Department of Care and Professional Studies Edexcel Level 3 for Children and Young People’s Workforce Unit 13 Promoting Children’s Learning and Development in the Early Years Assignment Task 1 Direct Observation

A practitioner’s role in meeting children’s learning needs are to understand and work with each and every child’s learning needs. They can do this by providing different opportunities to individual children because each child is unique and learns differently. The practitioners’ role would therefore be to plan and resource an environment that is challenging and helps children learn in many different areas of their learning.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework that sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children are ready for school and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills t hat provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. The Early years foundation stage was introduced in 2008 and sets out one standard framework for learning, development and care for all children from birth to the foundation year.

The early years curriculum that supports children's care learning and development is the foundation phase. Foundation phase promotes learning through play. There are 7 areas of learning that consists of:

Theories of development and frameworks to support development are incredibly important to us working with children and young people. They help us to understand children, how they react to things/situations, their behaviour and the ways they learn. Different theories and ways of working with children have come together to provide frameworks for children’s care, such as Early year’s foundation stage (EYFS) which is used within all child care settings. This encourages us to work together, help and check the development of babies, children and young people, to keep them healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to

As an early years practitioner it is your job to ensure that you meet children’s learning needs and understand and work with all children’s learning needs. It is important that you provide different kinds of opportunities also focus on individual children’s learning needs each and every child is unique and all learn at different rates. When in a setting it is important that you plan an enabling environment that children will find challenging but will allow them to learn in different areas.

- The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage 2008 states that the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five. It provides reassurance for parents that children in early years settings are safe and that the foundation provides everything for children to make the most of their abilities as they grow and develop.

The ‘Children’s Act 2004’ was continuously updated and developed into the ‘Children’s Act 2006’. This act states that all settings have to follow the Early Years Framework Stages (which were renewed in 2012). The Early Years Framework Stages (EYFS) is aimed to fulfil the five aims of ‘every child matters’ and the previous children’s act of 2004. The intentions are to achieve these aims by setting standards, promote equal opportunities and through a framework of partnerships, improve quality and consistency and lay secure foundation for all learning and development, present and future. By improving the quality the service and experiences are improved for all children and families. Safeguarding children is a vital part of improving all childcare services/settings.

Early years frameworks in the U.K emphasise the importance of a personal and individual approach to learning and development:

1. Setting the standards for the learning, development and care, ensuring that every child makes progress and that no child gets left behind. Parents, providers should deliver individualised learning, development and care that enhances the development of the children in their care and gives those children the best possible start in life. Every child should be supported individually to make progress at their own pace and children who need extra support to fulfil their potential should receive special consideration. All providers have an equally important role to play in children’s early years experiences and they have to ensure that the provision they deliver is both appropriate to children’ needs and complementary to the education and care provided in child’s other settings.

Why the early years framework emphasises a personal and individual approach to learning and development

The Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets out detailed formative assessment suggestions. It recommends that all practitioners should:

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ 2010, (WTtSC 2010) instructs organisations and individuals working with children on how actions such as assessments should be done in accordance with the CA1989 and ensures that professionals understand what their responsibilities and duties are. This specific documentation assisted my understanding of the format in which assessments should be conducted as well as my understanding of multi-professional work surrounding A and his needs. Following guidelines from the Assessment Framework (WTtSC p.44), I was able to establish what A’s specific developmental needs were so they can be addressed during my mentoring sessions. Areas such as his education, family and social relationships and stimulation as well a look at the wider family unit and his environment. This multi-professional meeting was in fact my initial assessment.

In this program our child care providers have a hands-on interaction with the children. They guide our early learners through child directed play. The child care staff provides different learning opportunities by supplying an array of activities based on the children’s interests. This program will allow the children an opportunity to become leaders in their learning, by exploring and discovering their play environment on their own, with peers and through guidance from the staff. Although we have many open-ended play opportunities, we will have a few structured activities for the children to participate in. We find it important to keep some structure within the daily schedule as this will allow the children the

The National Quality Standard includes standard 1.1 states that ‘An approved framework informs the development of a curriculum that enhances each child’s learning and development’. This is where the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) is introduced. This framework is included in the National Quality Standard to help ensure the consistency in the delivery of learning programs within Australia. Within the EYLF is the Early Childhood curriculum framework which guides early childhood educators to develop quality early childhood education programs. This framework describes the principles, practice and learning outcomes which support and enhance young children’s learning from birth to five years old, and then their transition to school.

-liaising with outside agencies with respect to a child's special educational needs (SEN) such as speech Therapist, physiotherapist..etc.