Outstanding Early Years Teaching

James Nottingham james@jnpartnership.com

www.osiriseducational.co.uk

Outstanding Early Years

What is “outstanding” EY practice?

How can we scaffold and stretch children’s learning?

What type of praise underpins outstanding EY practice?

What role does reviewing play?

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“Pupils show greater motivation, are better behaved and are more likely to be independent and strategic thinkers when teachers are not obsessed by grades.”

Focus on learning, not grades

“If there is one new thing we need in our school system right now, it is a well-developed focus on learning.”

Chris Watkins, Institute of Education, Aug 2010From an analysis of 100 international studies on how children learn

A new government, a new curriculum?

“The best schools & nurseries design learning for their pupils and then cross check against the national expectations to see they have done right by the pupils in terms of the agreed entitlement for all the nation’s children. The attainment targets give a touchstone for the expected standards and that’s it.”

Many schools believe the myths that have been peddled about the national curriculum and some current ministers seem to believe them too. The truth is nothing can be changed by statute until 2012. Even then, it will only be the national expectations. It doesn’t really matter what comes from government; how it is packaged, what it contains. In the end, the curriculum is the one that children in schools and nurseries meet day in, day out.

Tickell Review Recommendations

Not everything counts

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts

Sign hanging in

Einstein's office at Princeton

Good

Most learners make good progress

Children display good behaviour and attitudes

Teaching is well informed, confident, engaging and precise

Most children are suitably challenged and can succeed

Assessment is accurate, regular and consistent, & informs students how to improve

Outstanding

Most learners make well above average progress

Children behave very well and are engrossed in their work

Teaching is based on expert knowledge, is stimulating and rigorous

All learners are challenged and stretched

Assessment successfully underpins the teaching and learners know how to improve

What do these 3 have in common?

Challenge

We need more stories and less facts, for narrative develops an understanding of sequence; we need more dialogue and less transmission of knowledge, for it is through dialogue that we learn most; and we need more challenge and less instruction, since it is from challenge that one grows in body, mind and spirit.

Matthew Lipman, 1991

What is challenge?

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Challenge and Learning

CA

SA

PA

Current Ability

Subconscious Ability

Potential Ability

Learning Zone

Practice Zone

Too Easy

Too Hard

85Time

Per

form

ance

The Teaching Target Model (TTM)

CA

SA

PA

Learning Zone

Practice Zone

“... are committed to the development of sustained shared thinking by offering encouragement, clarifying ideas and asking open questions which support and extend children’s thinking and help them make connections in learning – while ensuring a balance between adult-led and child initiated activities” (EYFS 1.27)

A continuously improving setting will have well-qualified and experienced staff who:

Developed during World War II, MBTI is a personality indicator designed to identify personal preferences

In a similar way to left or right-handedness, the MBTI principle is that individuals also find certain ways of thinking and acting easier than others

Sensing

Introversion

Judging

Thinking

Intuition

Extroversion

Perceiving

Feeling

Evidence Gut feeling

Think to talk Talk to think

Definite Possible

Logic/Reason Empathy

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Philosophy with Young Children

James Nottingham, www.jamesnottingham.co.uk

Good

Most learners make good progress

Children display good behaviour and attitudes

Teaching is well informed, confident, engaging and precise

Most children are suitably challenged and can succeed

Assessment is accurate, regular and consistent, & informs students how to improve

Outstanding

Most learners make well above average progress

Children behave very well and are engrossed in their work

Teaching is based on expert knowledge, is stimulating and rigorous

All learners are challenged and stretched

Assessment successfully underpins the teaching and learners know how to improve

Kriticos = able to make judgments

Critical Thinking

Comes from the Greek, Kriticos

Meaning: able to make judgments

Source: www.etymonline.com

Learning Intentions

To know numbers 1 - 10

To express our thoughts

To name body parts

Describe different types of weather

Learning Intentions

To explore numbers 1 - 10

Respond to others thoughts

Investigate importance of different body parts

Increase our awareness of different weather types

What do we mean by “succeed”?

Pioneers of Educational Psychology

Piaget (1896 – 1980) Vygotsky (1896 – 1934)

Piaget (1896 – 1980)

Biological

Development leads to learning

Knowledge is constructed

Focus on a child’s current ability (CA)

Vygotsky (1896 – 1934)

Cultural

Learning leads to development

Knowledge is co-constructed

Focus on a child’s potential ability (PA)

85Time

Per

form

ance

The Teaching Target Model (TTM)

CA

SA

PA

Learning Zone

Practice Zone

Once upon a time, there were three babies

Some babies get lots of stimulation

Are encouraged to read

Develop their passions

Whereas others have traumatic experiences

Or are born into abject poverty

By the time they start school

Some children start school knowing 6,000 words.

Others, just 500 words.

Source: BBC 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8013859.stm

Number of words heard by children

A child in a welfare-dependent family hears on average 616 words an hour

A child in a working-class home hears on average 1,251 words an hour

A child in a professional home hears on average 2,153 words an hour

Number of words spoken by the time children are 3

500

700

1100

Hart & Risley, 1995

www.carol-dweck.co.uk

Carol Dweck

What matters is what you believe about intelligence

People who believe intelligence comes mainly from nature have a ‘fixed’ mindset

Professor Carol Dweck, Stanford

People who believe intelligence comes mainly from nurture have a ‘growth’ mindset

Fixed

Intelligence is innate

I have gifts

I’ll always be good at certain things

I’ll never be good at other things

Growth

Intelligence is incremental

I’ve developed talents

My abilities change over time

I can get better at almost anything

Fixed vs Growth Mindsets

Problematic praise

Clever girl!

Gifted musician

Brilliant mathematician

Bright boy

Top of the class!

By far the best

Mueller and Dweck, 1998

In six studies, 7th grade students were given a series of nonverbal IQ tests.

The effects of different types of praise

Intelligence praise

“Wow, that’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.”

Process praise

“Wow, that’s a really good score. You must have tried really hard.”

Control-group praise

“Wow, that’s a really good score.”

Mueller and Dweck, 1998

Trial 1 Trial 34.5

5

5.5

6

6.5

Effort Praise

Control Praise

Intelligence Praise

Number of problems solved on a 3rd test

Boys get 8 times more criticism than girls

The effects of praise

Swimming

“You do your best swimming when you concentrate and try your best to do what Chris is asking you to do”

Ballet

“What a brilliant ballerina you are!”

A new Dawn (Fraser) ?

Intelligence Control Effort0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 Chart Title

Number of students who lied about their score

Do our students want feedback?

We praise children when they get 10 out of 10

10/10

22 2

2Key

Vygotsky’s definition of play

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Play involves …

Imaginary situations

Children taking roles

Each role has rules to be followed

Marshmallow Experiment, 1972

Good

Most learners make good progress

Children display good behaviour and attitudes

Teaching is well informed, confident, engaging and precise

Most children are suitably challenged and can succeed

Assessment is accurate, regular and consistent, & informs students how to improve

Outstanding

Most learners make well above average progress

Children behave very well and are engrossed in their work

Teaching is based on expert knowledge, is stimulating and rigorous

All learners are challenged and stretched

Assessment successfully underpins the teaching and learners know how to improve

Children Creating Stories Together

1. Girl or boy?

2. What is she/he wearing?

3. What object is she/he holding?

4. Where’s she/he going?

5. On the way, she/he meets …?

6. Unfortunately …

7. Fortunately …

8. Then the weather changed …

9. Bringing with it …10. Finally …

www.jamesnottingham.co.uk

james@p4c.com

www.challenginglearning.com

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