‘Pedagogic Strategies’: a conceptual framework for effective parent and practitioner strategies when working with children under five

Abstract

This article traces the development of adult Pedagogic Strategies with children aged 0–5 years at the Pen Green Centre for Children and Their Families in England. Pedagogical Strategies are a conceptual framework of effective strategies both practitioners and parents already have to support children's learning. The methodology was participatory with parents and practitioners analysing video observations of adult–child interactions. The 2012–2013 research group repeated a previous process of 1997 in order to extend from working with three- to five-year-olds to work also with children below the age of three. Two new strategies emerged: acknowledging the presence of children; and the use of touch and the body, an embodied pedagogy. The implications for practice are that what constitutes effective pedagogy can be identified and owned at the setting level, by each educational community.

Keywords:

• pedagogy
• strategies
• effective
• parents
• local
• participatory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Penny Lawrence is a Learning and Teaching Fellow at The University of Winchester in England. Her research interest is observing and documenting multi-modal interactions between children, in broadcast television, in education 0-6 in Reggio Emilia in Italy, in participatory research with children and parents at the Pen Green Centre in the UK, and most recently with-two year-olds making decisions.

Tracy Gallagher is the Deputy Head of Centre and Leader of Birth to Three Provision at the Pen Green Centre in Corby, UK.

Pen Green is an outstanding nursery school and children’s centre and one of the UK’s largest. Pen Green offers a range of services, including care and education for children from nine months in our Baby and Toddler provisions, through to five years in our Nursery provisions. For more than 30 years we have held the philosophy that it is crucial to work in close partnership with parents and the community, and we continue to work with families to deliver relevant, bespoke services that sufficiently meet their needs. Our research and work with families is renowned both nationally and internationally.

Notes

1. Teacher Training Agency.

2. Reactive attitudes are divided into three types: personal (regarding others’ treatment of yourself); vicarious (regarding others’ treatment of others) and self-reactive (regarding your own treatment of others and yourself).