Theories and Practice in Child Development

Theories and Practice in Child Development After reading the document produced by Tom Burkard and Tom Clelford, Cutting the Childrens Plan which gives an insight of why the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) should be scrapped. It states that the Statutory Framework EYFS which was launched in 2007 should be scrapped to save  £315 million. However the authors do not state which areas of the EYFS they want scrapped, which causes concern. The EYFS is a large framework for practice and assessment and is the umbrella under which all the children aged 0 5 years who receive care and education. It has been a great impact within the early years establishments as well as having influences of various theorists to support the childrens learning and development. Before thinking of scrapping the EYFS altogether the authors should consider looking through the framework and see what the positives and negatives are as some aspects of the EYFS dont work for some whereas other aspects are of great use. As it mentions in Pugh.G et al (2010:1 00) There are also those who think it goes too far and is too perspective. (Open Eye, 2007:2008). Within the document it is mentioned that the EYFS is an intrusive attempt to micro-manage all 0 5 childcare establishments as well as dictating best practice including parents. Within the EYFS it does not specify that the parents should do as they are told neither does it specify how practitioners should work with the children. Therefore Pugh.G et al (2010:105), states that It requires the practitioner to differentiate to understand each child as an individual and personalize the curriculum content to match their needs and interests. However practitioners should have an in depth knowledge of their key children, so that they can use the EYFS Framework to support and help plan opportunities and activities. These will then enhance childrens learning and encourage the individual childrens development in a way that will interest them. The EPPE Project (Sylva et al, 2004: Chapter 4) identified the importance of a form of interaction between children and adults, that they call sustained shared thinking in promoting childrens learning and development which is now as part of the EYFS. On the other hand working in partnership with parents is essential as it helps all children to achieve their full potential. As stated in The Times (2008), The EYFS is about responding to the individuality of each child, in the context of loving and secure relationships and creating a stimulating and enabling environment that will promote age appropriate experiences for learning and development. Furthermore, Nurse A.D (2007:73) states that Children can be said to prefer to learn through the enactive mode as their ability to represent images and use symbols is less well developed. In this Bruner agreed with Piaget that active, first hand experiences are an appropriate way to present new knowledge to young children. The document also questions whether the EYFS encourages good practice. According to Pugh.G et al (2010:105) we need to focus the curriculum on what is important for the children, the things that they need to be doing at this stage of their development. By looking at the research and practice the most important things are Being Social, Being Positive, Being a Communicator, Being Creative and Being Healthy and Safe (ECM:2003). By introducing reading and writing at an early stage it could be argued that it can lead to complications later on and also delaying phonic work, therefore the EYFS recommends that practitioners use their professional judgement with introducing phonics. On the other hand the authors are claiming that children who come from a less stimulating disadvantaged environment waste an entire year falling further behind their middle class peers in learning (e.g reading), whose parents generally know better than to delay reading instruction. This is not entirely true, Gaunt e (2010) clarifies that Parents with the support of the wider family, are childrens primary educators. What parents do at home with young children has the most impact on all aspects of their development social, emotional, intellectual and physical. Nevertheless it could be alleged that children who have strong home learning environments are ahead socially and intellectually by the age of three, which is continued into schooling. Bronfenbrenners ecological model of human development emphasises the role of the wider environment and the childrens interaction within it. Bronfenbrenner and Caci (1994) proposed that the environment was the main influence on childrens development. Bronfenbrenner produced systems which included the following Microsystems, Macrosystems and Exosystems. The following diagram illustrated below shows how these systems are interacted and impact on the childs learning and development. (Smith et al: 2003). Bronfenbrenner also led the Head Start programme in America which required helping disadvantaged children overcome their poor beginnings. The EYFS recognises the importance of the wider environment both in working in partnership with parents and the ethos of the EYFS, providing equality of care and education for all. Research has shown that good quality early education and care has wide ranging benefits for all children. Being provided across nurseries, reception classes, pre schools, childrens centres and childminders, it enhances social and cognitive skills and is of particular benefit to disadvantaged children (N.A: 2010). However other curriculums have also the quality input that the EYFS has, for example the High Scope Curriculum, Montessori etc. It could be argued that children who have an intellectually and physically stimulating environment will maintain a more complex network of synapses in the brain (Bee: 1997). These biological changes in nature can have implications for practice, the EYFS however has a variety of suitable activities planned for those at different ages and stages of development. This is a prime example of how nurture can influence nature. Additionally Bowlbys (1907 1990) research found that babies/children succeed if they receive care from one main caregiver which is usually the mother. They are also more likely to make secure attachments and then initially grow up into being well balanced adults. (OHagan et al: 1993). Therefore modern researchers have disputed the fact that only the mothers can perform this task (Smith et al: 1993), regardless the debate of working mothers, it still remains that the childrens emotional and cognitive development are best when there is that continuity of care available. When in care children under the age of 5 should each be allocated key workers so that children can form key attachments with this person, this is where secondary attachments are formed. The key person is a key to developing relationships with the children that are assigned to them as swell as sharing and collecting information by working in partnership with parents of the key children allocated. The EYFS reflects this by stating that Each child with early years care and education should be allocated a key person (EYFS: 2007). By having a key person allocated to the children it enables them to develop an attachment with the practitioner on a secure basis knowing that they can rely on the key person. Lastly the authors stipulate that despite the ambitions of the EYFS, childminders have not been able to see the practical effect of this. It could be argued that there is too much paperwork involved for them within the EYFS. However there is evidence that most childminders have developed knowledge and understanding of how to put the EYFS into practice and use it to identify, plan and provide foe individual childrens needs in their care. On the other hand many childminders have given up their jobs due to this and others who are thinking of this. On one forum a childminder writes her views on the EYFS Curriculum and how she feels about it which can be accessed on The childminder states: I, like many other childminders, gave up an enormous amount of personal time just to prepare for my Ofsted. I spent weeks compiling my Portfolio, cataloguing my Toys, books, games, puzzles and equipment; compiling cleaning rotas, putting together endless policies, parent information booklets, files for training, files for resource collections, working out a system for recording each childs development, the list goes on and on. I still cared about and loved the children, I still provided the caring environment, and I still try to help each of my little ones to blossom and flourish, to feel loved and cared for, to be aware of the needs and feelings of others and to know that each one is recognised as being unique and valuable. Yes it should be obligatory for childminders to attend relevant courses and keep up to date with current thinking and procedures, in order that they can prepare to do the job effectively, but the burden of delivering EYFS in a childminding setting is too much for many childminders, and this needs to be reviewed. Mrs R Richardson, Registered Childminder Therefore it could be argued that the EYFS should not be scrapped but reviewed again. Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association argues that We are receiving clear signals about the positives of the EYFS and recommend that the Government focuses on refining and improving the EYFS rather than introducing radical change.

Rutherford B. Hayes Essays -- essays research papers

Rutherford B. Hayes (19th president)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rutherford Bichard Hayes was not a well know president. He was not president that had the opportunity to lead us through a war. He was not a president that would draw much attention to the public eye. He was however one of the presidents that had a great triumph over a major U.S. problem, economics and civil rights following a war. The United States was just coming out of the Civil War and was in need of a new president. They were in need of one that could lead them into a booming economic system, start the process of paying off the national debt, and show them the benefits of a nation-wide unification of the North and the South.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On October 4th 1822, Sophie Bichard Hayes gave birth to Rutherford Bichard Hayes. His father Rutherford Hayes passed away two months prior to Rutherford Jr. being born. Along with his 4 other siblings, Rutherford was raised in Ohio by his mother for most of his life. Rutherford went to school in Norwalk, Ohio and Middletown, Connecticut. In 1842 he graduated from Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, valedictorian of his class. After a year of study in a Columbus law office, he entered Harvard Law School and received his degree in 1845. Hayes began his practice in a small town called Lower Sandusky. Not finding many opportunities here, he left for Cincinnati in 1849 where he became a successful lawyer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1952, Hayes married L...

Ibm Case

IBM CASE STUDY – DECADE OF TRANSFORMATION The IBM's rise to the top and its abrupt fall followed by its decade of transformation, boldly highlights the importance of a solid strategy IBM was the synonym for greatness and profitability during early 1990's but the lack of company's ability to foresee into the future & its internal issues cost the company bigtime. It registered its first loss during 1991 mainly due to its inability to adopt to the customer centric PC industry.Phase 1: Incremental Improvement After registering his first loss, in order to cope up with its large fixed & warranty costs the company had no option but to cut back the employees perks & worse made forced layoffs. Eventhough there were products and process before hand they were not fully exploited. By 1993 about 40,000 employees were terminated Phase 2: Process Reengineering Change in management took place during 1993, Lou Gerstner was appointed as the new CEO. He immediately began the Phase 2 ‘Proce ss Re-engineering'.He realized rather than break up the company he decided to turn it around by going to market as ‘One IBM' – a centralized model where individual divisions pulled into as larger business groups . By 1994 the 155 data centers were trimmed to 3 regional megacenters fed by 11 server farms . The systems development process was also reengineered thus enabling the company to focus intensely. The results were positive,by the end of year 1994 the company registered a profit of 5 billion USD on revenue of 64 billion USD.Gerstner strongly believed in Putting customer first. He made sure that Individual sales group was formed and spearheaded by experienced managers dedicated for supporting the customers Phase 3: Emerging Opportunity Gerstner soon realised that eventhough the company could be recovered from its current state, it may not gain its supremacy as Tech Giant,with its current Business model. He started to focus on ‘Emerging Opportunity' provided by the Internet. By 1995 he decided that the company would focus on e-business.E-business was projected as IBM's strategy vision . Enormous capital were invested in Internet Products and services & many aquistions were done,which helped the company to shift from software applications to middleware. The two major acquistions were Tivoli btought for 700 million USD and Lotus for 3. 5 billion USD Phase 4: Business Transformation By end of 1999 with its current business IBM's innovation process continued to be focused within silos of existing line.Gerstner wanted to change this and the concept of ‘Horizon' was developed where the current and emerging business opportunities was classified among three Horizons H1 – Mature Business H2 – Rapidly growing business H3 – Emerging business Each Horizon had different organizational and leadership model to cater its different needs. Reasons for failure IBM ignored its commitment to customers to provide efficient high quali ty technical and customer support,moreover they tried to compete in every product category which eventually made them as Jack of all trades and master of none.

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