Teaching in the early years
This section considers what research says about effective teaching for young children. The definition of teaching in our early years inspection handbook sets out the broad use of the term, which is used to describe a range of pedagogical approaches.
Teaching is a broad term that covers the many different ways in which adults help young children learn. It includes their interactions with children during planned and child-initiated play and activities, communicating and modelling language, showing, explaining, demonstrating, exploring ideas, encouraging, questioning, recalling, providing a narrative for what they are doing, facilitating and setting challenges. It takes account of the equipment that adults provide and the attention given to the physical environment, as well as the structure and routines of the day that establish expectations. Integral to teaching is how practitioners assess what children know, understand and can do, as well as taking account of their interests and dispositions to learn (characteristics of effective learning), and how practitioners use this information to plan children’s next steps in learning and to monitor their progress.[footnote 56]
When practitioners are clear about what children already know and can do, and what they need to learn next, then they can decide what to teach the children and how best to use their time with them to ensure that they learn the intended curriculum. Every interaction a practitioner has with a child is an opportunity for teaching and learning.
