Introduction

Areas of Education is a wide umbrella so to speak. People learn within education in many different ways and in many different places not just the classroom setting. Below I have chosen 4 contexts of learning that have a particular interest to me as I enjoy the Foundation Phase area the most out of all the segments of schools. My 4 contexts are Play, Foundation Phase, Outdoor Learning and Forest Schools. During each blog post I have explained a little history and/or overview of the context and then gone on to describe and evaluate the effect the context has within children and whether I agree personally or not. I have also added links in which I think back up my arguments or views whether I agree or disagree in the form of videos or articles. I have also added pictures to give a visual understanding on some of the contexts that I have explored.


This is my reference list that i have had all information from:

References

Anon., 2009. Foundation Phase Outdoor Learning Experiences 2009 Report, Cardiff: Welsh Assembley Government .

ATL, 2012. Playing To Learn. s.l.:ATL.

Estyn, 2010. Foundation Phase Training and its Impact on Learning and Teaching.

Government, W. A., 2003. The Learning Country, The Foundation Phase 3-7 Years. Cardiff: WAG.

Government, W. A., 2009. Foundation Phase Child Development Profile Guidance. Cardiff: WAG.

Government, W. A., n.d. Foundation Phase Child Development Profile Guidance. Cardiff: WAG.

Richardson, M. et al., 2004. A Review of Reaserch on Outdoor Learning. National Foundation for Educational Research and King's College London .

www.bbc.co.uk/news

www.googleimages.co.uk

www.ndna.org.uk

www.wales.org.uk

 

 

Forest Schools

The forest school ethos was brought into the UK in the 1990’s. The forest schools were brought into the UK as an approach to children’s development and learning, this became a complement towards the Foundation Phase pedagogy. (Government, 2009) I agree with the Welsh Assembly Government as I think that the forest schools are now an important part of the Foundation Phase but also very successful. Many Schools have now developed their own forest school or areas. People who lead the forest schools must be led by forest school leaders, you can be trained in many places for forest schools. During the forest school, which children usually attend at least once a week children are encouraged to have hands on experience and explore and push themselves into challenges. Forest schools are great in my opinion as think that the Foundation Phase can be to structured in order for some children to learn. Forest school gives the individual child the option to choose how they play and learn through their own imagination and creativity. Children learn so much throughout forest schools including risk taking, team building, and become independent, which I don’t think that children are given enough of in schools. Forest schools to children are fun and to the children seem like they are playing and not learning when actually they learning a lot through cross-curriculum as they take on their child initiated learning. Forest schools give children the independence and responsibility that is hard to gain in the classroom. The biggest thing that I think that children get from forest schools is freedom. They are also a great way to build children’s confidence and for children with behaviour difficulties to let off steam and children with short attention spans to keep active and learning. As I have stated above I have found and article to back up my points on the benefits and what children gain from forest schools. (www.worcesterhire.co.uk/forestschools) states that children gain personal and social development, as well as the amount of confidence that children gain from learning and playing within the forest along with the confidence the children gained came confidence and self-esteem that children built through team building. Children gained a great sense of independence while being involved within forest schools and this shows within the results of this article. It shows that forest schools can enrich and take part in the quality of the child’s overall educational experience. The article mentions about all the 7 Areas of Learning which I mentioned in previous posts. I think that forest school is important in children’s lives and can be followed throughout their education as not only does forest schools run in the early years and primary, forest school goes on to secondary provision and also special educational needs and community groups can gain and benefit from forest schools.

Foundation Phase

Foundation Phase became noticed in the Plowden Report 1967 and officially became structured in schools. Between the ages of 3-7 years in Wales the foundation phase is statutory for both maintained and non-maintained settings (Government, 2009). Since September 2008 the Welsh Assembly Government combined the Early Years which are aged between 3-5 year olds where they attend an Early Years setting part time at the ages of 3-4 years and then full time 4-5 years. I agree that the foundation phase needs to encourage on teach children to be more creative, imaginative and to have fun while learning in order for it to become more effective and enjoyable to them (www.wales.gov.uk). The Foundation Phase has 7 areas of learning which I mentioned in my outdoor learning post. • Personal and Social Development, Well-being and Cultural Diversity • Language, Literacy and Communication Skills • Mathematical Development • Welsh Language Development • Knowledge and Understanding of the World • Physical Development • Creative Development These areas of learning are said to give children the chance to become stimulated with more structured play activites that can be embedded in their learning experiences (www.ndna.org.uk). The Foundation Phase is currently in place for young children to become taught within schools to a level/stage that is appropriate to the individual child and therefore in my opinion does not encourage teachers to base a child’s stage of development purely on their age (Government, 2009). The Foundation Phase needs to be a successful setting and is acknowledged by teachers that learning needs to be based upon: • A holistic view of learning • Active and experiential learning • Respect for children’s ability to be self-motivating and self-directing • Responsive interactions between adults and children (www.learning.wales.gov.uk) Children need support from teachers practitioners to get through their different developmental stages. Children also need support while going through the Foundation Phase, they need someone there to model and scaffold their learning in order for them to engage and get the best possible outcome of the Foundation Phase. Children need: • Support to challenge their widening interests and encourage them to develop their thinking • Practitioners who observe, assess and plan carefully for their developmental needs • To be encouraged and extend conversations • To have good role models • Opportunities that support their development as independent, confident learners • Opportunities to work collaboratively • Opportunities to follow routine and unfamiliar activities, as well as opportunities to be involved in new and challenging tasks • To be creative through access to a variety of media that allows them to express themselves and apply their imagination in a purposeful way • Opportunities to work cooperatively with their peers and to have time to sustain their interest in activities • Opportunities to keep pace with and challenge their physical coordination and development (Government, 2009) Children are observed throughout school and throughout the foundation phase. These are in order to help teachers and practitioners know and value the skills and strengths that an individual child has in order for them to give the child the support and for them to create an individual plan that will enable the child to progress within the foundation phase for the child’s age. Like I stated earlier in this post about the children’s development, they progress new skills rapidly but still develop at different paces compared to other children. This agrees with the fact that every child is an individual (Estyn, 2010). Looking at an article, some people seem to be disappointed about the foundation phase children at the age of five to six stated that they are not learning enough because activities are not challenging enough for them. Yet the inspection body Estyn found the foundation phase is having a positive impact on children’s wellbeing (www.bbc.co.uk). Personally I think that the Foundation Phase is not perfect but is a good structure for schools and how children learn. I think that how and how much children learn are up to the teacher or practitioner on their knowledge on how to teach the children and their previous experience. I think this video below backs up my point. This video is from www.youtube.co.uk

Outdoor Learning

 

Personally I strongly agree that the outdoor environment is a fantastic and ideal environment for children to explore and progress their experiential learning. The outdoor learning environment is a very open concept which has a wide range of educational activities with different conceptions in many different settings, such as forest schools, Museums, Theatres etc. The outdoor environment is regarded as an important element for effective early year’s education that has increasingly become recognized for its importance. Outdoor environments are very important and have substantial research evidence to back up its theory that the outdoor environment has positive impacts within: • Attitudes, beliefs and self-perceptions, independence, confidence, self esteem • Interpersonal and Social skills • Development of general skills and engagement and achievement • Improved physical self-image and fitness and promotes positive behavior Even though the outdoor learning environment learning has positive impacts it also has barriers which can prevent outdoor learning, these can include concern over Health and Safety, teachers lack of confidence, shortage of time, limited opportunities, school Curriculum requirements, wider changes within and beyond the education sector. I agree with (Estyn, 2010) that as well as external factors to the outside learning environment there are also many factors and influences that have been identified through a person’s influence. Many of these include, a person’s age, their physical difficulties, whether the person has special educational needs. Many people also have a lack of prior knowledge or experience towards outside learning as well as taking into consideration people’s ethnic and cultural difficulties. Many other people have fears and phobias that prevent this style of learning, also taking into consideration that everyone is different and that their learning styles may not adapt with this particular style of learning. I believe that not everyone is fully aware of the barriers that are in place and these need to be looked at in close detail and the outcomes need to studied and overcome in order for there to be no barriers in the subject of outdoor learning. I understand that Frobel, Montessori and Margret Mcmillan have now placed a great emphasis on outdoor play and the learning environments that are aimed for young children. (Richardson, et al., 2004)I strongly agree that emphasis should be made towards outdoor learning and this is why I couldn’t agree more with this quote ‘Children would have greater opportunities to expand and experiment their knowledge in many different subjects if there was more outdoor learning and a greater chance of an outdoor environment within the learning of Wales.’ (Richardson, et al., 2004)Looking at the research and evidence that are provided in Articles, Journals, Video’s and Quotes I completely understand and see how important outdoor play is to children and their development. . I have taken this video from below from www.youtube.co.uk

Barriers to Outdoor Learning

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/drive-to-boost-outdoor-learning/7527.html

The link above takes you to the BBC News website where you will find a video backing up my previous points on the barriers of learning and the boosts that are needed from my Outdoor Learning post.

Play by Photos

Creative Play With Natural Materials Constructive Play Small World Imaginative/pretend Play

Play

During early year’s education throughout the UK the importance of play has become extremely recognised states (Government, 2003) they also state that play is now an essential ingredient that is imbedded in the curriculum and should be fun and stimulating for all. Play gets children motivated, stimulated and supports children in developing their skills, concepts, communication, concentration, positive attitudes and demonstrates awareness. Children during play should have the option to repeat, practice and refine skills as many times needed, whether they are learning new information or adding to previous information. Play has different stages of development. Anyone working with children will need to be fully aware of these stages. It is very important for practitioners that are working with children to remember that children will go through these stages at different rates to other children, some maybe quicker, others may be slower. The different stages of play are: • Solitary • Spectator • Parallel • Partnership/associative • Co-operative/group After stages of play come different types of play within learning areas and activities. Most of the types of play need to be thought out and planned in order to create a place where space, time and resources are available and created for the children. I agree with (ATL, 2012) when they say that play come in many different forms and is usually creative, imaginative and open minded. The different types of play include: • Imaginary/pretend • Small world • Construction • Play with natural materials • Creative • Physical Play also includes: • Child-initiated/ led play • Adult led • Sustained shared thinking Children can proceed well within their learning with help from adults who ‘scaffold’ their learning. Evidence shows that with the help of adults through play children have become more active learners, made significant leaps in confidence, self-esteem has grown, children’s social skills have developed, strong evidence of language development had shown and children’s behaviour has improved. Play can be challenged and barriers can affect the way in which children learn through play. Barriers such as: • Lack of training in play • Poor adult:child ratio • Large Classes • Finding time Barriers to play can be dealt with effectively and prevent the child from losing out on valuable play experience and their learning. For instance finding time is probably the most popular reason but can be dealt with by keeping any interruptions at a minimum and allowing children the flexibility to get themselves deeply involved and interested in something. (ATL, 2012) gives in quote which I completely agree with as I do believe that play is extremely important within the Foundation Phase and their ability to learn. Therefore many transferable skills are developed that can be used across the curriculum and all of the 7 Areas of Learning. By doing this children become more involved actively in their learning and create a foundation through progression and continuity through experiential learning. The video I have attached below backs up my points on the facts and types of play. This video has been uploaded from www.youtube.com