Transcript Active Learning - Optimus Education

Three to five year olds
EYFS Framework Guide: Creating an
enabling environment
Enabling environment
In the new EYFS Framework the enabling
environment is one of the four guiding
principles which should shape practice in early
years settings.
• children learn and develop well in enabling
environments, in which their experiences
respond to their individual needs and there is
a strong partnership between practitioners
and parents and/or carers.
Space, time and relationships
The enabling environment is made up of:
• Space - the physical space which babies and
toddlers are in.
• Time - how time is managed in order to
capitalise on all the opportunities that the
environment provides.
• Relationships -the quality of the interactions
between the children, practitioners and
parents/carers in the setting.
Space
A high quality environment for young children should:
• Be clean, tidy and uncluttered and used flexibly in response
to children’s moods and interests.
• Be painted in calm, neutral colours to provide a backdrop to
the children’s activities.
• Contain only the furniture that is absolutely essential,
leaving plenty of free floor space for children’s play.
• Have space for individual activities and for group
interaction.
• Support and enhance the play opportunities of all children,
boys as well as girls.
• Have resources stored at a height where children can see
and access them.
• Make good use of mirrors to create interesting
environments to explore.
Time
To manage time effectively think about how to:
• Give children time and opportunities to become absorbed in what
they are doing, often repeating things again and again, until their
curiosity is satisfied.
• Provide opportunities for children to play on their own, time to play
with friends and time to be part of a larger group at story time or
when dancing or making music.
• Involve children in projects and activities that extend over several
days or weeks providing the opportunity to come back to things and
explore them in greater depth.
• Plan the rhythm of the day around the daily events that have to
happen at certain times – mealtimes and home time for example –
but be flexible about what happens during the rest of the day.
Evidence shows that this approach leads to a calmer atmosphere in
the setting, gives more time for children to become engrossed in what
they are doing and results in a decrease in instances of negative
behaviour.
Relationships
Creating the right emotional environment involves:
• Thinking about the way in which adults and children talk to
and behave towards one another. Strong positive
relationships between adults and children enhance a child’s
sense of wellbeing and emotional resilience.
• Establishing effective partnerships with parents as a way of
ensuring children have the best possible experience in an
early years setting.
• Having an effective key person system so that practitioners
have time to get to know each child’s family well, and learn
as much as possible about the interests, behaviours and
preferences of each child in their key group.
• Helping parents to feel fully connected with their child’s life
in the setting by sharing information – verbal feedback,
written observations and photographs - at the end of the
day.
Enhancing spaces
• How well do we all understand the contribution the
physical environment makes to supporting the welfare,
learning and development of young children?
• How could we go about auditing our environment to
establish how well it meets our, and the children’s
needs?
• Do we all understand the purpose of the different
spaces we have in the setting and are they all used
effectively?
• How aware are we of which spaces around the setting
the children like, and which they dislike?
• Are we happy that the children, as well as the adults,
can change the layout of the spaces?
• Do we always act as good role models in the way we
take care of our environment and resources?
Managing time
• How could we audit our current use of time to see if we
could make our regular routines more flexible?
• Do we regularly ask children what things they enjoy doing
and what they don’t enjoy and do we do anything on the
basis of this information?
• Does the rhythm of the day provide opportunities for
children to be active or quiet, to think and reflect and to
stand back and watch others?
• How good are we at giving children time to be creative,
time to think, time to solve problems and time to practise
and master skills for themselves?
• Do we plan enough opportunities for children to be
involved in projects that may last days, or weeks?
• How easy do we make it for children to come back again
and again to things they enjoy doing? Can they store ‘work
in progress’ safely so they can complete it at a later date?
Developing relationships
• Do we all understand the importance of tuning in to
and valuing individual children’s interests and
fascinations?
• How well do we show that we value the interests of
the boys as well as those of the girls in our setting?
• Does our key person system fully support the
development of strong relationships with children and
families?
• How could we minimise the number of transitions a
child may experience while they are in our setting?
• How could we do more to support parents and children
with the transition from pre-school to school?
• Do we make enough use of photographs and images
around the setting that show how we value children
and the communities from which they come?