How do we learn? How much can we learn? What should we learn?
The answers to questions like these are the subject of a great deal of educational debate. Neuroscience has increased our understanding of learning by looking at how the brain works and develops. There is so much being discovered that it is hard for early years practitioners to keep up with all the latest findings.
Last weekend, members of the senior management team attended the Childcare and Education Expo at Olympia. We were given lots to think about by the various speakers and experts.
Alistair Bryce-Clegg was one of the keynote speakers, he advocated play as the best way to encourage brain development. He argued that when children are fully engaged in free play, they are more likely to be imaginative, creative and inspired, making learning deeper with stronger neural connections forming in the brain.
We encourage our team to be open to new ideas and to be pragmatic about incorporating elements of new approaches in to their practice. As a team we will reflect on whether we should make fewer obligations on children to sit still in controlled ways so that teaching can take place. Perhaps not all children listen or learn well when being compelled to do so by an adult. In the long run, the idea is that children will become better, more willing, learners if their natural curiosity is encouraged and not stifled. But giving those children opportunities to learn everything they need to learn through play requires great skill and resourcefulness from our early years practitioners, and you too! Can adults fight against the instinct to direct, instruct, control and compel children?
