The Voice of Early Childhood

Dr Lala Manners and Angelica Celinska discuss physical development in the English Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework, specifically looking critically at the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). Some of the questions they pose include 'What is the point of the physical development ELGs?', 'What is the point of the data gathered from the ELGs?', 'Do we need to reposition the ELGs?', 'Do we need to rewrite the ELGs?', and much, much more…

Dr Lala Manners and Angelica tap into:

• Where does physical development sit in the EYFS? - 3:45
• Language development and physical play - 7:00
• Risk of losing physical development from the Prime Areas - 10:00
• The narrow focus of physical development in the EYFS - 10:30
• What is the point of the Early Learning Goals (ELGs)? What is the data for? - 11:45
• The ELGs are not aspirational enough, too basic - 14:30
• Using the ELGs as points for discussion with parents instead of at the end of the EYFS - 18:00
• Physical development is a wider issue of public health in society - 22:00
• Reducing the fine motor skills to handwriting is not good enough - 23:30
• Movement as self-expression and a universal language - 27:40
• The language of physical touch - 29:50
• Physical development and movement as a learning mechanism for social interactions and self-awareness - 31:00
• 'Let me be but be with me' – not always interfering in children's learning - 34:30
• What matters to children – 'what are you good at?' - 38:20
• Physical development playing a role in self-identity, belonging and confidence - 39:00
• If we want children to talk then get them to move! 41:50
• Creating happy physical memories - 44:00
• Two top tips from Dr Lala Manners - 45:30

Read and hear more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Gabrielle Smith, early childhood and special educational needs consultant and specialist, discusses the importance of raising awareness of the 1:1 role in early childhood settings.

This episode shares some real life experiences from practice, including the loneliness of 1:1 educators, lack of support and training, what makes a good 1:1 practitioner and preconceived ideas of what SEND looks like in children within early childhood.

Read and hear more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

How can music play an important role in building strong foundations for phonics? Tasha Bretten and Angelica Celinska discuss the holistic values of music for children's learning, and specifically the school readiness narrative. They discuss melodic and rhythmic awareness strengthening the auditory system, building phonological skills, and ultimately helping children to develop wider skills and laying strong foundations for more general cognitive functions.

Angelica and Tasha tap into:

• School readiness and phonics 02:00
• Phonological awareness and pre-social skills 02:40
• Love of learning and lifelong learning 03:50
• Are children 'reluctant' to engage in music? 05:05
• Our innate, intrinsic musicality 05:30
• Modelling enthusiasm and love of music 06:00
• Practitioner lack of confidence in music 07:00
• An environment suitable for music and finding music everywhere 09:10
• Phase 1 phonics 11:00
• Language acquisition 11:55
• Lack of teacher training around music 12:45
• Lack of music in the curriculum 14:00
• Neuro-musical evidence and attention 15:00
• Repetition strengthening neurological pathways: linking music to schematic play 22:50
• Placing musicality at the forefront of early learning 25:00
• Music making learning portable 29:00
• Music as a community cohesive and cultural experience 31:00
• Giving children a rich musical repertoire 33:00
• Developing vocabulary and emotional association 36:20
• Our daily 'DOSE' of music – dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins 37:50

Read Tasha Bretten's article on The Voice of Early Childhood website:

thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

We welcome back Dr Sue Allingham in this episode following on from a month highly focused around mental health and wellbeing.

We often discuss wellbeing from both a theoretical view and quite a negative and deficit perspective of all the things that are not working. What about discussing what we CAN do, the solutions rather than just the problems…

Angelica Celinska and Dr Sue Allingham discuss both adults' and children's wellbeing, what is right for each individual, what is your way of listening? How sometimes we recognise individual needs in adults but actually not always in children. The fact that we cannot schedule wellbeing, and in who's opinion is it wellbeing anyway? What does wellbeing mean? They consider the need to recognise how the other person feels secure in themselves, and questioning "what do I know about the children and adults around me and what makes them feel comfortable"?

Angelica and Sue tap into:

• Stepping back and observing – interacting or interfering (Julie Fisher)
• The adult agenda impacting on children's wellbeing
• 'Chocolates in the staffroom and golden time on a Friday'
• Sitting 'nicely' – what IS sitting nicely, in who's opinion?
• Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation
• The Leuven Scale – Dr Ferre Laevers' emotional wellbeing and involvement scales
• Sticker charts, marble jars, golden time, circle time…does this work for your children? For your community? For your team? For YOU as an educator?
• Leaders tuning in to their individual team's needs
• Critical reflection and critical consumption of knowledge
• Pressures from various central bodies
• 'Emotional backpacks'
• The right to silence – the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child
• Reading body language
• How do children know you value them?
• How does your team know you value them?
• Slow pedagogy – Dr Alison Clark
• Emotional and physical wellbeing is all about the entire body – do the children feel comfortable in the setting? Does your team feel comfortable?
• Distractions in the environment

This episode is absolutely packed with such a range of big topics, which certainly need further unpicking. But primarily, Philippa Thompson and Angelica Celinska discuss (or try to focus on!) co-production with families. They unpick what this term really means and what the concept looks like in practice. This is a term which has recently become more widely used, originally stemming from public services.

They also briefly tap into wider education issues such as hierarchy and power dynamics, the role of community in a child's upbringing, Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, the contested phrase 'hard to reach parents', ages and stages of development ('expected levels of development'), the social and medical models of disability, and training courses for working with adults and not just children.

During the recording of this episode Philippa was on an academic trip with her students, which sparked further conversation around tapping into international practice and understanding lived experiences of other cultures, specifically early childhood practice in Mauritius.

What does joy look like in your setting? Aaron Bradbury encourages us to tap into the joy of early childhood and adopt a nurturing approach to practice.

Aaron believes that focus should firmly be placed on connection. We discuss taking time and slowing down, enriching learning through language and positive interactions, the importance of wellbeing and involvement and fostering a lifelong love of learning.

We are joined by Wendy Kettleborough, who has the most interesting job titles! Wendy is a Brain Architect, Conceptual Engineer, Author, Trainer, Consultant and Creator. We discuss why Wendy uses those terms, both as her own job titles but also why she describes both educators and parents as 'Brain Architects' and 'Conceptual Engineers'. We also discuss mental health, 'word wealth' as opposed to the 'word gap' and children's schematic play.

Visit www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com to read Wendy's article: 'Perception, Positivity and Parents'.

In this episode we are joined by Dr Mine Conkbayir as we discuss the mental health of educators and how this affects their co-regulation with young children.

We discuss the use of the term 'mental fitness', holding space for each other over problem solving, and the 'Stream of Self-Regulation'.

Visit www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com to read and hear more.

Just a quick one this week...

This episode is all about our latest big announcement...our inaugural conference!

The Voice of Early Childhood conference is taking place on Saturday 8th July 2023 at Nottingham Trent University.

It is all about bringing the sector together, and encouraging us all to be active agents of change.

Find more info and grab your tickets here: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/conference

Jan Dubiel takes a critical look at children's learning and how we structure the curriculum by asking the following questions: What is the role of core and personal knowledge in early childhood education? Where do children's fascinations and interests come into this?

Visit www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com to read Jan's full article.