There were many pioneers of Early Years education. We will be sharing the stories of a number of influential figures in our next few newsletters. Today we are looking at Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Who Was He? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian-American psychologist. He is most well known for his work in the study of happiness and creativity. He has authored many books and hundreds of articles. He created the concept of flow. At the age of 16, he had the opportunity to hear Carl Jung speak which left a big impression on him. He was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at C ..read more

There were many pioneers of Early Years education and today we are looking at Donald Winnicott. Who Was He? Donald Winnicott was an English psychoanalyst and paediatrician who was extremely influential in developmental psychology and the field of object relations theory. He was known for his thoughts on stages of development, holding environment, true self, and false self among other theories. He was born to a prosperous family however he often felt oppressed by his mother in comparison to the freedom and creativity his father granted him. He studied at Cambridge and also joined the Royal Na ..read more

There were many pioneers of Early Years education. We have been sharing the stories of a number of influential figures and today we are looking at Magda Gerber. Who Was She? Magda Gerber was an early childhood educator from the United States.  Born in Hungary, she was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris and eventually emigrated to the United States. She is best known for teaching both parents and caregivers how to understand babies and how to interact with them from birth. She coined the terms Educaring® and Educarer® which refers to a parent or another caregiver and how they should both ed ..read more

There were many pioneers of Early Years education. We will be sharing the stories of a number of influential figures in our next few newsletters. Today we are looking at Erik Erikson. Who Was He? Erik Erikson was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst who is perhaps best known for his theory on the psychological development of human beings. In his twenties, he was invited to Vienna to tutor art at the Burlingham-Rosenfeld School. The children who studied there were undergoing analysis by famous neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud’s daughter Anna. Anna Freud happ ..read more

There were many pioneers of Early Years education and today we are looking at Lev Vygotsky. Who Was He? Lev Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist who was best known for his work on psychological development in children. He died at a young age but has had a lasting influence on psychology ever since. He had a belief that social interaction plays a critical role in children’s learning and observed how culture could influence their process of learning. Vygotsky wrote six books on psychology topics within a ten-year with some centred on child development and education issues. He passed away at the y ..read more

Where some may believe the role is one of the same, there are differences as shown below. A Nanny is someone who is paid to come into your house and look after your children. They will have set hours in your home and will usually have a routine that they keep to. They will usually only look after your children, no others. A Nanny is generally employed by the parents which allows them certain rights such as annual holiday, maternity leave, and all other benefits an employee has from a company. A childminder looks after children in their own setting and is paid to look after a few different chil ..read more

It can be hard to get the balance just right when promoting positive behaviour in children. Here is our guide: Consider the children’s immediate environment. Whether at home or in a nursery or other setting to assess how it may impact their behaviour and the quality of your time together. Simple changes can achieve positive outcomes and reduce the time you spend nagging children or managing disruptive behaviour. Consider changing or adapting the timings of some activities. Create a schedule that meets the children’s needs and reduces the risk of defiant behaviour or tantrums. Transition times ..read more

Knowing how to deal with children’s behaviour is a real minefield and each situation requires a different approach. Here are our top tips on how to manage those moments. Choose your battles wisely. If a child’s behaviour brings immediate risk of harm to the child or to another child or adult, intervention is obligatory. Otherwise, it may be helpful to stop and think before you intervene and ask yourself why the child’s behaviour should be managed, and if so, how it should be managed. If a child’s behaviour is undesirable or attention-seeking, but not affecting other children in a group, it may ..read more

A playful approach to teaching young children is almost always guaranteed to capture their attention. Children naturally sit up and take notice when something looks fun! However, once children are engaged, they need to be given challenges too: if a task is too easy, they may quickly get bored; too difficult and they may quickly give up. Thus, the daily challenge for early years practitioners is how to engage children playfully and in ways that stimulate their language learning, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Types of Play Unstructured Activities Unstructured activity is where childre ..read more

Four of the most commonly-known parenting styles are labeled as authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. How children are affected by each of these different parenting styles, either positively or negatively, is, of course, a topic of great debate among parents and educators. Although it’s likely that many parents will demonstrate a mix of parenting styles towards their offspring, it’s useful to recognise how each style in its extreme may either help or hinder child development outcomes such as emotional stability, self-reliance, academic achievement and self-esteem. Author ..read more