Early years and childcare

• Jean Piaget proposed that children progress through four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
• The EYFS is the legal framework that sets out requirements for learning, development, and care for children from birth to five.
• Concrete operational stage (7-11) - Children begin to use logical thinking about real objects and events, but still have difficulty with more complex problems involving hypothetical situations.
• The sensorimotor stage is from birth to two years old, where the child's understanding comes from their senses and motor skills.
• Formal operational stage (12+) - Children can think abstractly and logically about any situation or problem, even if it has no practical application.
• Formal operational stage (12+) - Children can think abstractly and logically about any situation or problem, regardless of whether it is based on reality or not.
• Preoperational stage (2-7) - Children cannot yet understand concepts like conservation, reversibility, or symmetry.
• Preoperational Stage (2-7): Children start to use language and symbols to represent things they see and experience.
• Sensorimotor Stage (0-2): Infants explore the world using their senses and motor abilities.
• Preoperational stage (2-6/7) - Children cannot yet understand concepts like conservation, which means they may believe that changing the shape of an object will change its quantity as well.
• Piaget believed that children develop through four stages of cognitive development:
• Piaget believed that children construct knowledge by actively exploring and manipulating their environment.
• Preoperational stage (2-7) - Children develop symbolic thought and language, but cannot yet understand concepts like conservation or reversibility.
• Children develop at different rates and may show signs of being ready for school earlier than others.
• Children may hold onto incorrect beliefs due to limited experience or lack of knowledge, leading them to make errors when applying their theories.
• Piaget's theory suggests that children develop their own theories based on their experiences and observations, which they test by experimenting and making predictions.
• Assessment can take place informally through observation, discussion with parents/carers, and reviewing records, as well as formally using standardized tests.
• Children develop at different rates and have individual needs, which must be considered when planning activities and assessing their progress.
• Observation involves watching and recording what happens during play or other activities, while assessment involves evaluating how well children meet the goals set by the curriculum.
• The three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically.
• Observation is important to understand how children learn and what they need from their environment.
• In the preoperational stage (2-7), children can think symbolically but are not able to understand abstract concepts or perform mental operations on them.
• The EYFS aims to promote holistic development through play-based activities and support parents as their child's first educators.
• Children develop at different rates and have individual needs, interests, and abilities.
• Erik Erikson proposed that children progress through a series of Psychosocial Stages in response to social challenges, including trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity diffusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, ego integrity vs. despair.
• Lev Vygotsky emphasized the role of social interaction and culture in cognitive development. He proposed that children develop through learning concepts and tools from their culture.
• Concrete Operational Stage (7-12): Children begin to develop logical thinking and are able to solve problems with concrete examples.
• Cognitive Development is the process by which individuals acquire knowledge and understanding about themselves and the world around them.
• Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development: Sensorimotor stage (0-2), Preoperational stage (2-6/7), Concrete operational stage (6/7-11), Formal operational stage (11+).
• The wider context in education and childcare is the scope of provision, including the features and functions of services available for babies, children, and young people.
• The education and childcare sector includes varied occupational roles with different responsibilities.
• Knowledge, skills, and understanding in the education and childcare sector can be developed through learning aim/outcome "Know more, do more, remember more".
• An activity for learning in the education and childcare sector is to identify different childcare and education provision on a post-it note and discuss with table groups.
• The education and childcare sector includes voluntary settings that may be ran by a charity and parents may have to pay donations to cover costs.
• Private settings in the education and childcare sector require parents to pay for provision and these settings must be Ofsted registered.
• Statutory/maintained settings in the education and childcare sector are government funded and must be available by law, they will be registered and inspected by Ofsted.
• Independent settings in the education and childcare sector are not paid for by government or state funded, and in most cases, parents pay, these settings are inspected by Ofsted and must follow EYFS.
• Homeschooling in the education and childcare sector is a legal right for parents, as per the Education Act 1996.
• Early Year’s Settings in the education and childcare sector are available for children in the early years.
• Nursery provision is for children from birth to 5 years and is usually private (parents must pay).