Early Years Scotland Conference, 30 September 2017 Eliminating Educational Inequality: Getting to Grips with the Gap in the Early Years World Café – Delegate Feedback Early Years Scotland recently hosted a World Café at our annual conference. Delegates were invited to choose topics of interest and share their knowledge and insight with colleagues from across the Early Learning and Childcare sector. Here, we present a round-up of the rich conversation and debate that ensued around practice, pedagogy and policy. The conversations centred around 10 themes. World Café Theme 1: Language and Literacy Early language skills – listening, understanding words, speaking, listening to music, enjoying rhymes and songs and building vocabulary – are the vital foundation to enable children to learn to read: children first learn to talk and then learn to read. Recent research has highlighted the fact that children in disadvantaged circumstances are twice as likely to experience difficulties or delays in their language development, compared with other children. High-quality services and support for children and families can help overcome this. 1. Supporting the home learning environment can help boost children’s early language development. Early Learning and Childcare services have an important part to play in bridging the gap between home and service, by engaging with parents about their child’s development. What strategies could we employ to support parents in developing the home learning environment? Your responses included: Effective communication with parents to ensure they understand the significance of their role and the importance of promoting literacy Be approachable/non-judgemental/respectful and build good connections and relationships with families Create home link bags/song bags/story sacks/bedtime books for parents to use at home
14
Embed
Early Years Scotland Conference, 30 September 2017 ... · Eliminating Educational Inequality: Getting to Grips with the Gap in the Early Years World Café – Delegate Feedback Early
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Early Years Scotland Conference, 30 September 2017
Eliminating Educational Inequality: Getting to Grips with the Gap in the
Early Years
World Café – Delegate Feedback
Early Years Scotland recently hosted a World Café at our annual conference.
Delegates were invited to choose topics of interest and share their knowledge and
insight with colleagues from across the Early Learning and Childcare sector. Here, we
present a round-up of the rich conversation and debate that ensued around practice,
pedagogy and policy. The conversations centred around 10 themes.
World Café Theme 1: Language and Literacy
Early language skills – listening, understanding words, speaking, listening to music, enjoying
rhymes and songs and building vocabulary – are the vital foundation to enable children to
learn to read: children first learn to talk and then learn to read. Recent research has
highlighted the fact that children in disadvantaged circumstances are twice as likely to
experience difficulties or delays in their language development, compared with other
children. High-quality services and support for children and families can help overcome this.
1. Supporting the home learning environment can help boost children’s early language
development. Early Learning and Childcare services have an important part to play in
bridging the gap between home and service, by engaging with parents about their
child’s development. What strategies could we employ to support parents in
developing the home learning environment?
Your responses included:
Effective communication with parents to ensure they understand the significance of
their role and the importance of promoting literacy
Be approachable/non-judgemental/respectful and build good connections and
relationships with families
Create home link bags/song bags/story sacks/bedtime books for parents to use at
home
Stay and Play evenings/Baby breakfasts/Practitioner home visits/support
groups/parenting programmes/workshops and a variety of other ways to include
parents as partners
Recognising and learning from good practice at home, valuing and respecting
parents and their knowledge and skills and learning from each other
Using visual aids and videos/display boards/social media instead of leaflets for
information sharing
Communication champions on your staff team
Making the most of external resources: I CAN/Bookbug/The Big Read/PEEP/VERP
training/online learning journals
2. How can services ensure that the environment, both indoors and outdoors, is
stimulating and promotes early language, speech and communication for all children?
Your responses included:
Staff development/regular training/sharing of practice/networking
A child-led approach utilising loose parts/free flow/suitable opportunity for
challenge
Enrich language by creating a nurturing environment, encourage curiosity, stimulate
the senses
Effective self-evaluation, quality observations and interactions and knowledgeable,
skilled practitioners
Build services around Curriculum for Excellence and Building the Ambition
Ensure evidence of literacy across all areas of the environment
Provide opportunities for making connections, comparisons and categorising, for
mark-making and encourage talking and listening
World Café Theme 2: Creating a Rich Play Environment
Early Learning and Childcare staff understand the significance of the environment for
children’s learning and development. Consider your knowledge and awareness about how
children use their space and resources and how this helps them to follow their interests,
explore and take risks and to have a voice.
1. How do environments influence children’s experiences and opportunities for learning
and development?
Your responses included:
Environments must be rich, robust, calm, homely purposeful and natural. They must give
children freedom and invite them to be creative
Open ended, natural and well planned resources are key
Adults are a resource
Parental engagement is key
Children must have an influence on their environment
Whether indoors or outdoors, literacy, numeracy and wellbeing must be embedded
across the environment
Primary 1 should be free-flow, accessible and play-based
2. Can you suggest the main areas of focus in creating a rich play environment?
Your responses included:
Staff must know how to observe children, create next steps and follow the child’s
interests
Create child-centred spaces that offer challenge, choice, stimulation and opportunities
to be creative
Focus on staff development and professional learning
Ensure access to challenging play, risky play and physical play as well as opportunities for
problem-solving
Ensure opportunity for role play and dramatic play/literacy and numeracy
World Café Theme 3: Effective Parental Engagement
‘Parental and family engagement is a key factor in helping all children achieve the highest
standards whilst reducing inequity and closing the attainment gap.’ (National Improvement
Framework, 2016).
Practitioners involve parents and carers by enabling effective ongoing, two-way
communications between home and the setting.
1. What do you consider to be the main benefits of effective parental engagement in
your setting/Early Learning and Childcare settings?
Your responses included:
Development of home learning environment and creating shared goals
Sharing ideas and knowledge and working together with parents to create a better
understanding of the individual child
Create a shared language of learning/encourage parents who have had negative experiences
of education to become involved
Offer support for parents and listen to their views and opinions
Tap into parents’ skillsets and encourage them to be more involved in the setting/create
shared vision, values and aims of the setting
Early intervention
2. What do you consider to be the main barriers to effective parental engagement in
your setting/Early Learning and Childcare settings?
Your responses included:
Staff knowledge/skillset
Time constraints/accessibility/flexibility
Communication/language barriers
Culture and knowledge of the importance of the early years
3. Consider the barriers you have identified. Suggest how these could be
addressed/overcome within the ELC sector.
Your responses included:
Relaxation time/mindfulness/PEEP
Consider different approaches to working with parents/evaluate practice
Grandparents stay and play
Develop trusting relationships
Introduce a social committee for parents
Consider strategies for communication - social media/online journals/resources in different
languages
World Café Theme 4: Working with Families Experiencing Difficulties
Scottish education serves many children well, but the attainment gap between children from
the richest and poorest backgrounds is wider than in many similar countries. The Scottish
Government has introduced many different initiatives aimed at supporting families
experiencing difficulties.
1. How can we improve outcomes for all children ensuring excellence and equity of
opportunity?
Your responses included:
Early intervention and preventative work
Understand the significance of the home learning environment and support the whole
family
Effective partnership working/Sharing best practice across settings and areas
More investment in early years
Staff teams – communication, consistency and continuity
Evaluate your practice
Quality, purposeful professional learning
2. What support do practitioners need in order to best fulfil their responsibilities
towards children and families experiencing difficulties?
Your responses included:
Networking with other professionals/more focus on multi-agency approaches/collaboration
with health visitors
To feel valued and support by management/families/the wider education sector
Effective leadership
Role models and mentors/supervision and support
Counselling skills
More time and better levels of funding
World Café 5: Transitions
Children experience a number of transitions in their early years. Their confidence and
resilience can be enhanced when commitment is given to support these transitions with
sensitive planning, preparation and effective communication between services.
1. What are the main benefits of effective transitions in the early years?
Your responses included:
Sense of security, love and stability/more potential for positive attachments