TEY_10_1_2020

Teachearlyyears.com 35 8 reflective questions Try asking yourself… • How does our environment provide rich opportunities for child-led learning? • How do our resources support children’s independence and the characteristics of effective learning? • What does a coherently planned and sequenced curriculum mean to us? • Do our routines offer the appropriate balance between structure and flexibility? • Do we maintain quality over quantity when making purposeful observations and assessments of children? • In what ways do we respect parents and carers as children’s first educators and support learning at home? • How do we nurture staff wellbeing and ensure that they are able to manage their workload effectively? • How effective and relevant are our professional development opportunities? may try things that work spectacularly, or you may find they don’t work for you. This doesn’t matter. Instead it’s about finding out about new ways to do things, trying them out and reflecting on what works and why. It’s much like the characteristics of effective learning where we encourage children to ‘have a go’! HOW OFTEN SHOULD I ENGAGE IN REFLECTIVE PRACTICE? Far from reflective practice being an additional task in your very busy week, you are almost certainly already doing it. For example, when dropping-off time is more hectic than usual, with lots of parents wanting to talk to you at the same time, you may well have thought, We have got to do something about this! That’s the start of reflective practice. However, reflective practice means you need to record your thoughts on how you can improve a situation, research options, and, if you wish, share with colleagues. It doesn’t need to take up lots of time each week. Some weeks you’ll be really engaged in reviewing an element of your provision, and then you might take a couple of weeks to mull things over before making plans to try out alternatives. There is not a set timescale and it’s all under your control. The reflective process helps staff to hone their critical understanding of pedagogy, the environment and relationships, which all impact on the learning experiences for children. However, it requires leaders to be fully on board. They need to encourage staff to reflect on what has gone well and what can be improved and be open to receive ideas. Only by doing this, can a supportive culture for reflective practice really be established and, hopefully, gain positive feedback from Ofsted. Tapestry is an online learning journal for early years and schools which encourages reflective practice. For more information, visit tapestry.info

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