Is it important for children to have a purpose with what
they do? Do I sit children down before
we start an activity or before they go off to play and tell them the objectives
of that particular activity and the outcomes we would like to achieve? No I don’t. “Child A I am expecting that by the end of
this activity you will be able to group together a set of objects of the same
colour and name that colour.” No, that would be absurd. Does this mean that I don’t have a purpose in
mind when I plan or when we do the activity.
No it doesn’t. The purpose of
activities will be different for each child as each child will be at a
different stage of development and it is for me as the practitioner to know
what outcomes we might see and to guide and support children if they need it. Much of the time the expected outcome or the
purpose of the activity will change half way through anyway. I may spot an opportunity to support
development in another area. That is
what being a professional is about, having a good knowledge of child
development, knowing the children well and being flexible enough to change the
plan if it would benefit the child.
As far as the children in my setting are concerned all they
need to know that they come to my setting to have fun, to feel safe, to be
cared for and to play and/or have other life experiences. Their learning and development is implicit
and is my concern, if they are having fun, feeling safe and playing they are
learning and developing along the way, if I’m doing my job right. Let’s face it, a structured programme of
activities is not the only way to learn.
A mix of more and less structure is perfectly fine in my opinion as long
as the practitioner is guiding and supporting the children in whatever they do.
With such an emphasis on encouraging healthy lifestyles and
physical activity I am shocked that Ms Truss felt this was a negative thing. Clearly if that was all they did all day long
every day then there would be an issue but I am guessing that Ms Truss saw a
snapshot of one day so it is unfair of her to judge a setting on what she saw
at that moment in time.
I do agree that good manners and the ability to listen and
stick to boundaries are important and surely this is covered in the Personal,
Social and Emotional Development area of the EYFS. Well it certainly is in my setting and I often get comments about how well behaved and polite the children are.
Finally it would be nice if Ms Truss would report on some examples
of excellent practice in Early Years and Childcare, there’s enough out there
she wouldn’t have to look far.
