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Teaching Strategies
All early years practitioners, regardless of their level of qualification, should be trained to routinely use a wide range of teaching strategies during their daily work and interactions with children. Many practitioners use teaching strategies naturally and are often unaware that they are using them. Once formally introduced to the requirement to plan to use teaching strategies practitioners will draw on their innate skills and begin to actively plan to implement a wider range of teaching strategies to the benefit of the children they care for and educate.
Interactions
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Pedagogical
Pedagogical interactions stimulate cognition and encourage children's thought processes. Children are encouraged to speculate, problem solve, consider, investigate and reason during such episodes.
Interactions
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Activity Based
Activity based interactions stimulate thought, interest, engagement, sustained shared thinking and speculation. Ensure that you interact thoughtfully so as not to interrupt thought processes. Use questions sparingly - comment more, question less!
Modelling Language
All practitioners should model using language in a range of contexts. Adults should ensure that they use proper grammar, appropriate tones, and intonations. New words should be introduced regularly. Do not ask questions for the sake of it and question sparingly. Comments are more valuable than your questions.
Communicating
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Verbal and
Non-verbal
Practitioners should role model how to communicate using a range of communication methods, including verbal, non-verbal, and written communications. Expressive arts can also be used as a communication method.
Interactions
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Social
Social interactions are usually the daily 'pleasantries' exchanged in passing; they do not usually stimulate cognition. Asking a child who has hurt himself 'Are you okay?' will unlikely stimulate much thought whereas 'How did you do that?' does.
Explaining
Practitioners should use explanation as a teaching strategy, e.g., explaining why something sinks or floats or explaining why we feel a particular emotion. Explanations help children to understand a concept which forms a foundation for future learning.
Practitioners should use demonstration as a teaching strategy. There are many skills which can be taught through initial demonstration, e.g., how to make a sandwich or how to mix powder paint.
Exploring Ideas
Practitioners should plan to explore ideas with children. This teaching strategy enables children to explore different ways of doing things in a safe, blame-free environment, e.g., 'if I add more water to this dough mix what will happen?'
Setting Challenges
Setting challenges is an important teaching strategy to use as it ensures that children are stretched and moved on in their development. This teaching strategy goes hand-in-hand with encouragement.
Demonstrating
Practitioners should plan to demonstrate ideas and concepts, whether this be demonstrating how to crack an egg or asking another child how to demonstrate how to put on a jacket. Children learn by observing and then by actively taking part.
Encouraging
Using encouragement as a teaching strategy provides an opportunity for practitioners to plan to support children's self confidence and self-esteem. Consider using encouragement in place of praise as praise can 'close down' a project by suggesting completion.
Questioning
Questioning is a strategy which supports practitioners to assess knowledge; to understand children's intents; and to support children to develop problem solving and negotiation skills. Questions should be open and clear and not solely used to assess knowledge. Question sparingly, comment more.
Recalling
Expecting children to recall is an important teaching strategy which all practitioners should routinely use in order to support children to put their learning into context and to draw upon their memory of event or activities being discussed.
Assessing
Assessment is at the core of every practitioner's day. Assessment is an ongoing process that informs practitioners not only of next steps but of how the environment and curriculum is supporting individual children.
Reflection
Reflection means to think about something and to consider what changes you might need to make. You might reflect 'in action' as something is actually happening, or 'on action' after the event (Schon), you may then consider 'what might I change?'
Problem Solving
Problem solving is about asking 'what might you do now or next?' in order to solve a problem. This could be a task based problem, e.g., stabilising a structure, or solving a social conflict situation, e.g., 'How can we solve this problem?'
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