them, which can create a ‘learned helplessness’ in some individuals.
Such approaches can consequently equip the child with transferable life skills
which will always remain valid. In order to do this effectively, a sound knowledge
of child development is clearly vital. While it is important that you have a clear
picture of what a child should be able to do in terms of their all-round development,
you should also be creative in your planning of learning experiences that are suited
to each child’s innate curiosity, their individual needs, abilities and talents. Some
examples of effective planning are discussed in the next section ‘Carrying out
regular observations and assessments of babies and children’.
Careful control of the environment was advocated by Rousseau, in order to effec-
tively facilitate the process of learning and development. He believed that children
should only be exposed to experiences that are suitable for their age – not dissimilar
to current practice. However, the key difference here is Rousseau’s argument that
the child should remain completely unaware of ideas which are beyond her grasp.
Let’s take the example of multiplication. Rousseau would suggest we wait until the
child is older and ‘ready’ to totally understand, then they will be fully able to ‘grasp’
the whole concept. It is easy to learn our multiplication tables, because they are
meaningful. However, play, games and sensitive adult interaction can lead children
to a ‘feeling’ for a concept, and a real pleasure in understanding the concept fully
when they are cognitively able. In early years and Key Stage 1 we can support
children’s growing awareness of the concept by of ‘lots of’, as in two ‘lots of’ three,
and three ‘lots of’ three. It is the adult’s use of language that is important here, and
knowing the stage that the child is at, so that the idea makes sense. Ultimately, the
adult should provide experiences and challenges in light of their knowledge of the
child’s learning style, personal limits and current ability.
1 Do you agree with Rousseau’s belief that children should remain completely
unaware of ideas which are beyond their grasp? Explain.
2 How do you support children to begin to engage with ideas and concepts
that are challenging given their current abilities?
Carrying out regular observations and

assessments of babies and children
Rousseau’s approach to observation and assessment is in line with current practice
which is not ‘intrusive’ in the child’s daily business of exploration and learning, and
is carried out on a formative (or on-going) basis. Below is just one example of how
one nursery team uses their observations of children to inform their planning cycle.
Case Study
Within our nursery we have large white boards in each room. These are key to
informing our planning cycle.
Staff observe the children throughout the day and write up the child’s interests,
with follow-on activities that will support and extend their interests in line with
their all-round development. This leads us into planning focused activities which
consist of having a small group of target children determined from information
gathered from the white boards – they are always linked to the current EYFS.
Focused activities are observed and the information gathered is put into
a ‘next step’ for individual target children. This is then fed back to the white
boards and the cycle begins again. All observations of the children are placed in
their individual Learning Journeys and monitored by their key person to ensure
that we are meeting all areas of development for individual children. Parents are
encouraged to read their child’s Learning Journey regularly and to contribute to it.
Rousseau recognized that in order to support children to flourish, observing them

during their play and assessing the information gathered was important, but that it
was just as important not to create additional pressure for the child to ‘perform’ to
a universal standard which would only serve to damage their self-esteem. He also
emphasized the importance of monitoring and recording the child’s progress, while
being careful not to compare rates of development with other children. This is a
real danger if practitioners become overly concerned with following developmental
norms, to the detriment of allowing for individual differences among children:
Let there be no comparison with other children, no rivalry, no competition … Year

by year I shall just note the progress he had made. I shall compare the results with
those of the following year. (Rousseau, 1974: 175)
The photograph above is an example of one nursery team’s approach to planning

for babies.
Case Study
The Nursery Manager explains:
To begin the planning cycle, the key person first identifies the child’s interests
through observation, which are then written on the whiteboard. Once a week, the
team meet in front of the whiteboard and discuss ideas and activities to support
the child’s interests. All ideas are written on the board which are then carried out,
until the child’s interests change. Some of these activities will be focused. During
focused activities, the key person concentrates on the child’s unique needs and
their stage of development, with a view to extending the child’s learning through
careful planning for the child’s next steps. Once the activities have been carried
out, the initial idea gets ticked and so the cycle starts again.
Capturing spontaneous moments of discovery and curious exploration demonstrated

by the child during their play and interactions provides a quick and easy way
to identify what they currently enjoy and can do. Rousseau’s recognition of the
importance of tuning into the child’s innate enthusiasm in particular areas of interest
were ahead of his time:
Chapter 2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 15
What use shall we make of his disposition so that it may react in a way suited to
his age? Let us direct his efforts and his knowledge, and use his zeal to increase
them. (Rousseau, 1974: 256)
This remains just as significant today, and should provide the basis from which
practitioners work with children. If you are to make children’s time in the early years
setting enjoyable and meaningful to them as individuals, their previous experiences,
current interests and learning styles must be considered. This way, you can ensure
that your provision is truly child-centred and attuned to children’s current and
ever-changing needs.
The child’s role in her own learning
Learning through discovery

Rousseau placed great value on the child in her own learning. He emphasized the
child’s own innate curiosity and exploratory drive and suggested that the role of the
adult was to shape an ‘enabling environment’ within which the child is motivated
to explore and construct their own meanings and learning. He did not advocate too
much planning, preferring to free the child to explore an experience or context in
their own way and to ‘discover’ the potential in that environment for themselves.
Below is just one simple example of how children’s innate enthusiasm and
curiosity are nurtured by practitioners in one busy inner-city nursery:
Case Study
We were outside in the garden when we observed that a group of children
aged between 3 to 4 years took an interest in the digging patch. They were all
digging away with their spades and found a large amount of worms. We asked
the children what they wanted to do with the worms and they said ‘keep them!’
So we took them inside in a container while the children talked about what they
could do. Two staff members facilitated the discussion, and it was decided that
the children would create a worm farm. They wanted one in each of the two
rooms of the nursery so this is what we did. Having the worm farms meant that
the children were able to investigate further into worms. This included talking
about their features and what they ate, collecting books about them from the
local library, drawing them, making models of them and what they most enjoyed
doing – holding them!
Reflect on This
1 How do you capture children’s spontaneous moments of discovery?
2 Identify two ways in which you extend children’s current interests:
a individually
b as a group
Learning in line with their current ability and

interests
As part of his child-centred approach to education, Rousseau believed that children
can only be taught effectively when they are ready, learning naturally through
stages. Central to this was the idea that it was possible to preserve the ‘original
perfect nature’ of the child, by setting up the learning environment in a way that
is conducive to learning. As with effective practice today, this requires not only a
sound knowledge of child development but also access to age appropriate resources
and, more critically, an understanding of how to create the conditions that will
enable the child to explore their world, and begin to make their own meanings about
how this world works.
Rousseau and Piaget are similar in their view that children have to pass through
each stage of development in sequence before they can go on to subsequent stages.
Linked to this idea is Rousseau’s belief that every child has an impulse toward
activity and that development is a direct result of activity. This links to Piaget’s
sensory-motor stage of cognitive development (the first stage of cognitive devel-
opment) where the infant primarily learns through movement and their physical
explorations of the world. Both theorists believe that children learn through active
exploration of their environment and that children should not be introduced to
concepts that are beyond their age and stage of development.
It is important to note that development does not happen only as a result of
maturation – there is a complex interplay between nature and nurture. i.e. the
environment and the child’s experiences also shape development. Rousseau’s recog-
nition of this has helped educators in their understanding of child development and
good quality early years provision. The take-away message here is that although most
children follow a similar developmental pattern and learn in ways that are similar to
others, there are also ways in which they differ greatly. It is the adult’s role to tune
into these differences and plan accordingly, with a special emphasis on creating an
environment that is shaped to support the child’s self-directed learning journey.
His view places great value on childhood and all the learning experiences it can
offer. This is evident in the current EYFS, which although interpreted differently
across the UK, helps to ensure that children from different backgrounds and levels
of ability can learn through play, while their welfare and all-round developmental
needs are promoted by knowledgeable and reflective practitioners.
In conclusion, the advice for practitioners is clear – that babies’ and children’s
knowledge is primarily experience driven, and contextualized by the society
and culture of the time. This in turn requires continuous reflection on one’s own
guiding beliefs and practice, so as to ensure experiences provided are meaningful to
individual children and in line with their current ability and interests.
Criticisms of Rousseau’s ideas

Rousseau is best known for his ideas concerning children’s education which were
mainly expressed through his novel, Émile. In this, Rousseau provides a detailed
examination of how children should be educated. While most of his suggestions are
common to practitioners today such as observing and assessing children’s devel-
opment and encouraging their ‘free’ exploration of the environment, he has been
criticized for certain elements of his theory.
First, the fact he did not test out his theories concerning how children should
be educated needs to be considered. This is because most educational theories
have been tested out with children – be it through observations of how they learn,
setting tasks for them to solve or, seeking to understand their thought processes by
speaking with them directly. Rousseau’s ideas instead, arose from his values that
were influenced by the Enlightenment. He therefore wrote about what he considered
the perfect way in which to educate a child, based on these ideals. Yet, he did not
practise as he preached. One critique of Rousseau and his work gives a stark account
of his highly contradictory choices and lifestyle which inevitably led others to
question the reliability of his theories. Cress (1987: 8) asserts that:
His life contradicts, point for point, his lofty measures. The temptation is therefore
great to take his work as smokescreen behind which Rousseau the apostle of
independence could sponge off the rich, and Rousseau the advocate of family
intimacy could hand his children over to an orphanage.
Rousseau’s perspective on how to best educate a child has also come under scrutiny.
This is mainly due to his emphasis on manipulating the child’s environment,
resources and experiences in order to best impart knowledge that the adult wants
them to acquire and nothing else. It can be argued that such an autocratic and
overbearing approach to education is actually an underhand way for the adult to
maintain control and power over children, as opposed to allowing the freedom
to choose which activities they partake in and how to express themselves.
Consequently, Rousseau’s ideas have been criticized in relation to diminishing
children’s creativity as they have no choice in the process of learning. Gray (2012)
suggests that:
Creativity is nurtured by freedom and stifled by the continuous monitoring,
evaluation, adult-direction, and pressure to conform that restrict children’s lives
today. In the real world few questions have one right answer, few problems have
one right solution; that’s why creativity is crucial to success in the real world. (Gray,
2009. Personal written communication)
Also, Rousseau’s ideas concerning the optimal education were articulated through a
fictitious account of a child who is solely educated on a one-to-one basis. However,
the reality of working with children in today’s society couldn’t be any more
different. Practitioners in busy early years settings have to work under conditions
that may not be conducive to providing much individualized care. Factors such as
ratios, time, documentation and available resources all exert additional pressure
on staff, as well as having the responsibility of monitoring and supporting the
development of a large number of key children. The multitude of issues and
experience that children and their families bring all contribute to making it a
challenging yet highly rewarding profession, which can make all the difference
to children’s ability to thrive both in the short and long term. This is all the more
urgent for children living in poverty whose greatest chance of overcoming a life
of disadvantage is through early intervention and effective early years provision
(Marmot Review, 2012; Allen, 2011).
In this chapter we have tried to provide a balanced overview of Rousseau’s ideas
pertaining to education. Inevitably, some elements will resonate with you, while
others will leave you questioning their relevance to educating young children in
today’s hi-technology, pluralistic society. Nonetheless, some of his ideas remain
directly applicable to the planning of effective early years environments and these
are identified below.
Rousseau in Practice
●● Encouraging free play in the setting.
●● Making outdoor play an integral part of the curriculum with a range of
outdoor learning opportunities provided daily.
●● Nurturing children’s spontaneity during play experiences and interactions
with other children and adults.
●● Using observations to capture the babies’ and children’s spontaneous
moments of discovery, and using the information to inform planning.
●● Adults supporting child-centred play and learning.
Chapter 2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 19
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Rousseau’s key ideas,
make the links to practice in your setting by reflecting upon and answering the
following questions:
1 Read the following quote by Rousseau:
There is so much to be done that it is madness to try to make your child
learned. It is not your business to teach him the various sciences, but to give
him a taste for them and methods of learning them.
1a List three ways in which this is relevant to early years practitioners today.
1b What three methods can you adopt in the setting, to give children ‘a taste
for learning’?
2a In line with Rousseau’s belief that children’s innate enthusiasm and curiosity
must be nurtured, what do you and your team do as part of the daily
planning, to promote these qualities in individual children?
2b Do you think your provision in this area can be improved? If so, give two
ways in which this can be achieved as a team.
Challenge the Theorists

1 Rousseau’s educational theory in part, rested on teaching a child on an
individual basis. How useful are his ideas to you as a practitioner working
with children today?
2 Given that Rousseau never tested out his theories with children, how do you
think they can have credibility in the care and education of children today?
Rousseau’s Contemporary Legacy

Creating inclusive and enabling environments
Importance of parents and the home learning environment

●● The impact of positive early interactions
Links to other theorists

●● Friedrich Froebel
●● Johann Pestalozzi
Further Reading
Palmer, J. A. (2001) Fifty Major Thinkers on Education: From Confucius to Dewy.
London and New York: Routledge.
This book contains one chapter which discusses Rousseau’s contributions to
childhood development and education. It’s comprehensive while being
succinct. Suggested further reading is also included.
Rousseau, J. J. (1974) Émile. London: Dent and Sons Limited.

Reading the original text is recommended for those of you studying at
Foundation Degree level, or if you are particularly interested in gaining a
deeper understanding about Rousseau’s ideas concerning children’s learning
and development.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200902/rousseau-s-errors-they-
persist-today-in-educational-theory
This blog by psychologist Peter Gray challenges some of the key tenets of
Rousseau’s ideas concerning childhood education. It makes for interesting
reading, especially if you need to present a balanced argument concerning
Rousseau’s relevance to early childhood education.
Friedrich
Froebel
(1782–1852)
3
An introduction to Friedrich Froebel and
his work in early child care and education
In this chapter, you will learn about the main elements of Friedrich Froebel’s theory
of education. As you read through this overview and attempt the questions towards
the end of the chapter, you may well see the close connections between his ideas and
early years education today.
Froebel, a German educator, was the first educational pioneer to introduce the
idea of the kindergarten (or, garden for children) to early years. Life in a kinder-
garten was similar to life in a nursery today – save for all the technological advances
we now have. Children were encouraged to explore their indoor and outdoor
environment and to be active in their learning through a range of creative ways, most
of which embraced nature. In Froebel’s kindergartens play in the natural world and
using predominantly natural materials was highly valued.
Before individuals like Froebel introduced their (then) radical ideas concerning
early years education, life was very difficult for children. Children did not have
rights and worked in the mines and factories from the age of 7 years. One of the
reasons for this treatment was because children were viewed as ‘miniature adults’
that society needed to ‘mould’ into economically productive members of society as
quickly as possible. Froebel’s values helped to create a much-needed change in how
children were viewed and treated – particularly concerning education. Although his
views about the importance of play in supporting children’s development are widely
accepted today, this was almost unheard of in the nineteenth century, when play was
not regarded as necessary by society and thus, not encouraged.
Listed on the following page are just a few of Froebel’s contributions to the
shaping of early years education:
Froebel’s life: Key events

●âŠ‘ 1816–30: Froebel opened the Universal German Educational Institute in
Germany, where he carried out observations of children during their play.
These observations informed his thoughts and ideas concerning play and the
child’s role in this.
●âŠ‘ 1826: His seminal text The Education of Man is published. In this book,
Froebel discusses his guiding principles of the child’s role in play and
learning, which is guided mainly by his deeply religious and spiritual beliefs.
●âŠ‘ 1840: He opened the first kindergarten in Germany. Up until then, children
aged under 7 years did not have an education system. This in turn meant that
holistic development through play also went unacknowledged.
●âŠ‘ 1851: A ban on all kindergartens was issued by the Prussian state (a
militaristic kingdom within Germany). Some would question why the
Prussian state would issue a ban on kindergartens – could it be due to feeling
threatened by young children being encouraged to develop self-expression
and free-thinking? Did it better serve the Prussian state to have young
children ‘trained’ in one, uniform way with the ultimate goal being to raise
useful and obedient members of society during that time?
●âŠ‘ 1878: His book of rhymes and songs Mother Play and Nursery Songs
(Mutter und Koselieder) is published.
The role of the adult in supporting the

child’s learning
Within Froebel’s philosophy, there was an emphasis on partnership with parents –
much like practice today. He viewed parents as the main educators of their children
and that schools should welcome parents to get involved in their child’s learning.
Close work with parents was thus vital, in ensuring a consistent and positive
influence in their child’s life.
Parents were viewed by Froebel as being in a prime position to guide their child’s
learning and development from the beginning, advocating their perceptive input:
It is not only conducive but necessary to the development and strengthening of

the child’s power and skill that parents should, without being too pedantic or
too exacting, connect the child’s actions with suitable language and behaviour.
(Froebel, 2005: 79)
Although this may seem obvious in the current context, 200 years ago this was not
mainstream thinking, given the lack of regard for children’s well-being. Yet today,
this emphasis on parents being their child’s first and most enduring educators is also
Chapter 3 Friedrich Froebel 23
central in much of the legislation concerning the care and education of children. Just
one example being the Every Child Matters Agenda (2003: 39), which states that:
The bond between the child and their parents is the most critical influence on a
child’s life. Parenting has a strong impact on a child’s educational development,
behaviour, and mental health.
Partnership with parents not only requires practitioners to form and maintain
effective working relationships with all parents but also requires the setting to be a
part of the local community it serves.
The role of the practitioner is therefore critical, according to Froebel (1826)
in planning and resourcing (indoor and outdoor) environments which support
each child’s developing autonomy and self-confidence. This cannot be effectively
achieved without the on-going input from parents.
As part of the learning environment, activities and experiences need to be
planned to promote feelings of wonder, joy, concentration and purpose for children,
with practitioners facilitating the learning process through observing, participating
in children’s play (when deemed appropriate) and talking with the children to
encourage them to reflect on their experience during their play/self-activity.
The child’s role in her own learning

Froebel believed that children’s motivation to learn about the world in which
they live came from within (much like Piaget) – and that what they required to
support them in their learning journeys was a good quality educational environment
equipped with a wide range of resources that were suitable for their age and ability.
He firmly believed in promoting children’s self-activity – that is children following
their own interests and using their imagination, creativity and intrinsic motivation to
learn through their own explorations.
1 How do staff in your setting afford children the freedom to make their own
choices?
2 How is the concept of responsibility taught alongside this? (This might
include waiting their turn, how to work alongside their peers, treating
resources with care and cleaning up after themselves.)
As part of this intrinsic motivation, Froebel emphasized the importance of the child
having an ‘inner connection’ with the objects she explores, which in turn would
nurture her intellectual and emotional development. This concept of connectedness
is thus a key aspect of the Froebelian approach to education, with resources and
experiences provided to promote children’s understanding of resources and ideas,

and to build on this through their exploration. This in turn helped them to build on
existing knowledge as they made new sense of resources provided.
Through his observations of children he concluded that children’s play and
self-activity were thus essential to holistic development – not least because his
observations proved to him that humans are by nature creative beings and that this
needs to be nurtured in order for the individual to grow to their fullest potential.
Froebel’s advice (2005: 88) to the practitioner is to:
See and observe the child; he will teach you what to do. Quiet observation
will make it easy to see how he follows spontaneously the road implied by
the laws of human thought, proceeding from the visible to invisible and more
abstract.
Froebel thus encouraged symbolic and imaginative play in his school because he
believed that children show their highest levels of learning in their symbolic and
imaginative play. This belief is similar to that of Lev Vygotsky. (See Chapter 8.)
1 In which ways do you and your team support children to make connections
between different areas and experiences offered in the environment?
2 How might you further develop your practice in this area?
The great outdoors

Influenced by Pestalozzi and Rousseau, Froebel was a great believer in the role
of the outdoor environment in promoting healthy development, particularly for
children living in poverty and disadvantage. He introduced the concept of gardens
for children, where they could participate in all aspects of growing seasonal produce
– from harvesting to preparing. As educational tools, these gardens provided children
with real world applications of mathematics, language and literacy to identifying the
connections between food, health and the environment.
Regular opportunities for outdoor learning is no less important in the current
context given the rise of childhood obesity, the preoccupation with computer
games, isolation, increased vehicle traffic and negative parental attitudes towards
outdoor play (due to fear) which all prevent children from reaping the benefits of
exploring the wonders that the outdoor environment can offer. Children today are
thus experiencing childhoods with minimal outdoor play, which leaves little room
for developing important skills such as developing concentration, perseverance
and coping with stressors. This makes the discussion of Froebel more important
than ever. The research continually shows us that children who live in a stressful
environment are therefore at greater risk of falling behind academically, and not
developing effective communication or emotionally intelligent behaviour (Living

Conditions: The Influence on Young Children’s Health, 2012).
Björklid and Nordström (2007) focus on the benefits of access to public spaces
and outdoor learning from a developmental perspective, explaining that children
experience space differently from adults, which makes it critical for children to
have a say in the decisions that shape their outdoor environments. They also stress
the importance of promoting children’s independent mobility, which continues
to diminish due to a lack of access to outdoor opportunities. In recognition of
the shift in lifestyles and the need to promote outdoor learning, the current early
years framework for learning emphasizes the necessity of providing regular access
to some sort of outdoor experience. This includes quality outdoor provision for
children with disabilities, who can miss out on such valuable opportunities due to
their parents not placing importance on outdoor learning or do not have the means
to support their child to play outdoors. Section 3.57 of the Early Years Foundation
Stage (2012: 24) states:
The provider must ensure that, so far as is reasonable, the facilities, equipment
and access to the premises are suitable for children with disabilities. Providers
must provide access to an outdoor play area or, if that is not possible, ensure that
outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis.
1 How far does your setting adhere to this guideline? It might help to consider
what helps and what hinders your provision in these respects.
2 Speak to your manager to find out more, if necessary.
The concept of forest schools, in both rural and urban areas, is a fairly recent
interpretation of the enduring impact of Froebel’s ideas. Incorporating a forest
school approach can include visiting a woodland area once a week (it would need
to occur on a regular basis in order to have any meaning for the children in terms
of benefiting learning and development) and supporting children on their outdoor
learning journeys. Outdoor learning like this helps to build children’s emotional
and social skills – partly through direct teaching during the experience, as well
as the learning which occurs organically as part of the children’s explorations.
Related activities might include creating a story based on things seen in the
woodland area, organizing a teddy bears’ picnic, creating props to accompany
story telling time, making collages with picture frames from twigs and leaves
and for older children, learning more about natural resources such as wood as a
sustainable resource.
There are advantages to using the urban environment, if visiting a woodland area
is not a possibility. There’s usually much more light in the town than in the forest
and you are encouraging children to see their own surroundings from a different
perspective rather than changing what they see every day for somewhere else. It’s
not going to replace the impact of the real woodland but, as an alternative, the sky’s
the limit.
What do you Think?

1 What might be some of the barriers to adopting a forest school approach to
learning?
2 What could you do to bring the outdoors more centrally into practice in your
setting?
One early years practitioner explains how they adopt an outdoors approach to
learning as part of their setting’s practice. The examples given have proved very
successful with the children and are not too costly.
In our organization we provide a curriculum that is rooted in emotional intel-

ligence and experiential learning – this applies to staff as well as the children.
Innovative outdoor experiences are a key way in which we nurture young
children’s well-being, promote their problem-solving, resilience and ability to take
risks. Tight budgets and small spaces do not deter our staff in planning for creative
and imaginative outdoor provision – it spurs them on!
We’ve made a fire pit in our garden, we’ve built a den using branches and
leaves as well as setting up an obstacle course using natural materials. We started
off by talking about what we would expect to see in a wood and how to recreate
it in our garden. This included encouraging the children to think about what
they would do if they were in the middle of nowhere, to help them think beyond
the practical realities that they encounter daily. We also formed links with the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which has been very successful.
During bird watch week the children built bird boxes and we all went looking for
birds. We were surprised at how many we found by using the binoculars to get a
good look!
Tips for outdoor learning in an urban setting

●● Start by changing any obstructive mindsets.
●● If possible, invest in affordable outdoor waterproof suits. This also solves the
problem of parents getting upset about muddy clothes.
●● Create opportunities for planting seeds, vegetables, fruits and herbs –
children love to see how their produce grows and enjoy eating it. These
activities also a great way to promote cross-curricular learning.
●● Take photographs of the children engaging in a range of outdoor experiences
– this provides a lovely way of capturing their learning as well as
encouraging dialogue with the children.
●● Make a book for parents that illustrates how children learn through outdoor
play.
Froebel’s Gifts and Occupations

In order to facilitate children’s progression through the different developmental
stages, Froebel invented Gifts (a range of natural resources designed to increase
understanding of their properties) and Occupations (activities). The Gifts come in a
wide range of sizes, shapes, textures and weights, designed to encourage the child’s
developing senses, skills and curiosity through play with them. They are designed
to be given to the developing baby in sequence, with the lightest first, progressing
to large wooden cubes and two-dimensional wooden shapes to be arranged on grids
for the older child. As a result of their hands-on exploration with the Gifts and
Occupations, the child builds their understanding from the material to the abstract,
which in turn enhances their intellectual development as they come to understand
concepts such as dimension, size and shape. As Froebel (2005: 288) explains:
Each Gift should, in due time and in the widest sense, aid the child to make the
external internal, the internal external, and to find the unity between the two.
The first Gift (for babies) is a set of lightweight balls of brightly coloured wool
designed mainly to stimulate the senses of touch and sight. As the baby grows older,
objects include wooden spheres, blocks and smaller shaped pieces, each designed
to develop fine manipulative skills, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness
among many other skills. Froebel, after 1844, did however move away from the
prescriptive use of his Gifts, as he saw how children used them so well without this
in his observations of their creativity.
The Occupations are designed to further enhance children’s play with the Gifts.
Just some of the Occupations include painting, paper folding, wood carving, inter-
lacing and threading. It’s worth noting that although Froebel did not make the
Occupations compulsory, he did devise a set of instructions for use which could be
interpreted as prescribed. Although the Gifts and Occupations might not strictly be
used as they were originally intended as part of the Froebelian approach, these tactile
objects and investigative play are still widely recognizable across settings nationally
and internationally.
Conversely, Froebel’s emphasis on children exploring freely without being
inhibited by prescribed activities that required fixed outcomes is also integral to
early years practice today. Thus he introduced what is now called free-flow play.
Froebel’s choice of natural (as opposed to synthetic) objects is in line with
heuristic play and treasure basket play, which was pioneered by Goldschmied who
was a Froebelian trained teacher. She too recommends the inclusion of natural
objects over plastic toys for babies to explore. These two forms of investigative play
are commonly used as part of quality early years practice for the under 3s today.
1 Consider your provision for heuristic play. Identify two strengths and two
areas for improvement.
2 Children all develop at different rates. With regard to treasure basket play,
do you think that staff consider the babies’ individual stages of development
when setting up the treasure baskets?
Inevitably, settings differ greatly in terms of their approach and resources to support
heuristic play, what is important is that staff provide a wide range of contrasting
objects in terms of size, shape, smell and texture for babies to explore. Goldschmied
(1989: 11) says:
Babies given safe, stimulating and supportive opportunities will use their senses
to learn about objects they encounter. In doing so they will enter into a world of
discovery, puzzlement, social encounter and communication … As babies suck,
grasp, touch and feel objects they rehearse behaviours which foster their earliest
learning.
This approach can also be included as part of home learning – practitioners can
encourage parents to use household objects and materials placed in wicker baskets
for their babies to explore. It is not costly and is a great way of building concentration
and supporting decision-making through independent play.
Froebel in Practice
●âŠ‘ Enjoying close partnership with all parents, in order to best support child-
centred education.
●âŠ‘ Emphasizing outdoor play as an integral part of the curriculum.
●âŠ‘ Providing a wide range of open-ended resources such as wooden blocks,
recycled materials, water, sand and mark-making equipment.
●âŠ‘ Using natural materials as far as possible.
●âŠ‘ Creating a free-flow system of learning between the indoors and outdoors.
●âŠ‘ Planning for play and particularly independent, child initiated play.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Froebel’s key ideas,
make the links to practice in your setting by reflecting upon and answering the
following questions:
1 What natural resources do you have in your setting, to support babies’ and
children’s sensory development and emergent understanding of concepts
such as weight, size, dimensions and different textures?
2 Froebel stressed the importance of partnership with parents. How is this
promoted in your setting? (You also might want to identify any relevant
policies and procedures.)
3 What do you think the similarities are between Froebel’s and Goldschmied’s
approach to educating babies and young children?
4a Play and the outdoor environment were important in a Froebelian
kindergarten. Do you think that provision for outdoor play is of good quality
in your setting?
4b Devise a list of the strengths and areas for improvement.
5 In which ways do you think Froebel’s educational philosophy influences
early years provision today?

1 Given that Froebel’s Gifts came with a comprehensive guide for their use,
how valuable do you think they would be in encouraging spontaneous
self-education through exploration?
2 Froebel was deeply religious and his theories concerning educational were
hence influenced by his religious beliefs. How acceptable would his ideas be
today, given the diverse make-up of children’s religious backgrounds?
3 How do you strike a balance between adult-led and child-led learning
experiences in your setting?
Froebel’s Contemporary Legacy

Knowledge base concerning development from conception to three
●● The role of very early experiences on development


●● Elinor Goldschmied
●● Jean-Jacques Rousseau
●● Johann Pestalozzi
Further Reading
Bruce, T. (2012) Early Childhood Practice: Froebel Today. London: SAGE.
This book provides a practical perspective of Froebel’s approach to early
childhood education, with case studies, reflective questions and discussion
concerning his relevance to current practice. This book is an effective
resource for those unfamiliar with Froebel’s key ideas, due its balance of
theory and practical application.
Froebel, F. (2005) The Education of Man. New York: Dover Publications.

We would recommend this classic to those who are interested in Frobel’s
ideas and are interested in learning about his philosophy concerning early
childhood education and the key principles of his theory. This original text
also provides guidance on how to channel children’s play in order to support
the development of intellectual and social skills, which can be incorporated
into practice today.
Rachel McMillan
(1859–1917)
and Margaret
McMillan
(1860–1931)
4
An introduction to the McMillan sisters
and their work in early child care and
education
This chapter examines the ground-breaking work of two sisters, Rachel and
Margaret McMillan. They were born in New York after their mother had emigrated
there from Scotland. Their youngest sister died of scarlet fever at birth, days after
their father. Margaret was also affected by the fever which left her deaf until the age
of 14 years. Following these events, they moved back to Scotland with their mother.
The sisters initially followed different paths in terms of their careers; Rachel was
a health worker and a political campaigner whereas Margaret was a campaigner
for nursery education and healthcare for young children. From their mid-twenties,
they lived and worked together for the rest of their lives. Their involvement in
the Christian Socialist movement provided the main vehicle through which they
campaigned for the rights of the working classes. Christian Socialists have a radical
commitment to responding to social issues that affect individuals’ lives and their
communities. They are driven by a strong sense of social justice, advocating for
those who are unable to fight for their rights. Their work is achieved in various
ways ranging from lobbying to having members in the Commons and Lords. It was
this strong sense of social justice that inspired the sisters to advocate on behalf of
families living in poverty, which in turn helped them to create major changes in
legislation and early years provision in England.
The McMillan sisters are still highly regarded for their pioneering work in devel-
oping early years provision for children of poorer families in London, during the
late 1800s and early 1900s. Although they both worked vigorously to support poor
families, they did so in different ways, complementing each other’s work. They
crusaded against the key issues prevalent at this time, such as relentless family
poverty, high unemployment among the working classes, poor personal hygiene and
a lack of basic human rights for children. These issues remained a constant issue for
the working classes who were caught in a cycle of deprivation.
Margaret McMillan played an important role in placing local issues on the
political agenda by publishing articles in influential journals of the time. She used
research findings and statistical data to illustrate the impact of poverty on poor
families and the psychological effects of child labour. Her approach to alleviating
the impact of these issues was robust and hands-on; she frequently visited slums
and schools, giving lectures to families on basic child development and personal
hygiene, showing them how to bathe and how to improve their general health.
Another key contribution of Margaret McMillan was her championing of the
importance of teacher education for those who worked with young children. She
established a teacher training college herself and promoted the need for trained and
intellectually rigorous practitioners, who understood theory as well as practice. This
view was highly contentious at that time and counter to the dominant view that any
kind of ‘nice motherly girl’ would ‘do’ for the nursery. She spoke powerfully in
many forums about the need for qualified staff and insisted that those with working
with the poorest children should have a high level of skills as well as a caring and
loving approach to the child.
There are lessons to be taken from the McMillans’ radical approach to tackling
society’s ills that can be adopted to help improve the lives of poor families today.
With poverty and its associated problems still on the rise, we can ill afford not to
invest in children in their early years (Marmot Review 2010). Today, Sure Start
Children’s Centres exist nationally to provide health, education and social services
for families. This is similar to what the McMillans pioneered at the turn of the last
century for poorer, working-class families in order to improve health and educa-
tional outcomes.
Below is an outline of their long-lasting contribution to early years care and
education:
Key events
●● 1892: Margaret was responsible for establishing medical inspections in
primary schools.
●● 1903: Margaret McMillan became a member of the Froebel Society (which
was set up to train teachers in Froebelian methods).
●● 1906: Rachel worked very hard with politicians to campaign for school
meals – her work proved critical in the passing of the School Meals Act in
this year.
●● 1908: Margaret and Rachel opened the first school clinic and a ‘night
Chapter 4â•‡ Rachel McMillan (1859–1917) and Margaret McMillan (1860–1931) 33
camp’ for children living in slums. Here, they could wash and put on clean
nightclothes.
●âŠ‘ 1914: Margaret and Rachel pioneered the first open-air nursery for
disadvantaged children in Deptford. Rachel focused on caring for their
health, while Margaret focused on their education This nursery still exists
today.
●âŠ‘ 1917: Rachel McMillan dies.
●âŠ‘ 1920: Margaret’s book Nursery Schools: A Practical Handbook is published.
●âŠ‘ 1925: Margaret’s other key text Childhood, Culture and Class in Britain is
published.
●âŠ‘ 1930: Margaret McMillan established a college in Deptford to train teachers
and nurses.
●âŠ‘ 1931: Margaret McMillan dies.
The McMillans’ approach to early years

education
The impact of poverty on health

Central to the educational philosophy of the McMillan sisters was the importance of
health. Like Robert Owen (1771–1858), they observed that deprived working and
living conditions for the poor caused major, long-term health problems. Based on
their work with families living in slums and their visits to schools, they showed that
factors such as poor nutrition, a lack of hygiene, poor sanitation and living in damp
conditions were detrimental to a child’s health.
The condition of poorer children was worse than anything that was described or
painted. The utter neglect of infants, toddlers and older children, the blight of
early labour, all combined to make race of undergrown and spoiled adolescents.
(McMillan, M., 1925: 51)
As a consequence of living in poverty, the McMillan sisters firmly believed that

children could not be expected to learn effectively, due to the associated chronic
health issues. Hence, their inspirational open-air nursery (The Rachel McMillan
Nursery and Children’s Centre, which still exists today) combines aspects of health
and education for children and their families. Here is an extract from a recent
interview with the head teacher of the centre, in which she describes how the legacy
of the McMillans’ work continues to shape practice at the centre today:
Case Study
The philosophy of a holistic approach to children’s learning by the McMillan
sisters was innovative and ahead of its time. They understood that hungry, ill,
tired children could not learn, thus limiting their life chances. Every Child Matters
and the Children’s Centre agenda echo the McMillans’ efforts to combine services
e.g. health and education in an attempt to close the gap. Poverty is relative,
but, although living standards have risen since the McMillans’ time, there are
still poverty-stricken parts of our society who are not able to access the range of
choices and opportunities that other, more wealthy, sectors of our society can.
There is a huge range of evidence that shows that poverty creates an unequal
society and limits children’s life chances and choices. This is why high quality
nurseries and Children’s Centres, such as Rachel McMillan Nursery School and
Children’s Centre, are so important, they enable and empower communities and
individuals to make changes to their lives, which improve their future choices and
chances. We know that high quality early intervention, made in partnership with
families, makes a huge difference to the lives of those families and their children.
Reflect on This
1 Is poverty an issue among some of the families in your setting?
2 What strategies do you have in place to help support families living in
poverty?
3 Do you think that the intervention provided by your setting contributes to
minimizing the impact of poverty for children and their families? Explain how.
Research studies have proved the McMillan sisters right; time and time again it
has been demonstrated that quality early years provision can help to increase the
life chances of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. As they had identified at
the turn of the last century, early years intervention that includes integrated social,
health and education services, is all the more important when children from the same
community have starkly different opportunities, depending on their family’s income,
level of education and access to services (Penn, 2002).
Longitudinal studies such as the High/Scope Perry pre-school study (1962–7),
the Head Start Project (1965) and the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education
(EPPE) Project (2003) have shown that investment at this early age can reap rich
rewards later on for the individual and the community.
Disadvantaged children benefit significantly from good quality pre-school

experiences, especially where they are with a mixture of children from different
social backgrounds. Outcomes are related to better intellectual and social/
behavioural development for children. (The Effective Provision of Pre-school
Education [EPPE] Project: Findings from Pre-School to end of Key Stage 1,
2004: 1)
Although poverty continues to impact negatively on educational and life outcomes,

the work of the McMillan sisters cannot be underestimated in helping to alleviate its
impact. Much of the initiatives, policies and legislation that exist today can be traced
back to their crusading. Consider the vast array of health promotion campaigns
that exist today; we see posters and advertisements telling us how to prevent
cross-infection and the importance of getting enough exercise and eating a healthy,
balanced diet in the fight against obesity.
Reflect on This
1 How do you stay informed of current health promotion campaigns?
2 Do you use this knowledge to help you plan health promotion activities in
your setting? Provide a few examples.
3 What are some of the indicators of an effective health promotion activity?
Provide at least three examples.
The role of play and outdoor learning in the

curriculum
Within the daily routine at the Rachel McMillan Nursery, a play-based curriculum is
provided, with children being given plenty of time and space to engage in purposeful
activity to help promote their self-expression. Free-flow play which is child-centred
is therefore at the heart of their curriculum; this is guided by the principle that:
Children need time and space to engage in activities in depth and time to follow
through, consolidate and reflect upon their own learning. (The Rachel McMillan
Nursery and Children’s Centre, 2012)
Being provided with opportunities to learn spontaneously, in their way and at their
own pace, enables individual children to learn effectively through their first-hand
experiences, but this too requires careful planning of the environment and resources
therein, to ensure that children are actually reaping the benefits of their explorations
– as opposed to being expected to learn without any structure in place whatsoever.
In particular, the McMillan sisters promoted the importance of outdoor play, and she
saw the outdoor world as another educator of the child, with play-based, sensory
experiences being particularly important.
The Rachel McMillan Nursery and Children’s Centre has at its core, policies
and procedures that are still greatly influenced by its pioneers. Just one example
of this is their ‘Cold and Outdoor Policy’ which highlights the importance of
outdoor learning and the fact that colds cannot be caught by exposure to cold air.
As obvious as this sounds, some parents do hold views that are contrary to those of
the early years settings concerning outdoor play, so the more you know as an early
years professional, the better equipped you will be when explaining the benefits of
outdoor learning to parents of your setting. This is also highlighted in the Early Years
Foundation Stage (2012) which emphasizes the importance of providing outdoor

play and learning experiences, especially for those whose only opportunity to play
freely and safely outside is at nursery.
For this reason, the McMillans’ educational philosophy is similar to Froebel’s –
who also placed great emphasis on the role of the outdoor environment in promoting
a child’s holistic development. The absence of outdoor spaces for children living in
inner-city areas is thus compensated for in the McMillans’ approach. For example,
‘indoor’ activities such as writing, reading and mark-making take place outdoors,
with gross-motor equipment also provided, namely swings, slides and a playground
area made from natural materials. From this, it is clear to see that the areas of
Learning and Development in the EYFS can be promoted flexibly in such early years
settings, which in turn fosters children’s skills and confidence in all developmental
areas which they might not have otherwise had the opportunity to extend.
Reflect on This
Consider your outdoor play environment. Identify the opportunities that are
provided for all children to develop competence in their:
●● Personal, social and emotional development (for example, self-management,
collaboration and sociability)
●● Physical development (for example, gross and fine motor skills)
●● Communication and language (for example, speaking and listening)
Create a table as below, and insert your reflection on what aspects of your outdoor
provision support the identified area of development and learning.
Aspect of your outdoor Area of development and

provision learning
Personal, social and emotional development
Physical development
Communication and language
Opposite is a case study concerning how one inner-city nursery team encouraged
parents to embrace the benefits of outdoor learning for their children’s health and
all-round development.
Case Study
We provide the parent/carers with a number of workshops throughout the year
to promote outdoor learning – and not just confined to the nursery. We provide
guidance concerning their children’s lifestyles and how this affects their overall
development. We ensure to take on board the parents’/carers’ ideas and opinions
to reinforce the fact that they are their child’s first and most important educators,
and to show them that their values and opinions count.
We also offer two ‘stay and play’ weeks within the year to allow parents to
see and experience first-hand the activities that we provide for their children to
support and extend their development and how they can adapt the activities to
use at home and outdoors. All of our written resources are also available in the
children’s home language to further encourage their parents/carers to continue
their learning at home.
The role of partnership with parents

Margaret McMillan emphasized the role of parents in their children’s education,
and hence stressed that schools needed to be places for families and for community
development, not just for children. Family involvement was thus promoted in a
range of ways, such as teaching parents about basic hygiene and nutrition as well as
sharing information and knowledge about their children. Some of the health issues
that Margaret McMillan worked to relieve – and documented in her book, The
Nursery School (1919: 10) – are prevalent today.
They arrive in the elementary schools at the age of five suffering from the results of
rickets, bronchial catarrh and other ailments, and their brain-growth is hindered by
the evil of their first years.
Interesting that rickets (a lack of vitamin D or calcium in a child’s diet) is now

back on the rise (http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/news/rcpch-launches-vitamin-d-campaign) due
to lifestyle choices and parental concerns such as parents being too fearful to allow
their children to play outdoors as well as the popularity of computer games. Here,
Margaret McMillan also makes the prescient connection between poor quality early
experiences leading to ‘hindered’ brain growth. Today, findings from neuroscience
enable us to see just how such poor experiences affect brain development, from
in-utero through to adulthood (Gopnik et al., 2001). The use of neuroscience in the
early years is further examined in Chapter 12.
The sheer importance of building and maintaining an effective, two-way
relationship with all parents in the setting cannot be taken for granted. With their
collaboration and trust, children’s needs can be met with greater ease along with a
seamless continuation of learning that takes place at home and in the nursery. The
Early Years Foundation Stage (2012: 1) states:
All settings should develop effective partnerships with parents in order to enhance
the learning and development of the children with whom they work. Successful
relationships become partnerships when there is two-way communication and
parents and practitioners really listen to each other and value each other’s views
and support in achieving the best outcomes for each child.
Reflect on This
1 Does your policy on parental partnerships reflect the needs of your parents?
2 Do all staff members feel confident in working with families?
3 What strategies could your team implement to ensure that all staff are
confident and competent in this area?
Concluding thoughts
In this chapter we have examined the integral role that the McMillan sisters played
in shaping early years care and education as we know it today. Their tireless efforts
at changing the way working-class families were viewed and treated led to much-
needed changes in law and policy concerning children’s rights and access to services
for families living in poverty.
Although much of their work was driven by their religious and political beliefs,
they nonetheless instigated much-needed changes concerning families living in
poverty which are still in place today.
The McMillan sisters in Practice

●● Lots of free-play and curriculum planning that enables all children to follow
their interests.
●● Encouraging children to play outside whenever possible – especially when
it is raining, snowing or cold! A robust ‘colds and outdoor play’ policy is a
useful tool to devise and implement.
●● Regular healthy meals and naps during the daily routine, that meet children’s
individual needs.
●● Close partnership with all parents to best nurture their child’s learning and
development.
Chapter 4 Rachel McMillan (1859–1917) and Margaret McMillan (1860–1931) 39
Ideas into Action

1 Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of the McMillan sisters’
contributions to early years provision, make the links to practice in your
setting by reflecting upon and answering the following questions:
2 The Rachel McMillan Nursery and Children’s Centre is still in existence today.
In which ways is the pioneering work of the McMillan sisters relevant to the
care and education of children today?
3 How is life different for children living in poverty today, compared to the
1900s?
3a Is outdoor learning sufficiently promoted in your setting? Discuss its
strengths and weaknesses.
3b How would you encourage parents to embrace the benefits of outdoor
learning for their child’s health and all-round development?

1 Do you think that the McMillans’ Christian Socialist values would be readily
accepted in today’s multicultural society? Explain the reasons behind your
answer.
2 To what extent do you think the Sure Start initiative addresses the needs
of families who live in disadvantaged areas? Identify its strengths and
weaknesses.
3 Margaret and Rachel McMillan’s political campaigning led to changes in
legislation in the early 1900s. How easily do you think their proposals would
be implemented today, given the pressures on the Welfare State?
The McMillan Sisters’ Contemporary Legacy

●● Cultural participation of children

●● Countering poverty and disadvantage

●● Jean-Jacques Rousseau
●● Robert Owen
●● Friedrich Froebel
Further Reading
Miller, L. and Pound, L. (2011) Theories and Approaches to Learning in the Early
Years. London: SAGE.
This book examines traditional and modern theories concerning learning and
development. The sections on the McMillan sisters’ key contributions to
early childhood education and health are linked to current issues in early
years provision. This is a useful resource which is easy to follow.
Steedman, C. (1990) Childhood, Culture and Class in Britain. Margaret McMillan

1860–1931. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
This biography provides a detailed account of Margaret McMillan’s life and
achievements in education, health and politics. It is a lengthy book, full of
interesting issues that still have relevance to early years provision today. It is
best used as a resource to dip in and out of.
Sigmund Freud
(1856–1939)
5
An introduction to Sigmund Freud and his
influence in early child care and education
This chapter examines the theories of the Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.
While it cannot do justice to his expansive contribution to psychoanalysis, it does
provide an overview of his ideas most pertinent to early years and child devel-
opment. It will prove useful for you to consider his concepts in light of current
psychoanalysis and findings from neuroscience, in order to understand how some of
his ideas are still applicable today.
Freud was born in Austria, to Jewish parents. It is this part of his heritage that
he most identified with and which he attributed his intellectual and professional
success. He and his wife had five children; notably Anna Freud – also a successful
psychoanalyst and psychologist who worked with her father. Her work mainly
concerned child psychology with her theories developing from her work with
children.
He remains the most influential figure in psychoanalysis, establishing the field
of verbal psychotherapy (Storr, 2001). This is also known as the ‘talking method’.
This method (whereby the patient reclines on a sofa while the analyst sits behind
the patient, out of view so as not to distract them) is used globally today. His whole
life was dedicated to the field of psychoanalysis, revising and reworking his theories
throughout his long career. Freud is however, regarded as the most controversial
figure in psychoanalysis, due to some of his assertions about human behaviour and
its origins. These, along with criticisms and developments of his theories will be
explored further on in the chapter.
While not directly related to the field of early years care and education, elements
of his psychoanalytic theory can be applied to help us understand the reasons behind
children’s behaviour throughout their early development – his theory of personality

(which is discussed in this Chapter) is one example of this. This understanding
plays an important role in supporting early years practitioners to facilitate children’s
psychological and social development successfully.
Below is an outline of Freud’s enduring contribution to psychoanalysis. Each
concept will be discussed in relation to children’s development and early years
provision.
Freud’s personality theory
The id, ego and super-ego

According to Freud, our mind consists of three interacting systems, these being the
id, ego and super-ego; each of which operates at three different levels.
The id operates at the unconscious level of the mind, driven by the pleasure
principle – that is, it seeks to obtain immediate gratification based on its needs and
desires. Freud believed that infants do not realize that they exist separately from
their mother/primary caregiver but that their identities are merged into one; this is
evident from birth when we are all desire and need, lacking the ability to delay grati-
fication. It is through the sensitive management of the parents/primary caregivers,
that the child begins to understand what can and can’t be done. i.e. whether the
desire has to be deferred or realized. An example of this might be whether a child is
allowed to have a new toy when he spots one in a shop window, or not.
The id’s desires however, are negotiated by the ego and super-ego which operate
at the conscious level of the mind and are driven by the reality principle. The ego
strives to satisfy the id’s desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways, as the
infant develops understanding that they are not the only ones with needs and desires
– and that getting these met can be delayed.
According to Freud, the super-ego comes into force at the age of five. The
super-ego is the individual’s sense of right and wrong. It works to suppress all
unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic values
rather that upon realistic principles. It is little wonder that before this age, the child
struggles with making the adjustment from having her needs met almost instantly
as a baby, to having to understand that the world no longer operates around her and
that she has to, instead, adhere to the social codes of society.
Chapter 5â•‡ Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) 43
Example in Action
A child sees that her friend has a slice of chocolate cake; she has already eaten her
share and wants another. She might cry or even try to take the slice of cake from
her friend in order to satisfy her desire (id). The ego will weigh the costs and ben-
efits of taking her friend’s slice of cake before deciding to act upon the impulse to
do so. The super-ego considers parental and societal values which might (or might
not) be enough to stop the child from taking it.
Understanding the role of the id, ego and super-ego as part of a child’s psychological
and social development will enable you to provide meaningful experiences and
activities that will encourage children’s emergent self-discipline and ability to
understand that they are not the only ones with needs and desires to be met. This is
particularly significant in the nursery, where children often need to take turns, share
and be patient.
The five stages of psychosexual development

Like Piaget, Freud believed that children pass through development in distinct stages
and that each stage must be passed through in order to ensure healthy psychological
growth. According to Freud, the five stages of psychosexual development are
summarized in Table 5.1:
What is critical about each of the five stages is the adult’s responses to the
child’s behaviour and the support they provide. This in turn will facilitate a smooth
transition to the next stage. For example, a child in the anal stage of development will
(according to Freud) be particularly interested in their bowel movements, as well as
their potty training. This is a stressful time for the child and their parents while the
child tries to gain control of their bladder and bowels and master physical, cognitive
and language skills. Parents will thus need to be supported according to their
individual needs, in order to help their child through this stage of their development.
Freud claimed that children display specific behaviours at certain stages of their
psychological development. He named it psychosexual because within each of the
stages, the libido (energy, force) fixates on different erogenous zones – for pleasure
or potential frustration. So, if these stages were not passed through ‘successfully’,
during adulthood these behaviours would become manifest as neuroses (also known
as ‘hang-ups’ or fixations) in adulthood. Each stage is thus viewed as a conflict which
must be resolved before the child can progress onto the next stage of development.
An example of this is the anal stage of development; a child who has started potty
training too early or has been pressured by their parents during this stage, may well
go on to develop an anally retentive personality in adulthood. This might manifest as
obsessive cleanliness and an irrational fear of mess. An anally retentive personality
is also likely to be fearful of authority.
Table 5.1â•‡ Freud’s five stages of psycho-sexual development
Stage Age Behaviour displayed Resulting behaviour

range if stage is not passed
through successfully
Oral Birth–1 The mouth is the focus of pleasure. If the child is denied the breast or is
year The child uses their mouth to inhibited in their explorations, Freud
explore and interact; this includes claimed that oral fixations will occur
weaning and feeding as well as in adulthood. Common examples
exploring objects. include nail biting, smoking and thumb
sucking.
Anal 1–3 years The focus of stimulation is the If potty training happens too early or is
anus, with the child gaining harsh, the child might become anally
pleasure from the process of retentive in adulthood. This might look
eliminating or retaining their like obsessive cleanliness, respect for
faeces, as part of the process of authority and hatred of mess.
potty training. This stage also
brings with it conflict, as the child’s
desires clash with their parents’
demands.
Phallic 3–6 years The genitals are the focus in this Children overcome this conflict through
stage – children become aware a process of identification with the
of anatomical sex differences, same sexed parent (imitating, adopting
resulting in feelings of attraction their values and taking on gender-
(to the opposite sexed parent), specific roles). Adopting ideal values
rivalry, jealousy and fear. Children in turn enables the child’s super-ego
want to possess the opposite to develop at approximately five years
sexed parent and to do away with old.
the parent of the same sex. Freud
called this the Oedipus complex
(in boys) and the Electra complex
(in girls).
Latency 6–12 years (Latency = hidden or dormant.) No The libido interests are suppressed
further psychosexual development in this stage. What is important
takes place during this stage. Freud however is that the child develops
believed that the child’s libido is self-confidence, social and
instead channelled into school communication skills.
work, hobbies and friendships
(mainly of the same sex).
Genital 12 years– A time of sexual experimentation; Any unresolved conflicts or fixations

adult this results in the individual settling resulting from previous stages might
down with a partner in their 20s. prevent such relationships, with sexual
perversions occurring instead.
Chapter 5 Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) 45
The role of play as therapy

The importance of play throughout childhood – and indeed adulthood, has long
been acknowledged (Bruce, 2011; Broadhead et al., 2010; Moyles, 2010; O’Connor,
2000; Vygotsky, 1978). It provides relief from stress, it develops skills in sociability
and allows the individual to work through fears and anxieties in a non-pressurized
way. The process of play is more valuable than the production of an end product
which in itself is highly valuable for children when trying to work through diffi-
culties or master new skills.
Freud viewed play as a useful tool for children who suffered traumatic experi-
ences, enabling them to act out feelings that would be otherwise too dangerous to
express in social situations, viewing play as an escape from reality. Play therapy
is still widely used on an international scale, providing individualized and group
intervention for children who require emotional support to work through difficult
feelings and experiences and to help them manage their relationships.
The child at play creates a world of phantasy which he takes very seriously – that is
which he invests with large amounts of emotion – while separating it from reality.
(Freud, 2001: XVI in Storr, A (2001))
Although Freud viewed play as a separation from reality, he acknowledged its role
in helping the child work through powerful emotions in a safe context. This in turn
fosters the child’s self-expression and intellectual freedom. Below is one example
of how powerful play therapy was to a young child experiencing difficulty at home.
Case Study
Daisy (aged three years) was experiencing distress due to her mother and father
fighting on a regular basis. They are separated but he visits Daisy a few times a
week. As a result of the fighting, Daisy became withdrawn, anxious and found
it difficult to play at nursery. As a result of her mother confiding in Daisy’s key
person, he took extra care in how he planned to meet Daisy’s needs which he
reviewed with her mother. Daisy’s key person provided time and space for her to
explore her feelings through free-play – usually at the sand tray, as she liked to play
with the figures here. Daisy would tell her key person how the different figures
felt and why. She always held on tightly to the seahorse, often explaining how
‘she’ couldn’t sleep and that she was scared of being taken away. Her key person
would spend much of the time listening to her and only talk if Daisy asked him a
question, or to ask her about the needs of the ‘characters’ when she seemed to
withdraw. Providing Daisy with this time to explore her feelings in a safe place,
allowed her to feel calmer and less anxious and more relaxed.
Criticisms of Freud
Here, the contentious aspects of Freud’s theories will be explored. Again, it is
important to consider his ideas in relation to child development and how his ideas
are relevant to your work with children.
His theory of the five stages of psychosexual

development
The fact that Freud viewed children’s psychological development primarily in
sexual terms is a source of controversy (Bateman and Holmes, 1995; Crain, 1992).
This is partly because this perspective reduces the emotional and social development
of children to the physical, with other areas of a child’s development growing from
sexual development – not the other way around. Storr (2001: 136) highlights this in
relation to attachment:
With Freud, sex comes first, attachment afterwards. With John Bowlby, now
established as the most important of the object-relations theorists, secure
attachment comes first, sex afterwards.
As the research continues to prove, positive attachments (as discussed in ChapterÂ€6)

play a far more pivotal role in healthy psychological development, than how a
child gains enjoyment from different parts of their body throughout their early
development. What needs to be stressed is the undeniable significance of the early
relationships and early experiences from birth, to help pave the way for developing
a healthy and a positive sense of self (Oates, Karmiloff-Smith and Johnson, 2012;
The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2011). Such experiences
and interactions will encourage the child to express themselves in ways that are not
only comfortable to them but are also socially acceptable. Freud’s psychosexual
stages, however, focus on fixations on the different body parts (or erogenous areas)
throughout childhood and do not encompass adulthood in any great detail.
Erik Erikson, a student of Freud’s, extended upon his psychosexual stages with
his theory, the psycho-social stages of development (1950). Although also a stage
theory, his was far more comprehensive, spanning across adulthood, as opposed to
Freud’s and Piaget’s theories which only covered up to adolescence. Erikson’s stages
also emphasize the social and emotional aspects of human development as opposed
to the sexual/physical aspects (as in Freud’s theory). See Table 5.2 opposite:
Chapter 5â•‡ Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) 47
Table 5.2â•‡ Erikson’s five stages of psycho-social development
Age Conflict
Infancy (0–1 year) Basic trust versus mistrust
Early childhood (1–3 years) Autonomy versus shame
Play age (3–6 years) Initiative versus guilt
School age (6–12 years) Industry versus inferiority
Adolescence (12–19 years) Identity versus confusion
Early adulthood (20–25 years) Intimacy versus isolation
Adulthood (26–64 years) Generativity versus stagnation
Old age (65–death) Integrity versus despair
Erikson emphasized the importance of each of the eight stages as a challenge that the
individual must overcome, and how they do so will determine how each successive
stage is dealt with. While this does not mean that progression throughout the life
stages will not occur if the individual doesn’t manage this task adequately, it might
indicate that the challenges of stages not successfully completed may reappear as
problems in the future.
What do you Think?

1 Which of the two perspectives of psychological and emotional development
do you find more applicable in the early years setting?
2 What is your reason for your answer?
Freud also claimed that the first five years of life are vital in forming our
personalities as adults (1920). How Freud was so confident about this assertion
can also be questioned, given that this has never been proven. While it is true that
our experiences of our parents (positive or negative) may shape our emotions in
adulthood (Gopnik, 2009; Fonagy, 2001), findings from neuroscience now tell
us that the brain’s plasticity enables the individual to modify their responses to
relationships and experiences. As Gopnik et al. (2001: 4) explain:
Neither babies nor adults have some set of fixed, reflexive ways of learning, set down
by evolution … the flexibility of the human cognitive system allows the individual to
‘rewire’ as it is greeted with successive forms of stimulation and experience.
The quality of those early experiences literally sculpt the brain’s landscape, with
neurons (brain cells) making connections in response to the experiences. The
neural pathways built will thus be dictated by those experiences, be it positively or
negatively.
The following case study provides an example of a child experiencing poor

parenting and subsequent poor care in foster homes and the impact this had on his
behaviour.
Read the case study and answer the questions that follow:
Case Study
Jimmy is eight years old. He was separated from his mother from two years old
and placed in four different foster homes. When he arrived at his recent (and
final) foster home, he was very withdrawn and couldn’t socialize, not having had
the opportunity to form any positive attachments. He would stay in his bedroom,
switching off the light and staying under his bed where he felt safe and alone.
He enjoyed playing computer games but couldn’t stand to be around people –
including his two younger siblings who were also with him. He didn’t know how
to receive or show affection; whenever his present carer tried to get close he
would self-destruct because this served as a barrier which prevented him from
being rejected again.
One and a half years later, Jimmy has slowly grown to trust his new family and
is able to express his feelings, and give and show love. He finally feels a sense of
belonging. He did however, suffer from panic attacks when parted from his carer,
demonstrating rebellious behaviour. He said he ‘was angry that she left him for a
short time even though he knew she was coming back’.
Jimmy enjoys his new family life and now understands what it means to be
loved unconditionally without fear or abuse. He takes part in regular family
discussions concerning his feelings and how to manage them; he is making rapid
progress academically and emotionally.
This positive change in Jimmy’s life has been made possible due to being
welcomed as a part of the family, with the respect, love and sensitivity that he
deserves. This took a long time to achieve, with joined-up care and effective
communication between carers, teachers and practitioners, with each being in
tune with the child’s complex emotional needs in order to meet them.
What do you Think?

1 What factors made it difficult for Jimmy to form attachments?
2 What short- and long-term support would you provide for a child who has
suffered early separation and trauma?
3 How can such support contribute towards changing the child’s pattern of
behaviour?
The denial of sexual abuse

In this section, Freud’s denial of the presence of sexual abuse will be briefly
discussed. We must stress that this is by no means a detailed account and for further
information, you should refer to the bibliography.
The subject of child sexual abuse is highly emotive and continues to pose painful
and difficult feelings today. We do each however, have a responsibility to famil-
iarize ourselves with issues concerning the safeguarding of children – this includes
learning from the present and past.
In his early career Freud worked with many female patients who were referred
to him, displaying symptoms of psychological ill-health such as partial paralysis,
hallucinations and nervousness – referred to as hysteria.
He stated that some of his female patients’ mental ill-health was a result of
childhood sexual abuse in his paper The Aetiology of Hysteria (1896), but having
been warned by the psychoanalytical community that this would be detrimental to
his reputation and career as a psychoanalyst (Masson, 1984), he consequently stated
that he had made a mistake in believing his patients and instead attributed their
claims to fantasy. Messler and Frawley (1994: 16) highlight this in their discussion
of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse:
The oedipal complex insisted that childhood sexual abuse was fantasy material
driven by unconscious childhood sexual wishes; it protected parents at the expense
of the patient’s reality.
Masson (1984: 29) asserts that Freud’s rejection of the existence of child sexual
abuse was convenient for psychoanalysts and families in nineteenth-century Vienna,
as it served to protect the interests of the privileged:
It was a comforting view for society, for Freud’s interpretation that the sexual
violence that so affected the lives of his women patients was nothing but fantasy
– posed no threat to the existing social order. Therapists could thus remain on the
side of the successful and the powerful, rather than of the miserable victims of
family violence.
Sexual abuse continues to be denied today and the reasons are manifold. What is
vital is your awareness and understanding of these reasons so that you can play your
part in recognizing the symptoms that some children might display and provide
sensitive support in line with your setting’s policies and procedures.
1a Explore your setting’s guidelines for identifying and reporting child sexual
abuse. How far do you think these are adequately acted upon?
1b How might you make staff more aware and confident in their practice
concerning the identification and reporting of child sexual abuse?
Freud viewed female development from a

male perspective
Ultimately, Freud focused far too narrowly on the five psychosexual stages
of development which consequently left minimal room (if any) for social and
cultural considerations concerning development. This is particularly evident in
the second stage which he labelled the ‘phallic stage’. As part of this stage Freud
asserted that girls are actually mutilated and have to learn to live with the fact that
they do not have a penis – believing that they suffered from penis envy. This of
course was not the case and was never ‘tested’ or proved by Freud. For this reason,
his theory was discredited by many researchers from different disciplines ranging
from feminists to psychologists and fellow psychoanalysts of the time. Karen
Horney (1926) for example, held opposing views to Freud, refuting his belief
that women suffer from penis envy. She instead believed that the real issue was
that girls and women had minimal power in European society in the 1800s, thus
experiencing status envy – a concept that is not unfamiliar to many individuals
living in Western society today but for different reasons. The issue is not so much
an imbalance of power but one of greed, seeking happiness through financial and
material wealth.
Concluding thoughts
This chapter has provided a brief overview of just some of Freud’s contributions
to psychoanalysis and child development. When we consider children’s devel-
opment, we look at it through a range of disciplines – and Freud’s psychoanalytical
perspective is just one interpretation. Your personal recollections of childhood and
experience as an early years practitioner may well lead you to conclusions that
contradict some of Freud’s findings, and the fact that his errors have led subsequent
theorists to take his ideas and develop them, enables more reliable theories to be
developed. What matters, is that you have sufficient knowledge of these different
perspectives in order to make informed conclusions when theorizing about children’s
behaviour and development.
Freud in Practice
●âŠ‘ Sensitively helping children work through their emotional crises – this will
require team meetings in order to ensure that staff are clear about what these
might be so that strategies selected are suitable for children’s individual
personalities.
●● Provide for plenty of play that encourages children to express their emotions,
for example, the arts, imaginative play, music and movement.
●● Supporting children to behave in socially acceptable ways.
●● Working closely with parents to support their child through toilet training.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Freud’s key
ideas, make the links to practice in your setting by reflecting upon and
answering the following questions:
1 How can Freud’s psychoanalytical perspective of child development inform
your work as an early years practitioner?
2 Reflecting on Freud’s concept of personality development, what advice could
you give to the parent in the scenario below, to help her daughter develop
the ability to delay getting her needs met?
A parent approaches you for advice concerning her three-year-old child.
The child often snatches the toys and other belongings of her sibling, not
understanding that she cannot snatch but has to ask to play with these.
This is causing stress in the family as the child cannot understand that she is
upsetting her sibling and only focuses on what she wants.
3 Explain the similarity between Freud’s oral stage and Piaget’s sensory-motor
stage.

1 Freud viewed development from a male perspective. Briefly discuss two
problems with this, in trying to explain children’s behaviour.
2 How far do you think our emotional-sexual relationships are pre-determined
by our early relationships with our mother and father?
3 Given that Freud’s theory is based upon case studies of adults, how can
we be certain that their behaviour is caused specifically by a childhood
experience?
Freud’s Contemporary Legacy

●âŠ‘ Socio-emotional learning
●âŠ‘ The role of very early experiences on development

●âŠ‘ The centrality of emotional-social development
●âŠ‘ The impact of positive early interactions

●âŠ‘ John Bowlby
●âŠ‘ Jean Piaget
●âŠ‘ Erik Erikson
Further Reading
Masson, J. M. (1984) The Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction
Theory. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
This book claims, with evidence from the archive of Freud, that he rejected his
initial theory that hysteria was caused by sexual abuse in order to protect his
reputation. It is thought-provoking and challenging, causing the reader to
reassess their views on Freud’s Seduction Theory.
Mooney, C. G. (2000) Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey,

Montessori, Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky. St Paul, MN: Red Leaf Press.
This book provides a clear and concise guide to some of the key theorists and
how their ideas helped to shape views concerning child development and
early childhood care and education. This is a good book to use as a quick
reference or as a starting point for further reading and reflection.
John Bowlby
(1907–90)
6
An introduction to John Bowlby and
his contribution to early child care
and education
This chapter examines the work of John Bowlby, the most famous of attachment
theorists. His enormous contribution to the field of child care is still prevalent today
and provides the foundation on which recent research studies into attachment
continue to be carried out. The importance of attachment theory will be explored in
terms of day care provision, with a discussion concerning optimum environments
that foster the emotional well-being of babies and toddlers during non-parental day
care. The questions towards the end of the chapter will help you to make connections
to your provision for children and their families.
John Bowlby specialized in psychoanalysis and psychiatry, working as a psychia-
trist in the army during the 1940s. He spent from 1948 to 1972 working at the
Tavistock Institute (in London) as Director of the Department for Children and
Parents and latterly, as a senior research fellow and teacher. It is however, for his
work as consultant in mental health to the World Health Organization (WHO) that
he is renowned. His seminal text Child Care and the Growth of Love evolved out of
his report (1951) to the WHO.
Following is an overview of some of his key ideas. Although his research was
carried out over 50 years ago, his conclusions remain just as pertinent today. While
reading, consider the children and families with whom you work, as well as the
support put in place to support positive attachment in families.
Attachment
This chapter begins with a description of the term attachment, with a discussion
of the importance of forming attachments for a child’s emotional well-being. This
is followed by an examination of some of the key tenets of Bowlby’s theory of
attachment. Each one is highlighted under a separate sub-heading for clarity. While
reading, it will be useful for you to bear in mind the cultural, religious and personal
beliefs that will guide individual parents and families as well as yourself. These
beliefs may well differ from Bowlby’s assertions – whatever these beliefs may be,
they must not jeopardize the child’s well-being or happiness.
Attachment can be defined as the emotional bond between a mother (or other
significant adult) and her baby. According to Bowlby, this attachment or bond needs
to be made within the first three years of life – and especially during the first nine
months of life, in order to provide the child with a positive ‘blueprint’ for forming
future relationships. This is echoed more recently by the eminent child psychologist
Oliver James (2007: 158) who states that:
The period between six months and three years of age in humans is a Sensitive one
for developing Secure attachments, and the pattern a child will have at 18 months
can be predicted with accuracy by measuring his mother’s pattern before he was
born.
Infants who have a secure attachment with their mother are more likely to be
confident, happy and generally more secure due to having their essential needs (for
food, love and stimulation) met. However, where this attachment is disrupted or fails
to take place, it can have disastrous effects for the infant in terms of their emotional
well-being in the short and long term. Studies repeatedly show that they are likely
to cry more frequently and generally be more unsettled in their temperament (Oates,
Karmiloff-Smith and Johnson, 2012). They are also more likely to form insecure
attachments during adulthood (Batmanghelidjh, 2011; Shea, 2010; Bowlby, 1953).
As part of his attachment theory, Bowlby emphasized the importance of monotropy.
This will be examined below.
Bowlby’s concept of monotropy

While reading this paragraph, make your own judgements about this concept. Do
you agree or disagree? What are your reasons?
Monotropy is the belief that the child has an innate need to form a bond with their
mother/primary attachment figure. While Bowlby does not rule out a bond being
formed with other significant adults, he placed great importance on there being one
primary bond (usually with the mother), from which the child can enjoy uncondi-
tional love and responsive care. If this bond is not present or is interrupted, it can
have long-lasting negative effects for the child’s all-round development and ability
Chapter 6 John Bowlby (1907–90) 55
to form meaningful attachments with others. Babies thus seem to be hard-wired to

draw their mother’s attention through behaviours such as smiling, crying and breast-
feeding, each of which play a part in keeping the mother in close proximity.
What do you Think?

1 Where a child does not enjoy the security of a strong maternal relationship,
what protective factors need to be present in their life, to help minimize the
adverse impact of this?
2 What might be the long-term benefits of this for the child?
Mary Ainsworth (1971) who worked with Bowlby, built upon his theory of
attachment in a number of ways. For example:
●● She suggested that children have multiple attachments (as opposed to
Bowlby’s concept of monotropy)
●● She devised the ‘strange situation’ test to identify the different attachment
behaviours of children.
Each idea will now be discussed in turn.
Children can form multiple attachments

Although Ainsworth did not dispute the significance of attachment, she did not
believe that the primary attachment had to be the mother and instead proposed that
children can form multiple attachments – be it with siblings, the father or other
adults who provided reliable loving care. This is consistent with current attachment
theory (Bowlby 2007; Schore, 2007) which emphasizes the importance of quality
care that strengthens the attachment and in turn, gives the child a sense of security.
What do you Think?

Do you agree with Ainsworth? Briefly explain your reasons.
The ‘strange situation’

Ainsworth also devised the well-known ‘strange situation’ test (1971) to identify
the specific attachment behaviours that children exhibit. Her test was a simple
but effective way of identifying children’s attachment types to their mothers. The
‘strange situation’ is summarized below:
1 The parent and the infant are alone in a room, as the child plays with some toys
2 The stranger joins parent and infant

3 The parent leaves the infant and stranger alone
4 The parent returns and stranger leaves
5 The parent leaves and the infant is left completely alone
6 The stranger returns
7 The parent returns and the stranger leaves
The child’s attachment behaviour is observed and measured under the following
four categories:
1 Separation anxiety: the unease the infant shows when left by the caregiver
2 The infant’s willingness to explore
3 Stranger anxiety: the infant’s response to the presence of a stranger
4 Reunion behaviour: the way the caregiver is greeted on return
Table 6.1 (below) outlines the behaviours that children most commonly displayed
in the ‘strange situation’. The most common behaviour observed was the securely
attached – which indicates a positive relationship between mother and child, one in
which the child enjoys a steady and predictable pattern of love and care.
Consider the types of attachment behaviours that you observe in your practice.
You might be able to identify them from the following descriptions.
Table 6.1â•… Types of attachment behaviour
Attachment type Behaviour demonstrated by the child

Anxious/avoidant The child might not be distressed when their mother leaves and
might turn away when she returns.
Securely attached The child might get upset when their mother leaves but is easily
comforted when she returns.
Anxious/resistant The child might initially be very clingy and distressed when the
mother first leaves. Upon the mother’s return the child might
simultaneously resist contact and interaction while reaching up
to be held and crying.
As early years practitioners, it’s important that you are familiar with these attachment
behaviours so that you can identify any potential concerns regarding the child’s
responses to her mother/primary attachment figure. Clearly, this in isolation might
not mean anything but can be useful as part of a wider investigation into the child’s
welfare. Sir Richard Bowlby (2007) discusses the relevance of the ‘strange situation’
test in identifying the different attachment types in children. This identification can
in turn, be used to gather the necessary support for the child (and where appropriate,
their family).
Chapter 6â•‡ John Bowlby (1907–90) 57
By itself insecure attachment is very difficult to identify unless the Strange Situation
Procedure is employed. Insecure attachment is found in approximately 40% of
toddlers in the UK and USA, and is acknowledged as a risk factor that often
contributes to the mental health problems of children and adults. (Bowlby, 2007.
Personal written communication)
So, although the opportunity for a monotropic attachment is accepted as the

desired norm for a child, it might not be realistic for all parents to provide this.
For example, mothers who are substance abusers or suffer from depression, or who
are overwhelmed by their social circumstances brought about by poverty or social
disadvantage will not be able to consistently provide the love and care that an infant
requires, due to being too consumed by their own needs or by their social situation
over which they have very little control. Different child-rearing practices that do
not conform to this concept can actually prove effective, such as raising children
in a kibbutz (collective community) where the caring of children is done among
many caregivers throughout the child’s life (Fox, 1977). The decline in extended
family networks also means that the child is more likely to be placed into day care
provision.
In conclusion, what matters most is the quality of care provided for the child – be
it with the mother, substitute carer or as part of early years provision. It is thus useful
to bear in mind how Bowlby’s research has helped to change professionals’ attitudes
to the importance of children’s attachments and your personal role in fostering
babies’ and children’s self-confidence and self-esteem.
Day care and attachment

The potential effects of day care on forming positive attachments will now be
examined. While reading, reflect on the quality of care provided in your setting –
consider the factors that enable and inhibit babies and children in forming positive
attachments.
Babies need sufficient attention and time from their mother/primary attachment
figure in order to develop as secure a primary attachment as possible before starting
any form of non-parental day care. This is supported in the United Kingdom with
statutory paid maternity leave for the first nine months. A child who has benefited
from a safe base (Bowlby, 1988) with unconditional love, sensitive physical care
and attention, can then go on to build emotionally healthy relationships with other
significant adults.
Building positive attachments will prove all the more significant when a baby
starts day care, as they will be among a larger group of babies and young children,
with less time spent in one-to-one situations with one adult. This is one of the
many reasons why the suitability of day care for children aged under 2 years is still
debated. In larger groups, with different practitioners responsible for children’s care
and development, it is all too easy for individual needs to be overlooked and cues to
be missed. This is especially true of provision where there is a high staff turnover,
which prevents children from building relationships with key figures. Some studies
show the adverse effects of poor quality day care on children’s cognitive, social
and emotional development (Bowlby, 2007; National Scientific Council on the
Developing Child, 2005; Sylva et al., 2004).
How do you ensure that your key person approach promotes a sense of security
and belonging in individual babies and children?
Debate and research studies continue to permeate attachment theory and provision
for day care due to there being no definitive answer as to what is best for the child.
This of course depends on factors at home as well as the quality of substitute care
provided in early years settings. Bowlby’s (1953) and Goldschmied’s key person
approach (1994) is just one way of ensuring that babies and young children benefit
from a consistent and secure relationship with one practitioner. The key person
provides continuity of care which can all too easily be missed in busy institutions
such as nurseries and early years centres. As part of this approach, Goldschmied also
emphasized the importance of nurturing parental partnerships which she referred to
as triangular, consisting of the parent, child and the key person. She believed – as
conscientious practitioners do today – that this relationship is stable and effective as
long as each side is equally valued.
Children’s need for unconditional love, attention and having their individual
needs met respectfully and responsively within a secure environment cannot be
underestimated. Whether it is residential or day care, babies and children need to be
at the centre of the service – it is due to Bowlby’s conclusions which led to much-
needed changes in the care of children. All of which influence practice today:
●● Children in day care nurseries and in residential care have a key person
assigned to them – so that the child has one ’special’ person responsible for
their care in the setting.
●● Parents/carers are encouraged to stay and settle their children in nurseries
during the transition period.
●● Parents are supported in maintaining their child’s primary attachment bond
to them.
●● Parents/carers should stay overnight with their children when their children
are in hospital, to help look after them.
●● Babies are allowed to stay with their mothers after birth (as long as the baby
is healthy).
●● Parents are supported in looking after their newborn baby, to help the
attachment process along.
1 Investigate your key person role and how far it supports all children’s sense of
security and belonging.
2 Make recommendations to your manager about how aspects might be
improved.
In summary, although there is no definitive answer as to whether babies fare better

attending nurseries, due to the vast differences in early years provision and family
make-up, the implementation of a key person system, settling-in periods and
all-round good quality substitute care serve to nurture infants’ emotional well-being
and social skills – especially where the care at home might be poor and inconsistent.
Maternal deprivation theory

Bowlby’s theory of monotropy led to the formulation of his maternal deprivation
theory. This section explores Bowlby’s concerns regarding the impact of maternal
deprivation on the child. These concerns are just as pertinent to attachment theory
and early years provision at present. Maternal deprivation as formulated by Bowlby
is categorized as partial deprivation or complete deprivation (1953). Partial depri-
vation can be present even if a child lives with her mother but she is unable to
give her the loving care that she needs. This deprivation doesn’t necessarily lead to
detrimental effects if there is a trusted substitute caregiver to step into the breach.
Complete deprivation on the other hand refers to the substitute care given in hospitals
or nurseries where there is no ‘one’ person providing consistent, personalized care.
Examples of maternal deprivation include mothers failing to form an attachment,
substance abuse and the general inability to provide consistent love and care, each
of which can have irreversible adverse effects on the child’s emotional and mental
health. This is outlined by Bowlby (1953: 39):
Prolonged breaks in the mother-child relationship during the first three years of
life leave a characteristic impression on the child’s personality. They fail to develop
loving ties with other children or with adults and consequently have no friendships
worth the name.
Based on his many child and adolescent interviews, Bowlby reached some alarming
conclusions. The result of these individuals having suffered maternal deprivation
meant that behaviours such as delinquency, reduced intelligence, increased
aggression, depression and affectionless psychopathy (the inability to show affection
or concern for others) were commonplace. His paper, Forty-Four Juvenile Thieves:
Their Characters and Home Lives (1944), which includes statistical tests as well as
detailed case histories, highlights the tragic outcomes of maternal deprivation on
children and young adults. Unfortunately, the associated problems for children and
young adults that poor attachments bring are still prevalent today. One report by the
charity Kids Company highlights this in no uncertain terms:
If mothers and fathers are neglectful due to their struggle with their own survival,
then their child is deprived of a buffer of a good attachment against violence and
antisocial behaviours. (Kids Company, 2011: 3)
In light of this, early years practitioners cannot afford to dismiss the sheer
importance of primary attachments on present and future emotional well-being, and
must therefore invest in building positive relationships with the parents/primary
attachment figures with whom they work, so as to provide a ‘buffer’ against the gaps
present in some children’s attachments.
Criticisms of Bowlby’s attachment theory

While reading this section, reflect on the changes in family make-up, types of early
years provision and the current political climate. Each of these factors is now very
different compared to when Bowlby was making recommendations based on his
research findings.
He emphasized the role of the mother only in

attachment
Bowlby’s report to the WHO, Maternal Care and Mental Health (1951), has been
open to much criticism for its emphasis of the role of the mother as the primary
attachment figure. This is mainly due to the political and economic climate at
the time, which called for women to return to their role as housewife while their
husbands returned to work after the Second World War. His research findings
therefore proved convenient for the government’s campaign to get women to give up
the jobs that they had to take during the war, while their husbands fought.
His identified attachment behaviours are not

exclusive to mothers
In his highly regarded book, Maternal Deprivation Reassessed (1972), Michael
Rutter argued (against John Bowlby) that it was the norm for children to form
multiple attachments rather than a selective attachment with just one person. In
1978 he showed that children display the same attachment behaviours as identified
by Bowlby, to siblings, fathers and extended family members – not just the mother
figure. More recent research studies have also contradicted Bowlby’s findings
Chapter 6 John Bowlby (1907–90) 61
(Melhuish, 1991; Schaffer, 1977) which concluded that the quality of attachment
and its impact on the child’s emotional well-being was more important than having
an attachment. While this makes sense, Bowlby’s contribution to our understanding
of the fundamental impact of disturbed attachments, maternal deprivation and
poor care-giving on children’s psychological and emotional development cannot
be underestimated. His extensive studies and conclusions have paved the way for
all subsequent attachment theories – which continues to change, due to the rapidly
evolving make-up of societies and due to technological advances which now enable
us to actually see the impact of specific attachments on the child’s developing brain
(Schore, 2007; Gopnik, 1999).
There were methodological flaws in his

research studies
Although Bowlby’s research findings have proved invaluable, the way in which he
carried out his studies has been the subject of much criticism. For example, a lot
of his work was carried out with young offenders, yet his findings were applied to
the general population. He also drew upon retrospective data – that is, information
gathered from interviews with young offenders and young adults concerning their
childhood and past experiences. Retrospective data can be very unreliable due to
accounts being inaccurate and subjective, and it is very difficult to isolate one factor
such as maternal deprivation as the ‘cause’ of the behaviour in older children.
Concluding thoughts
In conclusion, we cannot afford to downplay Bowlby’s legacy concerning the sheer
importance of attachment and its impact on emotional and mental well-being – both
in the short and long term. The key is to view any theory critically and challenge
any aspects that you feel do not conform to your experience with children. However,
his work provided the springboard from which future theorists and scientists investi-
gated the impact of day care, institutional care and foster care on brain development.
More recently, the work of neuroscientists continues to show, with evidence, the
direct effect on the developing brain when babies and children are deprived of loving
relationships and experience poor quality day care. This may be one of the defining
elements in a child’s future life chances (Allen, 2011).
Bowlby in Practice
●âŠ‘ Having an effective key person system in place.
●âŠ‘ The need to support young children’s early attachments positively.
●âŠ‘ Practitioners supporting parents and primary carers to build a secure
attachment – particularly when conditions in the home (or in the parent)
make this difficult.
●âŠ‘ Practitioners working with parents to enable a smooth transition from home
to nursery.
●âŠ‘ The link between early attachment and later social and emotional well-being.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Bowlby’s contributions to
child development theory, make the links to practice in your setting by reflecting
upon and answering the following questions:
1 What do you think are the positive and negative aspects of day care, on
babies’ and children’s emotional and social development?
2 In which ways is Bowlby’s influence evident in practice at your setting?
3 How are parental partnerships promoted and evaluated in your setting?
4 Identify the factors that make an effective:
●âŠ‘ Key person system
●âŠ‘ Key person relationship

1 Do you think that there exist other, more significant factors that shape a
baby’s/child’s attachments? Identify these.
2 How relevant is the concept of monotropy given today’s climate (consider
the changes in family make-up, women working longer hours and returning
to work after having a baby).
Explain the reasons behind your answer.
3 Read the quote below. Do you agree or disagree? Explain the reason for your
answer.
According to Bowlby (1951):
If the attachment figure is broken or disrupted during the critical two year
period the child will suffer irreversible long-term consequences of this
maternal deprivation. This risk continues until the age of 5.
Bowlby’s Contemporary Legacy


Behavioural and academic expectations
●âŠ‘

●âŠ‘ Countering poverty and socio-economic disadvantage

●âŠ‘ Allan Schore (findings from neuroscience pertaining to attachment)
●âŠ‘ Colwyn Trevarthen
●âŠ‘ Elinor Goldschmied
●âŠ‘ Sir Richard Bowlby
Further Reading
Bowlby, J. (1953) Child Care and the Growth of Love. London: Penguin.
We highly recommend anyone with an interest in attachment to read this
seminal text, which is based on a report prepared by John Bowlby for
the World Health Organization. It clearly outlines the impact of maternal
deprivation on infant mental health, alongside a range of supporting research
evidence.
Gerhardt, S. (2004) Why Love Matters. London and New York: Routledge.
Psychologist Sue Gerhardt provides a compelling account of why forming early
attachments and positive early experiences are crucial in the shaping of
all-round development. She supports her argument with references to current
findings from neuroscience, which prove how these early experiences set
down the neurobiological patterns in the brain.
Gopnik, A. (2009) The Philosophical Baby. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
This is an absorbing and interesting book which examines the origins of the
mind in relation to secure attachments. The chapter ‘Babies and the Meaning
of Life’ is particularly insightful, with a range of links to ancient theories and
current scientific understanding.
Jean Piaget
(1896–1980)
7
An introduction to Jean Piaget and his
Jean Piaget is probably the best-known cognitive theorist concerning child devel-
opment. He is also, however, the most challenged (Bjorklund, 2000; Donaldson,
1978). The reasons for this will be explored later in the chapter. Piaget originally
worked as a biologist, studying molluscs (examples include mussels, clams, snails
and slugs) in the early 1920s. Strange as the connection may seem, his studies of
these animals in their different environments were the catalyst for his interest in
studying children’s cognitive development and how they learnt and adapted to their
environments. He was particularly interested in the reasons children gave for their
wrong answers on the questions that required logical thinking. His extensive studies
of children (many of which were carried out on his own three children) contributed
to his theories of how children learn from birth.
Piaget’s key theories of cognitive development will now be outlined; as you read
through them, think critically: do you disagree with any aspects of his theories?
Why is this? How far, and in what ways, do you think they add to your own under-
standing about the learning and development of young children?
His approach is known as constructivism; this means that he believed children
learn by doing – actively constructing their own knowledge as a result of their explo-
rations, and building this knowledge upon previous understandings. This contrasts
with socio-constructivism (Bruner, 1983; Vygotsky, 1978), the belief that children
learn by constructing knowledge with other children and adults around them. The
socio-constructivist theory places more emphasis on the social aspect of learning,
whereas Piaget focused on the child learning individually.
Piaget’s theories of cognitive development
The four stages of cognitive development

Central to Piaget’s theory of how children learn are his four stages of cognitive
development. Based on his studies of children, Piaget proposed that all children
pass through four stages of cognitive development from birth, sequentially – this
means that the child must successfully pass through each stage in order to pass onto
the following stages and that no stage can be missed out. Piaget concentrated on the
universal stages of cognitive development and biological maturation, and it is argued
that he failed to adequately consider the effect that the social setting and culture may
have on a child’s cognitive development (Vygotsky’s socio-constructivist theory of
learning does however take these factors into consideration).
An important limitation to Piaget’s ideas is their lack of recognition of the process
of learning and development, which means his ideas may not fully account for
the individual differences that result from the quality of relationships and interac-
tions that the child has, or how the environment shapes the child’s experiences and
ability to learn and develop healthily. He did however show that children are highly
competent thinkers, although they think differently to adults – contrary to the notion
that they are simply incompetent thinkers in comparison. Piagetian-based educa-
tional programmes are guided by his firm belief that children are naturally curious
and intrinsically motivated to learn about their world, with the role of practitioners
being mainly facilitative. This means that the adult’s role is to encourage children’s
independent explorations, providing them with appropriate prompts that help them
to learn through the process of trial and error, as well as setting up the environment
with resources and equipment (including labelling of resources) which enable
children to be active in their learning.
The implications of these ideas for early years education have resulted in the
development of curricular frameworks that are based upon play, discovery and
active learning – which are seen as far more effective vehicles for learning for
children as opposed to them being passive recipients of a curriculum. In recognition
of Piaget’s emphasis on children as constructors of their own learning, the revised
EYFS contains detailed guidance for practitioners on how best to support all babies’
and children’s active learning, while taking into account those children who have
special educational needs or English as an additional language.
Carefully read Table 7.1 opposite – as you do so, it will be useful to think of the
children with whom you work.
Chapter 7â•‡ Jean Piaget (1896–1980) 67
Table 7.1â•‡ Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development
Stage of Characterized by
cognitive
development
Sensori-motor ●âŠ‘ Recognizing self as agent of action and begins to act
(Birth–2 years) intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or shakes
a rattle to make a noise.
●âŠ‘ Achieving object permanence between 8–12 months: realizes
that things continue to exist even when they are no longer
present (or hidden from sight).
Pre-operational ●âŠ‘ Learning to use symbols such as language, number and pictures
(2–7 years) to represent aspects of their world. Pretend play develops as part
of this.
●âŠ‘ Thinking is egocentric – has difficulty in taking the viewpoint of
others.
●âŠ‘ Classifying objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the
red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless
of colour.
Concrete operational ●âŠ‘ Thinking logically about objects and events, based on their own
(7–11 years) past experiences.
●âŠ‘ Achieving conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7) and
weight (age 9). This means that the child understands that
quantities such as number, mass and weight remain the same,
even when their appearance changes.
●âŠ‘ Classifying objects according to several of their features and
ordering them in series along a single dimension such as size.
Formal operational ●âŠ‘ Thinking in abstract terms. This means they do not rely on
(11 years and up) concrete objects to solve problems as they can now solve them in
their mind.
●âŠ‘ Concern with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological
problems.
What do you Think?

What are the implications for staff in their relationships and roles when settling
babies, given that they achieve object permanence between 8–12 months (i.e.
they realize that things continue to exist even when they are no longer present
or hidden from sight)? How does this knowledge impact on the way staff might
better support young babies during transition points in caregivers?
Schemas
Piaget’s concept of schemas is a key way of understanding how children acquire
and extend their knowledge of how the world works. A schema can be defined as a
pattern of behaviour which the child displays while attempting to understand a new
piece of information, based on their experience of it. As the child has more experi-
ences, this new information is used to modify or add to previously existing schemas.
Athey (1990: 7) describes schematic behaviour as occurring ‘when children are
actively involved in learning and they are developing the mental structures that help
them to think and move on’.
There exist approximately 12 types of schematic behaviour, each of which
you have probably observed among the children in your setting. Table 7.2 shows
examples of schematic behaviour.
Table 7.2â•‡ Types of schematic behaviour
Schematic Examples from children’s play

behaviour
Trajectory Throwing and kicking toys and soft toys, jumping on and off things and
dropping toys onto the floor.
Enveloping Wrapping up or covering toys and soft toys with tape and covering
themselves and dolls in fabrics. The process of wrapping is important to
a child in this schema.
Enclosure Climbing into large cardboard boxes, building enclosures with blocks
and filling and emptying a wide range of containers.
Rotation Enjoying being swung around, rolling down surfaces, playing with
wheeled toys and watching a spinning washing machine.
Positioning This is similar to the orientation schema. Children show preference in

how their toys are stored and how they play with them – for example,
lining up toy vehicles or toys of a particular colour.
Connection Connecting and disconnecting construction toy pieces as well as joining

train tracks.
Orientation This includes up, down, above and under and sideways. Children love
to hang from climbing frames, lie down under tables and paint using
brushstrokes in different directions.
Transporting Carrying objects and toys from area to another. This can be in container,
a wheeled toy or in their hands.
Transforming Changing the appearance of substances, for example – adding water to

dry sand and adding colouring to cornflour or sand.
Chapter 7 Jean Piaget (1896–1980) 69
1 Observe a child and look for patterns in their behaviour.
2 Do you recognize any of Piaget’s schemas in these patterns of behaviour?
Schematic behaviour is present in babies and goes on until adulthood. A child might
have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child’s sole experience
has been with small dogs, she might believe that all dogs are small. Suppose then
that the child encounters a very large dog. The child will eventually take in this
new information, modifying the previously existing schema to include this new
information.
Example in Action
The enveloping schema
Janie is ten months old and is currently interested in wrapping herself up in materi-
als and playing games like peek-a-boo. At the moment, she loves to hide objects
and toys in baskets and cover them with various-sized pieces of material. Upon
observing Janie’s interest in enveloping things (including herself!) her key person set
up the indoor and outdoor environments with tents and tunnels, along with a range
of containers containing natural objects and fabrics for Janie to explore. These con-
tainers proved very popular with Janie, as she loves to sit beside the containers with
her key person, who often helps her to ‘wrap’ the objects and unwrap them again.
Key concepts used by Piaget

Assimilation – The process of taking in new information into our previously
existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective,
because we tend to modify experience or information somewhat to fit in with our
pre-existing beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labelling it ‘dog’ is an
example of assimilating the animal into the child’s dog schema.
Accommodation – Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our
existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation.
Accommodation involves altering existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new
information or new experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this
process.
Equilibrium and disequilibrium – Piaget believed that when knowledge can be
easily assimilated, the child is in a state of equilibrium (balance); however, when
their existing knowledge needs to be accommodated (changed), the child enters a
states of disequilibrium (imbalance). This unsteady state continues until the child
can modify her existing cognitive structures, to take in the new information.
What do you Think?

1 Give one example of a child going through the process of assimilation,
accommodation, equilibrium and disequilibrium, as they try to grasp a new
concept.
2 How could you support a child in their quest to grasp new concepts?
Criticisms of Piaget’s theories

Although the legacy of Piaget’s theories remains, aspects of them are widely criti-
cized. Below is a brief outline; for further information you need to refer to the
bibliography provided.
Relevance of tasks he set for children

Some of the tasks that Piaget set for children may have been too unfamiliar for the
children, thereby causing them to fail. Several studies have shown Piaget under-
estimated the abilities of children because his tests were sometimes confusing or
difficult to understand (Hughes, 1975). A well-known example of this is his ‘three
mountains’ task. During this task children (aged between 6 and 7 years old) were
asked to look at three mountains on a table. Each of them was a different size and
colour, with something different on top of each one; a cross, a house or snow. When
asked what each child could see from where they were sitting, they all pointed out
what they could see only. However, what needs to be considered is that the task itself
could have led to the children not succeeding in the task. Factors such as monotony
of the task, not being given clear instructions on how to complete the task and using
objects that were culturally unfamiliar to the children, all prevented them from
achieving as well as they could have.
He believed that children are egocentric and

cannot decentre until the age of seven
Based on his child studies (1951) Piaget concluded that children below the age of
seven could not decentre – that is, take on the viewpoint of others and that they are
unable to infer what another person can see, think or feel. Subsequently however,
researchers who carried out similar tasks but simplified them (Hughes, 1975; Elkind,
1967) found that children can actually decentre at a younger age.
Chapter 7 Jean Piaget (1896–1980) 71
What do you Think?

1 Have you observed children (aged under seven years) in your setting
demonstrate the ability to take on board the feelings and thoughts of other
children?
2 Describe one activity you would carry out with young children to help foster
their ability to empathize with others.
Many of his child studies were carried out on

his own three children
The majority of his extensive child studies were carried out on his own three
children – thereby meaning that his findings were culturally biased, because his
sample consisted of middle-class European children. This raises the larger question
of bias which is an issue for all of Piaget’s empirical work – Piaget carried out most
of his studies alone on a select sample of children, which meant that he could not
have gained a comprehensive understanding of children’s cognitive abilities.
He believed that each stage of development

had to be reached in order for the child to
progress to subsequent stages
Unlike other child development theorists (such as Jerome Bruner and Lev Vygotsky),
Piaget believed that children have to pass through distinct stages as part of their
cognitive development. This does not acknowledge that the child may move in and
out of stages as their developing understanding matures or as they tackle new circum-
stances and experiences. This in turn meant that he also did not consider the factors
that might contribute to shaping the child’s ability at a given time. For example,
cultural differences among families around the world determine the amount of play
and types of play resources available to the child, which consequently would impact
upon results obtained from child studies. Other factors such as differences among
children in the same age group and how clearly tasks were presented to them also
contribute to how well they can carry out instructions.
Piaget’s studies and neuroscience – the

connection
Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development
based on his studies of children (he only observed children). While his simple but
inventive tests revealed different cognitive abilities among children, findings from
neuroscience now enable us to further explore his theories. For example, studies
concerning neuron development and performance show evidence that correlates with
Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development – which is testament to some of Piaget’s
child studies and conclusions that were drawn over 60 years ago. Although Piaget
could not have predicted that his theories would be supported by such technological
advances, his work has provided a foundation from which subsequent investigations
have taken place. Findings from neuroscience have thus enabled aspects of Piaget’s
cognitive development theories to be confirmed as correct, as well as challenged.
One example of this is his assertion that children did not develop moral reasoning
or the ability to decentre until seven years old. Eminent American professor of
psychology and researcher in cognitive development, Alison Gopnik explains one
flaw in Piaget’s assessment of young children’s ability to decentre:
Piaget thought that children didn’t have genuine moral knowledge because he
thought they couldn’t take the perspective of others, infer intentions and follow
abstract rules. Modern science shows this just isn’t true. From the time they are
born children are empathic. (Gopnik, 2009: 202)
What do you Think?

1 Have you observed children (aged under seven years) in your setting
demonstrate the ability to take on board the feelings and thoughts of other
children?
2 Describe one activity you would carry out with young children to help foster
their ability to empathize with others.
Conversely, findings from neuroscience continue to show us that quality early

experiences can actually speed up brain development (Howard-Jones, 2009; Case,
Kurland and Goldberg, 1982), which means that the impact of special educational
needs and differences concerning ability and capacity to understand at different ages
and stages can now be considered when explaining children’s cognitive development.
Having this knowledge of the general pattern of development a child should pass
through helps the early years practitioner when attempting to identify any deviations
from this and to put the necessary support mechanisms in place for the child.
Concluding thoughts
To conclude, Piaget’s vast contribution to our understanding of child development
cannot be dismissed. It is due to his tireless work that we understand how children
process new information from birth, and how learning and development progress.
Early years provision for care and education is thus shaped by such awareness, with
Chapter 7â•‡ Jean Piaget (1896–1980) 73
practitioners planning environments that are rich and varied for children to explore
for themselves and in which they can actively construct their own knowledge
(schemas). His work showed clearly that babies and young children are very able
constructors of meaning and, hence, of learning from their own experiences. He
also demonstrated that the process of learning cannot be separated from the child’s
lived experiences – especially in the earlier stages of development when learning is
primarily hands-on and experience-driven. These ideas continue to profoundly shape
our thinking and actions as educators in early years settings today.
Piaget in Practice
●âŠ‘ Supporting children’s learning through action and experimentation in their
environment.
●âŠ‘ Allowing children plenty of time to play and explore independently.
●âŠ‘ Planning for learning that is in line with their cognitive abilities.
●âŠ‘ Carrying out regular observations and assessments of children interacting and
problem solving, to improve understanding of children’s intellectual development.
●âŠ‘ Focusing on the process of young children’s thinking – not just the end
product (this means paying attention to the many different steps it takes a
child to reach an answer).
●âŠ‘ All practitioners being able to identify babies’ and children’s different
schematic behaviours and how to extend their learning in line with these.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Piaget’s most significant
contributions to child development theory, make the links to practice in your
setting by reflecting upon and answering the following questions:
1 Consider the babies in your setting; how can you promote object
permanence among babies aged eight months old?
2 What experiences and activities could you plan to support children’s
progress in the pre-operational stage of cognitive development?
3a Refer to the table outlining the four stages of cognitive development. Do
the behaviours ‘match’ the ages and stages of children in your setting?
3b Some children do not show behaviour typical of the stage of cognitive
development for their age group, while others surpass expectations.
Consider the children in your setting. What factors do you think contribute
to these differences?
4 Revisit the process of schematic behaviour (outlined in Table 7.2). Give an
example of this. To help you answer, consider the process that children go
through when trying to learn new things in your setting.

1 Piaget was a constructivist; identify some of the positive and negative
aspects of this theory in action, in an early years setting.
2 Research tells us the importance of positive early childhood experiences in
promoting brain development. How does this complement the constructivist
theory of learning?
3 Identify the grounds on which Piaget’s theories can be challenged in today’s
society.
Piaget’s Contemporary Legacy

years

●âŠ‘

The impact of positive early interactions
●âŠ‘

●âŠ‘ John Dewey
●âŠ‘ Lev Vygotsky
●âŠ‘ Jerome Bruner
●âŠ‘ Sigmund Freud
Further Reading
Athey, C. (1990) Extending Thought in Young Children. London: Paul Chapman
Publishing.
This book provides in-depth information concerning children’s schemas and
how practitioners can facilitate children’s understanding of their world
through their schemas.
Donaldson, M. (1984) Children’s Minds. London: Fontana Press.

This classic text examines children’s thought processes, while challenging
certain features of Piaget’s theory of intellectual development in light of
more recent evidence. It is easily accessible and highly informative.
Piaget, J. (1972) The Psychology of the Child. New York: Basic Books.
This seminal text provides an in-depth look at children’s intellectual
development, including the logical inconsistencies that are inherent in this.
Lev Vygotsky
(1896–1934)
8
An introduction to Lev Vygotsky and his
work in early child care and education
This chapter explores the valuable contributions of the psychologist, Lev Vygotsky
to early childhood education. Influenced by the work of Freud and Piaget, he
created his own theories surrounding human psychology and the nature of learning
(Kozulin, 1986). His ideas most pertinent to understanding how young children learn
will be discussed with a range of suggestions as to how you can create a learning
environment which best fosters individual children’s learning and development in
your setting. Case studies and observations are provided to help contextualize his
theories.
Vygotsky was born in Belarus (a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered
by Russia, Poland and Lithuania). Born in the same year as Piaget (1896), Vygotsky
studied medicine and law at university, beginning his career as a teacher before
becoming a psychologist in 1924. He was a prolific writer, producing many articles,
essays and books on subjects concerning child development, education and cognition
of children – including children with physical and mental disabilities.
Although he died young – aged just 37 years, the work that Vygotsky produced
continues to greatly influence early years education today. However, due to the
political situation in the Soviet Union at the time, when most scientific and cultural
freedoms were suppressed, much of Vygotsky’s work was banned. His theories
were often perceived as disloyal to the Communist Party under Stalin. Views that
were not approved by the state were not tolerated under Stalinism and were brutally
oppressed. Despite this state oppression, Vygotsky’s ideas were kept alive by a group
of his colleagues in exile (Luria, Leontiev, Bozhovich) and his work eventually came
to the notice of the West in the 1960s, having been translated from Russian.
Jerome Bruner, an American psychologist (discussed in greater detail in Chapter

9) was greatly influenced by Vygotsky’s theories concerning language development
and the impact of the social environment on learning. He, too, came to the conclusion
that the child learnt most effectively by using the tools (i.e. language, thought, ways
of behaving, books and methods of problem solving) that are available to them in
their particular cultural environment. Bruner is also credited for being instrumental
in disseminating Vygotsky’s ideas to the West back in the 1960s (Sheehy, 2004). The
most significant of Vygotsky’s contributions to early childhood education will now
be discussed in turn.
Vygotsky on thought and language

Vygotsky was deeply interested in the relationship between thought and language
as key elements of a child’s cognitive development. Perhaps one of his best-known
books was written on this subject, entitled Thought and Language (1978). He
believed that while the two functions are independent of each other, they never-
theless support one another in the process of cognitive development.
Given his belief that relationships always have a cultural context, it is inevitable
that the child’s thoughts, too, will be culturally constructed. The social constructivist
perspective of learning which he created is deemed particularly relevant to the devel-
opment of young children because of its emphasis on children constructing their
understanding of the world through interactions with other children and adults, using
language to make sense of their environment and their place within it. Vygotsky
(1985: 80) states that:
Culture is the product of social life and human social activity. That is why just
by raising the question of cultural development of behaviour we are directly
introducing the social plane of development. Everything that is cultural is social.
Case Study
Thought and language in action
A five-year-old child is sitting at her dolls’ house acting out a recent family holiday
to Cornwall, reflecting on some of the things that she had done. She uses the
new vocabulary that she had learnt (such as ‘seaside’, ‘suitcase’, ‘surfing’ and
‘seagulls’) while acting out the toys having to pack their suitcases to leave early
in the morning – as she had done on her journey, and playing on the beach once
she, her parents and siblings had unpacked their suitcases.
To summarize then:
●âŠ‘ The cultural context in this brief case study is the family and their experience
of the holiday.
Chapter 8 Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) 77
●● The child’s thoughts were given an outlet in this play opportunity, in which
the child gave a running commentary of some of her experiences on her
holiday at the seaside. This is in line with Vygotsky’s overt inner speech
three–five years stage of language development. (See the description and
diagram below.)
●● The experience and the language triggered the opportunity to articulate
her thoughts and practise her recently acquired vocabulary. In addition to
practising vocabulary, what the language does is facilitate a working through
of ideas and thinking about how society and relationships work, and making
connections which are then processed cognitively and added and linked to
other concepts, i.e. language allows and facilitates higher order thinking and
the development of more complex concepts and hypotheses.
The sequence of language development,

according to Vygotsky
Vygotsky’s ideas concerning language development from birth up to late childhood
(7 years plus) will now be outlined in this funnel-like diagram. It depicts the flow
of language from birth, with typical behaviours that are demonstrated in each of the
three stages.
As the diagram shows, Vygotsky believed that children:

●● Develop language first, as external speech – through social interactions with
those around them. This starts from birth, with responses being made to the
outside world (such as vocalizing in response to affection and responding to

questions).
●● Overt inner speech or monologue (the ability to talk to oneself) appears
from approximately three years old, whereby the child can give a running
commentary concerning tasks that she is engaged in. For example, a child
playing with a doll trying to dress her might say out loud ‘I’ve put your
dress on, now I need to put your coat and shoes on’.
●● The final phase of language development involves the child from
approximately seven years, using internal speech (thinking silently to
herself) to reflect on recent events or to plan.
Given that thought is in part, shaped by the child’s first communication with those
around them, it is inevitable that the culture too will be adopted as the two are
inextricably linked. An example of this could be a primary carer speaking to their
child in both Turkish and English, which would result in the child thinking and
speaking in both languages. No language can exist outside of the symbolic order (i.e.
the spoken and written word as well as pictorial signs), which consequently means
that the child cannot make meaning outside of their relationships with those around
them. The relationship between language and thought and how the two interact
developmentally is thus central to the socio-constructivist perspective of learning. It
is interesting to note that Piaget later agreed with Vygotsky concerning outer speech
and inner thought, but because Vygotsky’s work was not read in the West they could
never meet. Piaget regretted that, and felt that his own work was more in tune with
Vygotsky’s than he was given credit for (Bruce, 2006).
Human learning presupposes a specific social nature and a process by which

children grow into the intellectual life of those around them. (Vygotsky, 1978: 88)
Here, Vygotsky highlights the fact that children actually absorb the culture that
they are immersed in – a process called enculturation. The nursery experience is a
good example of how enculturation can take place, as individual children learn the
culture of other children and adults through experience, observation and instruction.
Practitioners thus need to be aware of the various cultural norms among the children
and their families so that they can support learning by enabling children to utilize
their own cultural tools as well as the cultural tools of others. Cole, Hakkarainen
and Bredikyte (2010: 3) explain the benefits to a child’s cognitive processes when
this happens:
Very important is the sheer exposure to the material to be learned that is afforded
by different cultural practices. It is a routine finding in research across many
content domains that when children are asked to learn or solve problems based
upon materials with which they are familiar, they learn more rapidly.
For Vygotsky, language has a key role in learning and development; by acquiring
language, a child has the means to think in new ways and gains a new cognitive
tool for making sense of the world. Of course, ‘the world’ as the child knows it
Chapter 8â•‡ Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) 79
is historically and culturally transmitted to them by their parents and immediate

family, so language is constructed within this cultural/social context. This primary
socialization paves the way for the child to socialize with other children and adults,
be it in a nursery or other setting. Here, the child uses language to solve problems,
to communicate their thoughts and to help (or obtain help from) other children and
adults in their social environment.
Development of Vygotsky’s concept of

language before thought
Trying to answer the question ‘What comes first, thought or language?’ is similar
to asking the question, ‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?’ Vygotsky firmly
believed that language precedes thought, paving the way for thoughts to evolve as
the child grows more competent in using language, which in turn helps the child to
articulate their thoughts. An example of this is Vygotsky’s overt inner speech (or
monologue) stage of language development which occurs between three to seven
years; language in this stage is used to help them process their thoughts, to plan and
monitor their progress in tasks that they are engaged in – it is not language intended
to be shared with another listener (Berk and Garvin, 1984).
A word of caution – while theorists such as Vygotsky and Piaget identified
specific ages for particular behaviours, do not worry about trying to apply these too
rigidly to the children with whom you work. Development is a highly individual
process and is dependent upon a range of factors which makes it very unlikely that
all children will follow the same age-specific pattern of development.
It can be argued that thought actually precedes language – after all, a baby sees
and mentally processes everything in his environment long before he can name them
verbally. It is however, through our received culture’s language that we can then go
on to label everything and articulate our thoughts once we are able to use language.
One study conducted by Hespos and Spelke (2004), on Korean and British babies
aged five months old concluded that they demonstrated knowledge of objects and
their positions in a ‘non-linguistic context’ when predicting the motions of these
objects. This study showed that babies can in fact show evidence of their thinking
through their actions (that is, think before they speak). For further information
concerning this study, visit the following website: www.yale.edu/minddevlab/papers/
nature-children-think.pdf.
Socio-constructivist theory of learning

Like Piaget, Vygotsky believed that children constructed their own knowledge
through interaction with their environment. However, unlike Piaget,Vygotsky
emphasized the role of the social context of learning. For this reason, Vygotsky
is regarded as a socio-constructivist. The socio-constructivist theory of learning
states that children learn through interacting with others, as they imitate each other,
demonstrate how to get things done and how to behave in social situations.
A core element of interacting with each other in any social situation requires the
use of language – Vygotsky used the term cultural tools to describe key character-
istics that define how humans interact and make meaning. Exchanging the cultural
tool of language is an integral element of socio-constructivist theory of learning, and
it is this cultural element of Vygotsky’s theory that differentiated him from Piaget.
Cultural tools as defined by Vygotsky exist in two forms; physical tools (a
computer or a book for example) and psychological tools (such as language and
thought). What sets human beings apart from any other species is our ability to
communicate through language and it is this which forms the foundation of cultural
tools. As keen symbol users, we draw upon books, maps, pictures, music and signs
to communicate thoughts, feelings, ideas and information and with each other; each
of which contribute to developing the child’s curiosity and knowledge about the
world. Vygotsky (1978: xxx) wrote:
In the instrumental act, humans master themselves from the outside – through
psychological tools.
In any given early years setting, the children are likely to come from diverse
backgrounds and will therefore enjoy a rich exchange of cultural tools that
are significant to their family. This can include books, rhymes, songs, events,
festivals and ways of behaving. Such rich and varied exchanges, in turn, result in
the child’s intellectual development being enhanced with skills such as problem
solving and imagination improving as they explore different resources and ways of
communicating that are new to them. Vygotsky’s concept of the Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD) is just one way in which adults support children to problem
solve and achieve independence during learning experiences. The ZPD is discussed
in greater detail below.
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

In the nursery, you are constantly observing children, noting what they can do and
what they are trying to achieve with the support of adults or their friends during play.
The ZPD refers to the range of development a child goes through, from what they
can achieve independently – at the lower end of the ZPD, to what they can achieve
with the guidance of a more capable peer or adult – at the higher end of the ZPD.
Chapter 8â•‡ Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) 81
For example, a child who cannot quite master tying their own shoe laces is in
the Zone of Actual Development (ZAD). If her friend then demonstrates how to do
this, guiding her through the process and thereby enabling her to achieve it, this is
referred to as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). In his influential text, Mind
in Society, Vygotsky (1978: 33) explains the ZPD:
It is the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by

independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined
through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboaration with more
capable peers.
From this explanation, we can conclude that the ZPD is a prospective view of
development as it emphasizes the potential for development through learning – as
opposed to a retrospective view which emphasizes the child’s abilities, independent
of any assistance. So, the child’s ability is determined by what they can achieve in
collaboration with an adult or more competent peer – not by what they can achieve
alone. That is not to say that working independently does not demonstrate a child’s
ability. The zone of actual development is what the child alone is doing and what the
ZPD reveals powerfully is the child’s emerging capabilities – which are important
for the practitioner to consider in terms of positioning their input as an educator.
Vygotsky provided some good examples of this which are revealed when the
child is playing and doing things which they might not yet be confident in doing
alone, for example pouring juice, bathing a baby or collaborating with their peers
as they engage in role play. Vygotsky (1934: 116) captures this beautifully in his
well-known statement:
In play, a child is always above his average age, above his daily behaviour; in play, it
is as though he were a head taller than himself.
Vygotsky’s concept of the ZPD is advocated as good practice with children, as it

requires the practitioner (or another adult or capable peer) to observe and identify
their abilities and develop strategies to help them move on to a higher level of
understanding.
Jerome Bruner’s concept of scaffolding (1983) works in a similar way, whereby
the adult assists the child in their quest for competence and gradually withdraws the
support when they can achieve the task independently. Both perspectives highlight
the importance of the child co-constructing knowledge during meaningful interac-
tions with an adult (or more capable peer) as they talk through different solutions
to problems encountered in their play and how to overcome these – as opposed to
the child being the recipient of knowledge from the adult. The concept of sustained
shared thinking (Effective Provision of Pre-School Education, 1992) is similar to
this, as the child and adult experience the learning journey together, using a process
of trial and error to solve problems and engaging in meaningful interactions.
Hohmann and Weikart (1995: 15) describe sustained shared thinking as:
Active learning and learning in which the child, by acting with people, ideas and
events constructs new understandings.
Below is an example of the ZPD in action:
A 3 year old child (Lori) is sitting at a computer, beside two more children. She
sees that they are playing the game ‘Making Monsters’. She too, clicks the start
button and begins to play. In order to complete the game, she needs to choose
the correct number of eyes, arms, hands and legs, and colour these in. As this is
Lori’s second time playing this game, her key person (having watched her enter the
computer area) sits beside her. Although she knows the correct number of limbs
and where to place them, she has difficulty in controlling the mouse so her key
person demonstrates this a few times in between encouraging her to have a go.
Lori observes her key person as she repeats with words and actions, how to move
the mouse. After a few attempts, she achieves this on her own. Her key person
gives her verbal clues to help her type her name, which she does, before printing
the document. Her key person praises her and tells her that she can go over to the
creative area to put her picture up on the wall as part of a display on monsters
and other scary characters from the children’s favourite books, rhymes and games.
As this case study shows, children benefit from observing a more able peer or adult
undertaking an unfamiliar task first, so that they can build understanding and the
self-confidence that is needed to achieve. The computers were available to use on a
daily basis with staff observing and facilitating the children’s play. Repetition was also
a key feature of the adult/child interactions which helped to consolidate understanding.
It is also important to note that unlike Piaget, Vygotsky believed that learning leads
development – whereas Piaget believed that development leads learning (1962). The
ZPD embodies this belief and is exemplified in the following statement:
What children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even
more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone. (1978: 85)
With this in mind, creating an effective climate for learning in which children and
adults learn from one another does not happen by chance; careful observation and
planning in line with the children’s interests, abilities and needs is vital. This way,
practitioners can create the optimum conditions for supporting each child in their
individual ZPD – through meaningful participation in authentic and reciprocal
learning experiences.
The ZPD is also useful when assessing individual children as it enables the practi-
tioner to gain much more evidence of the child’s current capabilities when the child
is in the ZPD and so operating at the edge of their capabilities, rather than when they
are in the ZAD (Zone of Actual Development). Unfortunately most tests and task
assessments require a child to display independent capacity and this can often result
in some children’s capacities being underestimated and others being overestimated
when using these forms of assessment. Practitioner observation of a child in their
play, and within their normal daily life, when they are more likely to be operating
in the ZPD can give a far more accurate indication of their developmental capacity.
The image below illustrates the range in the child’s ability, within the ZPD.
The ZPD and recent developments

Today, findings from neuroscience offer great insight into the positive impact of
quality early experiences on the building of neural pathways and hence brain devel-
opment, particularly during the first three years of life (Collaborative Frameworks
for Neuroscience and Education, 2006; Shore, 2000). So, when practitioners have
underpinning knowledge of how the brain is affected by experiences and interactions
from birth, they can be best positioned to facilitate children’s intellectual devel-
opment and learning with the support of parents and primary carers, when providing
a nurturing learning and care environment (Hohmann and Weikart, 1995).
The recent work of Bert Van Oers, a Professor of the cultural-historical theory
of education, who works in The Netherlands, echoes the beliefs of Vygotsky
concerning the impact of the social environment on learning and development. Like
Vygotsky, he too identified that culture affects development, with the tools used by
early years practitioners (or other significant adults) in their interactions with the
child dictating the outcomes for the child. Van Oers et al. (2008: 7) postulate that:
Learning is indeed transformed during cultural history in accordance with the

prevailing psychological, epistemological and scientific points of view, in accordance
with pedagogical, sociological and cultural views on the child and its position in
the world.
It is therefore worth noting that how the practitioner (or other significant adult)
interacts with the child will directly be influenced by their personal beliefs, their
view of children and their worth in society. In light of this, the practitioner (or
other significant adult) needs to reflect honestly about their values and their origins
in order to ensure they are not treating children who are different, unequally. The
current Early Years Foundation Stage (2012: 7) has a resounding resemblance to the
Vygotskian method as it too, focuses on the child interacting with his environment
and others through a play-based framework for learning:
●● Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things and

‘have a go’.
●● Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter
difficulties, and enjoy achievements.
●● Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own
ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
Barbara Rogoff’s concept of guided participation (1990) is just one development of
Vygotsky’s ZPD. Similarly, it advocates learning in a social context but extends upon
the ZPD, with its emphasis on incidental and unplanned learning, as well as a mutual
learning experience with the child and adult(s) benefiting from the interaction.
Vygotsky in Practice
●● Carrying out regular observations in order to identify each child’s ZPD and
providing sensitive support during their play.
●● Joint problem solving between practitioners and children during play.
●● Giving children plenty of opportunities to engage in symbolic play.
●● Providing tasks that are familiar but just beyond what they already know.
●● Practitioners being mindful of possible cultural mismatch (the mental tools
of home culture not matching up with the mental tools required at nursery).
●● Planning and implementing activities that acknowledge and utilize children’s
different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
●● Working closely with all parents to support a continuous learning journey
between home and nursery.
●● Assessing children when they are in social contexts and engaging in
collaborative play-based activity where they are likely to be performing at
the edge of their capacity and so displaying their true developmental level.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Vygotsky’s contributions
to early childhood education, make the links to practice in your setting by
reflecting upon and answering the following:
1 Identify three play opportunities for a small group of children aged between three
and five years, to develop their language and ability to reflect on recent events.
2 What changes can you make to provision in your setting, to ensure that the
different cultural tools (for example language, ways of behaving and items
from home) that the children have are acknowledged by all practitioners?
3 Read Vygotsky’s statement below. Do you agree with Vygotsky? Explain the
reason(s) behind your answer.
What children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense
even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do
alone. (1978: 85)

1 Vygotsky did not consider gender as part of his theory of the ZPD. Do you
think that the practitioner can use the ZPD in the same way for boys and
girls? Provide a brief explanation for your answer.
2 It can be argued that the concept of the ZPD is impractical due to the
emphasis on one-on-one instruction in the learning process. What do you
think? Support your answer.
3 Vygotsky believed that language preceded thought. What do you think?
Explain the reason for your answer.
4 How far and in what ways do you think Piaget and Vygotsky were
complementary in their thinking and how far were they in conflict?
Vygotsky’s Contemporary Legacy

●● The role of a support network in promoting language development

●● Barbara Rogoff
●● Urie Bronfenbrenner
●● Jerome Bruner
●● Jean Piaget
Further Reading
Nutbrown, C. Clough, P. and Selbie, P. (2008) Early Childhood Education.
History, Philosophy and Experience. London: SAGE.
This book takes a creative approach to its examination of some of the
foundation theories concerning childhood, learning and development. The
imagined conversations between the theorists and the authors help to bring
their ideas into the present, thus demonstrating their relevance today.
Sheehy, N. (2004) Fifty Key Thinkers in Psychology. London and New York:
Routledge.
The chapter examining Vygotsky’s contributions to psychology and learning is
comprehensive and easy to follow. This is a good book to use to start your
study off or when you need to access accurate information quickly.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.

This is a key text of Vygotsky’s and we would recommend reading it in order
to familiarize yourselves with his concepts. It contains an introductory
biography outlining the salient aspects of Vygotsky’s short life, followed by
seven chapters which examine his different theories. The chapter concerning
Piaget’s theory of children’s thought and speech is revealing and enables the
reader to compare and contrast the two theorists’ ideas with ease.
Jerome Bruner
(1915–)
9
An introduction to Jerome Bruner and his
Jerome Bruner is an American psychologist whose long and prolific career continues
today as Research Professor of Psychology and Senior Research Fellow in Law at
New York University. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of cognitive psychology
for his many and varied research studies in the United States concerning the
relevance of education, the impact of the cultural environment and social class
on education and how children learn. Bruner’s work is not however confined to
America – he has also carried out the formative study on Under-5s in preschools in
Oxford in the 1980s and more recently, he undertook an exploration of the Reggio
Emilia project in Northern Italy.
Bruner’s research concerning language and cognitive development and educa-
tional psychology during the 1950s and 1960s still has resonance in learning
environments around the world at present (Rowe and Wertsch, 2002). Although
some of his research was conducted in the United States, the issues that concerned
him and led him to undertake the studies (which included racism, class and poverty
and their impact on cognitive ability and educational outcomes) are just as relevant
and still need to be resolved in the United Kingdom today. His major contribution to
education was developing a theory of learning and teaching and the socio-cultural
location of that process and also the role of practitioners as ‘scaffolders’ of this
learning rather than ‘transmitters of learning’.
Discussing some of his work concerning social class and the role of education,
Bruner (1971: xii) had drawn the hard-hitting conclusion that:
The education system was in effect our way of maintaining a class system
– a group at the bottom. It crippled the capacity of children in the lowest
socioeconomic quarter of the population to participate at full power in society, and

did so early and effectively.
Bruner was concerned with equality of opportunity and his work was to ensure
early years was seen as pivotal in combating inequality. Today, we have the findings
from the longitudinal study, the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE)
Project (2004), which, as part of its conclusions, outlines those factors that enable
children from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve and those which do not. Issues
surrounding equality of opportunity within early years provision and how to achieve
this are thus still central to planning and provision across settings today.
Bruner’s major work, however, came out of his study of Vygotskian theory
and was focused more on cognition and how learning processes work. He built
on Vygotsky’s work by providing an effective explanation of how learning is
constructed and how children revisit the same cognitive schema but spirally, i.e. it’s
a little more sophisticated in their understanding each time they revisit as they layer
their learning. He also showed how interaction with the environment, objects and
people powerfully support and extend learning processes and that all this occurs in
a cultural context which reinforces or distances certain ways of thinking and acting.
For this reason, Bruner’s work focused more on how learning occurs in the child’s
world and understanding the factors that shaped learning.
As well as being a key figure in disseminating the ideas of Vygotsky to the West
during the early 1960s, Bruner was greatly influenced by Vygotsky’s ideas and he,
too, focused on the social and cultural influences on learning and development
(2010). This is in contrast to the perspective taken by Piaget, who did not place as
much emphasis on the impact of cultural and social factors in the process of learning.
All three theorists are however referred to as Cognitivists, due to their theorizing
into children’s mental processes and hence their cognitive development. Bruner
wrote a seminal paper concerning the contributions of Piaget and Vygotsky which
drew parallels and showed they were not in fact contradictory notions of learning
and development. He showed that both Vygotsky and Piaget were concerned with
the developmental notions of learning and understanding and that Piaget did see the
social and cultural aspects, i.e. his persepective was not solely developmental, and
Vygotsky too acknowledged the developmental aspect to learning so was not solely a
social constructivist. It is thus, a difference of emphasis as opposed to contradictory
notions of learning and development.
Bruner has also supervised and collaborated with a range of current influential
researchers such as Colwyn Trevarthen, Professor Kathy Sylva (one of the principal
researchers involved in the EPPE Project), Alison Gopnik and Andrew Meltzoff
(refer to Chapter 12 for information concerning their current work into early person-
ality and brain development). Some of Bruner’s most pertinent contributions to the
field of education and child development will now be explored in turn. It will be
useful to consider practice in your setting while reading about his ideas concerning
cognitive development and the education of young children.
Chapter 9â•‡ Jerome Bruner (1915–) 89
Spiral curriculum
Bruner devised the concept of the spiral curriculum in the 1960s. A core part of this
concept is the belief that any given subject needs to be taught in line with what the
child already knows and is able to do. From this point, the practitioner should plan
learning experiences that the child can revisit in more depth in the future. Revisiting
previous experiences results in the child consolidating their understanding as they
continually return to basic ideas while new subjects and concepts are added over
the course of a curriculum. When these are planned incrementally, the child has the
opportunity to reflect on their learning, build on their knowledge and the ability to
think creatively when encountering new learning experiences. Using the concept
of a spiral curriculum therefore makes sense, especially in the early years where
children learn most effectively through hands-on experiences and repetition of these
experiences until they can fully understand the concepts being taught.
Achieving such individualized learning requires effective observation and
assessment in order to ensure each child is enabled to take part in learning experi-
ences that are not only matched to their current capabilities but are also just beyond
their reach. This is similar to Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal devel-
opment (ZPD) and is an essential part of child-centred practice.
Case Study
The spiral curriculum in practice
A small group of children became fascinated with fire engines having recently visited
the local fire station. They engaged in the same play every day, which mainly took place
in the small world area. The children continually pushed the trucks and fire engines
around, making the siren sounds and creating fire scenarios for them to /’put out’.
The practitioner observed this over the week and following a planning meeting with
her colleagues, extended the children’s learning by planning a further trip to the fire
station and organizing with the fire fighters to bring the fire engine to the nursery
so that the children can have real hands-on experience and ask them any questions.
Following the visit to the nursery, the practitioners further extended the fire engine
theme by creating indoor and outdoor learning opportunities which entailed turning
the home corner into a fire station and making a huge fire engine with props such as
ropes and ladders in the garden. These resources enabled the children to carry out
their role play along with the intervention of the practitioners who introduced new
vocabulary to build on what the children had previously learned.
1 Consider the curriculum in your setting. In which ways do you think Bruner’s
spiral curriculum is evident in your planning and provision of learning
experiences?
2 Can you provide a spiral curriculum without knowing or observing children?
3 How far can you intervene without interfering and hindering learning and
development?
4 Consider the Case Study above. How can parents be involved to further build
on their children’s interests and knowledge?
Scaffolding
Bruner’s concept of scaffolding is used to foster children’s learning in curricula in
early years settings and classrooms across the United Kingdom and America today
(Copple and Bredekamp, 2009). Bruner provides a clear account of what scaffolding
should look like in action:
There is a vast amount of skilled activity required of a ‘teacher’ to get a learner to

discover on his own – scaffolding the task in a way that assures that only those
parts of the task within the child’s reach are left unresolved, and knowing what
elements of a solution the child will recognise though he cannot yet perform them.
(Bruner, 1977: xiv)
Bruner (1996: xii) posits that:
Any subject could be taught to any child at any age in some form that was honest.
This encapsulates the spiral curriculum of learning perfectly – the fact that concepts
which can be considered as challenging (for example maths, physics and chemistry)
can be taught to young children, as long as the practitioner provides learning
experiences that are interesting and manageable. These learning experiences should
also be continually reviewed as new concepts are introduced, to reinforce learning
that has taken place and to instil a sense of self-confidence.
Following is an example of scaffolding taking place in a nursery. Read it carefully
and reflect on the questions that follow.
Scaffolding is something that parents, teachers, support workers provide to
children on a daily basis during interactions without giving it much thought; that is
to say, it comes quite naturally. The purpose of this scaffolding is to allow the child
to achieve higher levels of cognitive development by the adult:
1 motivating and encouraging the child;
2 giving models that can be imitated;
3 simplifying the task or idea;
4 highlighting errors or significant elements of the task.
Chapter 9â•‡ Jerome Bruner (1915–) 91
In order for the process of scaffolding to be successful, the task needs to be made
interesting and meaningful for the child. This in turn can result in the child fully
engaging in the task and therefore benefiting from it. Bruner (1977: 80) identifies
the useful elements of such a task:
They must be based as much as possible upon the arousal of interest in what there
is to be learned, and they must be kept broad and diverse in expression.
The scaffold provided by the adult is a temporary support structure around the
child’s attempts to understand new ideas and complete new tasks – once the child
demonstrates ability independent of any adult intervention, the scaffold (support)
should be removed.
1 Do practitioners always need to plan for scaffolding children’s learning?
Explain the reason for your answer.
2 Provide one example of how you have successfully provided a scaffold to
promote a child’s learning.
Language Acquisition Support System

(LASS)
Bruner believes that children’s mastery of language partly resides in the fact that
they understand very early that interactions between themselves and others are
intentional (Sheehy, 2004). This highlights the proactive role that Bruner assigns
to children in their language development. This is in direct contrast to Noam
Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which proposes that language
acquisition will inevitably take place in all individuals due to being born with an
instinctive mental capacity and the necessary resources (brain, mouth, tongue, voice
box and lungs) ‘built in’. According to this perspective, language development thus
requires minimal direct intervention from parents or teachers due to language being
governed by these in-built factors. While Bruner fully acknowledges the role of the
LAD, he stresses the importance of the child’s social network (family, friends and
teachers) in facilitating the child’s development of language. These networks will
lend themselves to meaningful interactions taking place which will enable the child
to learn and use the rules and customs of the language. Contrary to Chomsky’s
nativist theory of language development, it is not inevitable that language will be
learnt simply due to having the in-built mechanisms to do so. One tragic example of
this is the case of ‘Genie’ (1957). This child was subjected to horrendous physical,
mental and emotional abuse for the first 13 years of her life. Strapped to a potty
chair and beaten daily, ‘Genie’ was isolated from all social interaction until adoles-
cence. When she was ‘saved’ it was too late; she could not speak, could barely walk
and lacked all social skills. She now lives in an adult foster care home. This is an
extremely tragic example of what can go wrong when children are denied their basic
human rights to love, shelter and stimulation.
Language use is indeed unique to humans; the human brain is designed in such
a way that we are enabled to acquire and speak numerous languages (Pinker, 2000).
However, language development cannot solely be attributed to being born with the
necessary mechanisms (LAD). As Bruner identifies, it is also a result of the child
being exposed to the right factors in the environment (such as age and stage appro-
priate play experiences for babies and children and meaningful interactions) which
as a result, will make them capable of understanding language, and therefore learn
it with ease (LASS).
Based on Bruner’s LASS, list three factors that can promote a 3-year-old child’s
language development.
The three modes of representation

In his research on the cognitive development of children (1966), Jerome Bruner
proposed three modes of representation. These modes explain how a child stores
and processes information at different ages. Like Piaget (1953), Bruner acknowl-
edged that young children use different types of thinking (or representation) at
different ages, and that the latter modes depend on the earlier modes. The key
difference in their theories is that Piaget proposed that children develop sequentially
through the different stages of cognitive development, whereas Bruner’s is not a
stage theory as he does not stipulate fixed ages by which a behaviour should occur.
Below is a brief description of the three modes of representation. While reading,
reflect on the children you know and how they behave. Can you identify any
similarities?
Enactive representation (action-based) 0–1 year

Babies store information based on their hands-on experiences of physical objects,
learning through their movement and actions. Knowledge is thus stored as ‘motor
memory’. Of course, it is not only babies who learn effectively through hands-on
manipulation of objects but some adults also.
Chapter 9 Jerome Bruner (1915–) 93
Iconic representation (image-based) 1–6 years

During this mode the child is still ‘restricted’ to dealing with concrete experiences
and tangible objects. Information concerning objects in the environment is stored
and categorized as images in the mind, which the child cannot think beyond. i.e.
they are still unable to think in abstract terms.
Symbolic representation (language-based) 7 years

onwards
The child is now able to think in abstract terms, no longer depending on the im-
ages used in the iconic mode. This is due to language having more of an influence
on thinking. This means that information can now be stored as symbols (language
and numbers).
It is through his notion of the spiral curriculum that Bruner argues even the more
complex concepts such as mathematical and scientific ideas can be presented to
children at almost any age, provided they are educated in an appropriate mode
of representation. Remember, although symbolic representation is the final mode
of representation, it does not replace the earlier modes, i.e. hands-on experience
and visual resources are still highly necessary as part of a rich and varied learning
experience.
Consider the concept of the changing of states of matter (solids, liquids and
gases). How would you teach this in line with each of the three modes of
representation?
Use the table below to note down your ideas.
Mode of Appropriate learning Reason for your

representation experience choice
Enactive
Iconic
Symbolic
Developments of Bruner’s theories

More recently Bruner has come to be critical of some of his past work concerning
children’s cognitive development and the ‘cognitive revolution’, explaining that
he focused too narrowly on the individual child and the internal factors that drove
learning (1996). His more current work instead embraces the external (cultural,
social and historical) factors that impact on learning. As a result of this change,
Vygotsky’s influence of Bruner’s recent work has become more evident as a result,
with the historical and social context of children taken into account. Understanding
how culture (and the differences among children) impacts on the learning experi-
ences is key to helping each child develop to their fullest potential. This is of course
required in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, 2012). Practitioners thus have
a responsibility to ensure positive attitudes to these differences so that a climate of
mutual trust and respect is created in which every child knows that they can make
positive contributions to society from the earliest age.
At a practical level, Bruner posits that as a result of cultural differences, children
from different cultural backgrounds make sense of their experiences in different
ways. For example, categorizations for communication (including sign language)
will differ across cultures, and practitioners owe it to the families with whom they
work, to familiarize themselves with these so that everyone is clear and can engage
in a learning environment that is enabling and reciprocal in nature.
Bruner’s influential book, The Culture of Education (1996), focuses on the cultural
context of education, with arguments developed around schooling and education in
general. In this book, Bruner uses the concept of ‘mutual learning cultures’ which
takes into account the cultural, historical and social backgrounds of each individual
child. In such classrooms or early years settings, teachers and early years practi-
tioners create environments which enable all children to learn in a climate of trust,
respect and reciprocity. He describes the mutual learning culture as one in which:
There is mutual sharing of knowledge and ideas, mutual aid in mastering material,
division of labour and exchange of roles, opportunity to reflect on the group’s
activities. (1996: xv)
Although this is considered the ideal, the constraints of achieving a mutual learning
culture need to be taken into account; early years settings are very busy and
lively environments with children differing greatly in terms of experience, ability,
background, language, culture and emotional needs.
Careful observation, planning and monitoring of learning is therefore required to
create a learning environment that not only embraces the different and contrasting
cultural, historical and social backgrounds of all children but also uses these within
experiences and interactions to maximize learning. Underpinning such good practice
is the building and maintaining of positive relationships with all parents in order to
instil a sense of trust and confidence that will enable the child’s learning experiences
to effortlessly flow between the early years setting and home.
Chapter 9 Jerome Bruner (1915–) 95
Today, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, 2012) emphasizes the child’s
personal, social and emotional development as being at the core of their capacity to
take part in learning experiences. Attributes such as self-confidence, self-awareness,
managing feelings and behaviour and making relationships are thus highlighted in
order to guide practitioners and parents in nurturing and developing these qualities
and skills.
Bruner in Practice
●● Having a robust observation and planning process that supports the notion of
the spiral curriculum.
●● Practitioners facilitating learning through effective scaffolding (i.e. through
simplifying the task, motivating, encouraging and providing a model for the
child to imitate).
●● Using available resources and planning meetings to provide meaningful
experiences that promote individual children’s language development.
●● Providing a wide range of activities and interactions to promote learning in
each of the three modes of representation.
●● Working with all parents and carers in order to understand and make the
most of their children’s cultural backgrounds and knowledge within the
setting’s planning and assessment process.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Bruner’s contributions to
early childhood education, make the links to practice in your setting by reflecting
upon and completing the following:
1 How could you and your nursery team ensure you offer progressively complex
learning experiences to your children which build on from what they know
and can do so in all areas of learning?
2 Create your own example of scaffolding learning during a play experience and
explain how it supports cognitive development.
3 Compare Bruner’s LASS with Chomsky’s LAD. Which perspective do you agree
with concerning children’s development of language and why?

1 Read Bruner’s statement below. Do you agree? Support your answer with
relevant discussion and examples from your experience as a practitioner.
Any subject could be taught to any child at any age in some form that was
honest.
2 Bruner asserted that learning is contextually and culturally located rather

than biologically driven. What do you think? (Consider the nature v. nurture
debate to construct your argument.)
3 In which ways can Bruner’s ideas about learning help practitioners to deal
with diversity and difference in the early years setting?
Bruner’s Contemporary Legacy

●âŠ‘ Cultural participation
●âŠ‘ Socio-cultural learning
●âŠ‘ The role of a support network in promoting language development
●âŠ‘ Behavioural and academic expectations

●âŠ‘ Margaret Donaldson
●âŠ‘ Urie Bronfenbrenner
Further Reading
Bruner, J. (1996) The Culture of Education. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard
University Press.
It is worthwhile reading this seminal text in order to fully understand Bruner’s
position concerning modern education and the central role that cultures play
in forming and developing the mind. He sets out his thoughts and experiences
in nine essays, which encourage the reader to reflect on the issues presented,
both in terms of their professional experience and wider society.
Yelland, N. (2005) Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education. Maidenhead:

Open University Press.
This book challenges a range of long-held beliefs that pervade early childhood
education and the sections on Bruner serve to add vigour to the arguments
presented. An excellent resource which contains complex ideas that are easily
accessible.
Colwyn
Trevarthen
(1931–)
10
An introduction to Colwyn Trevarthen
and his influence in early child care
and education
Colwyn Trevarthen is Professor (Emeritus) of Child Psychology and Psychobiology
in the Department of Psychology of the University of Edinburgh. Originating from
New Zealand, he has worked with theorists such as Jerome Bruner as a Research
Fellow at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard University, where he began
his research on infant communication. His work concerning the wide and varied
areas of child development include infant intersubjectivity (the shared meaning
which is created between an infant and adult in their interactions with each other),
brain development, neuropsychology, the development of communication in young
children, gestural and musical communication, the effects of disorders such as
autism and maternal depression. He has also carried out studies concerning the
impact of positive parental communication on emotional well-being and learning
and parent-infant interaction. He often incorporates video footage of babies and
mothers communicating in his speeches, which provides clear and powerful
evidence in supporting his findings. Trevarthen’s current research concerns the role
of emotions and motives in education and psychological development from birth.
As part of this, Trevarthen has conducted numerous studies on how the rhythms and
emotions of children’s play and fantasy, stories, songs and musical games support
cultural learning (such as language development) in early childhood.
Due to his emphasis on the social, emotional and cultural context of learning and
of cognitive development, Trevarthen’s contributions to our understanding of child
development places him close to the work of Jerome Bruner (whom Trevarthen
refers to as ‘the modern Comenius of educational reform’), Lev Vygotsky, and more
recently, Daniel Walsh and Daniel Stern. All of these theorists complement each
other’s work to a lesser or greater extent. For example, Walsh (2007), Bruner (1986)
and Vygotsky (1962) focus on the role of culture in learning and development,
while Trevarthen (1998; 1978) and Stern (1998) are chiefly concerned with the role
of interpersonal and emotional communication or inter subjectivity in infancy as
preparation for learning shared meaning. They have both been key figures in the
development of research employing microanalysis of videotape and film to study
the affective regulations of mother–infant face-to-face interactions, by means of
which they have traced development of intimate protoconversations, games and the
infant’s sense of self and other. These themes of culture, communication in infancy
and healthy psychological development are inextricably linked and it is useful for
you to be familiar with them in order to be able to reflect on the role they play in
fostering the all-round development of babies and children in your care.
The most pertinent of Trevarthen’s theories relating to children’s development
will now be explored. While reading about his ideas, take time to reflect on your
opinions of these in relation to your role in nurturing the confidence of babies and
young children throughout your interactions with them.
Communicating with babies and toddlers

Supporting communication of infants is probably one aspect of your role that you
do almost without thinking. After all, communicating with babies and children (be it
through speaking, signing or body language) is a powerful means of learning. Given
that a baby’s need to be social is innate (Hobson, 2002; Donaldson, 1995) having
shared their life with their mother for nine months in utero and listened to her voice
for the last three months (Stern, 2000), they are born ready to communicate with
their mother and soon with others in their world. It is now recognized that within
hours, a baby is keen to engage in interactions and be social with those in their
immediate environment. As Trevarthen and Reddy (2007: 9) bring to our attention:
Face expressions, eye movements, vocalisations and hand gestures can become
part of a mutually pleasing transaction, simply because they are made up in the
communication and ‘recognised’. This is proof of an innate capacity in a child for
learning new meanings and for using them cooperatively, a ‘nascent consciousness’
for human meaning with human feelings of relatedness.
There are, however, important differences between families in terms of their culture,
personal beliefs, and view of childhood itself which will all determine how much
opportunity they afford to the child to take part in language (Pierce, 2000; Rogoff,
Hammer and Weiss, 1999; Damast et al., 1996). So, when you consider that language
or communication includes the infant’s endeavours to communicate needs, feelings,
and thoughts, the adult should be mindful of the fact the children with whom they
work vary greatly when it comes to experience with language and consequently, their
Chapter 10 Colwyn Trevarthen (1931–) 99
levels of self-belief, confidence and self-esteem. Vygotsky (1978), like Trevarthen,

asserted that the role of the adult is crucial in supporting the child’s language
development. An adult who is sensitive and in tune with the individual child’s cues
will be best positioned to facilitate the development of language and thought. The
role of dialogue between the adult and young child is thus paramount as this lends
itself to creating an enriched environment in which the child can practise and master
communicating their feelings and thoughts in a range of contexts.
Trevarthen’s important work (1998) on pedagogy for 2-year-olds points to the
critical importance of a pedagogy which centres around supporting and sustaining
young children’s attachments to those who are important in their world, including
the family, peers and, of course, a key person in the nursery. It is through these close,
affirmative relationships that the child develops a strong and positive sense of self
with a confidence in their own individuality, dignity, self-belief and pride in their
identity. It also celebrates and encourages the child’s capacity to explore and make
sense of their world with curiosity, openness and vitality. This relational and trans-
formative pedagogy focuses on the child becoming a confident and capable learner
within a connected, secure and enabling socio-emotional environment.
The role of activity and emotions in

development
A child’s emotional development is laid down from birth (Gopnik, 2009; Gerhardt
2004; Music, 2001). They very quickly understand whether they can trust those
immediately around them or whether their world is an unsafe place, filled with
uncertainty in terms of being able to enjoy loving and caring relationships that are
consistent. This notion of ‘trust or mistrust’ is the first stage of Erik Erikson’s theory
of personality development (1950). Erikson asserts that from birth to one year, a
baby will be able to distinguish whether they can trust their mother to love and care
for them or not. This ‘decision’ will be based directly on the quality of relationship
they have with their mother and how emotionally available she is. Self-identity
and self-esteem develops or is shattered by inappropriate adult actions and interac-
tions. Moving on from Erikson and Bowlby, healthy attachment develops through
responsive interactions, which has big implications for curriculum planning and key
aspects of learning and development.
Trevarthen, too, stresses the role of the primary caregiver in shaping the baby’s
emergent emotional and social development, especially in relation to nurturing their
baby’s attempts at understanding their world and their role in it and consequently,
supporting them to learn about their culture through their interactions (Parker-Rees,
2007; Trevarthen, 1995).
His research findings reinforce the importance of respectful and nurturing
relationships that encourage the baby to express their feelings of happiness, sadness,
curiosity and humour (Trevarthen et al., 2002). Like Bronfenbrenner, he identifies
that the child’s personality or emotional development plays a role in shaping their
environment, or others’ responses to them. He asserts that:
The child’s emotional development is both a reflection of maternal care, and a

factor in the making of new relationships. (Trevarthen et al., 2002: 27)
Unfortunately some children do not get to experience the ‘safety net’ of a secure
attachment due to a wide range of factors such as abuse, parents being drug
or alcohol dependent or being emotionally unavailable. This makes the role of
practitioners all the more significant as they can play a part in compensating for the
lack of security and love in the child’s life through providing consistency of care,
one-to-one attention and signposting parents to the relevant agencies that might be
better positioned to intervene and support parents in caring for their child.
Discussing the implications for a child who has suffered abuse or neglect,
Trevarthen explains that although the child may still be able to participate in
some aspects of life, they will find it difficult to engage with others due to fear
and mistrust. He therefore emphasizes the role of the arts as therapy which are
designed to nurture the child’s emotional well-being and sense of security, while
promoting their communication. He identifies activities such as drama, music, dance
or graphical story-making to help encourage the child to engage with others and
express themselves in ways that are most comfortable to them (Trevarthen, 2008).
1 What types of practical support do you provide for parents who are not
emotionally available to their children?
2 List some of the specific activities and experiences that you provide for babies
and children who do not enjoy a secure attachment with their parents.
3 In which ways do you involve parents who are difficult to reach, in their
child’s care and education?
In order to provide quality care and education that meets the individual needs of all
families, Trevarthen (2011: 173) explains that:
Cultivation of ‘childcare’ and ‘education’ are both important for the well-being
and development of a young child … Relations with parents and family must be
kept alive when the child is in any institutional setting for care or for learning, and
experiences at home should be related to and exchanged with those at nursery.
Given all the evidence, it comes as no surprise that the revised EYFS (2012)
emphasizes the centrality of fostering a child’s personal, social and emotional
development. As part of this, skills and qualities such as helping children to develop
a positive sense of self, self-respect and respect for others as well as building
social skills and managing their own feelings are all strongly advocated as best
practice. Having staff that are confident in nurturing every young child’s emotional
well-being will in turn support their emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995) and
their understanding of how to behave in social situations. The early years setting
may well be the only place in which the child gets to practice their emergent social
skills, it is therefore critical to ensure that your provision (particularly, the key
person system) is designed to meet the unique and ever-changing needs of every
young child.
What do you Think?

Consider the infant’s emotional development. What are the implications for you,
both at a personal and professional level? Give at least two factors for each.
Communicative musicality: The inventive

rhythm of companionship
This concept refers to the unique features of the earliest interactions that occur
between mother and child. Communicative musicality (Trevarthen and Malloch,
2002) also captures the tone, rhythm, pace and ultimately, the ‘shared consciousness’
between them during these interactions. This includes verbal and non-verbal commu-
nication. Trevarthen and Malloch (2002: 1) identify some of the main elements of
communicative musicality as:
Delicate expressions and sensitive responses passing between young infants and
their mothers … rhythmic patterns of engagement that could be represented as
musical or dance like.
Case Study
Yildiz is six months old. She is sat on her mother’s lap, facing her, as her mother
sings a song to her, alternating between Turkish and English, and tunefully counts
the fingers on Yildiz’s left hand in Turkish. Yildiz closely follows her mother’s
movements, squealing with laughter. Her mother imitates her laughter and then
counts the fingers on her right hand, again in a soft Turkish tone. Yildiz kicks her
legs out excitedly and makes the sound ‘hahahaha!’ Her mother again imitates her
and proceeds to count her own fingers in Turkish and then English. She is speaking
slowly, as she looks at Yildiz, smiling throughout. Yildiz grabs her mother’s right
hand, cooing and smiling. Her mother mirrors her actions and does the same.
Communicative musicality exists around the world (Kuhl, 1997; Masataka,

1993; Papousek, 1992), with language and gestures being used to communicate
warmth, humour and feelings of happiness. So, although it is moulded by culture,
characteristics such as intonation, pitch and rhythm are the same globally (Kuhl et
al., 1997). The mother (or other primary caregiver) will often sing or communicate
in tones and rhythms that are typical of their language, hence making communicative
musicality a culture-bound activity. Take, for example, the power of music to relax
and soothe a child, or a lullaby sung in the child’s home language, to help ease them
off to sleep.
Music and songs are, of course, key ways of helping the young child to famil-
iarize themselves with their daily routine – singing about tasks such as putting on
clothes, brushing hair and washing hair are all made fun by making up action rhymes
to help build the child’s understanding of not only what to expect in the routine
(thereby promoting their ability to predict) but also their confidence in undertaking
some of these tasks for themselves. Trevarthen (1999) has shown that developments
in the first year show how shared participation in vocal games can encourage the
young child’s ability to imitate speech and gestures as well as build their under-
standing of conventional uses of actions and objects. The early years setting thus
provides a highly suitable environment in which babies and young children can
practise such skills.
How is communicative musicality important

to early years care and education?
Consider the relationship between the mother (or other primary caregiver) and child,
and the feelings of trust, respect and mutual enjoyment that such a relationship
brings. Communicative musicality would not be possible if these factors were not
present in the relationship, as the baby would not feel secure or confident enough
to engage in this type of two-way interaction. This has implications for you as
practitioners in the early years setting because you need to be attuned to babies’ and
children’s cues in order to respond to them appropriately. This is partly achieved
through engaging in warm and responsive interactions which promote their self-
confidence and a positive sense of self.
Infants under one year, who have no language, communicate powerfully and
constructively with receptive adults (Trevarthen et al., 2008). Note that Trevarthen
identifies the importance of the adult being ‘receptive’. Babies are highly intuitive
beings and will very quickly understand whether an adult is someone that they can
feel comfortable enough to engage with, or whether they have no interest. This will
inevitably impact on the relationship between the adult and baby. Having a keen
interest in all babies and children – as opposed to being concerned with exerting
power over them – is critical, as this will enable you to build a trusting relationship
in which the young child can expect to engage in experiences that can be initiated
and ended by them in a non-pressurized way.
Working closely with all parents will also enable you to find out as much infor-
mation as is necessary to help you tailor your provision for each family as much as
possible. For example, learning and using key words in the child’s home language,
creating ‘calm time’ before and after lunch and having ‘group time’ between a key
person and their key children, can all facilitate communicative musicality.
1 Do you think that the interactions between staff and children in your setting
contain communicative musicality?
2 What factors do you think enable and prevent such interactions from taking
place in your setting? Give two examples for each.
3 How can the key person system be used to promote communicative
musicality in your setting?
To summarize, communicative musicality is just one of the indicators of a warm

and trusting relationship between the mother (or other primary caregiver) and child.
Through these interactions, the baby practises their social skills as they are afforded
the time, space and patience to engage in meaningful exchange with the primary
caregiver. It is worth noting that communicative musicality can be achieved easily
during the daily routine – be it during a nappy change, during singing or just before
the baby’s nap time.
How maternal depression is hard for a

child too
A child’s happiness may well be the determining factor in her ability to live a
fulfilled life both in the short and long term. The road to achieving this begins from
conception, where the foetus experiences the effects of her mother’s lifestyle and
mood via the placenta – this organ produces hormones that help the baby to grow
and develop, as well as providing nutrients and oxygen to keep the foetus alive.
Conversely, if the mother suffers from depression, is alcohol or drug dependent,
lives in constant stress (due to factors such as poverty, domestic violence or not
having a support network), her unborn child will also suffer.
Having a baby is a life-changing event and it should be a joyful time, but for some
mothers this is sadly not the case, with one in ten mothers suffering from depression
(4Children, 2011). Mothers suffering from depression are often withdrawn, less
attentive to their baby’s needs, unable to show love consistently, lack patience
during care-giving tasks and often get angry at the slightest ‘provocation’. Discipline
strategies are also inappropriate and often harsh (Field, 1992; Cohn et al., 1986).
All of these factors preclude the possibility of a warm and secure relationship being
built. Maternal depression is thus the cause of multiple psychological issues that can
manifest very early on in infancy, with devastating results for the developing child.
Cummings and Kouros (2009: 1) outline some of these:
Maternal depression is demonstrated to contribute to multiple early child

developmental problems, including impaired cognitive, social and academic
functioning. Children of depressed mothers are at least two to three times more
likely to develop adjustment problems, including mood disorders. In infancy,

children of depressed mothers are more fussy, less responsive to facial and vocal
expressions, more inactive and have elevated stress hormones compared to infants
of non-depressed mothers.
It stands to reason that even from their earliest days, babies born to depressed
mothers show less response to facial and verbal expressions – these babies do not
have a positive role model from whom they can learn how to express their feelings
of happiness, sadness, or excitement. When these all-important initial affective
experiences are missing, babies quickly develop atypical emotional behaviour
(Murray et al., 1999) which can be very difficult to reverse.
Babies are highly intelligent and are born to be social (Trevarthen, 2012). From
birth, they respond to other humans and seek to be in close proximity to their mother
or primary caregiver. Studies which repeatedly show that babies are able to process
and imitate expressions (Trevarthen, 2012; Meltzoff and Moore, 1977) are testament
to the fact that babies need to experience love, warmth and affection from their
mother (or primary caregiver) in order to thrive. When these all-important factors
are missing from the baby’s life, they very quickly come to realize that their world is
not a happy place in which they can expect to be nurtured and have their basic needs
met. The devastating effect of this is that babies will learn to self-soothe (i.e. thumb
sucking, rocking, pulling their hair) to cope with distress and lack of affection.
They might also appear to withdraw from their mother – not seeking cuddles or
interaction. This is not because they do not want it, but because they know that their
needs will go unmet.
Read the case study below and respond to the questions that follow.
Case Study
Imagine that you have recently become a key person to Jack, who is 9 months
old. During your first meeting with his mother, she tells you that she suffered
with postnatal depression and that she still gets depressed. She is on medication
which she says ‘helps a bit’ but that she still struggles when it comes to getting
on with Jack.
She mentions that they don’t really play together and that she finds it difficult
to show affection. During her one-hour stay at the nursery, you observe that Jack
didn’t attempt to play with his mother and did not respond when she kissed him
goodbye.
Over the next few days you observe that he does not show any emotion. He
also doesn’t seem interested in exploring the environment, but with one-to-one
encouragement, he does a little.
Chapter 10â•‡ Colwyn Trevarthen (1931–) 105
What do you Think?

1 What is the role of the early years practitioner in supporting a baby who is
displaying signs of depression?
2 What practical support can the setting provide to help cultivate the
relationship between Jack and his mother?
3 In which ways might Jack’s all-round development be affected if he and his
mother are not supported at the earliest opportunity?
Babies are highly sensitive and need to be helped to regulate their emotions and
learn how to express their feelings in an atmosphere of respect and love. The
first relationship(s) is thus vital in laying the foundations for healthy emotional
development, which the baby can then take forward and use in other relationships
with family members, early years practitioners and other babies and children.
Trevarthen (2012: 7) identifies these protective factors as well as some of the
consequences for the baby when these are not in place:
A healthy mind builds proud memories in loving company with specially trusted
family and friends, making a good, self-confident story. Loneliness, shame,
depression and sadness are the emotions that identify loss of this collective story-
making, which can be called ‘socionoesis’. (Frank and Trevarthen, 2011; Trevarthen
and Reddy, 2007)
Trevarthen (2012) believes that the ‘distress felt in one (i.e. the mother) causes
distress in the other’ (i.e. her baby). Consequently, this disorganizes the relationship,
leaving the baby confused and unsettled, while the mother struggles to meet her
own, as well as her baby’s needs. Ideally, babies suffering from the impact of
maternal depression need to be supported as early as possible in order to ameliorate
against any long-term damage to their growing emotional, intellectual, language
and social development. This intervention and on-going support can be provided by
the midwife, health visitor or family therapist – who is trained to provide on-going
support to the mother and baby in a confidential space. Family therapists can be
particularly helpful to a mother who is suffering from depression and is struggling
to connect with and get along with her baby.
As an early years practitioner, your role is centred on ensuring the well-being
and safety of those babies and children entrusted in your care. This means knowing
your setting’s policies concerning safeguarding and partnership with parents, and
in this context, knowing the signs of depression so that you are in a position to
identify and support (and refer) if necessary. The few hours that a child spends in
the nursery on a regular basis can do much to help alleviate the effects of living
with depression – provided that staff are well versed in attachment theories and
can support babies and children in managing their emotions during difficult times.
The concept of containment (Shuttleworth, 1989) is applicable here. Containment
refers to a mother’s ability to understand her baby’s state of mind and feelings, and
support her through difficult feelings (such as sadness, anger, frustration or fear) by
identifying with her and talking her through her feelings as you hold her. This is all
the more important to do with babies as they will be overwhelmed by such strong
feelings and because they are pre-verbal, they will need sensitive support to help
them work through these emotions. In the nursery, you are the baby’s container,
this means being attuned to them and picking up on their cues. This means knowing
why they might be extra clingy (i.e. if they are unwell, tired, upset or experiencing a
transition) and allowing them to stay close to you and play beside you.
Trevarthen in Practice
●● Supporting all parents in nurturing their child’s ability to learn at home and
in the early years setting.
●● Ensuring that practitioners are confident in engaging in respectful and
meaningful interactions with all babies and children entrusted in their care.
●● Undertaking regular observations of babies and children and using
findings to inform your practice (which Trevarthen believes is the key to
understanding the individual child).
●● Raising the status of the voice of all children in your planning and work with
families.
●● Music therapy for children who have autism, or have suffered abuse or
neglect.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Trevarthen’s contributions
to early childhood communication, make the links to practice in your setting by
reflecting upon and completing the following:
1 Note down your understanding of communicative musicality.
2a Discuss one example of how you have communicated with a baby in this
style.
2b How do you think this interaction supported the baby’s emotional
well-being?
3 Identify two vocal games that you play with babies, to encourage their
ability to imitate speech and build their understanding of conventional uses
of actions.
4 How do you help babies to regulate their emotions?
Chapter 10â•‡ Colwyn Trevarthen (1931–) 107

1 Given that the first relationship is critical in laying the foundations for
healthy emotional development, is ‘all lost’ for babies and children who do
not experience this essential relationship?
2 How far is the emotional security and well-being of the adult practitioner
critical in their relationship to the child?
3 How might Trevarthen’s ideas work with children who have communicative
disorders or delay?
4 How far do you think Trevarthen’s ideas about adult–child relationships
work in different cultures?
Trevarthen’s Contemporary Legacy

●âŠ‘ The role of very early experiences on all-round development



●âŠ‘ Margaret Donaldson
●âŠ‘ Daniel Stern
Further Reading
Trevarthen, C. and Malloch, S. (2002) ‘Musicality and music before three: Human
vitality and invention shared with pride’. Zero to Three, September 2002, Vol. 23,
No 1: 10–18.
This paper provides fantastic insight into the role of interactions, play and
those first pivotal relationships with mothers, caregivers and practitioners,
in shaping a baby’s emotional well-being and all-round development.
Fascinating issues such as personality development before birth, the
transmission of culture through shared meaning-making and brain

development are all discussed with research evidence woven to illustrate the
persuasive points made.
Trevarthen, C., Rodrigues, H., Bjørkvold, J. R., Laurent Danon-Boileau, L. and

Göran Krantz, G. (2008) ‘Valuing Creative Art in Childhood’. Edited version
published in Children in Europe, Issue 14: 6–9.
This paper examines the important role that art (making music, poetry, painting,
movement and rhymes) play in nurturing young children’s emergent
emotional, intellectual and language development. The authors also explore
autism in children and how this affects the ability to be creative. Four
creative educators also contribute to this paper, discussing their experiences
and beliefs concerning the importance of art for children’s life and learning.
These real-life accounts help to contextualize the issue of art in childhood,
which, as a result, encourages the reader to reflect on how they support
babies’ and children’s creativity through collaborative experiences and how
they can build on this.
Urie
Bronfenbrenner
(1917–2005)
11
An introduction to Urie Bronfenbrenner
and his influence in early child care
and education
Urie Bronfenbrenner was a renowned Russian psychologist. He was also highly
regarded for his work on the Head Start programme in America, which he
co-founded for disadvantaged pre-school children. This programme successfully
supported over 20 million disadvantaged children in America, to achieve better
developmental outcomes than they might have done without the early intervention
provided by the programme.
His major contribution to early years is his ecological theory (which is discussed
in detail below). It is due to Bronfenbrenner’s extensive ecological theory that we
understand so much about the multifaceted nature of child development and all of
the factors that affect it. He did, however, continuously revise this theory over the
years. This in turn helped to consolidate and extend his ideas concerning children’s
development and the wide-ranging factors that affect it over time.
This chapter will outline this major contribution, with examples of it in action as
well as questions for you to respond to.
Ecological theory
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory (1979) is known as a ‘systems theory’ – one
which proposes that development cannot be explained by a single factor but instead,
by a complex system of relationships, over the course of time. At the core if his
ecological theory is the belief that not only does the environment impact on the
child’s development but that the child also impacts on her environment. Below is
just one version of his ecological theory. His idea is represented as a set of concentric
circles, each one consisting of different individuals, organizations and services
which the child interacts with – directly and indirectly.
There are five broad systems that impact on a child’s development, these being:
●● The microsystem
●● The mesosystem
●● The exosystem
●● The macrosystem
●● The chronosystem
Each of these systems will now be described in turn, with questions included to help
consolidate your understanding of each system in relation to children’s development.
The microsystem
This is perhaps the most important in terms of the child’s early life. The microsystem
consists of those activities and individuals who exert an immediate influence on
the child’s life. This includes parents, family members, community playgroups,
nursery, school, teachers, friends and healthcare professionals. The microsystem
also concerns the relationships between people in a given setting and the impact of
these on the developing child. For example, the relationship between staff in an early
years setting and how effectively they communicate with each other, can impact on
individual children’s development. If information is not communicated clearly and
efficiently, this may result in the child’s needs being unmet, dietary requirements
may not be adhered to, informative ‘handovers’ may not be able to take place due to
gaps in the information and parents may consequently feel a sense of mistrust and
insecurity.
It is worthwhile noting here that how a child acts or responds to these people
in the microsystem will affect how they treat her in return. Furthermore, a child’s
personality or temperament will also dictate how others will treat her. Where
children have learning difficulties or additional needs, practitioners must make every
effort not to label that child and make assumptions, as this will only lead to the child
receiving unequal treatment and missing out on meaningful interactions.
Given that the microsystem exerts an immediate influence on the child, the
concept of a learning community is relevant here. This community consists of those
adults mainly concerned with the child’s welfare (parents, other family members
and practitioners) and concerns their respective learning journeys with the child.
Listening to one another, sharing and reflecting on experiences and using this
knowledge to inform future interactions is thus a crucial component of a learning
community. Differences in individuals’ cultural backgrounds will also impact upon
Chapter 11 Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) 111
the child’s development due to contrasting values, methods of communicating and

problem solving. Settings such as nurseries and schools therefore have a responsi-
bility to encourage the participation of all children and families, while promoting
one another’s understanding of the similarities and differences between them.
1 List some of the primary responsibilities of a family.
2 What intervention might some families need most, in order to carry out their
role? Give examples.
3 How can an individual practitioner support families to best fulfil their roles?
4 How can a community best support families?
One early years provider, the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) uses a similar
concept to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, in order to demonstrate how they
place the child at the core of their services (see diagram below).
As with Bronfenbrenner’s model, this highlights those factors that affect child
development – some affecting the child directly, others indirectly. For example,
although the training and research undertaken by practitioners do not impact the
child directly, by building the knowledge, skills and understanding of practitioners,
they can continually build on the care and education that they provide for all
families. As a result, practitioners will be better equipped to help parents in nurturing
their children’s all-round development. This model reinforced the point originally
made by Bronfenbrenner – that child development is powerfully shaped by networks
and norms of reciprocity within a child’s family, nursery or school, peer groups and
the larger community. Thus, each of these aspects affects the child’s opportunities
both in the short and long term.
The mesosystem
This next level is concerned with how the different elements of the microsystem
work together, for the welfare of the child. This can include the partnership between
a child’s parents and their key person in an early years setting, or the communication
between a family’s GP and the child’s teacher. Bronfenbrenner et al. (1996: 20)
describe the role of the mesosystem in relation to human development:
In order to develop – intellectually, emotionally, socially, and morally – a human

being, whether child or adult, requires the same thing: active participation in
progressively more complex, reciprocal interaction with persons, objects, and
symbols in the individual’s immediate environment. To be effective, the interaction
must occur on a fairly regular basis over extended periods of time.
The mesosystem clearly needs to be one which exerts a positive and enabling
influence on the developing child, in order for her to have the best possible start in
life. This is all the more important where families experience on-going difficulty
such as poverty, domestic violence, substance abuse, if they have a child with special
educational needs or if they are newly settled into a country.
Partnerships thus need to be created to facilitate parents with regard to their
specific needs. This means providing resources that will best support parents who
are, in one way or another, struggling to meet their children’s needs for stable and
loving care in a safe environment. Any support needs to be provided sensitively, with
time and effort taken to build trusting relationships. Where this is not done, some
families may feel threatened by authorities and health care professionals and further
isolate themselves. Clearly, we cannot afford for this to happen as it will result in
children not receiving the support that could help make all the difference to their
development – and life chances. Bronfenbrenner’s (1973: 1) identification of some
of the societal challenges that parents faced a few decades ago could just as easily
be applied today:
In today’s world parents find themselves at the mercy of a society which imposes
pressures and priorities that allow neither time nor place for meaningful activities
and relations between children and adults, which downgrade the role of parents
and the functions of parenthood, and which prevent the parent from doing things
he wants to do as a guide, friend, and companion to his children.
Some problems are particular to living in poverty and living in deprived areas. These
being urban decay, overcrowding, antisocial behaviour, gangs, lack of facilities for
youths and children, poor lighting on estates and local councils failing to address
such long-term problems. Accounts of gang attacks and murder are all too common
in deprived areas, and combined with the aforementioned factors, can result in the
demoralization of families, with diminished outcomes for families.
The problems faced by families as identified by Bronfenbrenner many years ago,
could have been written about today. As in his ecological theory, he places the child
at the centre of the model.
In the planning and designing of new communities, housing projects, and urban
renewal, the planners both public and private, need to give explicit consideration to
the kind of world that is being created for the children who will be growing up in
these settings. Particular attention should be given to the opportunities which the
environment presents or precludes for involvement of children with persons both
older and younger than themselves. (Bronfenbrenner, 1973: 2)
More recently, Bronfenbrenner (1996; 1979) outlined protective factors such as

high quality health and social services, good child care and safe neighbourhoods as
helping to mitigate the impact of poverty. As clear as it might seem, these are not
easy to deliver when funding and high staff turnover are issues for local authorities
and families struggle to access the support, due to being isolated or having English
as an additional language, with no friends or relatives to help.
The case study below provides a clear example of how one Family Support
Worker, working in a deprived part of London, supported one family to ensure that
the baby’s development was not impeded by her home situation, and as a result of
the intervention is making good progress.
Case Study
I met A during outreach at a local well-baby clinic. I introduced myself and informed
her about the service (Family Support, stay and play sessions and health care) at
the local Children’s Centre. A became upset and informed me that she would
need Family Support. A’s baby was three months old when I started working with
them and was overweight.
I identified the following needs:
●● Mobility difficulties – two hip replacements (which were not successful) due
to a congenital disorder
●● Depression/very tearful/low mood
●● Isolation
●● Low income
●● Single parent
●● Poor relationship with relatives, who do not help her.
My reasons for making this referral were manifold. I identified that the mother
was not able to appropriately stimulate her baby. Due to her congenital disorder,
the mother was not able to do any type of floor-based activities and was not able
to access the stay and play activities at the nearby children’s centre.
Her baby was rather large and on the 91st centile and her mother was finding
it very difficult to carry her due to the pain in her hips. I observed on numerous
occasions that the baby was sat in her buggy in front of the television.
When I broached the subject of nursery, the child’s mother was very adamant
that she did not want her baby to attend nursery. Her reasons were that she did
not trust anyone and felt that her baby would be harmed. I informed the mother
that the nursery would be the best environment at this point in time as her baby
would meet all her milestones with qualified staff to support the both of them.
After weeks of convincing and an invitation to visit the nursery, I organized a joint
home visit with a social worker who reiterated the same thing; she finally agreed.
I applied to the Early Years Priority Referral (EYPR) to secure a place at the nursery
for her baby, and her baby will be starting at the beginning of this year. Children’s
Social Care will be providing transport to and from nursery for mother and child.
I completed an eCAF with consent from the parent and contacted her health
visitor to inform her that I will be working with A. I then referred the parent to
adult social care. They provided a walk-in shower for her and a carer has been put
in place to assist her with the domestic and personal care of her and her baby.
I applied to two charities for a cot and wardrobe. This was successful and both
have been delivered to the family.
As well as liaising with her health visitor I also worked with our multi-
agency staff which includes a child psychologist, dietician, other Family Support
Workers, health visitors, midwives, Family Health Advisors and the speech and
language therapist. The charities I coordinated with included Save the Children,
the Cripplegate Foundation charity for the household items and HomeStart
Befriending Agency.
I am still supporting them, as the mother needs a lot of support and encour-
agement concerning her baby’s transition from home to nursery. I am pleased to
say that the baby is now 6 months old and progressing very well, as is her mother.
With Bronfenbrenner’s mesosystem in mind, it becomes clear that universal

services (including maternity, child health, social care, education and family welfare
services) must first, truly understand the family’s situation and the nature of any
potential risk factors. This will enable relevant professionals to utilize resources that
will best facilitate the improvement of individual families’ lives. Where possible,
when preventative care can be achieved, the impact of adverse living conditions on
a child’s learning and development can be significantly reduced. It is also important
to bear in mind, as illustrated by the mother’s reluctance for her baby to attend
nursery due to her suspicion of officialdom, that use of professionals ‘parachuted’

in to support parents reflects a deficit model of parenting, focusing on what parents
cannot do or are not doing. An alternative approach would be to use a community
generative approach, focusing on what parents are doing to enhance their child’s
welfare, and building on this. This latter approach avoids blame being placed on
parents for not accepting support offered (the so-called hard-to-reach parents) when
that decision could be seen as perfectly rational when viewed from the parent’s
perspective – agreeing to send your child to nursery is likely to result in surveillance
of the child and parenting skills, itself likely to lead to further criticism of parenting.
Recent public health guidance published by the National Institute for Health
and Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2012) makes recommendations across the health,
social and education services that are required in order to best support the emotional
and social well-being of vulnerable children aged under 5 years. The guidance
acknowledges that the disadvantage experienced by children in their early years
can have a lifelong, negative effect on their health and well-being. This is further
supported by Shonkoff and Garner (2012) who showed how early experiences and
environmental influences affect lifelong health, not just educational achievement.
This disconcerting message makes it all the more clear just how critical the role
of each individual is in the safeguarding and promotion of children’s well-being.
However, recent reports into the health, social and education services (Munro, 2011;
Allen, 2011; Field, 2010; Tickell, 2010) have found that these are generally poorly
coordinated and integrated – both at a local and strategic level. Although quality
of provision differs from region to region, every effort must be made by all local
authorities to ensure excellent practice that is standardized across the nation. This
can be achieved by sharing good practice between local authorities.
The exosystem
This third level consists of those people and institutions that the child doesn’t
interact with directly, but still affect the child’s well-being. The structures in
this level interact with structures in the child’s microsystem to exert a positive
or negative influence on the child’s overall development. The structures in the
exosystem include extended family networks, parents’ work setting and policies,
community resources and the mass media.
One example of the exosystem in practice can be a parent being made redundant.
Although the child clearly has no direct contact with the work setting, the impact of
the redundancy will be direct – available finances will be significantly reduced and
parents will as a result be stressed and/or depressed, which, if it inhibits the parents’
emotional presence, will inevitably affect the child’s emotional well-being as well
as all other areas of their development. Conversely, working long hours can also
negatively impact on a young child’s well-being as they will be away from their
primary carer for extended periods, having to adapt to a daily routine and have their
needs for physical care, stimulation and affection met by adults with whom they
will have to build a relationship. If the bond their parents is weak, the young child
will have an even harder time trying to build new relationships. Bronfenbrenner
identifies the demands of work as being in direct conflict with the needs of a devel-
oping child due to the family’s needs taking second place to those of work setting.
He asserts that:
With more and more parents working full time, there has been a decline in the
involvement of parents as active participants in and mentors of activities with
children and youth. There is growing conflict between the demands of work and
family. (Bronfenbrenner, 1996: 26)
1 Social change can be seen to have created a range of adverse living
circumstances such as chronic stress, over-stimulation, hectic lifestyles,
family breakdown and reduced parental participation in children’s care.
2a. Consider the dynamic between the key settings in which children live: home,
nursery/school and the cultural community.
2b. How are the relationships between the home, cultural community and your
setting actively encouraged and nurtured by your team? Give examples.
3 Note which of these in your opinion is the weakest. How could your setting
improve this relationship?
Where parents do not have the support of family members to help in providing
continuity of care in the long term, the effects of being apart from primary carers
may be felt by parents and children all the more. Seldon (2009) however identifies
some possible answers to the problem, such as communities getting together to form
needed groups and activities, recreation facilities being provided for children and
youths. His emphasis is on activities organized by the community – not councils, in
order to encourage a sense of unity and ownership among families on a wider scale.
This finds support in a report carried out by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
(2011) which shows that communities can be strengthened when people of different
ages are encouraged to interact and get involved in their local neighbourhood.
Bronfenbrenner’s inclusion of the mass media in the exosystem is highly appro-
priate today, given how ubiquitous it is. Bronfenbrenner’s belief that the mass
media exerts a negative influence on development is similarly accurate. When we
consider how the rapid technological advances have completely changed how we
can work, shop, interact and make friends, as well as computer games, television,
advertisements and films, it is little wonder that he expresses concern. The ever-
present problem posed by exposure to inappropriate content in computer games and
the mass advertising that is a core feature of such games are all threats to a positive
world view and healthy development. All this connected with excessive individu-
alism (fuelled by the mass media), continuing isolation among families and less time
spent with family – or other adults who can provide long-term care and positive role
modelling, affect the child’s sense of trust, their self-perception and their perception
of others.
The teen-age and adult models widely watched by children and youth on the
media (TV, films, video games, CDs, and the internet) continue to emphasize
commercialism, sexuality, substance abuse, and violence. The end result is a lack
of positive adult models for internalizing standards of behaviour and longer-term
goals of achievement, and thereby an increasing number of autonomous peer
groups bereft of adult guidance. (Bronfenbrenner, 1996: 27)
Such damaging influences are furthermore compounded when the adults that are in
the child’s life struggle or fail to meet their needs for a stable and loving life.
Read the case study below and answer the questions. While reading, be mindful
of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and how all the ‘levels’ are exerting an
influence.
Case Study
Jenny, a three-year-old girl, starts at your nursery, attending three days a week.
She is finding it difficult to settle in and make friends, often hitting and shouting
at the other children. When staff have tried to intervene, she shouts at them too
and she has bitten her key person. Jenny does not seem to enjoy most of the
activities in the nursery, often opting to move from one play area to another,
without interacting.
She is the youngest of three siblings, with their mother having sole responsi-
bility for the children. Their father is in and out of prison which is just one reason
for Jenny’s mother’s depression. Living on an estate which is notorious for gang
attacks and drug abuse are also contributory factors. The mother is on prescribed
medication which results in her feeling desensitized to the point of being detached
from her children.
Reflect on This
1 What in your opinion is the most pressing issue presented here?
2 Which resources/agencies might you draw upon to support you?
3 Given that the connections between these agencies can often inhibit
intervention that is mutually supportive, how can partnerships be improved to
ensure better developmental outcomes for children?
The macrosystem
This comprises the outermost level of the ecological model and includes government
resources, laws, cultural values and customs. It can be viewed as the most important
element of the model as it is a society’s values which will dictate how a country
is governed. For example, if a government fervently believes in marriage, they

are more likely to allocate resources to this group (such as the Married Couple’s
Allowance in the United Kingdom) and penalize those who do not conform to their
beliefs. Governmental attitudes will always be a source of contention for its people
due to conflicting beliefs and hence, the distribution of funding and resources that
some will benefit from, while others do not.
The cultural values of a society thus permeate across all levels of the ecological
model, affecting work conditions, policies and the very relationships that directly
affect babies and children in their microsystem as they affect parents’ ability to
function. Where living conditions are overly demanding and resources are scant, this
makes parents’ roles all the more challenging and as a result, the child’s microsystem
is likewise affected.
What also needs to be considered is that Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model will
also differ greatly from country to country. For example, the priorities of a wealthy
nation will be in contrast to those of a developing country. Policies in wealthy
nations tend to focus on investment in competing in a global economy, whereas
policies in developing countries focus more on treating infectious diseases (which
in wealthier countries are curable, but due to poor sanitation are fatal in poorer
countries). Shonkoff (2012) offers an interesting solution to the enduring conflict
between what are deemed as priorities:
When funds earmarked for child survival compete with potential investments in
early childhood development, science suggests that the reduction of significant
adversity could advance progress toward both objectives. (Shonkoff, 2012: 2)
What do you Think?

1 Re-read the quote above and answer these questions:
2 In which ways do you think reducing the impact of adversity can help to
improve child development?
3 What outcomes will each of your suggestions have, for the child and family?
To conclude, effective functioning of child-rearing processes in the family and

other settings requires national policies (for example, the Head Start programme)
and practices that provide the necessary time, space, stability, recognition of belief
systems and customs that support child-rearing activities. This means on behalf of
parents, caregivers, other professionals, as well as relatives, friends, neighbours,
communities, and the major economic, social, and political institutions of that society.
The chronosystem
This aspect of Bronfenbrenner’s model refers to the passage of time that affects
the child’s environments. It is not a ‘level’ of the model as such but more about
the transitions a child makes over time during the life course. This may be inter-
nally, such as physiological changes within the child caused by growing older, or
externally, such as the impact of war. Transitions in a child’s life, such as divorce,
also exist in the chronosystem. Initial feelings may inevitably be very challenging
for a child to deal with, but with the passing of time and with the right support, the
intensity of feelings may well subside.
The ecological model and recent

developments
Bronfenbrenner’s theory is undoubtedly very comprehensive and useful in enabling
us to understand the power of different environments and relationships between
children and their carers – and the wider community. It has, however, been criti-
cized for focusing too narrowly on the context (i.e. the impact of environments and
relationships), at the expense of considering two other crucial factors that help to
explain child development (Bronfenbrenner, 1989). These being:
●● The role of the individual in their own development
●● Genetics
His later work thus focused on the role of nature as well as nurture on child
development. It is therefore best used like all other theories explaining child
development – in addition to each other, not as the sole method of trying to explain
it. Consider child development like a big puzzle, with all the different theories
piecing together to help you complete the full picture.
Bronfenbrenner in Practice
●● Nurture your partnerships with all parents – this way, you will be
better positioned to support them and together, promote their children’s
development.
●● Take time to truly understand the contexts in which family stressors occur.
This can help you to be effective helpers.
●● Early intervention is key – act on any concerns as swiftly as possible, so as
to minimize the impact of adversity and maximize the support available.
●● Reflect on your setting’s position within the community – as a team, devise
an action plan that will guide you in building these relationships, for the
benefit of the children and their families with whom you work.
●● Think about how the individual child and her temperament and personality
influences her environment and those within it. What can be done to support
or mediate this further?
●● In what areas of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model is your setting actively
making a contribution to the child’s world? What impact does this activity
have for the child?
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of Bronfenbrenner’s
contributions to early years development and care, make the links to practice in
your setting by reflecting upon and completing the following:
1 Identify three key implications of Bronfenbrenner’s theory for your practice.
2a Consider the effect of the microsystem in relation to your role. Identify two
areas of strength in your practice.
2b Now identify two areas for improvement and explain how you will achieve
this.
3a Consider the effect of the mesosystem in relation to your role. Identify two
areas of strength in your practice.
3b Now identify two areas for improvement and explain how you will achieve
this.

1 How far do you think Bronfenbrenner lost sight of the child’s own agency in
his exploration of how their outer world shapes their experiences?
2 How might this affect adult perceptions of children?
3 How far do you think he acknowledged the emotional world of children in
his ideas?
Bronfenbrenner’s Contemporary Legacy

●● Socio-emotional learning



●● Colwyn Trevarthen
●● Jerome Bruner
●● Lev Vygotsky
Chapter 11â•‡ Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) 121
Further Reading
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments
by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: The President and Fellows of Harvard
College.
This is perhaps the most famous of Bronfenbrenner’s books. Here, he details
the relationship between the developing child and the five systems that
make up his ecological theory. Chapters 7 and 8 which focus on the role
of children’s institutions, day care and pre-school as contexts for human
development are highly pertinent to those working with and for children. The
strength of this book resides in how Bronfenbrenner manages to provide a
clear and engaging account of how children are affected by their different
environments.
Pound, L. (2009) How Children Learn 3: Contemporary Thinking and Theorists.

London: Practical Pre-School Books, 9–11.
The pages identified above provide a good overview of Bronfenbrenner’s
contributions to child development theory, which makes this book a useful
study aid. This is a text designed as a basic introduction to his ideas and to
go deeper you need to read more widely about his ideas.
Bridging the Gap:
Understanding
the Use of
Neuroscience in
the Early Years
12
An introduction to neuroscience and its
This chapter focuses on the field of neuroscience and its implications for provision
in early years settings. In this chapter a range of researchers in the field will be
referred to, as opposed to just one. This is to acknowledge the cumulative role the
extensive investigations carried out by these individuals have played in building
current understanding about brain development. A brief glossary of commonly used
terms is included, in order to make the chapter easier to grasp, followed by a range of
topical discussions with case studies and points for reflection. The chapter contains
discussion in favour of, and opposed to, the contribution of neuroscience and its use
in early years provision, in order to provide a balanced and coherent perspective.
Listed below are the sub-headings included in this chapter, to help make it easier
for you to navigate through all of the information, in a way that’s easiest for you.
●âŠ‘ What is neuroscience?
●âŠ‘ Know your terminology
●âŠ‘ What you need to know: The importance of development from conception to
three years
●âŠ‘ Did you know? Facts about the growing brain
●âŠ‘ Building the social brain
●âŠ‘ Neuroscience and early emotional development
●âŠ‘ Getting the balance right
●âŠ‘ Criticisms of neuroscience
●âŠ‘ From theory to practice: What students have told us
●âŠ‘ Concluding thoughts
What is neuroscience?
Neuroscience is the study of the brain and the central nervous system. Researchers
in this field use equipment such as scanners, computers and dyes to find out how the
brain develops and functions – both in healthy brains and those which are affected
by psychiatric and neurological disorders.
Know your terminology

As with any subject, it’s always advisable to be conversant with the terms commonly
used. As a professional (or training) practitioner, it is your responsibility to keep
abreast of developments in early years as well as to be ‘fluent’ in the language used
by professionals across a range of associated disciplines. Neuroscience is just one
of these. Understanding and using subject-specific language will help to consolidate
your knowledge and build confidence in the parents, carers and other professionals
with whom you work.
Just a few of the commonly used terms concerning neuroscience that are in this
chapter – and many related books and articles, are as follows. So, make the effort
to remember them and use them as part of related study or professional dialogue.
●âŠ‘ Neurons – Brain cells which carry messages through an electrochemical
process. Neurons work together to help us make sense of what’s going on
around us, to help us plan what we’re going to do and – everything else.
●âŠ‘ Synapse – The wiring/networks between neurons.
●âŠ‘ Synaptic pruning – A process which eliminates weaker synaptic connections,
while stronger connections are kept and strengthened. Experience determines
which connections will be strengthened and which will be pruned.
●âŠ‘ Synaptogenesis – The formation of synapses between neurons.
●âŠ‘ Synaptogenocide – The loss of/‘dying’ of synapses between neurons.
●âŠ‘ Windows of opportunity (sometimes called sensitive periods) – The
idea that the young child’s brain is open to experience of a particular kind
at certain points in development. For example, the belief that learning a
language is easier during childhood, rather than during adulthood.
Each neuron is specifically designed to bring information to the cell body and take
information away from the cell body. Neurons have specialized extensions called
dendrites and axons.
●âŠ‘ Dendrites bring information to the cell body.
●âŠ‘ Axons take information away from the cell body (these long wires connect
one neuron to another neuron’s dendrites).
Chapter 12 Bridging the Gap 125
The connections that neurons make are called synapses. Children who don’t have
opportunities to play or are rarely cuddled have underdeveloped brains. These
children have the same number of brain cells, but fewer synaptic connections
between them. (This will be discussed in detail later.)
What you need to know: The importance

of development from conception to three
years
The plethora of books, articles and reports concerning early brain development
generally expound the importance of building a healthy brain from birth. Yet it is
far more useful to start from conception. This is because the foetal brain is almost
entirely dependent on a range of factors while growing in utero.
Professionals in the field now refer to this crucial developmental phase as the
first 1,000 days – the time from the start of pregnancy to a child’s second birthday.
This is due to research consistently showing the impact of children’s early experi-
ences on their adult emotional and mental health as well as their educational and
employment opportunities (Barker, 1995).
The first 1,000 days are not only crucial for the baby but for the mother also.
Parenthood is a time of great upheaval and change, which can lead to feelings of
intense anxiety, uncertainty and in some women, depression. These issues may exist
alongside existing issues such as lifestyle habits that are highly detrimental to the
well-being of the baby.
The lifestyle habits or choices of a pregnant woman therefore have a huge impact
on her baby’s brain development (and of course, their all-round development). For
example, when a parent chooses to breastfeed, the benefits for her baby include
protection from infections and diseases while helping to build a strong physical and
emotional bond between mother and baby. Conversely, smoking, drinking heavily
or taking recreational drugs can have irreversible effects which can be too late to
‘repair’ at birth. Heavy drug abuse during pregnancy can lead to the baby being
born addicted to drugs, experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Different drugs will
have different effects; the stronger the drug, the worse it will be. Consider the use
of marijuana – when a pregnant woman gets ‘stoned’, the baby is also under the
influence of the drug – all at a time when the developing foetus is trying to grow
neurons and other crucial elements of the brain.
Other effects of substance abuse on the foetus include:
●● Low birth weight
●● Early delivery
●● Miscarriage
●● Hindered development
●âŠ‘ Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). This refers to a range of mental and
physical defects that develop in a foetus, as a result of high levels of alcohol
consumption during pregnancy
●âŠ‘ Defects of the face and body
●âŠ‘ Intellectual disability
●âŠ‘ Heart problems
●âŠ‘ Death
Below, is a vignette concerning a young child living with the consequences of his
mother’s substance abuse. Read it and answer the questions that follow.
You have recently become key person to a child (Jack) who is aged three years and
six months old. His mother is a single parent. She finally left her boyfriend after
years of being together in an ‘on and off’ relationship.
Jack’s mother has no extended family and sometimes struggles to get by with
her son – financially and emotionally. They live on the 16th floor of a tower block
in the city. Although she has some friends, she is often too depressed to see them.
She has mentioned domestic violence and using drugs and alcohol to ‘take the
edge off life’. However, she has not yet elaborated as she gets too upset when she
has tried to explain.
During her pregnancy she did not stop drinking alcohol, which resulted in Jack
having FAS. He has very poor coordination and must be closely supervised during
all activities. He also wears a helmet for most of the time as he frequently has
accidents due to his poor spatial awareness and weak eyesight. Jack has learning
difficulties that are exacerbated by a short attention span and hyperactivity.
He has been at the nursery for six weeks but is finding it difficult to make friends
and engage in activities.
Reflect on This
1 As his key person, explain the types of support you can put in place for:
a Jack;
b His mother.
2 How can your suggestions foster Jack’s emotional well-being and his ability to
learn?
3 Why is this particularly important in the early years of a child’s life?
4 What might happen if Jack and his mother do not receive adequate, on-
going support?
The message therefore needs to be reframed to include that critical time before birth,
so that prospective parents and anyone who works with children and families can at
least be armed with knowledge of how to best support healthy brain development
– from conception. The positive thing is that good quality provision can mediate a
lot of this because children are resilient with the right support.
Did you know? Facts about the growing

brain
You might be surprised to know that the human brain contains roughly 100 billion
neurons – most of which are formed during the first five months after conception.
That said, the process of brain development is far from complete at this point. Despite
this great number of neurons present at birth, the brain requires a great deal of help
to continue developing healthily. The brain can be described as being activity-
dependent – the fact that the brain partly depends on external stimulation in order
to develop. This can be through play, communicating with others and enjoying warm
and responsive relationships. Synaptogenesis (the forming of networks between
neurons) is highly prolific during this time, occurring directly as a result of stimuli
that the baby is exposed to in their environment. Hence, the early years of a child’s
life are arguably the most important period in terms of growth, learning and devel-
opment. The significance of this is highlighted by Riley (2007: 3) who states that:
Immediately after birth, bombarded by stimulation of all the senses, the synapses
begin to form prolifically. The most important phase of experience-dependent
synaptogenesis is thought to be from birth to three years.
Quality of experiences is key – not least because, while exposure to vast and varied
experiences may well lead to a larger quantity of neuronal connections being
formed, those that are unused will ‘die off’ (synaptogenocide). Researchers such as
Goldman-Racik (1987) and later, Katz and Schatz (1997: 120), found that:
Early brain development involves a large overproduction of synaptic connections;

some of these connections will become redundant and are subsequently pruned
away.
This indicates that overexposing a child to learning experiences in the hope that
they will become more intelligent is not necessary but that the quality of daily
experiences and interactions with adults and other children is what really matters.
Making time for cuddles, sharing stories, talking, singing and playing with your
baby (or child) are enormously beneficial to the developing brain, as they help to
positively stimulate the growth of neurons which will support the child throughout
their life.
This message was further reinforced for us while watching the film The Angel’s
Share (Ken Loach, 2012). This film depicts the life of a young man living in Glasgow,
who was born into a life of drugs, poverty and crime, perpetuating the cycle himself
as he grew older. Cut to a scene in hospital where his girlfriend who has just given
birth shows him their baby for the first time and tells him in no uncertain terms:
The midwife says only half his brain is formed … and the other half depends on
what we do over the next few years … Robbie we have to do good for him and if
you won’t help I will have to do this on my own.
Listening to the first part of that speech, we were so disheartened – but by the time
the girl had finished, we were full of hope for this young couple who aimed to do
everything in their power to give their new baby the best possible start in life.
What do you Think?

Draw a table like the one below and write down as many positive and negative
factors that affect the developing brain from conception, into early childhood.
Positive factors affecting early brain Negative factors affecting early brain
growth growth
Building the social brain

Blakemore (2009) and Gerhardt (2004) highlight the significance of social and
emotional experiences a baby has between six and 18 months. It is thought that
during this time social intelligence is at its most sensitive, with neuronal networks
forming and strengthening in response to the experiences that the baby is exposed to.
These networks (or patterns) can be used to organize experience and make interac-
tions with others more predictable.
High quality early years provision can make all the difference in promoting
the social skills of babies and young children. This will be especially valuable
where babies and young children are deprived of warm, reciprocal relationships in
the home, which provide the ‘blueprint’ for them in terms of norms of behaviour
and expectations. Trevarthen’s research findings (2012) concerning the impact of
maternal depression on an infant’s growing emotional, intellectual, language and
social development, is just one example of why this issue is critical.
Providing a flexible routine which includes responsive interactions with babies
and children can help to foster a sense of security and well-being while helping them
to develop independence. Opposite are just two examples of how this is achieved.
Case Study
Lunch time
Becky is feeding George, an eight-month-old baby. After a few spoonfuls, he grabs
the spoon from Becky’s hand and attempts to feed himself. She observes him as
he enjoys waving the spoon and grabbing the food on it. After a few attempts
at feeding himself, Becky gives him another spoon to play with instead of taking
the spoon from him, as she could see that he was really trying and was happy.
She gets another spoon and continues to feed him in between his attempts, while
praising his efforts at feeding himself.
Case Study
Conflict resolution among children
Harry is in the book corner with two of her key children (Alfie and Jack, both aged
two years old). They are looking at different tactile books but at one point, Alfie
looks at the book Jack is reading (a pop-up book on dinosaurs) and takes it from
him. Jack tries to take it back and both boys start to cry. Harry steps in to help the
boys. ‘Alfie, I know that you’re upset because you like that book and want to read
it, but it’s not nice to grab it from him. How about we all read it together? I’ll hold
the book, Jack can turn the pages and you can roar like the dinosaurs!’ Both boys
nod yes and cuddle in to Harry. They all sit down on the rug and read the story.
Both experiences demonstrate how responsive and sensitive intervention from

the practitioner supports babies and children in their quest for independence and
self-control.
By supporting the diverse needs of children, practitioners can promote their
understanding of time, patience, communicating their needs and thoughts as well as
how to be a member of a group. Practitioners therefore need to show sensitivity to
children’s current interests and support them in their explorations, in order to best
promote development of the brain.
1 List four different types of learning experiences that you have carried out,
which have successfully promoted the social skills of children aged between 9
and 18 months old.
2 How can you tell that these learning experiences had a positive impact on
these young children?
Neuroscience and early emotional

development
Most of us in the early years field appreciate the impact of unhappiness or stress on a
child’s ability to take advantage of learning opportunities. Now, findings from neuro-
science confirm what we know (Gopnik et al., 1999). When a child feels unhappy or
does not feel secure and comfortable in the setting, she cannot be expected to take
full advantage of what is on offer, as feelings of stress and sadness will inhibit the
urge to explore and interact with others – thereby inhibiting the process of learning
and development of necessary life skills. This finds support in Goleman (1996: 196)
who explains that:
The first three or four years of life are a period where the toddler’s brain evolves in
complexity at a greater rate than it will ever grow again … During this time severe
stress can impair the brain’s learning centres and so be damaging to the intellect.
Stress is a known inhibitor to learning due to a chemical released in times of stress.

This chemical is cortisol. (When cortisol levels are too high, this can destroy brain
cells and weaken connection, resulting in a reduced capacity to learn.) Goleman
emphasizes the importance of early experiences as the brain grows most rapidly
during the early years, which places responsibility on the practitioner to provide
optimum conditions for care and learning to take place. Following a key person
system makes this easier, as staff can better meet the needs of individual children
in partnership with parents. This is all the more important because it is only
expected that young children will experience separation anxiety and feelings of
uncertainty as their home routine is disrupted. Children may also experience stress
when adapting to a new routine and building relationships with unfamiliar adults,
who are to become their main caregivers throughout the day, for up to five days a
week. Building genuine and caring relationships with babies and children will prove
invaluable in reassuring them and instilling a sense of security.
Goleman’s views on this are supported by Gerhardt (2004: 190) who draws
our attention to the importance of quality interactions which nurture the infant’s
emotional well-being, both in the present and the future:
What really matters is whether the caregiver meets the temperamental inclinations
with the kind of response the baby needs to establish the foundation for later
emotional and social discipline.
Children who are frequently exposed to stressful experiences or whose needs for
attachment and affection are unmet continually experience a rise in cortisol levels
that remain raised and are consequently ‘set’ even higher in instances of emotional
difficulty. Again, this places responsibility on early years practitioners to provide
consistency in their approach as well as being emotionally present for the child. This
is all the more necessary given that cortisol inhibits ‘feel good’ hormones from being
produced during stress, which means that children need the support of sensitive
adults who are tuned in and able to help regulate their emotions.
Getting the balance right

Conversely, key persons need to balance the meeting of children’s emotional
needs and over-protecting them. This is particularly important in helping the child
to develop coping strategies in times of heightened anxiety. A certain amount of
cortisol is actually beneficial to the child in terms of being able to cope during times
of upset, as it triggers the ‘fight or flight’ response in the child during demanding
situations (Belsky et al., 1998). This is particularly significant concerning children
in day care, where there are often a large number of children who will inevitably
experience feelings of frustration and anger at certain times, and will hence need to
develop their own coping strategies during times of heightened stress.
Gopnik et al. (2004) discuss the importance of stimulating experiences and
healthy attachments in affecting the formation of connections between the neurons,
and consequent brain growth. These experiences cause the brain to organize and
reorganize and, when this growth reaches its peak during the first year, the brain cells
make new connections and terminate those that are not required. The connection
between various cells depends on how the young child is treated by primary
caregivers.
Consider your setting’s planning and provision of experiences which are aimed
to promote:
●● Personal, Social and Emotional Development
●● Understanding the World
1 Do you think that provision is effective for babies aged 18 months and
under?
2 What do you think needs to be improved? Explain your reasons.
3 How does your key person system provide security and consistency for babies
and young children?
4 In which ways does it promote independence? Provide two practical
examples.
To conclude, it is evident that the practitioner’s role is pivotal in supporting the

healthy development of the brain and in nurturing the building of emotional skills
that are appropriate in helping the child to deal with a range of different situations
(Trevarthen, 2012; Dowling, 2005). This also means allowing them to express
the range of emotions that are part of the human experience (such as anger, fear,
happiness and empathy) in a climate of trust and understanding in order to best
facilitate brain development and emotional well-being. Findings from neuroscience
should, therefore, also be used to support the planning of provision.
Criticisms of neuroscience
Too much ‘hype’

As with most disciplines, neuroscience is not without its critiques. Dr John Bruer,
founder of the McDonnell-Pew Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, is dubious
about what he sees as the over-enthusiasm surrounding neuroscience. He identifies
the potential it has to exploit anxious parents and practitioners through government
policymakers manipulating conclusions from studies to suit the requirements of their
particular position concerning birth to 3s (2002). As well as noting the reticence of
the educational research community, he says:
Serious scientists, committed to applying research to improve child development,

would likely be perplexed by such ill-founded recommendations and frustrated by
the public’s acceptance of them … At best, brain-based education is no more than
a folk-theory about the brain and learning. (Bruer, 2002: 132)
It is important to note here that the scepticism may well be due to the fact that
conclusions from brain science are not yet being used to their fullest potential in
terms of informing curricula and practice. Instead they are being used as part of
advertising campaigns (advertisements for juice drinks and bread fortified with
essential fatty acids to improve concentration) and patented schemes such as Brain
Gym. Such campaigns and products have the power to sway public opinion, and can
often be misleading in their presentation – instead of being presented in a manner
which is concise in its facts, and without the surrounding ‘hype’. It is therefore
important that although Bruer’s view is acknowledged, practitioners do not dismiss
the potential advantages of incorporating findings from neuroscience in early years
education (Johnson and Mareschal 2001; Shonkoff and Philipps 2000), and instead
seek to make the necessary connection between the two fields, so that findings can
be used to improve current provision. This view is also espoused by Meade (2001:
118) who highlights some of the potential advantages of neuroscience in early years
care and education:
Neuroimaging technologies, such as PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography) not

only have allowed neuroscientists to study brain activity, but have also led to new
or revised perspectives about early childhood development.
Critical periods
The concept of critical periods has come under scrutiny for a number of reasons
and it is worthwhile for practitioners to be familiar with arguments that are for and
against, in order to make reasoned judgements about its advantages and disadvan-
tages. For example, critical periods do not apply to all areas of learning and it is
therefore important that early years professionals and policymakers take this into
consideration when devising learning programmes and delivering advice for parents/
primary carers that are based upon critical periods. For example, language acqui-
sition can occur during adulthood as well as childhood – therefore rendering the
notion of critical periods and related learning interventions somewhat erroneous. It
is for this reason that Bruer refutes the concept of critical periods:
The brain’s plasticity allows lifelong learning – vocabulary growth and IQ measures
are linked to experience, exposure to new words and ideas. Humans can thus
benefit from such exposure at any time of life. (Bruer, 1999: 119)
Thus, the concept of sensitive periods or windows of opportunity are now more
widely accepted because, as is outlined by Johnson (2002) and Bruer (1999), all is
not lost if a child is not exposed to specific stimuli before the age of three years.
The case of the Romanian orphans is also indicative of this, in which babies and
children who lost their parents in the war were raised in extremely poor care and
were seriously neglected in terms of their basic needs and needs for stimulation and
affection. This resulted in global developmental delay and difficulties in forming
relationships with other adults and children. However, later studies of some of
the children who were raised in care but then adopted, actually found that they
did manage to acquire skills in communication, problem solving and in forming
relationships, but the process took longer than was usually expected of children of a
similar age (Young Brains report, 2007).
One of the main findings from the Young Brains report (2007) highlights the link
between plasticity and learning:
Key messages from the research are that young brains are exceptionally plastic
so they are shaped by experience and the plasticity allows for catching up if
development and learning are hampered in any way. (David, Goouch, Powell and
Abbot, 2003: 127)
In conclusion, it is apparent that although there are periods during which learning
can occur more easily for the child, it certainly does not mean that this will stop after
three years. Current emphasis needs to shift from ‘birth to three’ to encompass the
period before birth and after three years.
From theory to practice: What students

have told us
Having taught child care and education for the past ten years, a trend became
apparent: too much emphasis on traditional theories of child development that have
not allowed for more current ideas concerning learning and development in the early
years. This means that many practitioners are not yet able to utilize findings that are
directly relevant to the work that they do on a daily basis.
This was confirmed for us during a small-scale research study that was conducted
concerning neuroscience and its use in the early years. During a semi-structured
interview one of the responses from a nursery manager on the Foundation Degree in
Early Childhood Studies was:
Come to think of it, you’re not trained to think that way. You’re trained to think
cognitive development which is one part of it, but the actual biology of the brain
and how that develops – the physiology of the brain – we do not get any of that
input. That’s left to the medical professionals, nurses’ training.
This was a typical view expressed by all participants, who all demonstrated in-depth
knowledge concerning child development and of the more traditional theories such
as Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner. All participants however, were unable to discuss
in any depth findings from neuroscience to support them. They all had a scant
understanding of brain development but did not know of any researchers or theorists
in this field from which they could ground their responses.
Although a snapshot, this small-scale study indicates the need to incorporate
neuroscience and its applications to teaching on child care courses – including
foundation degrees. This way, practitioners at all levels can put the theory into
practice. Some courses of study do cover neuroscience but until this is done across
all programmes it will be inconsistent, resulting in mixed messages about its
relevance to early years care and education.
Concluding thoughts
Neuroscience can have a positive impact upon helping practitioners to under-
stand how children’s brains develop and their significant contribution in this
process. Recommendations to enable this to happen include attending training on
neuroscience for early years practitioners nationwide in order for staff to become
familiarized with it and to overcome any misconceptions. Although the training may
be of benefit to staff, unless it is delivered by professionals who have a thorough
knowledge of the subject area, it may still be over-simplified and thus of limited use
if not applied practically.
Another way of ensuring change at a local and national level would be to
incorporate relevant neuroscientific findings into early years policy and practice
throughout settings in England. Clearly, this will take a long time and require close
monitoring of implementation by designated practitioners in settings nationwide. To
enable this to take place the ideas and views of practitioners and managers should
be ascertained regularly, as well as sharing good practice across settings that is
informed by neuroscience, thus demonstrating how neuroscience can be applied
practically. This will serve to unite neuroscience and the early years.
We hope that we have presented a balanced argument concerning the potential
use of findings from neuroscience in early years practice.
Neuroscience in Practice
●● Earlier intervention with parents (and where relevant, signposting prenatal
support).
●● Earlier intervention to children with disadvantaged home environments and/
or poor family relationships.
●● Close links with health colleagues.
●● Adopting a key person approach.
●● Ensuring that babies enjoy consistent and affectionate relationships with staff.
●● Focus on socio-emotional relationships and climate in a setting.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of the uses and influences of
neuroscience to early years development and care, make the links to practice in
your setting by reflecting upon and completing the following:
1 In what ways can the evidence from neuroscience be used to inform and
shape your provision and relationships with children and families?
2 How far and in what ways do you think neuroscience is an early childhood
discipline?
3 Identify three aspects of your practice which neuroscience can help with and
three aspects of your practice which do not benefit from this knowledge.

1 How far do you feel neuroscience has moved early childhood education
(ECE) towards a medicalized and pathologized model of early development?
2 How far do you feel a child’s temperament and personality shape
environmental influences?
3 How far and in what ways can neurological research add value to the ECE
existing evidence base?
4 Do you think this research is overvalued in the sector and why?
The Contemporary Legacy of Neuroscience in the

Early Years
●âŠ‘ Qualifications of the workforce


●âŠ‘ Countering poverty and socio-economic disadvantage

●âŠ‘ Colwyn Trevarthen
●âŠ‘ Daniel Goleman
●âŠ‘ Urie Bronfenbrenner
●âŠ‘ Elinor Goldschmied
●âŠ‘ The McMillan sisters
Further Reading
David, T., Goouch, K., Powell, S. and Abbott, L. (2003) Young Brains. Research
Report Number 444. London: Department for Education and Skills.
This research report consists of a review of literature concerning brain
development which includes for example, discussion of the nature versus
nurture debate, the importance of the first 1,000 days, as well as an insightful
section on the practical implications of brain research for early years
practitioners. This paper is not too lengthy and is packed full of useful
information. A wide range of references that can be followed up makes this
an excellent study resource.
Dowling, J. E. (2004) The Great Brain Debate. Nature or Nurture? Princeton, NJ

and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
This book contains three parts – parts one and two cover the developing brain
and the adult brain, while part three provides an examination of the aging
brain. The in-depth discussions concerning brain plasticity, the role of nature
Chapter 12â•‡ Bridging the Gap 137
and nurture as well as learning languages are each grounded in the latest
brain research, and are easy to follow. This is a good book to dip in and out
of, depending on your area of interest or need.
Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. and Kuhl, P. (1999) How Babies Think. London: Phoenix.
This book contains seven chapters, each focusing on different topics such as
what newborn babies know, how babies and children learn about people,
what scientists have learned about children’s brains, and possibilities for
the future – not just for early years practice but for today’s children. The
authors write in a highly engaging style which brings the complex issue of
neuroscience to life.
What Next?
Reconceptualizing
Early Years Education
13
Reconceptualizing early education: An
introduction to critical approaches
In this chapter we will seek to reframe current understanding of child development
theories and commonly held beliefs about early childhood education. This will be
achieved by including discussions that challenge widely held beliefs alongside a
range of reflective questions for you to respond to. As the title indicates, the focus
is on reconceptualizing what we know and understand about early years education –
that is, to examine alternative perspectives of child development theories. We hope
this will enable you to reflect on what you already know but also be prepared to
critique this knowledge and understanding and consider alternative meanings and
realities within your practice.
Alternative perspectives and those which challenge universal ‘truths’ about
anything (in this case early years education) are commonly referred to as postmodern.
However, this term has been superseded by the term reconceptualizing. We feel that
this term is more helpful as it is more user-friendly, links to the development of our
thinking about practice more clearly and is more conducive to encouraging you to
challenge those widely held beliefs concerning the education of young children.
Ideas and opinions concerning how children should be raised and educated are
complex and there is not one definitive response that ‘ticks all the boxes’. This is
due, in part, to the following factors:
●âŠ‘ Personal experience
●âŠ‘ Culture
●âŠ‘ Societal expectations and norms
●âŠ‘ Government initiatives and priorities
●âŠ‘ Social changes

●âŠ‘ Peer and media culture
●âŠ‘ Relationships and interactions
●âŠ‘ Increasing diversity in our societies and communities
Practitioners’ frames of reference and their knowledge of theories of child
development are important in early years professional practice; if practitioners
are to provide quality early years care and learning experiences, they need to be
informed of, and keep abreast of, developments in theoretical understanding and
its applications in recent research. This requires practitioners to actively seek new
ways of knowing and understanding children’s behaviour that is more aligned to the
children’s experiences and diverse backgrounds (Dahlberg, Moss and Pence, 1999).
Such reassessment of knowledge can result in practitioners having the ability to
refer to a wider range of current research and theoretical findings and hence support
children and their families more responsively. For example, by keeping abreast of
current factors affecting the development and well-being of young children in a
globalizing and modernizing world, the practitioner can adjust their interactions and
actions according to the child’s own reality and experiences.
Reconceptualizing early years, or looking at it from a postmodern perspective,
can be quite daunting for some practitioners, as it sometimes requires ‘unlearning’
years of learning. That said, with experience comes confidence and an ability to
question those widely accepted bodies of knowledge which provide ‘truths’ about
child development and childhood itself. This does not mean that everything is up
for grabs, but standing still in our thinking is a bad thing – we need to innovate in
our thinking and practice in order to progress – we are not talking revolution but
evolution, where some old ideas die and new ideas take over and this is progress.
So, stepping out of your comfort zone of the known and entering the unknown
– trying out new ways of thinking, relating, experiencing and understanding the
world – is a very important aspect of your personal, professional development. Brew
(2001: 7) puts this succinctly:
In order to learn we need to develop the capacity to unlearn. This does not happen
through a process of gentle accumulation of knowledge or of understanding; it
may involve the crumbling of dearly held views.
Problematizing (challenging) and deconstructing (breaking theories down) in this

way can actually lead you to developing your own theories based on studies that you
might undertake with babies and children in your setting. After all, knowledge does
not rest in one place, nor with experts; it’s more about looking where knowledge is
created and how.
A range of statements will now follow which will form the sub-headings for
discussion. While reading, keep an open mind and do not be afraid to challenge
your own long-held beliefs. These statements (or issues) were selected as they are
commonly made as part of the reconceptualization of early years.
Chapter 13 What Next? Reconceptualizing Early Years Education 141
Suppose there is no one definition of

quality and that it depends on perspective,
location and context?
In this section the concept of quality will be examined and deconstructed. Different
definitions of quality will be explored in order to draw out the similarities and differ-
ences between them, as diverging opinions do exist. Alongside this discussion the
benefits to practitioners of rethinking their views concerning what constitutes quality
in light of considering these alternative perspectives are also included.
In an attempt to define quality, Andersson (1990) argues that quality consists
of the daily elements of the nursery routine that are not given much thought, even
though these elements may be carefully planned into the daily routine. Andersson
(1990: 38) states that:
Quality is an underlying dimension of the daily work in all early childhood services
… Quality is what is under the surface, the persistent daily work done by the staff
which can be hard to fully recognise.
The nature of quality is, however, transient as it is affected by factors that are
specific to one context at any one time. For example, the needs of children and their
families in one setting will differ from another. This is due to a wide range of factors
including socio-economic status, language, learning difficulties (child or parent)
as well as resources available in the setting that meet the needs of children both
individually and collectively.
What do you Think?

1 How would you define quality? Make a note of your answer.
2 Have a conversation with your manager (or another colleague). Ask them
what aspects of provision in your setting they think constitute quality early
years education and care.
3 Have the same conversation with a parent/primary carer. How do their
answers differ?
4 Do their responses make you think differently about the definition of quality?
Guidance documents and policies (national and local) are thus enforced to set
a minimum standard regarding expectations of quality across settings that are
designed to meet the diverse needs of children and their families. However, strictly
adhering to guidance and policies concerning quality can pose a problem for early
years practitioners, including management. This is partly due to the fact they are
subject to revisions which, although sometimes necessary, can inhibit practice being
consolidated due to a lack of time to embed and amend practice as teams feel fit.
Too many changes can thus cause inconsistency in provision as managers can feel
under pressure to impose changes to keep in line with ‘best’ practice requirements,
which can destabilize staff and, in turn, their opinions of what they think ‘quality’
provision should look like. This is recognized by Woodhead (2006: 76) who explains
that:
Treating quality criteria as being relative rather than fixed, negotiated rather than
prescribed, might be interpreted as undermining for managers, whose role is
already difficult.
Quality, then, can only ever be subjective in its nature. Contentious issues such as
the importance placed on childhood, the unique needs of families and the role of
women in society each make it a concept that is difficult to define and achieve. It
has also been argued that what constitutes quality is all too often defined through
a monocultural lens (Cannella and Lincoln, 2004) – that is, to be defined by one
leading culture which sets the benchmark for all other countries and cultures. A
typical example of this is Western culture (Europe and the United States) being
viewed as the ‘ideal’ and the leading example which all other cultures should look
to for direction. If this is true – and reconceptualists fervently believe that this is the
case (Venn, 2006; Lyotard, 1993; James and Prout, 1990), then achieving quality
will be a continuous struggle for those ‘other’ cultures that do not conform to the
norms set by Western society.
Cannella (2007: 21) offers an innovative way of taking the early years profession
forward, in light of the many different perspectives and disciplines that continue to
guide, and sometimes divide, practice:
Reconceptualist work has fostered the recognition of the historical, political, and
complex nature of the knowledge that we use and the contexts in which we
find ourselves. I believe that the reconceptualists and developmentalists should
join together to generate new discourses and to construct actions that actually
challenge the power that has been created over children.
It is therefore useful if practitioners view quality as a relative concept that will

mean different things to different stakeholders. What might be deemed as excellent
for one setting could be deemed quite irrelevant to another (Woodhead, 2006). In
light of this, practitioners must also keep up to speed with nationally defined quality
benchmarks and criteria which provide clear guidance regarding how to achieve
quality practice throughout the different areas of provision. Although such guidance
on quality is usually generic, it still provides a basic benchmark that teams should
aim for. Furthermore, practitioners need to have their own expectations of what high
quality provision should look like, in order to strive to achieve excellent practice that
is aligned to each family’s needs.
When practitioners have a vision of what they think best practice is, they are
equipped to challenge aspects of guidance that they feel is not relevant to practice
in their setting, and also create their own benchmarks of quality against which they
can evaluate their own performance.
Some nursery managers told us how they defined quality provision, how their
view of quality aligns with legislative and guidance definitions of quality and
Chapter 13â•‡ What Next? Reconceptualizing Early Years Education 143
whether they feel pressurized to conform to such definitions of quality. The three
pie charts below summarize their responses, followed by a more detailed account
of their feedback.
Question 1
In response to the question, ‘What do you think is the most important element of
quality?’, the majority of nursery managers (34 per cent) said that having ‘passionate
staff’ was the most important factor in achieving quality practice.
Some additional answers to this question concerned the practitioner’s qualities in

general. One manager’s full answer to question 1 was:
For me, quality in the nursery includes a variety of things, such as staff that
are trained and enthusiastic (want to be working with children, happy and
approachable). Staff should be able to articulate what they do and why. They also
need to know their children and their families, and work with them to enable
children to fulfil their potential. It’s also about having evidence that measures and
ensures quality, e.g. the RAG rating by the local, council, Ofsted, ITERS, ECERS
and more importantly, parents’ views of our provision.
Not surprisingly, all responses included reference to working with parents, providing
age and stage appropriate resources and warm interactions – all of which provide the
backbone of good quality care and education. It is thus apparent that all managers
had a very similar view of what quality practice entails and how to achieve this.
Question 2
This question sought to elicit whether the managers felt that definitions of quality
set down in legislative and guidance documents were in line with their own views
of quality. Reassuringly, all respondents replied yes.
Conversely, each manager’s answer enabled us to understand their approach to

achieving quality while aligning their practice to legislative requirements. One
manager told us:
All of these documents need to be used with a level of creativity that suits
children, staff and parents in the nursery, so that it doesn’t become too
prescriptive. That’s why these are in line with my view of quality – for me it is a mix
of legislation and guidance and being creative in meeting requirements, which staff
need to be able to understand and unpick in order to provide what our families
need the most.
Another manager painted the picture of the stark reality that teams have to cope with
in order to meet quality standards. This is due to a range of factors that work to exert
excessive pressure on teams who, in trying to achieve and maintain quality, struggle
because expectations of providers are incompatible with their experiences.
Legislative and guidance documents each have their own perspective of quality
provision. This is great in essence but difficult in practice due to issues such
as ratios, the benefit cap and the two-year-old scheme. Each key person has a
minimum of ten children, fifteen in some settings. Workload is high and key
persons are not able to deliver the high quality to all children (time factor) as they
will not be able to develop the special bond with their key children.
The factors identified by this manager are not uncommon in early years settings and
the larger the setting, the more magnified the issues become. If teams are under-
resourced it makes it that much harder to meet the needs of individual children.
Providing an effective key person system was thus the most pressing issue in
meeting quality requirements.
Question 3
This final question sought to elicit whether managers felt under pressure to conform
to definitions of quality in legislative and guidance documents. The majority of
managers (43 per cent) said yes, while 29 per cent said that it depends on certain
issues, and 28 per cent said that they did not feel pressured to conform.
I do sometimes feel under pressure to conform but am lucky to have had good
teachers who have taught me to look at things from different angles and
perspectives. Our organisation is supportive of creativity and individuals are given
scope to develop different approaches to meeting quality requirements as long as
we can give a rationale to back our decisions.
Again, the need for creativity and freedom appears to be integral for managers
in their quest for quality. When managers demonstrate the confidence to look at
issues from a different perspective and dare to try different strategies to meet their
objectives, the process and outcome can be very liberating and rewarding for them
and their team. Leadership skills such as thinking and behaving creatively, having
a problem-solving approach to difficulties and making failure a positive learning
experience, each work to promote innovative practice. This, in turn, will equip teams
to respond inventively and robustly to challenges in providing high quality care and
education in today’s diverse world.
Leigh (2009: 236) encourages senior staff and management to challenge
convention so that teams do not become too constrained while trying to conform.
He poses a set of questions that enables senior staff to think about how creativity can
be fostered among their team. He asks:
How much freedom does your team actually possess to try new ways of doing
things? Are they so constrained by rules and conventions that there is little chance
of anything more effective and productive emerging? How could you bend the
rules and release the energy to invent?
Reflect on This
1 How do you demonstrate creative leadership to respond to the challenges
and changes the sector faces?
2 What do you feel are the main constraints on creative leadership in the
current climate?
To conclude, then, quality is something that everyone recognizes in one shape or

form but for which no one can provide a universal definition. Achieving it thus
requires practitioners to critically engage with the subject in order to draw their
own conclusions based on their professional experience and the experiences of the
children and families with whom they work. This makes the journey to achieving
high quality provision that bit clearer and more attainable.
Suppose that children did not follow strict

developmental patterns – what is the
implication of that?
Related to the concept of quality is the issue of developmentally appropriate
practice (DAP). This American framework for best practice is grounded in research
on child development and learning. A part of DAP is the assumption that the quality
of practice can be determined by knowledge of child development. While this
framework takes into account cultural and individual differences in children, it is

largely based on Western societal norms of development and so may not be appro-
priate to apply for all children, causing us to underestimate the capabilities of some
children and families.
Reconceptualists are critical of DAP because practitioners are guided by Western
norms of development and therefore what is regarded as good quality is thus dictated
by these norms. Given the diverse make-up of the children with whom practitioners
work, these norms cannot be solely relied upon to inform practice as they are not
actually based on children from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. While
these norms claim to take such individual differences into account, it is by no means
the same as setting norms from cultures that stray from the Western perspective.
Walsh (1997: 45) succinctly describes the role of culture in a child’s development:
Culture is both the context within which the child develops and the context into
which the child develops. Development is best understood as the process of
growing into a culture, in specific cultural and historical contexts.
What do you Think?

1 Which theory is Walsh’s idea similar to?
2 What implications does it have for you and your team in the setting?
Children and families bring with them a wealth of experience that is often tied
to their personal, cultural and religious backgrounds, and if practitioners are to
better understand these and support the development of all children they need to
consider more than one way of understanding children’s behaviour, as opposed
to relying predominantly on the developmental approach. Dahlberg, Moss and
Pence (1999: 23) discuss the over-generalization that occurs when what is
considered the ‘norm’ is adhered to:
The developmental psychology we know is tied to a culture which produced it.

In purveying what is advertised as a general, universalist model of development,
developmental psychology is a vital ingredient in the globalisation of childhood.
Although a difficult feat to achieve, it is important to try not to subscribe to the grand
knowledge base that is derived from this universalist perspective. Doing so serves
to perpetuate the notion of a superior culture to the detriment of other non-Western
cultures, which will in turn inhibit knowledge being produced and acted on from
research that originates from ‘other’ cultures.
Adhering to frameworks for learning such as the EYFS (2012) requires practi-
tioners to have a sound understanding of developmental norms and thus, to plan
and implement activities as well as observe and make assessments based on their
knowledge of child development. This should not mean that provision should
entirely be based on ages and stages but all too commonly it is. This is partly due
to the constant barrage of information concerning age and stage appropriateness of
learning experiences, instead of redirecting the focus to developing new ways of

understanding the unique child.
In today’s fast-moving, super high-tech world, early years practitioners need to
make the move away from such traditional concepts and dare to embrace alternative
ways of understanding the child (for example, from a postmodern or post-colonial
perspective). This can lead to a richer understanding of the child, one which
acknowledges that children are powerful, intelligent and social – from birth.
Dahlberg, Moss and Pence (2009; 1999) posit that this is already happening,
due to a fundamental change in thinking, which has resulted in a shift from inter-
preting the child from the concept of a found world, and instead, towards a concept
of constructed worlds. This perspective places ‘power’ or agency in the hands of
the child, who constructs knowledge and understanding of the world by interacting
with it, exploring, investigating and drawing their own conclusions. When children
and their families are afforded opportunities to construct their worlds in this way, it
stands to reason that the concept of a ‘found world’ cannot and should not be used
when examining child development and the theories therein.
In relation to this, Katz (2003) challenges the concept of what is deemed as
developmentally appropriate and emphasizes the importance of questioning this. For
example, ‘how do educators know what children should be learning?’ and ‘how are
children’s “stages” of development determined?’ In most cases unfortunately, the
answer remains – through the Western lens. What is needed is a shift to viewing the
child not from a developmentalist perspective but one that embraces the historical,
cultural and social context of learning and development (Bruner, 1996).
In conclusion, it has been argued in this section that a more creative approach
is needed when discussing individual children’s development, which considers
multiple perspectives of the factors affecting how a child develops. In today’s
multicultural society it is not enough, nor acceptable, to rely upon the traditional
(i.e. Western) perspective of developmental norms. Children’s ability to learn and
thrive is dictated by a wide range of issues which vary greatly from one culture to
another. The presence of war, quality of home experiences, learning difficulties that
the child or their parents might have, access to education and healthcare as well as
the child’s individual temperament each influence a child’s development and ability
to thrive. Practitioners therefore need a robust understanding of these issues, and
have the confidence to question norms. This way, expectations of children can be
realistic, with learning experiences and support provided that are in line with their
interests and needs – as opposed to being led by prescribed norms that have little
meaning in practice.
Suppose parents had as much knowledge

about parenting as the experts and could
guide them as there is no right or wrong?
In this section we will discuss the issue of parenting in relation to power. We will
explore where power lies when it comes to understanding parenting – or profes-
sionals would have us think it lies, and why this might be. We will also explore
possible consequences if parents had as much knowledge about parenting as the
experts. While reading, draw your own conclusions in relation to not only what you
read but your experience of working with families and professionals that are in place
to support them in the care and education of their children.
From the post-structural perspective, power does not reside with one body, nor
is it absolute. It is viewed as more fluid, changing over time, depending on who it
resides with. Conversely, power does not always have to be a negative force (Usher
and Edwards, 1994). Foucault’s ideas concerning power are also pertinent here. He
believes that power continually shifts and no one can own it all the time because it
is dynamic. According to Foucault (2009: 119):
What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it
doesn’t only weigh on us as a force that says no, but that it traverses and produces
things, it induces pleasure, forms knowledge, produces discourse.
In light of the post-structural perspective of power, certain aspects of early years

practice need to be reflected on and viewed differently. Take, for example, the issue
of parental partnerships. Practitioners are constantly reminded of the need to build
and maintain effective partnerships with parents, for the sake of their children. The
EYFS (2012) and The Children Act (2004) reinforce the importance of sharing
information with parents and liaising with them concerning their children’s welfare,
but to what extent can this be achieved in reality? Some parents are happy to get
involved in their child’s education and are confident in their role. Some, however,
are not as confident – nor able to give their children the love and care that they
deserve, while others are suspicious of the motivation of services which are seen
as remote and judgemental. Where families put their child at risk and fail to meet
their basic needs, it is difficult to distribute power equally between professionals and
parents as they often have to make decisions on behalf of the child and their family
to safeguard their well-being.
What do you Think?

1 Given that legislation and policies are devised by authorities, how can power
be distributed evenly among parents and practitioners?
2 How can the partnership between parents and practitioners:
●● encourage the sharing of power?
●● inhibit the sharing of power?
3 What might be some of the issues in giving equal power to parents?
Parenting is as complex as it is diverse. We each have our guiding principles and

opinions on how best to look after and educate children based upon our childhood
experiences, cultural background and ability. For these reasons, when it comes to
differentiating between what is right or wrong, there are clear occasions in which
professionals must act and assert power in order to safeguard the well-being of
children. This may seem difficult when there are contentious issues due to some
religious and cultural practices which have led some parents and guardians to harm
their children. However, experience of such cases show that early intervention
carried out by practitioners who act rigorously and consistently is required.
The tragic child abuse cases over recent years in which a range of multi
disciplinary professionals failed to protect children provide further evidence of the
importance of active and early intervention in such cases. Thus, when it comes to
knowledge and power, practitioners need to be confident in exerting power in order
to protect vulnerable children. This is easier said than done when some practitioners
lack sufficient knowledge about certain religions and cultures and, consequently, do
not feel confident enough to question or challenge aspects of their practice that are
opposed to protecting and promoting the basic rights of children.
Generally, when parents are included in their child’s education and are enabled to
take an active role in this, the outcomes are better for all concerned (Desforges and
Abouchaar, 2003). The various strategies that are employed by settings to encourage
the sharing of knowledge and power between staff and parents are a far cry from
some policies of the 1960s which prohibited parents from entering the school gates.
Parents are now actively encouraged to share their opinions and be proactive in
their child’s life at nursery, with links to home learning promoted. It is also now
acknowledged that because parents often see things from a practical angle, their
input can be highly valuable in terms of influencing changes to policy and practice
in early years settings.
Concluding thoughts
In conclusion, it is up to practitioners to think critically about how they can
encourage parents to contribute to the running of the setting – be it sharing skills,
taking on parent governor roles or even helping them to enrol on courses to become,
for example, learning support or nursery assistants. Any team that claims to look to
their parents as ‘experts’ needs to be mindful of the fact this includes some poten-
tially challenging issues – for example, acknowledging their different and sometimes
opposing (religious, cultural and personal) views and that ultimately, power does
reside with legislators, policy makers and curricular frameworks, each of which
exist to uphold the rights of the child to be safe, healthy and to play. Where teams
can achieve this shift in power relationships through innovative practice, there is
greater scope to include parents as authentic partners who can guide practitioners in
the planning and delivery of services that take into account their expertise. This way,
the different voices will culminate in a richer knowledge base in which knowledge
is ‘permitted’ to be flexible, have multiple interpretations and be open to change.
Reconceptualizm in Practice
●● Challenge universal givens and the hierarchy of knowledge.

●● Accept that there are many truths and realities and all are valid.
●● Reject the authoritarian concept of what knowledge is.
●● Seek out the multiple perspectives of knowledge which exist.
●● Redistribute power less hierarchically between practitioners, parents and
children.
Ideas into Action

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some key ideas of reconceptualizm
to early years development and care, make the links to practice in your setting by
reflecting upon and completing the following:
1a Do you think there is an over-emphasis on developmental theory in early
childhood education? Please explain your answer.
1b List the advantages and disadvantages of closely adhering to developmental
theory as part of your practice.
2 How do you create space and time to listen to children’s views?
3 What is the value of disrupting (or questioning) how quality is defined in
early childhood education?

1 How do the dynamics of power and knowledge impact your partnership with
parents?
2 In your opinion, what value does challenging long-held beliefs concerning
early childhood education have in your daily work with children?
3 How are children, parents and staff actively encouraged to challenge
stereotypes? (For example, stereotypes pertaining to culture, race, class,
gender and learning difficulties.)
The Contemporary Legacy of Reconceptualizing Early

Years Education
●âŠ‘ Qualifications of the workforce
●âŠ‘ The role of very early experiences on all-round development


Countering poverty and socio-economic disadvantage
●âŠ‘

●âŠ‘ Gunilla Dahlberg
●âŠ‘ Peter Moss
●âŠ‘ Alan Pence
●âŠ‘ Daniel Walsh
●âŠ‘ Michel Foucault
Further Reading
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. and Pence, A. (1999) Beyond Quality in Early Childhood
Education and Care. London: Falmer Press.
The authors take a reconceptualist position as they present a range of issues
which they problematize. Key concepts are described, such as power,
children’s choices in their education and quality are deconstructed, which
enable the reader to reflect on their personal views and perhaps even alter
aspects of these in light of the authors’ arguments against universal truths.
They offer a sharp critique of centrally prescribed quality standards and
suggest the whole concept of quality has become problematic and an
unhelpful way to think about service delivery.
Chapter 13â•‡ What Next? Reconceptualizing Early Years Education 153
Yelland, N. (2005) Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education. Maidenhead:

Open University Press.
This book takes a critical look at issues concerning child development and early
childhood education, which encourage the reader to challenge long-held
beliefs and traditions. The 15 chapters are written by different teachers,
practitioners, professors and researchers, focusing on a range of pertinent
issues, with questions for reflection. This book is an excellent introduction to
the reconceptualization of early childhood.
Bringing
the Theories
Alive– How
to Undertake
Action Research
in Your Setting
14
T his penultimate chapter is all about action research and you – the reflective
practitioner. Now that you have read about some of the more pertinent theories
concerning child development and how they help to explain and support our thinking
about some of the current issues in early years, this chapter will describe how
to conduct a small piece of action research together with your team in the work
setting. As you read, you will learn about action research (also known as practitioner
research), how to carry out a small-scale study and some of the reasons why it might
be useful to do so. We are aware of different methodological approaches to research
but we have chosen to focus on action research as we believe this is often the most
fruitful for practitioner researchers.
Why should I bother?

The ultimate goal of improving practice is to ensure that children and their families
reap the benefits of a high quality service that meets their all-round needs. Given that
families are so diverse and so many have complex needs, this makes it all the more
necessary to engage in the process of on-going evaluation, change and improvement
in order to ensure that this can and does happen. Kurt Lewin (1951: 169) succinctly
captures the need to integrate theory and practice in this well-known statement:
There is nothing so practical as a good theory.
Theory without practical application is of little use to anyone, and this is a lesson
that many early years practitioners still need to embrace. During your experience
of working with children and their families, you might well have had a ‘hunch’ or
a hypothesis concerning certain aspects of provision in your setting. Although your
hypothesis might be correct, unless you do something about it, you cannot hope to
move your practice on. Elliot (1991: 69) highlights the link between practice and
theories, stressing the interdependence of the two:
Action research theories are not validated independently and then applied to
practice. They are validated through practice.
The concept of praxis is therefore critical here. Praxis is the idea that theory and
practice are inextricably linked and cannot be separated, with theory informing
practice and practice informing the development of theories (Pascal and Bertram,
2012; McNiff et al., 1996). Early years practitioners therefore need to see themselves
as reflective practitioners – capable of generating new knowledge based on
their action research. Schön (1983: 68) encompasses the importance of not only
generating new information but allowing oneself to modify existing beliefs and
ways of behaving in light of this new information:
The practitioner allows herself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in

a situation which she finds uncertain or unique. She reflects on the phenomenon
before her, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in her
behaviour. She carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new
understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation.
So the two main goals of action research are:

●âŠ‘ To make improvements to practice in a setting
●âŠ‘ To generate new knowledge or theories
Given that one of the main goals of action research is to produce change in a
setting, embracing change is an issue that needs to be carefully considered by the
practitioner researcher. But the initial change in attitudes and consequently practice,
can be daunting, and resistance to change might be a barrier that you will have to
overcome. Some possible reasons for this could be:
●âŠ‘ Fear of the unknown – staff might not understand the proposed change or
their role in bringing about the change.
●âŠ‘ Some staff might feel that the identified issues and proposed changes are
direct criticisms of their practice.
●âŠ‘ They might feel insecure about contributing effectively to the process of
change.
●âŠ‘ They might feel exhausted at the rate of change in the setting, which can
prevent consolidation of knowledge, with staff not being able to embed
themselves in practice.
Chapter 14â•‡ Bringing the Theories Alive 157
Your responsibility as a reflective practitioner ultimately, is to provide high quality

provision that promotes the well-being and outcomes for all children. This is all the
more crucial for children experiencing poverty and disadvantage, where effective
early years education and care can help ameliorate the impact of disadvantage (Field
Report, 2010). It can also provide useful evidence about the impact and outcomes of
your practice, which helps in the accountability demand. Well-informed reflective
practice is therefore extremely useful to all concerned. The message here, then, is
that it’s not enough to ‘sit back’ and observe change taking place; it is about creating
a culture of reflection across your setting, for the benefit of the children, which
includes encouraging the contributions of all staff. This can, in turn, instil a sense
of ownership and responsibility among the team – not only in seeing the unfolding
of the action research process through but in raising standards of provision. Action
research is therefore a useful tool for increasing the professionalization of the early
years workforce.
What is action research?

Action research can be described as a lived experience, due to the practitioner taking
on the role of researcher, ‘leading’ the team on a joint journey of discovery. For this
reason it is also described as a ‘living inquiry’ (Wicks et al., 2008). Kemmis and
McTaggart (2005: 564) say action research:
Involves learning about the real, material, concrete, and particular practices of
particular people in particular places.
Action research is mainly a practical activity, involving the contribution of (for

example) staff working together in a nursery, to make changes to their practice. From
the action research process, new knowledge or theories are created. It doesn’t seek
to reproduce knowledge, and generally, findings and conclusions from one action
research project in one setting cannot be replicated in another, although there may
be some transferable learning. This is partly because action research usually evolves
from a problem within a setting that is often small-scale and only affects those
involved, thus solutions are specific to the participants only. McTaggart (1988) refers
to action research as ‘collective self-reflective enquiry’ that participants undertake
in order to improve the rationality of their own social and educational practices. The
notion of collective self-reflective enquiry is a good working definition that grounds
the concept of action research firmly in the realm of the practitioner.
Kurt Lewin (1946) was a seminal theorist who is most commonly known for
putting action research into practice during the 1940s in the United States. He is
also credited for coining the term action research. Lewin used action research as a
tool to devise strategies to overcome problems in a social context, for example, the
workplace – which is what it is used for in a range of diverse work settings today.
Action research also draws upon the input of those involved, making it a collective
process. His action research model is still used today to help guide professionals
through their action research projects.
His model is shown below.
As you can see, the model proposes a spiral of three distinct steps. Each step is
represented as a circle of planning, action and reconnaissance (fact-finding) about
your results of the actions. The cycle can (and should) be repeated as many times
as you deem necessary. Other key theorists in this field such as McNiff (1988) and
Whitehead (1987) have extended on the concept of a spiral, proposing that instead,
the action research process consists of spirals upon spirals. This is due to the original
question often changing and leading to further questions, which results in other
related issues being identified.
The basic action research spiral is described as follows:
1 The first step is to examine the idea carefully, using resources available.
Further fact-finding about the situation is usually required. If this first step
(or stage) of planning is successful, two items emerge: namely, an overall
plan of how to reach the objective and secondly, a decision with regard to
the first step of action. Usually this planning has also somewhat modified the
original idea (Lewin, 1946).
2 The next step consists of a circle of planning, executing (carrying out your
plan), and reconnaissance (fact-finding concerning your question) in order
to evaluate the results of the second step, and prepare the rational basis for
planning the third step, and for perhaps modifying again the overall plan.
3 This final step is a repetition of the first steps, which is carried out in
light of any changes to your initial question and resulting modifications to
your actions in the initial process. The above three steps can be repeated
iteratively and several times until you achieve your goal.
Chapter 14 Bringing the Theories Alive 159
Put another way, the whole cycle consists of planning, doing and reviewing. Once
you have grasped the basic process of action research, you can begin to make it your
plan. The start of your personal and professional journey into action research might
begin with the question ‘How do I improve my work?’. You thus need to know the
principles that influence your practice (so that you are clear about what you do and
why you do it). This generally involves four aspects:
1 Imagining a solution
2 Implementing the solution
3 Evaluating the solution
4 Changing practice in light of the evaluation
A word of caution – what you think is a ‘small’ issue might be symptomatic of
much wider ones. This will require you to be ready to adopt a robust style to solving
the ‘problems’ that you initially identified in your setting. This is why the small
problems may be symptoms of a larger and deeper values-based issue.
Some areas that you might instigate change in could be:
●● How can I improve the quality of the key person system?
●● How can we improve the setting’s provision of educational experiences for
babies?
●● How can we improve the effectiveness of joint problem solving between
practitioners and children during play?
●● How can we improve the support system provided to promote children’s
language?
●● How can we assess the suitability of resources for children with learning
difficulties?
●● How can we improve the status of the child’s voice in our curriculum
planning?
●● How can we build on the setting’s partnerships within the community?
●● How can we build on our parent and staff relationships?
What do you Think?

1 Reflect upon an area of provision in your nursery that you think needs improving
2 Why do you think it needs improving?
3 What evidence have you gathered that supports your concern?
4 Could this issue be indicative of any underlying issues in the setting? Briefly
explain.
5 What can you do to change this issue?
6 Make a note of what evidence you will need to gather as part of your
investigation.
7 How could you ensure that your findings are accurate?
8 How can you modify practice in light of your findings?
Below is an account provided by a Deputy Nursery Manager who, upon noticing a

recurrent problem in her setting, decided to act on it, as part of her action research
project on a programme of study. Read it and answer the questions that follow.
Case Study
In my current setting, I had noticed that generally, our outdoor provision for play
wasn’t as good as it could be. The same equipment would be out in the outdoor
area (i.e. balls, bikes and scooters). There was nothing that really encouraged
children to try ‘risky play’. Obviously practitioners are afraid to carry out risky activ-
ities because of the danger element and are afraid of their children being hurt. That
said, I felt that these risky activities should be explored at a young age, because
as with life at all ages, difficult situations need to be overcome and promoting
the self-confidence to do so, starts at the earliest age. Also, the risk of danger is
minimal as long as activities are initially risk-assessed and well supervised.
To show that there was an issue, I wrote observations of children at play, made
note of plans for outdoor play, the equipment they played with and how staff
interacted with the children. I also conducted several semi-structured interviews
with practitioners, to find out their choice of ‘risky activity’ for children and the
majority replied ‘the climbing frame’. Those who said this also said that they
wouldn’t put it out frequently because they were scared of accidents.
I tried to promote ‘risky play’ in my setting by initially creating a presentation
for my colleagues (and to my study group, who were also senior early years practi-
tioners). As part of this I shared my results, which all staff found quite surprising
as they ‘didn’t realize it was that bad’. I made my presentation very interactive
and with the input of my team, we created an action plan for change. This took
three months to carry out, as we had to make changes to our whole approach to
‘risky’ play’. This involved me asking our training department to deliver training,
and appointing a practitioner to monitor progress of the change by gathering
evidence which we then reviewed at different points of the process. I also desig-
nated different staff the responsibility for carrying out a range of risky activities
with the children which worked really well.
The outcome was really positive. The whole team is now more confident in
providing ‘riskier’ activities, they aren’t as scared to try out new and exciting
activities and they now look forward to such valuable experiences. The children
have definitely benefited from it – they all want to have a go and feel so proud
knowing that they’ve tried something new, or something that they used to be
unsure about. The boys in particular took more risks at the beginning but then
after a little while the girls joined in just the same as the boys. I didn’t think I could
get the whole team motivated but giving everyone a voice and supporting them
to make the change, made it work for us.
What do you Think?

1 What do you think your role involves in the action research process?
2 How would you ensure that everyone contributes to the process of creating
change?
3 What would you do to make sure that the change is maintained and
monitored for effectiveness?
Adopting a qualitative approach immerses you (the researcher) in the ‘thick of it’,
learning from fellow practitioners and seeking answers to problems collectively.
Engaging in dialogue as you investigate with colleagues opens up a rich world, full
of various interpretations, which you can then ‘unpack’ in order to build the bigger
picture. Once you have a rough idea of what is going on, you can then start to use
different methods to draw your conclusions and find ways to best modify practice.
How do I carry out a small-scale study?

As long as you have an idea of the issue you want to explore, or know that you want
to change an aspect of your provision, action research need not be a difficult process.
Below is an outline of the basic phases of action research offered by McNiff (2002),
whatever the initial inquiry or question might be. This outline also works as your
action plan for change:
●● We review our current practice
●● identify an aspect that we want to investigate
●● imagine a way forward
●● try it out
●● take stock of what happens
●● we modify what we are doing in the light of what we have found, and
continue working in this new way (try another option if the new way of
working is not right)
●● monitor what we do
●● review and evaluate the modified action
●● and so the cycle continues.
Now that you have a clear idea of the steps to take as an action researcher, you
also need to pay close attention to some related issues that you need to address all
throughout your action research. For example, how will you show that you have
considered the different ethical issues? What methods will you use to collect and
interpret your data (or evidence)? What will inform your decision? How will you
ensure that everyone including your colleagues is treated fairly during the process?
How will you use the evidence that you gather? Who will you share your results
with? These questions will now be answered in turn.
Choosing the best methodology (your rationale for selecting your data collection
methods) for your action research is key. Your methodology will be influenced by
your values which will underpin the entire action research process. Hughs (2001:
32) defines methodology as:
What to investigate, how to investigate it, what to measure or assess and how to
do so.
Undertaking action research involves the researcher adhering to an interpretivist

paradigm. This paradigm (or perspective) assumes that there is no one version of
the truth and that multiple versions of the truth exist among those involved in the
research context. This means that knowledge gained from the interpretivist paradigm
does not seek to make generalizations about the world, but instead to gain detailed
insight into an issue that occurs in one context.
Thus, the researcher can immerse themselves in the process as they elicit and
interpret the views of those involved in the process, and draw their conclusions using
appropriate methods.
How do I collect my data?

There are two main methods used to gather data as part of the action research
process. These are:
●âŠ‘ Quantitative methodology
●âŠ‘ Qualitative methodology
Due to this chapter focusing on action research, only the qualitative method will be
explored, given that this method best lends itself to gathering detailed data about the
improvement of practice within a professional setting.
Qualitative research is chiefly concerned with finding out the opinions and
values of individuals in a specific context, which results in the researcher obtaining
multiple interpretations of a situation. This approach, which looks into the quality of
responses, draws upon semi-structured interviews, participant observations and case
studies of those involved in the action research process. It is a sound idea to draw
upon a range of methods to gather your evidence, in order to ensure that you not only
capture the different perspectives of participants but also that your data produces
similar answers. This is referred to as triangulation of methods. MacNaughton,
Rolfe and Siraj-Blatchford (2004: 53) say that:
Qualitative research is concerned with the quality of the data it produces, rather
than just the quantity … aiming to learn about it in terms of the people involved.
What do you Think?

1 How might you ensure values about different approaches to raising young
children are congruent in your setting?
2 What methods would you choose?
3 How will these methods help you to elicit the information you would require
to move practice on?
Ethics
The issue of ethics in all research and action research is critical. Ethics, or rules of
conduct as described by Reynolds (1979), refer to the ethical/moral considerÂ�ations
of a research study. MacNaughton, Rolfe and Blatchford (2004: 270) define ethics
as:
A consideration of the effects of the research on the rights and well-being of those
who may be affected by the research.
The rationale underpinning action research is learning through practice – a learning

journey that is open, honest and democratic. Adhering closely to an ethical code
during your process will enable you to achieve personal and professional learning
from which all stakeholders can benefit. The issue of power is therefore central to
the process of action research and practitioner researchers have to be very careful
about power and ethics. Action research can be a highly effective tool in enabling the
workforce to gain recognition and credibility for its generation of new knowledge –
but this needs to be achieved in a climate of trust, openness and democracy. Pascal
and Bertram (2012: 9) say:
We have to reflect more critically on how to more authentically realise the

participatory practice we strive for. This requires courage, risk taking, and further
innovation, alongside a more rigorous and critical engagement in the redistribution
of power and the living out of ethics. This could give us the chance to achieve
more open, inclusive, democratic research that has the capacity to answer the
deeper questions we face in developing ECEC in the 21st century.
A few simple yet important ways to make sure your action research meets ethical
standards are as follows.
Seeking consent from participants

Once you have explained the purpose of the action research and how your findings
will be used, and that all information provided will be treated with the strictest confi-
dentiality, you will need to obtain your colleagues’ permission for their participation.
(This can be done via a letter.)
Conversely, where individuals feel strongly opposed to participating, they have

the right not to participate and need to be informed of this from the outset. This of
course includes children and parents, as well as practitioners. This means that you
will need to think carefully about how you request permission, taking special care
with the young, the vulnerable and those who find expressing their views more
difficult. It is important that all potential participants understand their rights in the
research process.
Telling participants that they are free to opt

out of the action research process at any
point if they feel uneasy
You should inform participants at the start of the process, that they are free to leave
at any point should they wish to do so. Your colleagues will want to support you
in wanting to improve practice in your setting and most will want to ‘get on board’
but for one reason or another, some will not be able to commit to the whole journey
(Robson, 1993). Reflecting on personal values and practice can prove too much for
some individuals and a lack of time to commit may also be an issue for some, so it’s
important that you inform them they can opt out should they feel the need.
Acknowledging feelings arising from the

process
If you are leading the process, you need to inform participants that they are free to
express their feelings if they felt uncomfortable with any aspects of the procedure,
which might include being recorded. If this is the case, you can use alternative
methods such as a questionnaire which will still enable you to obtain the information
you require. This will prove important in helping the participants feel comfortable
during the process and in ensuring that the power is more equal between you (the
action researcher) and participants. As long as your methods are specific, ethical
and doable (Roberts-Holmes, 2005), straying from your initial plan a little will not
affect the outcome of your action research. At the end of the process you should
also thank the participants for their contributions as well as share your findings with
them at the end of the process. From this you can begin your discussion of your
action plan for change – in line with your initial research question.
Co-constructing ethics with participants

Co-constructing the ethics of your research with participants will encourage a sense
of ownership on their part. Moreover, it will send the message that with rights come
responsibilities which both parties must respect, in order to ensure that it is an

equitable experience for all concerned. Once the ethics are co-constructed, it will
make for a more productive and open partnership as the participants can exercise a
degree of control over the process as well as being clear about the reasons for the
research and how the findings will be utilized.
Objectivity versus subjectivity in action

research
Action research is subjective. Due to its interpretivist nature, practitioners undertaking
action research embrace intimacy or closeness to the subjects of study, not distance –
i.e. we are attached not detached in the process. João and Júlia Formosinho’s (2012)
informative research findings concerning participatory research are worth looking at
for further information if you are interested in learning more about the dynamics of
power and democratic participation in research.
McNiff (2002: 4) explains that:
Action research is very subjective as its methodology is defined by the individual

researcher, so it is difficult to provide a philosophical framework to encompass all
action research studies.
Think of yourself conducting a small piece of action research in your setting –

not only would you be leading the project but you will also be immersed in the
whole process. Typically this means selecting the best methods to obtain the
information you need, interviewing your colleagues, interpreting their responses
while trying to remain unbiased as well as drawing your conclusions and making
useful recommendations. This makes the issue of subjectivity and trustworthiness
all the more significant because as a practitioner researcher, it is a challenge to do
all of these things while making sure that your research is rigorous and credible
throughout.
What do you Think?

How might you ensure that your findings are trustworthy, even though the
action research process is subjective in nature?
Pascal and Bertram (2012: 2) posit that the concept of praxis is no longer sufficient
in itself and that practitioner researchers need to actively engage with the dynamics
of ethics and power throughout the whole process in the creation of new theories that
are authentic and trustworthy. They suggest:
Praxis in itself is not enough, and to authentically realise a participatory

paradigm in our work requires us to develop a worldview in which reflection
(phronesis) and action (praxis) done in conjunction with others, needs to be

immersed within a much more astute awareness about power (politics) and
a sharpened focus on values (ethics) in all of our thinking and actions. We
see this mix of phronesis, praxis, ethics and power at the heart of what we
increasingly recognise as a ‘praxeological’ worldview in modern early childhood
research.
We gain rigour or trustworthiness by checking out our findings with other participants
and making sure we have obtained various perspectives (which we achieve through
triangulation of methods). Given that our judgements will always be influenced by
personal experience, emotion or bias, checking your views against your colleagues
involved in the action research and triangulating your findings will help ensure
that your research includes these different voices. This in turn will create a more
democratic process due to the multiple perspectives and understandings being
elicited.
What do you Think?

1 Why might taking an objective position as an action researcher be
problematic?
Who do I get on board?

Action research is always done with people – not to them. The process is thus
participatory and should always be democratic, so as to encourage a whole
team approach in the generation of new knowledge. It is carried out by you –
the practitioner or anyone else in the setting who is familiar with the context
and can put the results into practice. Colleagues, children and parents are often
included in the action research process, depending on the nature of the inquiry
and the evidence required. The following questions are designed to help you to
think about some of the choices you would make as a researcher and participant
when instigating change in your setting. Read them and respond as you find
most appropriate.
What do you Think?

You are concerned about the quality of your setting’s educational experiences for
babies.
1a Who would you involve in the action research?
1b How will your choice of participants help you to collect the evidence that
you need?
1c How will you obtain informed consent from these babies?
2 What methods will you use to ensure these very young children’s voices are
listened to as part of the research process?
3 How will you ensure that practitioners do not feel attacked or unduly
criticized by comments or findings made during research process?
As mentioned in the introduction, our aim is to help you to think deeper about what
you do and why.
Using action research theories will support you and your colleagues to discover
the underlying assumptions you have about your work and to advance your practice
(Pascal and Bertram, 2010, personal written communication) by enabling you to
adopt a fresh approach to existing practice. By drawing upon the viewpoints of all
participants in the action research process, your findings will be strengthened due to
the range of interpretations sought. This will ultimately serve to build the validity
of the research.
As researcher and participant, you will also need to be psychologically and
emotionally prepared to take the good with the bad. This might include knowing
how to manage divergence in opinions, loss of motivation in the action research and
receiving on-going feedback. This can at times, be uncomfortable to take on board,
but is an inevitable aspect of change-oriented research. MacNaughton (2005: 294)
says:
At its core, action research is about activism and working towards emancipation
and social justice, and as a methodology it requires much of both the participants
and the researcher. It is change-oriented and anyone involved must be prepared to
confront themselves and each other and be changed.
Take a look at the following action plan. It has been successfully used by a number
of nursery teams in one organization, to help them start their action research,
following a training session on what it is, how to carry out the process and how to
devise a plan that would help them utilize findings.
This plan is easy to follow for those of you new to action research. You might
want to explore if this kind of format would work in your setting.
Action Plan
Complete this Action Plan, based on one area of provision in your nursery that
you think needs to be improved. You should share this completed Action Plan
with your Manager and carry out the action research process in your nursery
team in order to find a resolution to your identified issue.
Name:
Nursery:
Timeline for completion of action research process:
1 What do you want to research?
2 Why?
3 What are you going to do?
4 How will you involve your team?
5 Is the research just for your nursery, or could it be wider?
6 What are your steps?
7 How will you know if it’s worked?
8 Feedback to your team.
Concluding thoughts
In conclusion, action research is a key element of the professionalization of the
workforce. It provides the means through which you can instigate improvements
to your provision and create new knowledge and theories in early childhood. The
ideas that we have provided for you to try out in this chapter are designed to help
you to get thinking reflectively about your practice and to start making changes. It is
also part of the profession reclaiming the change process for yourselves and taking
responsibility for informing yourselves and others about how to move the quality of
practice forward. This will make practice improvement more powerful and effective
for those involved and ensure development is owned and located by those whom it
affects, including children and families.
Action research in Practice

●● Taking a critical look at your existing provision.
●● Questioning aspects of your practice, both individually and within your team.
●● Speaking the language of action research with staff and children.
●● Encouraging all staff to get into the habit of gathering evidence, to help
inform change.
●● Involving the children and parents in the process of change.
●● Using your evidence to help make policy changes in your setting.
●● Embedding critical reflective practice in the daily life of your setting.

●● Providing opportunities for dialogue and the co-construction of practice with
those who experience it at the front line.
Ideas into Action

1 Why should ethical considerations underpin research processes and
outcomes?
2 Identify two ways in which you would ensure the trustworthiness and
credibility of your research.

1 Given that action research is interpretative, can objective knowledge be
created which is not biased in favour of the researcher?
2 How far does action research promote the professionalization of the
workforce given that the results it produces cannot be generalized?
3 How realistic is it to expect practitioners to undertake action research, given
the existing demands placed on them?
Action Research – its Contemporary Legacy

●● Qualifications of the workforce


●● The centrality of emotional-social development
●● Countering poverty and socio-economic disadvantage

●● Jean McNiff
●● Jack Whitehead
●● Patricia Lomax
●● Glenda Mac Naughton
●● Sharne Rolfe
●● Donald Schön
●● Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram
●● Júlia and João Formosinho
●● Paulo Freire
Further Reading
Bruce, T. (2006) Early Childhood: A Guide for Students. London: SAGE.
Chapter 26 of this book is all about practitioner research. It contains a
discussion on the nature and necessity of research, as well as guidance on
how to carry out the different research tasks and the benefits of undertaking
research. It is easy to read and the exercises serve as useful catalysts for
ideas that you can put into action.
MacNaughton, G., Rolfe, S. A. and Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2004) Doing Early

Childhood Research. International Perspectives on Theory and Practice.
Maidenhead: McGraw Hill. Open University Press.
This is an excellent book for those new to conducting research as well as those
who are very experienced in the process, as it provides comprehensive and
step-by-step guidance on how to carry out research (and action research).
Part of this guidance includes a range of international case studies, which
enable the reader to understand exactly what is required of the researcher and
participants. Related key issues are also examined such as ethics, paradigm,
design and review of literature. The glossary of terms is helpful in clarifying
understanding of commonly used terms in early childhood research.
McNiff, J. and Whitehead, J. (2009) Doing and Writing Action Research. London:
SAGE.
This is an excellent and very readable book for those who require detailed
guidance concerning how to write up their action research. Some space is
given to the importance of undertaking action research and how to do this,
but the principle aim of this book is to provide information concerning what
the report needs to consist of and how to write a high quality report.
Back to the
Future: Lessons
from the
Past into the
Present
15
What this chapter is about
This final chapter provides an overall synthesis of each of the theories explored in the
book in relation to a range of contemporary issues which are challenging the early
years sector. Theories, unlike issues, tend to remain constant. However, sometimes
they do get revised, with some of the more traditional or long-standing theories
being challenged due to critique and advances in technology. For example, the fact
that young children are now exposed to more interactive forms of entertainment
means that they are displaying a different set of skills compared with three or four
decades previously and this change affects theories of child development (Schore
and Schore, 2007; Dowling, 2004). The issues faced by early years practitioners
also shift as society progresses and populations change. For example, we see greater
access to health and social care, more government initiatives to alleviate the effects
of poverty, more state intervention in family life and increased expectations and
guidance for parents to support their children’s learning and development from birth.
Nevertheless, we believe long-standing theories can still have great relevance in
today’s world of practice. Given this dynamic context, for this discussion we have
taken the main tenets of the theories past and present, and made a direct link between
these and a set of issues that have been identified by practitioners as most pressing in
their work today. We believe that it’s critical to have a sense of the past in order to
better understand the present; and given that some of the challenges facing parents
and practitioners have a long legacy in early childhood practice, the strategies and
resources that we can access today are often rooted in past experiences and thinking.
In short, the theories included in this book have been selected and reflected upon
simply because they have a resonance in today’s world.
How the information can help you to

enhance your professional skills
The information presented in this chapter is designed to help you to think criti-
cally – not just about the issues that you deal with in your setting today, but those
impacting more widely in the sector. Consequently, we hope that this summary
of the most pertinent theories, and their links to current issues, will equip you to
ask further questions concerning aspects of your provision and also inspire you
to carry out small-scale research projects in your setting with the aim to improve
your practice. While reading, we suggest that you continually ask yourself, ‘How
are these theories helping me to think about issues differently?’A combination of
questions, case studies and suggestions for practice which relate to each issue, are
included to exemplify the issues faced by practitioners.
The three contemporary issues will now be explored in turn, each of which
contains related sub-issues. These are signposted under sub-headings, to make it
easy and quick to find the information that might be of relevance to you. We hope
that all the theories and ideas presented in the chapters on reconceptualization and
action research will inform and underpin your critical stance as you reflect on each
of the three contemporary issues in this final chapter. These ideas encourage you to
question the assumptions, terminologies and values that are embedded in the issue
as is positioned in the discussion below and to reflect upon what is emphasized and
what is left out. We hope that this will also encourage you to raise your own further
questions and to seek additional evidence through undertaking your own research
and action in your workplace.
The three contemporary issues and their related sub-issues are as follows:
1 Knowledge base concerning development from conception to three
●● Qualifications of the workforce
2 Creating inclusive and enabling environments
●● Behavioural and academic expectations
3 Importance of parents and the home learning environment (HLE)
●● The centrality of emotional-social development
●● Countering poverty and socio-economic disadvantage
Chapter 15 Back to the Future: Lessons from the Past into the Present 173
Contemporary issues facing the early

years sector today
Knowledge base concerning development

from conception to three
Socio-emotional learning
The period from conception to three years plays a critical role in determining the
well-being and development of children, especially in the longer term. Personal,
social and emotional development, physical development and communication
literacy are therefore at the centre of the revised EYFS, forming the prime areas of
learning. This shift to a more learning-oriented programme with lots of interaction,
stimulation and action reinforces the sheer importance of this period – and in turn,
the place of early years provision in providing high quality care and education.
The early years sector is currently benefiting from understanding more about
the abilities of young babies from birth than ever before. This is due to advances
in technology that enable us to actually see how experiences and emotions affect
the brain’s wiring during those first few critical years following birth. Renewed
government interest in early years provision and its positive impact on child devel-
opment (Truss, 2012; Department for Education and Skills, 2010) has also put early
years provision in the public eye.
The importance of the first three years of a child’s life cannot be overemphasized.
It is during these early years that a child grows and develops most rapidly in terms of
learning how to walk, talk, and form attachments. Between late pregnancy through
to the second year the brain is in a critical period of accelerated growth (Teaching
and Learning Research Programme, 2007); children thus need to receive the best
possible start in life in order to help ensure they grow into confident individuals
who are able to achieve their potential. This includes enjoying optimum care and
education from both primary carers and early years practitioners.
Practitioners working with babies need to understand them and all that they
attempt to communicate in order to meet their needs for love, stimulation and care.
Furthermore, in order to understand how babies and children can form multiple
attachments (Rutter, 1979; Ainsworth, 1971) and the conditions that are necessary
to enable this, one would also need to be familiar with the original concept of
attachment (Bowlby, 1953). This way, informed decisions about their emotional
development can be made. It is, after all, the early experience of the baby that lays
the foundations for a secure and happy childhood – and adulthood. O’Sullivan
believes that:
The early experience of the baby lays the foundations for a secure and happy
childhood and optimistic adulthood. So be kinder to babies and the world will be a
better place. (O’Sullivan, October 2012. Personal written communication)
Qualifications of the workforce

There is unequivocal evidence that the existing knowledge and skills of practitioners
working with infants from birth to three needs to be of a level that enables them to
meet the diverse needs of this age group. This means the competencies and skills of
the current and future early years workforce needs to be significantly upgraded and
enhanced, as currently England has an underqualified and undertrained workforce.
There is a long-term Government strategy to reform and restructure wage and quali-
fications for early years practitioners and to upgrade the minimum entrance level
into the profession. It is widely agreed (Nutbrown, 2012) that working with our
youngest children requires an advanced level of skill and professionalism.
Practitioners who work with babies and young children are at the front line
in terms of supporting parents by promoting well-being and development in
partnership with them. This is all the more important where parents experience
on-going difficulty and require support in providing a safe, nurturing environment
for their children. Where practitioners are qualified and hold relevant experience,
they can help make all the difference to children’s outcomes – both in the present
and their future. Nutbrown and Page (2008: 58) assert that:
For ‘teachers’ we should now read ‘practitioners’ and/or ‘educators’ because

everyone who works with young children needs to have a secure knowledge base
from which they help young children to learn and also to make judgements about
their developmental needs on a daily basis.
The argument for a well-trained workforce is clear when the outcome involves better
educational achievement of all children that starts with an enriching early years
experience. In recognition of this, the UK Government has committed, from 2013,
to provide free early education for the most economically disadvantaged 20 per cent
of two-year-olds. This opportunity makes it all the more important for practitioners
to be adequately skilled and knowledgeable concerning their role when working
with children from birth to three years, particularly those who are most vulnerable.
Sue Gregory, the regulator’s director of education (2012), also wants to see early
years practitioners educated to a higher level, to ensure a minimum knowledge
and skills set which babies and young children can benefit from. This would be a
timely change given that early years workers, although undoubtedly doing vital,
life-changing work, are low-paid and low-status and overwhelmingly women, and
this reinforces the notion that actually the work is unimportant ‘childcare’ which
itself seems to contradict the Government message that this work is vital – if it is so
vital, why is it not properly recognized and rewarded?
The revised EYFS (2012) also emphasizes the need for a well-trained workforce,
in order to ensure quality provision for all children from birth to five years, provided
by staff who are passionate, knowledgeable and attuned to children’s needs, temper-
ament and current interests. Sufficient qualifications combined with regular and
ongoing training can help ensure that all staff are competent and confident in meeting
the care and development needs of the babies and young children in their setting.
Chapter 15â•‡ Back to the Future: Lessons from the Past into the Present 175
To conclude, while research and consequent beliefs about learning and

development from conception are progressing rapidly, it remains important for
practitioners to be well-versed in the developing knowledge base about this in order
to make professional judgements about factors affecting emotional development and
what this looks like for children today. Concerning oneself with current information
only, without reflection, makes for a narrow frame of reference with little scope
for developing a deeper understanding that is influenced by a range of theoretical
perspectives.
The role of very early experiences on development

The work of Piaget was central in mapping out the rapid and iterative developmental
stages which help to guide early education and care practice to ensure it is suited
to a child’s capacity and capabilities. His work also challenged those who did not
recognize the critical importance of the earliest developmental stages on longer-term
maturational progress. However, given new knowledge and understandings it is now
clear that we need to draw upon more than maturational or biological explanations
of child development (Piaget, 1969) and embrace socio-cultural theories (Bruner,
1996; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Vygotsky, 1978) and especially scientific theories into
our professional practices. It is these that most enable us to understand the impact of
the environment and external stimuli on a child’s early development.
Research repeatedly tells us the fundamental importance of the earliest interac-
tions and experiences a baby has and how these impact on emergent emotional and
social development as well as the ability to learn and get on in school, later on in
childhood (Teaching and Learning Research Programme, 2007; Shore, 2001; Walsh,
2000). Gopnik (2009) and Gerhardt (2004) highlight the influence of external stimuli
in the wiring of the baby’s brain and ability to become emotionally and socially
competent. Wiring is concerned with the impact that the baby’s early experiences
and interactions (be it positive or negative) can have on the developing brain and
how connections are made in response to these early experiences; the more connec-
tions that are formed, the more the young child is capable of understanding and
doing (Gopnik et al., 2004). In addition, if the stimuli and interactions are not
positive, the child might develop insecure attachments and be unable to cope with
her own feelings as well as others’, due to neuronal pathways being formed that, as
a result, dictate the child’s psychological patterns (Shore, 2001). These experiences
cause the brain to organize and reorganize, and when this growth reaches its peak
during the first year, the brain cells make new connections and terminate those that
are not required. Early brain growth is extremely susceptible to adverse environ-
mental factors such as nutritional deficits and dysregulating interpersonal emotional
experiences, both of which negatively impact on infant mental health.
Suggestions for practice

●● Ensure your team makes every effort to provide high quality experiences that
nurture the emotional well-being and sociability of the under-3s.
●● Take a stock-check of your play resources and environments for
the under-3s. Check that they are designed to promote exploration,
experimentation and manageable challenge.
●● As a team, use part of your next planning meeting to discuss your provision
for children with EAL and those who are from different cultural backgrounds.
●● Discuss and record the strengths and areas that require improvement in
regard to your provision for these children.
●● Devise an action plan to help you make the changes that you identified.
Allocate a ‘project lead’ to monitor implementation of the plan.

The following sections explore the impact of those experiences and environments
which best support children’s communication and developing capacity to interact
positively and inclusively in their social world. Issues such as cultural participation,
socio-cultural learning and the role of a support network in promoting language
and interaction are each discussed, with relevant theories interwoven throughout
each discussion. Case studies are included to help trigger ideas for making practice
inclusive and enabling so that every child can benefit from and contribute to a
diverse and meaningful learning experience. The behavioural and academic expec-
tations that some children contend with are also discussed, with suggestions for
practice.
The ability to communicate effectively is a lifelong skill that needs to be
developed from birth. Usually, most children develop language without any diffi-
culties at all. For some, however, communicating and developing language is not
such an easy feat. Factors such as having English as an additional language (EAL),
having a stammer, shyness, parental attitudes towards their children and the quality
of the home learning environment all have a significant impact on acquiring and
using language to communicate (Department for Education Research Report, 2010).
Cultural participation
A discussion concerning language development would not be complete without
paying attention to the cultural participation of children. Culture includes the
beliefs, customs and behaviours of any given group in society. It is also realized
through ethnicity, language, socio-economic status, values, gender, disability and
technologies used.
The need to include and promote the learning and well-being of all children in
any given setting is highlighted in the EYFS (2012), which enforces the importance
of providing anti-discriminatory practice and equality of opportunity to ensure that
every child is included and supported. This means really getting to know individual
families and their children from the outset and planning the curriculum and daily
routine around their needs. Following one of the four main principles of the EYFS
– that every child is a ‘unique child’ – is just one way of guaranteeing practice that
maximizes the potential of every child, while taking into account differences in
cultural background, home experience, ability and first language.
One Early Years Educator working in a Children’s Centre in Harrow describes
how they promote communication among children for whom English is an additional
language. This case study provides practical examples of how cultural participation
of all families is achieved.
Case Study
In our setting, 50 per cent of children have English as an additional language
(EAL), with the main religious group being Muslim, followed by Hindu and Atheist
families. EAL is our biggest issue, so we focus on providing more hands-on and
experiential activities, with an emphasis on encouraging parents to keep their
native language going at home. We work closely with all our parents, allocating
an interpreter where necessary, so that we as a team are clear about each family’s
needs and how we can meet these. Having this regular dialogue helps us to know
where each family is at, with regard to their beliefs, customs and preferred way
of teaching their child.
In the setting, we speak both languages, using key words in the children’s
home language, as well as displaying key words around the room. Having staff
who are fluent in some of the home languages spoken by families is a great bonus
– both in terms of working with children and helping us to keep building on our
good practice. We promote literacy in the same way as we do for our children
whose first language is English, but with more use of picture books to encourage
children to speak about what they see, without the pressure of having to read if
they are not quite ready. This works really well as parents do the same with their
children at home.
Michael Jones, an Early Language Consultant, believes that further research needs
to be carried out, in order to build understanding of the factors affecting cultural
language development. He says:
I think that someone needs to explore in-depth how differing beliefs and
childrearing practices influence cultural language development (and that can
include beliefs and ‘culture’ within a family); and particularly within the UK child
day care and school context. Not all cultures and families believe in childhood as
important as a separate stage of human development, nor in the importance of
parents playing with and talking to children.
Gordon Wells in his ground-breaking Bristol Study found that in his samples of
recorded conversations between children and their parents, most parents only really
got in conversation with their children at home when the child took an interest
in what the adult was doing. This produced some very interesting learning. Also
the children came to see certain activities and objects in the home as being very
important, because the parents spend a lot of time doing them (cooking, washing
up, doing the laundry) or touching them (the TV remote, books, hair straighteners,
big brother’s train track).
That for me is a very interesting concept, because it’s the opposite of what we
do in early years where we promote talking about what the child is doing. Some of
the parents I know just can’t relate to our concept of playing and talking informally
with their children: it’s just not part of their background. But if we talk to them
about involving children in daily chores and what adults are doing, they can readily
relate to this, as it fits in more with their own experience as children and within the
countries/communities they originated from.
The children are still getting interaction and conversation, and research
shows that this can be very rich and rewarding for both parties, emotionally and
linguistically. I’m very interested in this idea, as the REPEY study showed that in
‘high quality settings’ the adults and children were involved in conversations that
had high interest for both adult and child. I imagine this was something like an
adult sharing a book that she really likes with a child who has the same interest
and may even have the same book at home.
I think the same happens with songs too. Where a family are very religious, and
their main family gathering is going to church (as is the case with many of the West
African families in Thurrock) then we talk about songs the families really like, as
well as the type of dance music they play, and encouraging them to sing with their
children. The children love this, and learn a lot from it. I think this can have a huge
relevance for the family and really improves links with the setting. The practitioners
and teachers need to be open to this too, which is not always the case.
Socio-cultural learning
There are many theories that exist which explore children’s language development,
and due to the length of this book, only a few that are most applicable will be
discussed. Let us begin with Vygotsky’s socio-cultural perspective of language
acquisition (1978). He believed that children develop language as a result of their
interactions. Language is thus viewed as serving two key functions – as a psycho-
logical tool and a cultural tool. Through their early interactions and collaborative
learning experiences, children are enabled to use language both as a cultural tool
and a psychological tool – organizing their thoughts, for reasoning, planning and
reviewing. This more advanced use of language comprises Vygotsky’s third and
final phase of language development, inner speech (see Chapter 8). Vygotsky firmly
believed that children achieve such higher cognitive skills through their social
environment. This includes engaging in interactions with more knowledgeable
Chapter 15â•‡ Back to the Future: Lessons from the Past into the Present 179
others (MKOs) such as more capable peers and adults who act as a support
throughout the child’s ZPD.
While he believed that children learn most effectively through active partici-
pation, Vygotsky also believed that knowledge is socially constructed. This makes
sense given that everything a child is exposed to and experiences can only ever be
context-specific, dictated by the customs and values of any given culture.
The cultural values and customs suggest what is important to learn in different
countries, cities, neighbourhoods and even estates. These values are determined
and shaped by socio-economic status, political and religious beliefs and level of
education. Practitioners therefore need to be mindful of the impact of these factors
on different families and work with them in line with their unique situation.
Rousseau also believed that society itself is a construct that is formed in order to
protect individuals (as well as to maintain civil order). Unlike Vygotsky who viewed
it as a positive construct, Rousseau viewed it as a necessary evil. In his key text, The
Social Contract (1968: 50), Rousseau makes his well-known statement ‘man is born
free, but everywhere he is in chains’ to express his discontent concerning the role
of individuals in society. Paradoxically however, in order to achieve equality for all,
Rousseau believed that children should be educated in isolation with learning solely
dictated by the teacher until the age of 12. This way, he thought that the child would
be shielded from prejudice and social injustice until she is old and wise enough to
make her own well-informed decisions. These dilemmas continue to challenge us
in our practice.
What do you Think?

1 How far are we supporting the development of unique individuals and how
far are we encouraging social solidarity and community cohesion?
2 How far do we want children to be independent and autonomous, and how
far do we want them to work in collaboration with others?
3 What balance do you feel you have in relation to these questions in your
setting?
The role of a support network in promoting

language development
Similarly, Bruner (1983) viewed language as an accelerator to learning and cognition
as children become more adept at interpreting the world around them. Language (a
key tool in aiding a child’s ability to learn) speeds up thinking skills as the child
is able to identify and communicate all that they are finding out about by continu-
ously building on this knowledge. Bruner’s language acquisition support system
(LASS) is a useful way of explaining children’s language development (see Chapter
9). His theory proposes that children acquire language through a process of active
engagement with others in their immediate environment – who act as a support in the
child’s efforts at communication as they talk together, making and sharing meanings
about the world. Not only does this lead to a widened vocabulary but also higher
thinking skills (Evangelou et al., 2009).
One study conducted by the Education, Audio-visual & Culture Executive
Agency concluded with the clear message concerning the teaching of language in
the early years:
What seems essential for all approaches is a positive socio-emotional climate, with
emotionally safe and stable relationships, with sensitive-responsive, non-intrusive
teachers. There is no reason why an orientation on emerging school skills using
authentic activities in which teachers participate, cannot go together with a positive
socio-emotional climate. (2009: 32)

●● Consider the babies in your setting – make sure staff support babies’
attempts at communication in a meaningful way.
●● Reflect on the language used by adults in your setting – it must always be
professional, and age/stage appropriate when interacting with all children.
●● Review the play spaces that you provide (indoor and outdoor); these
must support children’s attempts at communication during the range of
experiences they engage in (playing together, exploring, eating, dancing and
making things).
●● Create environments in which children are encouraged to support each other
during interactions and play.
●● Ensure your team understand any of the existing speech, language and
communication needs among the children. This will support a whole team
approach to helping individual children.

The fact that speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) manifest so
differently in individual children can lead to their need being misinterpreted or
missed altogether. For example, a child who has communication difficulties might
display poor behaviour, find it hard to learn how to read, have difficulty in social-
izing with other children and could as a result, end up isolating themselves. If left
undiagnosed and untreated, such signs of SLCN can lead to the child suffering due
to being misunderstood, labelled as a ‘challenging child’ and ultimately, missing out
on invaluable support that could make all the difference to their ability to thrive at a
personal and academic level.
Conversely, when children are supported in their efforts at interacting with
other children and adults, the outcomes can be very positive. Providing extra time,
practice and predictability in the daily routine will help to build confidence when
interacting with others. Specific activities and games can also encourage children to
listen, speak and learn how to take turns during conversations. Making up and telling
stories, identifying, describing and naming games are just a few examples of how
this can be achieved.
There is a plethora of research studies which explore the various speech and
language difficulties experienced by children in their early years. The current
emphasis on this may well be due to the sheer number of children presenting commu-
nication difficulties which require long-term intervention, as well as those research
findings which tell us what happens when it’s ‘too late’ (Marmot Review, 2010;
Allen and Duncan Smith, 2008; Clark and Dugdale, 2008). This current emphasis
exists in various contexts, including the Government’s roll-out of free childcare
provision for 2-year-olds living in disadvantaged circumstances, the review of the
EYFS and early intervention strategies (Department for Education and Skills, 2010).
One in ten children has a communication difficulty in the United Kingdom which
requires on-going speech and language therapy (ICAN ‘Cost to the Nation’ Report,
2006). Given that as many as half of all children start primary school with delayed
speech and language skills (Department for Children, Schools and Families, Bercow
Report, 2008), the situation is clearly critical. Where a child’s needs go unmet, a
range of long-term consequences may result. Behavioural difficulties, emotional
and psychological difficulties, lower educational attainment, poorer employment
prospects and in some cases, descent into criminality have all been reported
(Department for Children, Schools and Families, Bercow Report, 2008; Clark and
Dugdale, 2008).
Research findings carried out by The National Literacy Trust (Clark and Dugdale,
2008) enables us to ‘fast-forward’ to the future regarding some of those young children
who do not get their essential needs for affection, stimulation and education met.
Literacy problems in the prison population are often compounded by a wide range
of factors, including child abuse and neglect, linguistic impoverishment in the
childhood home, low verbal ability, uncorrected visual and hearing impairments in
childhood, unskilled teaching in the junior school and mistaken conjecture about
literacy practice, substance misuse, low non-verbal ability, childhood hyperactivity-
impulsivity and inattention, impairments in empathy and social cognition,
depression, and – often as a default and catch-all explanation – developmental
dyslexia. (Rice and Brooks, 2004: 4)
Research indicates time and time again, the fundamental role of the early years in
building strong foundations (Dale et al., 2003; Hart and Risley, 1995) concerning
language and communication development. With the right support at the right time,
children displaying communication difficulties can catch up (I CAN Talk Series –
Issue 7 Speech, Language and Communication Needs and the Early Years 2009;
Clark and Dugdale, 2008). Early identification and intervention are thus critical in
supporting individual children who display SLCN from the earliest possible stage.
Ideally, in order to ameliorate the impact of speech, language and communication

difficulties, multiple key approaches are required, such as better understanding of
the different SLCN that exist – this includes practitioners and parents. Widely acces-
sible information in the form of public health messages from conception also play a
significant role so that new or first-time parents are aware of problem signs to look
out for, as well as provision for health care and education adopting a wide range
of strategies that are tailored to children’s individual needs. This makes the role of
community midwives, health visitors and GPs all the more important as they are best
positioned to identify any cause for concern and work with the family directly. This
way, parents can be supported from the outset to create as good an environment as
they possibly can that helps meet the communication needs of their child. Below are
just a few ways in which you can support children when they experience difficulties
or conflict during their interactions.

●● Make the time to talk to children and encourage them to express themselves
– for example, through music, dance, art or role play.
●● Provide outdoor experiences – taking children into another space can help to
create calm in stressful situations.
●● Stimulate and distract children into a different activity.
●● Identify and emphasize the positive.
●● Try to situate yourself near to children’s play without interfering.
●● Try to avoid ‘policing’ children’s play – this can inhibit children’s attempts
at conflict resolution.
Importance of parents and the home learning

environment (HLE)
Parental engagement, and the home learning environment (HLE) that parents
provide, are issues that are currently in the spotlight due to our knowledge of the
impact that the HLE has on the child’s learning and development – as well as on
their aptitude for learning in later childhood. Recent research studies and reports
consistently tell us the positive impact that a good quality HLE has on the child’s
all-round development and conversely, what a poor quality HLE can do to a child’s
ability to learn and thrive (Munro E. and Department for Education, 2011; Melhuish
et al., 2008; Parents Early Years and Learning [PEAL], 2005).
There is no one definitive way to provide an effective HLE, but it should include
some or all of the following elements on a regular basis: affectionate interactions,
sharing books regularly, reciting nursery rhymes, playing games, providing a

range of resources and activities that are appropriate to the child’s age and stage
of development, as well as trips outdoors, to local parks, art galleries, museums,
theatres, libraries and play groups. What we are recommending here is parents being
children’s companions and enjoying everyday life together with lots of interaction
and talk. All of these are associated with better developmental outcomes (Daycare
Trust, 2010; Sylva et al., 2004).
The quality of the HLE provided by parents also differs depending on a range of
factors, including:
●● The type of attachment between mother and baby
●● Emotional and mental well-being of the mother/primary carer(s)
●● Level of education of the parents/primary carers
●● Family income
●● Resources available to the child
●● Support available to the family
1 Is the HLE promoted in your setting?
2 In which ways is this achieved?
3 What positive changes has it made to the children’s ability to learn?
(Consider the ability to concentrate, engage in activities, take turns, listen and
persevere.)
4 Has it made any differences to partnership with parents in your setting?
Briefly note down how.
As an early years practitioner, it is also worth noting that the HLE provided by
parents may not be a conscious decision, i.e. they might not have thought about its
long-term implications on their child’s ability to learn and their future educational
outcomes. You are therefore in a good position to support parents in your setting
to provide the best possible start for their children – without it being costly or
time-consuming. Simple things such as suggesting reducing the amount of time that
the television is on, can encourage more interactions between parents and children,
as it has actually been proven to be a hindrance in children’s effort at communication
and hence, language acquisition and communication (Department for Education and
Skills, 2010).
Freud powerfully and provocatively foregrounded the long-term and deep impact
a child’s relationship with their parents has on the development of emotional health
and well-being, and the nature of their longer-term emotional attachments. Froebel,
too, emphasized the need to work closely with parents and families in order to best
promote children’s learning and development. He placed particular emphasis on
promoting educators’ understanding of the mother’s role in preparing her children
for school. He wrote a range of books on this subject, some of which contained
practical guidance for mothers on how to engage with their babies and children. His
book Mutter und Kose Lieder (Mother Songs) is a more well-known example of this.
It contained beautiful illustrations accompanying various action rhymes which were
designed to be played between mother and child, in order to promote babies’ and
children’s fine and gross motor skills, co-ordination and senses. Pictorial instructions
were also provided to support understanding. Below is an extract of a rhyme entitled
‘The Finger Piano’ from the book:
Children dear,
The lovely music hear;
Little fingers downward go;
Hark! the answer, sweet and low:
La! la! la!
Thus the hand, so small a thing,

Still may sweetest music bring.
Fingers, you must move along,
You may help to make the song.
Up and down the fingers go,
Waken, music, sweet and low! (Froebel, 1878: 62)
This lovely rhyme is not dissimilar to those sung by families and practitioners today,
but what is markedly different is the fact that this was revolutionary at the time of his
writing as families did not have much say in their child’s education, especially the
poor. Froebel however, embraced the role of parents and families as he acknowledged
their importance in promoting their children’s growth and development.
In line with current early years provision, Froebel also advocated children’s need
to play in order to learn. He believed that play provided the best vehicle for learning
as children are enabled to use their own creativity and power, as opposed to having
to (predominantly) engage in adult-directed tasks which thus do little to spark innate
interest and curiosity.
1 How do staff in your setting help parents to support their baby’s learning in
the home?
2 How do you support the child’s transition between home and the setting,
making sure there is something familiar to the child that links these places in
their world?
The centrality of emotional-social development

Both Freud and Bowlby’s research studies showed the fundamental importance of
secure attachments between mother and child. Both showed – in a range of settings
and at different ages – the impact that disrupted attachments have on the young child
both in the short and long term. Bowlby’s work also indicated that maternal depri-
vation (where the child lives with her mother but she is unable to give the loving care
and attention needed) has a negative long-term impact on the child’s ability to form
meaningful relationships with others, their resilience and self-confidence (Bowlby,
1988; 1953). Practitioners therefore play a key role in supporting all parents (or
other primary caregivers) to understand how to provide a good quality, stable home
environment that meets the child’s needs for love, affection and stimulation. This
can be through providing practical things to do together or by signposting to relevant
services to best support parents in their role. Spending quality time together which is
warm and nurturing, such as playing, singing, reading, listening to and responding
sensitively to the infant’s feelings, will make connections between the brain cells.
These connections help children to manage their feelings and emotional situations –
both in early childhood and later in life.
The impact of positive early interactions

Trevarthen’s research findings (2002; 1999) concerning the significance of responsive
interactions between babies, young children and parents, continually reinforces their
roles in supporting healthy emotional and social development. He demonstrated
that such relationships encourage the baby to form meaningful relationships with
others and to express their thoughts, feelings and their emergent sense of humour
(Trevarthen et al., 2002) in a climate of trust and security. In turn, this feeling of
security lends itself to the young child being better equipped to learn and progress.
Consider it from a personal perspective – we know too well how difficult it is to
embrace new challenges and learn new concepts when we experience stress or do
not feel at ease. This feeling is amplified all the more in young children, who need
the support and guidance of trusted and capable adults.
Trevarthen also, however, identifies potential conflict concerning the building
of responsive relationships between families and the influence of hyper-mobile
environments where mobile phones, television and the internet all vie for the
attention of family members in the modern home. Trevarthen (2011) thus recom-
mends the input of ‘institutions with experience in the practice of pedagogy’ to
support parents in creating the time and space for their children’s efforts at being
communicative and curious. He says:
Relations with parents and family must be kept alive when the child is in any
institutional setting for care or for learning, and experiences at home should be
related to and exchanged with those at nursery or playgroup, or with a child
minder. (Trevarthen, 2011: 10)
This is reinforced by just one of the research findings reported by Melhuish (2012)
which shows that encouraging the active participation of parents in their child’s
all-round needs for stimulation – be it in or out of the home context – can make a
long-lasting positive difference to their educational outcomes:
Policies that encourage active parenting strategies (including for

disadvantaged parents) can help to promote young children’s cognitive
development and educational achievement both early and later in development.
(Melhuish, 2011: 4)
The message, then, is clear – the types of environment, and particularly the
socio-emotional environment, created for children in their early years is crucial
in providing a strong foundation that will start them off on the best trajectory,
personally and academically.
Countering poverty and socio-economic

disadvantage
Knowing how to reach disadvantaged parents is key to encouraging their partici-
pation in their children’s life at nursery, as well as supporting them to be active
in their role as primary caregivers. The McMillan sisters’ work with the poor and
excluded in London provides a strong model even today of the need to support
families in a developmental and professional way. Families living in poverty or
those who experience long-term stress, depression or live in other demanding
circumstances may find it difficult to meet their children’s needs for stimulation to
support their development. You therefore need to be realistic about what parents can
contribute to their child’s education and how you can help them to maximize this,
be it through appropriate learning experiences, the key person system, providing
resources to read and use at home (in the child’s home language) or by providing
parents’ courses on a range of subjects that they feel they would most benefit from.
It is important to bear in mind the need for practitioners to be sensitive to parents’
feelings about being labelled as ‘failures’ where support is offered, and therefore for
practitioners to start from where the parents are, and build on the positive things they
are doing in raising their children. It will also be useful for settings to continue to
provide a balance between child-initiated and adult-initiated activity as a fluid and
continuous process in all learning activity as best practice throughout the foundation
stage phase.
Investment in the early years can make all the difference to a child’s future
educational attainment. It’s therefore critical to provide all parents, especially those
living in disadvantage, with individualized support that will maximize every child’s
opportunity to benefit from education (Henley, 2012; Desforges, 2003).
One head teacher of a primary school in North London gives a detailed account
of the challenges he faces with regard to supporting and extending children’s devel-
opment in the school. This case study highlights the challenges posed in providing
an education for disadvantaged families, as well as those who are not.
Case Study
As head of a school with a high deprivation indicator (+60 per cent Free School
Meals entitlement, poor dental health, high levels of obesity, accommodation with
multiple occupiers, low employment, < 50 per cent English as a First Language,
low levels of home literacy/numeracy, high rates of benefit take up, high pupil
mobility = +18 per cent), the challenge to provide an education that fits and
suits all is immense. The low baselines that children enter into Early Years with,
with regard to communication and knowledge and understanding of the world
and their place in it means that children make slower initial progress against pupils
from language-rich environments. Key parenting skills and expectations are often
lacking so that children are found to be working in a month band significantly
lower than peers whose demographic is not that described above e.g. 4-year-old
nursery children with language and communication skill of 30–36 months.
This challenge is replicated in all the subsequent years until transition to
secondary school (Year 7).
To counter the low baseline, staff with outstanding language and communi-
cation skills are required that model the learning required to make accelerated
learning – it’s not enough to have personnel, additional adults need to bring
value. Therefore, highly trained practitioners are needed at all levels to provide
models, emotional and learning support. These staff are generally in short supply
and settings with high levels of need either keep their staff or there is employment
mobility.
This issue has a bearing on staff structures as there needs to be budget allow-
ances made to employ good staff or retain them. In settings with low staff
turnovers, relationships are sustained between the child’s setting and home and
therefore greater sustained progress is likely to be made as professional trust and
knowledge of the home is an important piece of the progress jigsaw.

●● Check your policies concerning parental partnerships – do they promote
supporting the HLE?
●● As a team, adopt a range of ‘formal’ approaches to interest and engage
parents in their children’s learning, such as providing workshops (informed
by parents’ needs), home visits, ‘stay and play’ and open days to encourage
on-going dialogue.
●● Encourage parents to carry out learning activities with their child that can be
incorporated into domestic chores or which can involve other members of
the family.
Concluding thoughts
We hope that you have found this final chapter useful in terms of helping you to
reflect on some of the contemporary issues that are challenging the sector. We
believe deeply in the capacity of practitioners to transform children’s lives – we
bear a huge responsibility towards these young children and their futures, but we
also have the gift and privilege of knowing that we can make a real difference to
their lives. Importantly, this means we need to think and act in the language of
possibilities not impossibilities when it comes to supporting families and to know
that there is always some small act we can do which matters and which might be the
ripple from which a huge wave of change begins. Being reflective and understanding
theories which help us to think harder about children’s learning and living is an
integral part of this. We hope this book is a contribution to that journey. As Sinclair
(2006: 49) says:
Investing in early years is as close as it gets to magic without being magic.

Parenting support and enriched day care, preferably both together create children
with better behaviour and attitudes who will arrive at school with a capacity to
learn.
Glossary of
Terms
Action researchâ•‡ is mainly a practical activity, involving the contribution of (for example)
staff working together in a nursery, to gather evidence to help them make more informed
changes to their practice. It is usually led by a practitioner who takes on the role of
researcher.
Activity-dependentâ•‡ refers to the fact that the brain partly depends on external
stimulation in order to develop. This can be through play, communicating with others
and engaging in activities that stimulate the senses.
Assessmentsâ•‡ are judgements made that are based on a collection of information, for
example, observations.
Attachmentâ•‡ can be defined as the emotional connection between a mother, father and/or
other significant adult, and her baby.
Bondâ•‡ is a form of attachment behaviour that one person has towards another. (For example,
the bond between a parent and child, between friends or other family members.)
Conservation (of mass, number or volume)â•‡ is the ability to logically determine that
a certain quantity will remain the same despite adjustment of the shape, perceived size or
container.
Constructivismâ•‡ is a concept of learning that posits that children learn by doing – actively
constructing their own knowledge as a result of their explorations. This perspective
emphasizes that children initiate their learning, building on what they already know and
understand.
Containmentâ•‡ refers to the adult’s ability to empathically respond to a baby’s or child’s
feelings of distress and pain by holding the feelings of distress and pain in her mind and
demonstrating understanding and affection.
Cortisolâ•‡ is a hormone that is released during times of stress. When cortisol levels are too
high, this can destroy brain cells and weaken connection, resulting in a reduced capacity
to learn.
Cultureâ•‡ includes the beliefs, values, customs and behaviours of any given group in society.
It is also realized through ethnicity, language, socio-economic status, values, gender,
disability and technologies used.
Curriculumâ•‡ refers to the planned learning experiences in a setting, which can be
informally or formally experienced. Learning goals attached to each learning experience
are often a key aspect of a curriculum.
Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)â•‡ is an American framework for best
practice. It is grounded in research on child development and learning. Within DAP lies
the assumption that the quality and nature of practice is determined by a knowledge of
child development.
190 Glossary of Terms
Diversityâ•‡ refers to the understanding that everyone is unique and different. It also includes
acknowledging individual differences concerning race, ethnicity, religious beliefs,
gender, socio-economic status, political beliefs, age, physical abilities, or other beliefs.
Dysregulating (or emotional dysregulation)â•‡ is an emotional response that is
poorly modulated, and does not fall within the conventionally accepted range of
emotional response. Emotional dysregulation can be associated with experience of early
psychological trauma, chronic maltreatment or brain injury.
The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ECERS-R)â•‡ is a tool
used for assessing the quality of provision for children aged 2½ to 5 years in early years
settings.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)â•‡ is the Statutory Framework that all early years
providers must adhere to concerning the welfare and development of babies and children
up to five years.
The egoâ•‡ is a Freudian concept which operates based on the reality principle, which strives
to satisfy the id’s desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways.
Emotional intelligenceâ•‡ refers to a person’s ability to recognize, control and evaluate
their own emotions and the emotions of others.
Empirical evidenceâ•‡ refers to information that is acquired by carrying out systematic
observations, assessments and experiments.
Epistemologyâ•‡ is the study of knowledge and justified belief concerning the nature of
knowledge.
Ethicsâ•‡ refers to the steps taken by the researcher to ensure that their study is carried out
with due consideration to participants and those affected by the study.
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)â•‡ refers to a range of mental and physical defects that
develop in a foetus, as a result of high levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Heuristic playâ•‡ is exploratory play with a range of natural materials.
Hypothesesâ•‡ are predictions made about a situation that are based on limited evidence.
Idâ•‡ is the only component of personality that is present from birth. This aspect of personality
which is entirely unconscious, seeks to obtain immediate gratification based on its needs
and desires.
Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale (The) – Revised (ITERS-R)â•‡ is the tool
used for assessing the quality of provision for children aged between 0 and 2½ years.
Interpretivistsâ•‡ believe that we continually recreate our social world by frequently
negotiating the meaning of our actions and circumstances and those of others. The
interpretivist paradigm does not seek to make generalizations about the world, but to
instead gain detailed insight into an issue that occurs in a specific context.
Intersubjectivityâ•‡ refers to the shared meaning which is created between an infant and an
adult in their interactions with each other.
Key personâ•‡ refers to the special responsibility that designated practitioners have for a
set amount of children. Responsibilities include showing a special interest in the child
through close personal interaction, undertaking observations, maintaining records and
sharing information with the parents.
Language acquisition device (LAD)â•‡ concept proposes that language acquisition
will inevitably take place in all individuals due to being born with an instinctive
mental capacity and the necessary resources (brain, mouth, tongue, voice box and
lungs) ‘built in’.
Language acquisition support system (LASS)â•‡ refers to the role of the child’s
social network (family, friends and teachers) in facilitating the child’s development
of language. These networks will lend themselves to meaningful interactions taking
place which will enable the child to learn and use the rules and customs of the
language.
Maturationâ•‡ is the process of becoming mature. It includes the development of the child’s
abilities and characteristics from birth – usually in an ordered sequence.
Monotropyâ•‡ is the belief that the child has an innate need to form a bond with their
mother/primary attachment figure.
Neuronsâ•‡ are brain cells which carry messages through an electrochemical process.
Neuroscienceâ•‡ is the study of the brain and the central nervous system.
Objectivityâ•‡ in research refers to the extent which the researcher is unbiased. Training and
selecting specific methods can be used in research to minimize researcher bias.
Object permanenceâ•‡ is the realization that things continue to exist even when they are no
longer present (or hidden from sight). It occurs in babies aged between 8 and 12 months.
Paradigmâ•‡ is a way of ‘seeing’ and interpreting the world. Each paradigm is a specific
collection of beliefs about what constitutes knowledge, together with practice based on
those beliefs.
Pedagogyâ•‡ refers to the practice of teaching, including the methods used by the teacher (or
early years practitioner).
Philosophyâ•‡ can be described as the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, values,
reality, and existence.
Plasticityâ•‡ refers to the ability of the human brain to change as a result of one’s
experiences.
Playâ•‡ is the primary way in which babies and children learn about their world. It includes
a wide range of experiences which are beneficial to all-round development. Children’s
play is often self-initiated and intrinsically motivated.
Pleasure principle (The)â•‡ according to Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, is the instinctive
drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain. It is the driving force of the id, which seeks
immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and urges.
Policyâ•‡ is a written course of action, which is intended to guide and determine practice.
Positivistsâ•‡ attempt to predict andexplain their environment in terms of cause and effect
relationships. The positivist paradigm posits that the only authentic knowledge is
knowledge that is based on actual experience, and so scientific methods such as carrying
out controlled and systematic observations and collecting data are adopted.
Postmodernismâ•‡ includes theories that reject the concept of universal ‘truths’ and
dominant discourses concerning the nature of learning and development, and
foregrounds the way power is used to control the discourse.
Post-structuralism theoryâ•‡ posits that power does not reside with one body, nor is it
absolute. It is viewed as more fluid, changing over time, depending on who it resides
with.
Praxisâ•‡ is a continual and intertwined process of practice based on theories and vice versa.
Primary socializationâ•‡ refers to the way our attitudes, values and morals are shaped by
our immediate family and friends.
Procedureâ•‡ is a way of performing that must be followed in line with a setting’s guiding
principles (or policy).
Protoconversationâ•‡ refers to the interaction between an adult (typically a mother) and
baby which take place before the baby’s onset of spoken language. It includes gestures,
sounds and words to convey meaning.
Psychoanalysisâ•‡ (created by Sigmund Freud) refers to the range of therapies informed
by the theory of psychoanalysis. It is designed to treat individuals with mental health
disorders.
Psychologistâ•‡ is an expert or specialist in psychology.
Psychotherapyâ•‡ is treatment of mental disorders by psychological rather than medical
means.
Qualitative approaches to researchâ•‡ include more narrative methods of data gathering
192 Glossary of Terms
such as observations and semi-structured interviews. Qualitative approaches are mainly

concerned with understanding the opinions and values of individuals in a specific
context, which result in the researcher obtaining multiple interpretations of a situation.
Qualityâ•‡ refers to all those characteristics of practice that enable children to fulfil their
potential. This includes effective leadership, trained and enthusiastic staff, a safe and
stimulating indoor and outdoor environment, providing anti-discriminatory practice and
partnership with all parents.
Quantitative approaches to researchâ•‡ include more statistical and experimental
methods of data gathering such as gathering statistical data, social surveys and
experiments within groups, whereby specific variables can be changed in order to validate
findings. The focus of quantitative research is generally on ‘hard’ facts and numbers.
RAG ratingâ•‡ is a performance measurement tool used by councils, organizations and teams
that monitors how effectively tasks are being carried out. The RAG rating for individual
performance measures is determined as:
Redâ•‡ if worse than target, and below an acceptable level
Amberâ•‡ if worse than target, but within an acceptable level
Greenâ•‡ if on or better than target
Receptivityâ•‡ (or being receptive) means being open to another person’s feelings and
responding swiftly.
Reconceptualizationâ•‡ is the deconstruction and re-thinking of issues in early childhood
education, acknowledging that there are multiple realities and truths. Reconceptualists
often challenge long-held beliefs in early years such as child-centred practice,
developmentally appropriate practice and definitions of quality provision.
Reflective practiceâ•‡ means thinking critically about your practice – the elements that have
gone well and those that could be improved. As a result of your reflections, you make
changes to your practice, in order to refine it.
Reliabilityâ•‡ refers to the stability, accuracy and consistency of a research study. Reliability
is achieved through using appropriate methods to gather data.
Replicationâ•‡ is the ability to carry out the same experiment, with different researchers in
different settings.
Safe baseâ•‡ is the term used to describe the feeling of security created by an adult who has
a close relationship with a child (key person, parent or other adult). This adult supports
the child in the task of balancing their need to feel safe and be in close proximity to the
adult, with their need for free exploration.
Scaffoldingâ•‡ is provided by the adult during activities or tasks, as a temporary support
structure around the child’s attempts to understand new ideas and complete new tasks.
Once the child demonstrates ability independent of any adult intervention, the scaffold
(support) can be removed.
Schemaâ•‡ is as a pattern of behaviour or organizing framework which the child displays
while attempting to understand a new piece of information, based on their experience of
it. As the child has more experiences, this new information is used to modify or add to
previously existing schemas.
Small-scale studiesâ•‡ are research projects that are carried out with a small number of
people over a short period of time.
Socio-constructivismâ•‡ is a concept of learning that suggests children learn by
constructing knowledge with other children and adults around them. The socio-
constructivist theory places emphasis on the social aspect of learning.
Spiral curriculumâ•‡ refers to the re-visiting of previous experiences over time which
results in the child consolidating and deepening their understanding as they continually
return to basic ideas while new subjects and concepts are added over the course of a
curriculum.
Status envyâ•‡ (or status anxiety) is the collection of feelings such as jealousy, resentment
and desire, as a result of aspiring to a better lifestyle. This might include earning more
money, owning an expensive car, living in a lavish house. It also includes focusing on
how one is perceived by others.
Subjectivityâ•‡ refers to the researcher’s feelings, perspective or interpretations that
influence their observations and conclusions of a study. One’s interpretation of the world
is influenced by societal and cultural powers.
Super-egoâ•‡ is the last component of personality to develop (according to Freud, the
super-ego begins to emerge at around age 5). The super-ego provides guidelines for
making judgements between what is morally right or wrong.
Synapseâ•‡ (plural = synapses) is the wiring/networks between neurons.
Synaptic pruningâ•‡ is a process which eliminates weaker synaptic connections, while
stronger connections are kept and strengthened. Experience and emotion determine
which connections will be strengthened and which will be pruned.
Synaptogenesisâ•‡ is the formation of synapses between neurons.
Synaptogenocideâ•‡ is the loss of/’dying’ of synapses between neurons.
Theoriesâ•‡ are ideas or concepts that have usually been tested out, to explain a phenomenon.
Not all theories are tested out.
three modes of representation (The)â•‡ refers to how a child stores and processes
information at different ages.
Toolsâ•‡ as defined by Vygotsky exist in two forms: physical tools (a computer or a book for
example) and psychological tools (such as language and thought).
Transitionâ•‡ is a change in a child’s life. Some examples include moving house, the birth of
a sibling or graduating from nursery to infant school.
Treasure basket playâ•‡ is used with babies from the time that they can sit unaided. A
treasure basket is a low-sided ridged basket that is filled with a range of natural objects
such as paper, cardboard, wooden, leather and scented objects. Plastic objects are not
acceptable.
Triangulationâ•‡ is the use of multiple research methods or the inclusion of information
from a range of sources in a study that enable the researcher to obtain data which
produce similar answers or ensure the trustworthiness of a finding. If these fail to do so,
then the researcher might have to re-think the original question and/or methods used.
Validityâ•‡ is the process which a researcher undertakes to ensure their study investigates
what it aims to. Research must be valid if its results are to be trustworthy and accurately
interpreted.
Vignetteâ•‡ is a brief account or story designed to evoke thoughts and feelings concerning its
content.
Windows of opportunityâ•‡ (sometimes called sensitive periods) is the idea that
the young child’s brain is open to experience of a particular kind at certain points
in development – for example, the belief that learning a language is easier during
childhood, rather than during adulthood.
Zone of actual developmentâ•‡ refers to the child’s abilities to achieve a goal (for
example, assembling a model, threading beads or tying shoe laces) independent of any
support.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD)â•‡ refers to the range of development a child goes
through, from what they can achieve independently – at the lower end of the ZPD, to
what they can achieve with the guidance of a more capable peer or adult – at the higher
end of the ZPD.
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Index
Tables page references are in italics.
Abbott, L. 133 quality 60–1

Abouchaar, A. 150 ‘the strange situation’ test 55–7
abstract thinking 67 Trevarthen 99–100, 185–6
accommodation 69 autonomy, Rousseau 11
action research axons 124
benefits 155–7
data collection 162–3 Barker, D. 125
definition 157, 189 Bateman, A. 46
ethics 163–5, 166 Batmanghelidjh, Camila 54
participation 166–7 Belsky, J. 131
practice implications 8, 168–9 benchmarks 142
process overview 157–61 Bercow Report 181
small-scale studies 161–2 Berk, L. E. 79
subjectivity 165 Bertram, Tony 156, 163, 165–6, 167
validity 167 best practice 141, 142
activity-dependency 127, 189 Björklid, P. 24
adult role Bjorklund, D. F. 65
Froebel 22–3 Blakemore, S.-J. 128
language development 98–9 bonding 54–5, 189 see also attachment
receptivity 102 Bowlby, John
Rousseau 11–15, 16 attachment 2, 46, 53, 54–9, 173, 184–5
age appropriate learning compared to Freud 46
assessments 11–12 criticisms 60–1
Rousseau 12, 15, 16–17 key works 53
Ainsworth, Mary 55, 173 life events 53
Allen, G. 18, 61, 115 maternal deprivation theory 59–60
Andersson, B. E. 141 practice implications 5, 62–3
The Angel’s Share (Ken Loach) 127–8 Bowlby, Sir Richard 55, 56–7, 58
art therapy 100 brain development see neuroscience breastfeeding 125
assessments Bredekamp, S. 90
definition 189 Bredikyte, M. 78
observation 13–14 Brew, A. 140
assimilation 69 Bristol Study 178
Athey, C. 68–9 Broadhead et al 45
attachment Bronfenbrenner, Urie
Bowlby 2, 46, 53, 54–9, 173, 184–5 criticisms 119
case study 48 ecological theory 109–19
communicative musicality 101–3 poverty intervention 113, 114–15
day care implications 57–9 practice implications 7, 119–20, 175
definition 189 Brooks, G. 181
practice implications 62–3, 185 Bruce, T. 45, 78
206 Index
Bruer, Dr John 132, 133 impact on quality 142

Bruner, Jerome inclusivity 176–7
class system 87–8 language development 178–9
compared to Piaget 65, 71, 88, 92 learning communities 110–11
compared to Trevarthen 88, 97–8 societal values 117–18
cultural effects 148 The Culture of Education (Bruner) 94
language acquisition support system (LASS) 91–2, Cummings, M. E. 103–4
179–80 curiosity development 11, 15, 66
practice implications 3, 5, 95–6, 175 curriculum, definition 189
scaffolding 81, 87, 89, 90–1
spiral curriculum 88, 89–90, 93 Dahlberg, G. 140, 147, 148
three modes of representation 92–3 Dale, P. 181
Vygotsky’s influence 76, 88, 89, 93–4 Damast, A. M. 98
DAP see developmentally appropriate practice
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 116 David, T. 133
Cannella, G. S. 142 decentring 70, 72
Cannella, S. 142 deconstruction 140
Case, R. 72 dendrites 124
change management 156, 167 Desforges, C. 150, 186
Child Care and the Growth of Love (Bowlby) 53 developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) 146–7,
Chomsky, Noam 91 189
Christian Socialists 31, 39 disequilibrium 69
chronosystem 118–19 diversity 95, 190 see also culture
Clark, C. 181 Donaldson, M. 2, 65, 98
cognitive development Dowling, J. E. 131, 171
Bruner 88, 92, 94 drug addiction 125–6
constructivism 65–6, 67 Dugdale, G. 181
cultural effects 66, 71, 76–7, 78, 80, 83, 88, 94 dysregulation 175, 190
Piaget 2, 16
plasticity 47 The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale –
practice implications 73–4 Revised (ECERS-R) 190
sensory-motor stage 16 Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Vygotsky 76 active learning 66
Cohn, J. F. 103 cultural effects 94
Cole, M. 78 definition 190
collective communities 57 inclusivity 177
communication development 98–9, 101–3, 176, 180–2 intervention strategies 181
see also language development learning through play 16, 83
communicative musicality 101–3 outdoor play 25, 35–6
connectedness 23–4 parental partnership 37–8
conservation (of mass, number or volume) 67, 189 personal, social and emotional development 94,
constructivism 100–1, 173
definition 189 workforce training 174
Piaget 65–6, 67, 71, 72–3 Early Years Priority Referral (EYPR) 114
containment 105–6, 189 ecological theory
contemporary issues overview 171–2, 188 chronosystem 118–19
Copple, C. 90 exosystem 115–17
cortisol 130, 131, 189 macrosystem 117–18
Crain, W 46 mesosystem 112–15
creativity 17–18, 21, 23, 146 microsystem 110–12
Cress, D. A. 17 overview 109–10
critical periods 132–3 On Education (Rousseau) 10, 17
culture The Education of Man (Froebel) 22
cognitive development effect 66, 71, 76–7, 78, 80, Edwards, R. 149
83, 88, 94 Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE)
as context 147 Project 34, 88
definition 176, 189 ego 42–3, 190
Index 207
egocentric thinking 67, 70 compared to Vygotsky 24

Electra complex 44 connectedness 23–4
Elkind, D. 70–1 free-flow play 27
Elliot, J. 156 Gifts and Occupations 27
Émile (Rousseau) 10, 17 home learning environment (HLE) 183–4
emotional development 99–101, 105, 130, 131, 173 see influence on McMillans 32, 36
also attachment emotional dysregulation 190 key works 22
emotional intelligence 101, 190 kindergartens 21, 22
empathy 70–1, 72 life events 22
empirical evidence 190 outdoor play 24–5
enactive representation 92 practice implications 4, 28–9
enculturation 78
English as a second language (EAL) 176, 177 gardening 24
environment planning 11–12, 16, 23, 66, 176 Gardner, H. 2
epistemology 190 Garner, A. S. 115
equality 177, 179 Garvin, R. A. 79
equilibrium 69 ‘Genie’ 91
Erikson, Erik 46–7, 99 Gerhardt, S 99, 128, 130, 175
ethics 190 Gifts and Occupations (Froebel) 27
ethics in research 163–5, 166 Goldberg, J. 72
Evangelou et al 180 Goldman-Racik, P 127
Every Child Matters Agenda 23 Goldschmied, Elinor 27, 28, 58
exosystem 115–17 Goleman, D. 130
exploratory drive 11, 15 Goouch, K. 133
EYFS see Early Years Foundation Stage Gopnik, Alison 47, 61, 72, 88, 99, 130, 131, 175
governmental policies 118, 132, 174
facilitator role 12, 66 Gray, Peter 17–18
family support work 112–15, 174, 188 see also Gregory, Sue 174
intervention strategies; parental role
Field, F. 103, 115 Hakkarainen, P. 78
‘fight or flight’ response 131 Hammer, C. S. 98
foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) 126, 190 Hart, B. 181
Fonagy, P. 47 Head Start Project 34, 109, 118
forest schools 25 health
Formosinho, João and Júlia 165 brain development 37
Foucault, Michel 149 colds 35
Fox, N. A. 57 poverty impact 33, 34, 35, 37
Frank, B 105 rickets 37
Frawley, M. G. 49 Henley, D. 186
free-flow play 27, 28, 35 Hespos, S. J. 79
freedom of expression 17–18, 22, 23 heuristic play 11, 27–8, 190
Freud, Anna 41 High/Scope Perry pre-school study 34
Freud, Sigmund attachment 184–5 Hobson, P 98
compared to Bowlby 46 Hohmann, M. 81, 83
criticisms 46–51 Holmes, J. 46
home learning environment (HLE) 183 home learning environment (HLE) 182–7
hysteria 49 Horney, Karen 50
life events 41 Howard-Jones, P. 72
personality theory 42–3, 47 Hughes, M. 70
play therapy 45 hypotheses 190
practice implications 5, 50–2
psychosexual development 43, 44, 46, 50 ICAN ‘Cost to the Nation’ Report 181
psychotherapy 41–2 iconic representation 92
Froebel, Friedrich id 42–3, 190
adult role 22–3, 183–4 imaginative play, Froebel 24
child’s role 23–4 inclusivity 176–7
compared to Piaget 23 independent play 66
208 Index
The Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised MacNaughton, Glenda 162, 163, 167
(ITERS-R) 190 macrosystem 117–18
inner speech 77, 78, 178 Malloch, S 101
interpretivism 162, 165, 190 Mareschal, D. 132
intersubjectivity 97, 98, 190 Marmot Review x, 18, 32, 181
intervention strategies 31–2, 33–5, 38, 113, 114–15, Masataka, Y 101
174, 181, 186–7 mass media 116–17, 183, 185
ITERS-R see The Infant Toddler Environment Rating Masson, J. M. 49
Scale – Revised maternal depression 103–6, 117, 128
maternal deprivation theory 59–60, 185
James, A 142 maternity leave 57
James, Oliver 54 maturation 16, 66, 175, 191
Johnson, M. H. 46, 54, 132, 133 McMillan, Rachel and Margaret
Jones, Michael 177 free-flow play 35
key works 33
Karmiloff-Smith, A. 46, 54 life events 31, 32–3
Katz, L. C. 127, 148 outdoor play 35–7
Kemmis, S. 157 parental partnership 37–8
key person poverty intervention 31–2, 33–5, 38, 186
definition 190 practical use 3
emotional development 101, 131 practice implications 4, 38
quality standards 145 teacher training 32
reflective practice 59 McNiff, Jean 156, 158, 161, 165
role 58 McTaggart, R. 157
kibbutz 57 Meade, A. 132
Kids Company 60 Melhuish, E. C. 61, 182, 185–6
kindergartens 21, 22 Meltzoff, Andrew 88, 104
Kouros, C. D. 103–4 mesosystem 112–15
Kozulin, Alex 75 Messler, D. J. 49
Kuhl, P. 101 microsystem 110–12
Kurland, D. M. 72 monotropy 54–5, 59, 191
Moore, M. K. 104
language acquisition device (LAD) 91, 190 Moss, P. 140, 147, 148
language acquisition support system (LASS) 91–2, Mother Play and Nursery Songs (Froebel) 22, 184
179–80, 190 mothers see also pregnancy
language development see also communication attachment 54, 56, 59–60, 99–100, 102, 103
development depression 103–6
complicating factors 176, 187 lifestyle choices 125–6
culture 178–9 Moyles, J. 45
English as a second language (EAL) 176, 177 multiculturalism 147–8
inner speech 77, 78, 178 Munro, E. 115, 182
practice implications 180 Murray, L. 104
speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) Music, A. 99
180–2 music therapy 100, 106
support network 180 musicality 101–2
Trevarthen, Colwyn 98–9 mutual learning culture 94
Vygotsky 77–9, 178–9
leadership skills 146 The National Scientific Council on the Developing
learning communities 110–11 Child 46, 58
Leigh, A. 146 nature 21 see also outdoor play
Lewin, Kurt x, 155–6, 157–8 neuroimaging 132
libido 42, 44 neurons 124, 127, 131, 175, 191
lifelong learning 133 neuroscience
Lincoln, Y 142 attachment 61
literacy 181 brain development 127, 173, 175
London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) 111–12 criticisms 132–3
Lyotard, J.-F. 142 definition 124, 191
Index 209
emotional development 130 personality theory 42–3, 47, 99

first 1,000 Pestalozzi, Johann 24
days 125 Philipps, D. 132
Piaget impact 71–2 philosophy 191
plasticity 47 phronesis 165–6
practice implications 7, 133–4, 135–6 Piaget, Jean
social intelligence 128–9 background 65
terminology 124 compared to Bruner 65, 71, 88, 92
wiring 175 compared to Froebel 23
zone of proximal development (ZPD) 83 compared to Rousseau 16
neuroses 42 compared to Vygotsky 65, 66, 71, 78, 82
Nordström, M. 24 constructivism 65–6, 67, 71, 72–3
The Nursery School (McMillan) 37 criticisms 2, 70–1
Nutbrown, C. x, 174 neuroscience development 71–2
practice implications 3, 5, 73–4, 175
Oates, J. 46, 54–5 schemas 68–9
object permanence 67, 73, 191 Pierce, J. L. 98
objectivity 191 Pinker, S. 91
observation placenta 103
Froebel 23, 24 plasticity 47, 133, 191
Rousseau 13–14 play, definition 191
Trevarthen 106 play therapy 45
Vygotsky 80, 82 pleasure principle 42, 191
O’Connor, K. J. 45 policy, definition 191
Oedipus complex 44, 49 positive attachment 46, 48, 57, 173, 175
O’Sullivan, J. 173 positivists 191
outdoor play post-structuralism 149, 191
colds 35 postmodernism 139, 191
forest schools 25 potty training see toilet training poverty intervention
Froebel 21, 24–5 Bronfenbrenner 113, 114–15
gardening 24 governmental policies 174
McMillans 35–7, 38 McMillans 31–2, 33–5, 38
Rousseau 12, 18, 24 practice implications 186–7
urban environment 25, 26–7, 36 Powell, S. 133
Owen, Robert 33 power 149, 150, 151, 163, 166
praxis 156, 165, 191
Page, J. 174 pregnancy 103, 125, 126–7, 173
Papousek, H. 101 primary socialization 79, 191
paradigm 191 problematization 140
parental role procedure 191
Bronfenbrenner 112–13 professional development see also action research;
family support work 112–15, 174 reflective practice
Froebel 22–3, 29, 183–4 contemporary qualification requirements 174–5
heuristic play 28 McMillans 32
home learning environment (HLE) 178, 182–7 reconceptualization 140, 146
lifestyle choices 125–6 protoconversation 98, 191
reconceptualization 149–51 Prout, A. 142
relationship with practitioners 36, 37–8, 58, 94, 102, psychoanalysis
105, 186 definition 191
Trevarthen 100, 185 Erikson 46–7
work demands 115–16 Freud 41–2
participation 23 psychologist 191
Pascal, Chris 156, 163, 165–6, 167 psychotherapy
pedagogy 191 definition 191
Pence, A. 140, 147, 148 Freud 41–2
penis envy 50
Penn, H. 34 qualifications 174–5 see also professional development
210 Index
qualitative approaches to research 162, 192 longitudinal studies 34

quality qualitative approaches 162, 192
definition 192 quantitative approaches 192
key person role 145 retrospective data 61
reconceptualization 141–6 small-scale studies 133, 161–2, 192
quantitative approaches to research 192 validity 167
retrospective data 61
Rachel McMillan Nursery 33, 34, 35 Rice, M. 181
RAG rating 192 rickets 37
reality principle 42 Riley, J. 127
receptivity 102, 192 risky play 160
reconceptualization Risley, T 181
cultural effects 147, 148 Roberts-Holmes, G. 164
definition 192 Robson, C. 164
developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) 146–8 Rogoff, Barbara 83, 98
overview 139–40 Rolfe, S. A. 162, 163
parental role 149–51 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
practice implications 8, 151–2 adult role 11–15, 16
quality 141–6 age appropriate learning 12, 15, 16–17
Reddy, V. 98, 105 autonomy 11, 19
reflective practice child’s role 15–17
action research 156–7, 159, 166 compared to Piaget 16
communicative musicality 103 criticisms 17–18
creative leadership 146 curiosity 11, 14–15
definition 192 key works 10, 17, 179
family responsibilities 111 life events 9–10, 17
first 1,000 practice implications 4, 18–19
days 176 society 179
Froebel 23, 24 Rutter, Michael 60, 173
health promotion 35
heuristic play 28, 29 safe base 57, 192
home learning environment (HLE) 183, 184, 187 safeguarding 49, 105, 115, 149, 150
importance ix–x scaffolding 81, 89, 90–1, 95, 192
key person 59, 131 Schaffer, R. 61
language development 92, 180, 182 Schatz, C. J. 127
maternal depression 105 schemas 68–9, 192
McMillans 39 Schön, Donald ix, 156
neuroscience 135 School Meals Act (1906) 32
outdoor play 25, 26, 29, 36 Schore, J. R. and A. N. 55, 61, 171
parental partnership 29, 38, 100, 116, 187, 188 Seldon, A. 116
Piaget 69 self-activity 23, 24 see also freedom of expression
poverty intervention 34 self-soothing 104
provision for babies 131 sexual abuse 49
psycho-social development 47 Sheehy, N. 76
Rousseau 11, 12, 13, 16, 19 Shonkoff, J. P. 115, 118, 132
safeguarding guidelines 49 Shore, R. 83, 175
scaffolding 91 Shuttleworth, A 105
schemas 69 Sinclair, A 188
social intelligence 129 Siraj-Blatchford, I. 162, 163
spiral curriculum 89 small-scale studies 161–2, 192
three modes of representation 93 Smith, Allen and Duncan 181
reliability 192 The Social Contract (Rousseau) 179
religion 29, 39, 178 social intelligence 128–9
replication 192 social network
research language development 91
data collection 162–3 learning communities 112
ethics 163–5, 166 socialization, primary 79, 191
Index 211
socio-constructivism 65, 66, 76, 80–3, 179, 192 communication 98–9

socio-cultural learning 178–9 communicative musicality 101–3
socio-emotional learning 173, 180, 184–5 compared to Bruner 88, 97
speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) compared to Vygotsky 97
180–2 maternal depression 103–6, 128
Spelke, E. S. 79 practice implications 5, 106–7, 131, 185
spiral curriculum 88, 89–90, 93, 192–3 research areas 97–8
spontaneity 15–16, 18, 24 triangulation 166, 193
Stalinism 75 Truss, E. 173
status envy 50, 193
Stern, Daniel 98 universalism 147
Storr, A. 46 Usher, R. 149
‘the strange situation’ test 55–7
stress 130, 185 validity 193
subjectivity 165, 193 Van Oers, Bert 83
substance abuse 125–6 Venn, C. 142
super-ego 42–3, 193 vignette 193
Sure Start Children’s Centres 32, 39 Vygotsky, Lev
sustained shared thinking 81 compared to Froebel 24
Sylva, Kathy 58, 88, 183 compared to Piaget 65, 66, 71, 78, 82
symbolic play compared to Trevarthen 97–8
Froebel 24 influence on Bruner 76, 88, 89, 93–4
Vygotsky 84 language development 77–9, 99, 178–9
symbolic representation 93 life events 75
synapses 124, 125, 175, 193 play therapy 45
synaptic pruning 124, 175, 193 practice implications 3, 84–5, 175, 193
synaptogenesis 124, 127, 175, 193 socio-constructivism 80–3, 179
synaptogenocide 124, 127, 175, 193 thought and language 79
systems theories 109 zone of proximal development (ZPD) 179
teacher training, McMillans 32 Walsh, Daniel 98, 147, 175

theories Weikart, D. P. 81, 83
action research 155–6 Weiss, A. L. 98
definition 1–2, 193 Wells, Gordon 178
development of 2–3 Whitehead, Jack 158
practice implications 1, 3, 4–8, 171–2 Wicks, P. 157
Thought and Language (Vygotsky) 76 windows of opportunity 124, 132–3, 193
three modes of representation 92–3, 193 wiring 175
Tickell, C 115 Woodhead, M 142
toilet training 42, 51
tools, Vygotsky 80, 193 Young Brains report 133
transition 62, 67, 193
treasure basket play 11, 27–8, 193 zone of actual development 193
Trevarthen, Colwyn zone of proximal development (ZPD) 80–3, 89, 179,
attachment 99–100, 185–6 193

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Early Childhood

Early Childhood Studies: Enhancing Employability and Professional

Good Practice in the Early Years, Edited by Janet Kay

Maria Montessori: A Critical Introduction to Key

50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway

Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published 2014

© Mine Conkbayir and Christine Pascal, 2014

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN

1 An Overview of Theory and Practice in the Early Years1

Glossary of Terms 189

The practitioner allows herself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in

Research that produces nothing but books will not suffice.

Why this book is needed

Structure of the book

An idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain something.

To summarize then, a theory can be an idea that is repeatedly tested, in order to

Where do theories come from?

How do I use theories in the nursery?

Table 1.1â•‡ Overview of theories and practice in the early years

Theorist Contemporary issues Practice implications

Theorist Contemporary issues Practice implications

Importance of parents and the

Theorist Contemporary issues Practice implications

Importance of parents and the

Theorist Contemporary issues Practice implications

Importance of parents and the

Theorist Contemporary issues Practice implications

Importance of parents and the

Creating inclusive and enabling

Importance of parents and the

Rousseau’s life: Key events

Émile: Significant issues and links to

The role of the adult in supporting the

Encouraging children to make sense of the

The adult’s role as facilitator

Carrying out regular observations and

Rousseau recognized that in order to support children to flourish, observing them

Let there be no comparison with other children, no rivalry, no competition … Year

The photograph above is an example of one nursery team’s approach to planning

Capturing spontaneous moments of discovery and curious exploration demonstrated

The child’s role in her own learning

Learning through discovery

Learning in line with their current ability and

Criticisms of Rousseau’s ideas

Ideas into Action

Challenge the Theorists

Rousseau’s Contemporary Legacy

Importance of parents and the home learning environment

Links to other theorists

Rousseau, J. J. (1974) Émile. London: Dent and Sons Limited.

Froebel’s life: Key events

The role of the adult in supporting the

It is not only conducive but necessary to the development and strengthening of

The child’s role in her own learning

experiences provided to promote children’s understanding of resources and ideas,

1 An Overview of Theory and Practice in the Early Years1

Glossary of Terms 189