We can help to close the gap and support children who are at risk of disadvantage by providing them with a wide range of experiences inside and outside the classroom.
‘Lucky’ children often have access to varied experiences that are accompanied by adult involvement. They may have been taken to a museum or art gallery or have fed the ducks in a park. They may have gone for a walk in the woods or travelled in the car to a wildlife park. ‘Lucky’ children may also have been involved in some everyday activities such as making biscuits, planting seeds or posting a letter. Such activities are often taken for granted by families, but the reality is that they are all potentially rich learning opportunities for children, that enable them to forge new thoughts as well as to develop high levels of vocabulary.
WHY RICH EXPERIENCES MATTER
Every experience a child has will shape them in some way. When these experiences are positive and accompanied by adult support, they are great catalysts for learning. They support children’s development in a number of ways.
Effects on language development
Children who have had a range of experiences often have higher levels of vocabulary and language than other children. This is because words and phrases are usually learnt in context. Where the context changes in some way, because children are in a new place or seeing something new, for example, their language will be shaped accordingly.
Children who see an egg being poached will watch the water bubble and the egg changing in texture and colour as a result. They may be prompted to talk about these changes. Assuming that there is a responsive adult, the children may learn specific vocabulary associated with what they are seeing; words such as ‘simmer’, ‘yolk’ and ‘solid’. In the same way, a child who puts out food for the birds with an adult may learn and use language such as ‘bird table’, ‘seeds’ and the names of specific birds.
Effects on cognition
Children who have opportunities to do and see plenty of things are also likely to keep expanding and building on their knowledge. They do this by making connections between previous and new experiences and reflecting on them. As adults working with children, we may hear children’s thoughts as they make comments or ask questions. A child putting out bird food might ask whether birds have to clean their teeth or why leaves fall from trees in autumn. By having varied experiences alongside a sensitive adult, children’s knowledge and understanding about the world develops.
Effects on play
One of the ways in which the experiences of children are reflected is through their play. Children who have been involved in cooking activities, for example, will often be more accurate in the way they use kitchen utensils in the home area of a setting. In the same way, children who have been involved in shopping trips are more likely to ‘browse’ in the pretend shop, tender money at the till and talk about what they have bought. The effects on play are not limited to role play either.
Children using a range of other toys and resources will play out their experiences and bring in their knowledge and skills in a variety of ways. Using wooden blocks, they may make plans to build something they have seen or mirror the way they were involved in constructing flat-pack furniture. Where children have fewer experiences, they are often at a disadvantage in their play and, although adults can model for them, there is nothing quite like first-hand experience.
Later self-esteem
Some experiences such as picking fruit, posting a letter or cooking a pizza give children opportunities to experience success which helps them to feel ‘grown up’. Having a variety of ‘can do’ experiences can provide children with a positive self-image, especially when their successes are recognised by their immediate family in addition to the adults working with them.
Aspiration
What you have seen and done and who you have met can all impact on your later choices. ‘Lucky’ children benefit from a range of experiences and sometimes from the influential networks that surround the family. Research by the Sutton Trust in 2014 showed that children of more affluent parents tend to benefit from a wide range of activities including music, dance and sport. By giving children a greater number of experiences and opportunities, all can be introduced to a range of possibilities that in turn can give them more options.
Effects on later reading
As children progress with their reading, texts often become longer and contain fewer pictures. This means they have to make meaning using words alone. Children who have many different experiences are more likely to have a wider vocabulary to help assign meaning to texts, and memories they can draw on to imagine different scenarios. For children who have had fewer opportunities to develop their vocabulary, and have limited experiences, these books can feel quite alien.
Effects on writing
Children who have had wide experiences usually have more to draw on in their writing. They have memories of where they have been, what they have done and what they felt. For these ‘lucky’ children, writing about the weekend, holidays or imagining a new situation is a straightforward proposition and they often have plenty to ‘say’.
PLANNING AN EDUCATION PROGRAMME
Experiences and opportunities for children do not just magically appear, they take planning. Therefore it is worth thinking strategically and creating a long-term plan. Of course, a plan is just that, and changes can be made as new opportunities arise or the needs and interests of children change. If your setting has children over three years, but also children as young as age two, for example, the plan will also need to consider their skill and developmental level to ensure that they gain maximum benefit.
There are many ways in which you might construct a plan, but you could divide the types of experiences into three broad categories:
1. Visitors, including family members
2. Places to visit
3. Experiences that can be carried out within the setting.
Making the most of experiences
As it takes both time and planning to organise a rolling programme of experiences for children, it is important to maximise the impact of each experience. This means thinking of ways to help children make and extend connections in their learning beyond the immediate moment. There are many ways of doing this and these should be incorporated into the actual planning of the experience at the outset. They include:
- Using photographs taken at the time (either by children or adults)
- Making books or displays about the experience
- Using the experience to help children afterwards by researching online or using books, e.g. looking at maps, websites about cooking, wildlife
- Developing role and small world play opportunities with children based on the experiences
- Involving parents at the time or, if this is not possible, sharing with them via social media, websites or photographs of the experience
- Using experiences to encourage early writing and mark-making by, for example, making books, creating annotations for photographs or sending emails or letters to thank those in the community who were involved in the experience
- Leading and encouraging storytelling about the experience; for example, ‘This is the story of the day that we made porridge’
- Placing relevant props or artefacts for children to handle and talk about in the environment
- Encouraging children to reflect on their experiences and to archive these; for example, make film clips of children explaining what they have done or pointing to where they have planted seeds.
Revisiting and grouping experiences
The way that children process and explore different experiences will depend on several factors, including their level of enjoyment and interest, but also their age and developmental stage. When planning a programme, it will be worth thinking about revisiting some of the experiences, as this will allow children to make further and more complex connections based on their growing understanding of the world. It may also be worth, when planning, to group some experiences together to so that they build on from one another; for example, a visit to an allotment followed by a cooking activity that involves food that the children have been growing.
This is as edited extract of ‘Widening knowledge, skills and horizons’, Chapter 4 of Reducing Educational Disadvantage: A strategic approach in the early years (Bloomsbury, £15.99)
REFLECTION POINTS
Do you have a long-term plan for ‘experiences’ inside and outside of your setting?
Do you map these to your early years framework, for example the EYFS, Curriculum for Excellence, Foundation Phase?
How many different opportunities will children experience in the time they are with you?
How do you involve parents and the community in planning and implementing experiences for children?
How do you ensure that opportunities for learning are optimised during and after each experience?
READER OFFER
Reducing Educational Disadvantage: A strategic approach in the early years by Penny Tassoni (Bloomsbury, £15.99) is a guide to the provision, practice and planning that will enable disadvantaged children to achieve the same outcomes as their more affluent peers.
As well as outlining the activities, experiences and enabling environments that help ‘close the gap’, it sets out the adult role and provides guidance on how to create a long-term education programme for ‘achievement’.
Topics covered include supporting bilingual children, creating an environment for early literacy, and physical development and self-care.
To take advantage of a 30 per cent discount for Nursery World readers, order at www.bloomsbury.com/uk/9781472932990 using offer code TassoniNW
[asset_library_tag 1249,Download the PDF]
