POLÍTICAS CONTABLES SIGNIFICATIVAS

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project was a large scale, mixed method, longitudinal study which tracked the progress of 3000 children aged between three and eleven years over an eight-year period (Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj- Blatchford and Taggart, 1999). The Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) project conducted by Siraj-Blatchford, Sylva, Muttock, Gilden & Bell (2002) was a qualitative extension to the EPPE study and followed the progress of 3000 children in 141 pre-schools in England. Both studies formed part of a single longitudinal study of a national sample of young children’s development who were aged between three and seven years commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). A further linked study entitled The Study of Pedagogical Effectiveness in Early Learning (SPEEL) carried out by Moyles, Adams, and Musgrove (2002) looked at what pedagogical approaches were most effective in early learning.

Taken together these studies provide rigorous evidence on the quality of pre-school provision in the UK. While the EPPE study (2004) did not evaluate any one particular intervention regarding a specific pedagogical approach, it did look at whether some forms of pre-school provision were more effective than others for children's cognitive and affective development. The findings from these three studies moved the field forward in terms of identifying what an appropriate pedagogical approach for young children needs to include. The studies resulted in a range of publications from the authors involved in the projects.

This study draws upon the research findings and theoretical models developed by Siraj- Blatchford and colleagues (2002; 2004). While acknowledging that the EPPE study (Sylva et al., 2002) and the REPEY study (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002) were conducted over sixteen years ago, this conceptual model provides analytical tools for exploring the teachers’ understandings and enactment of Aistear (2009) within the primary language curriculum (2016) and within their contextual settings. This study draws on an understanding of pedagogy put forward by Siraj-Blatchford et al., (2002) where it is defined as:

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That set of instructional techniques and strategies which enable learning to take place and provide opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes, learning dispositions within a particular social and material context. It refers to the interactive process between teacher and learner and to the learning environment (which includes the concrete learning environment, the family and the community).

(Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002, p. 28)

Siraj-Blatchford and colleagues (2002; 2004) looked at what factors can support an “effective pedagogy”. Their studies suggest that there is no one universal “effective pedagogy”, rather, the effective pedagogue was seen to orchestrate a pedagogy by creating interventions that were appropriate and suitable to the children’s potential level of learning and the concept or skill being taught. They argue that child-initiated interactions form “a necessary pre-requisite for the most effective early years settings” (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002, p.11-12). Settings that were considered to be excellent were identified as those that achieved a balance between opportunities provided for children in terms of teacher-initiated group work and opportunities for children to benefit from the provision of “freely chosen, yet potentially instructive play activities” (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002, p. 12).

Congruent with Siraj-Blatchford et al., (2002), Katz (2003) argues that pedagogical interactions are a key component of quality ECE and suggests that teachers need to focus their energies on their interactions with children which, she argues, will provide them with experiences that are interesting, engaging and meaningful. Siraj-Blatchford et al., (2002) considered “excellent settings” as those which encouraged relatively more “sustained shared thinking” (SST). Sylva et al., (2004) define “sustained shared thinking” as:

An episode in which two or more individuals work together in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend a narrative. Both parties must contribute to the thinking, and it must develop and extend thinking. (Sylva et al., 2004, p. 36)

Building on this definition, Sylva et al., (2004 ) explain that the cognitive processes that take place during SST are:

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…mutual when each party engages with the understanding of the other and learning is achieved through a process of reflexive co-construction.

(Sylva et al., 2004, p. 720)

This sustained shared element that takes place during a period of SST, Allen and Whalley (2010, p. 100) elucidate, is not about chronological time but about allowing time that facilitates a child’s learning to penetrate and become accommodated within their memory. It may be noted, however, that Siraj-Blatchford et al., (2002) found that interactions which resulted in SST did not happen very frequently. Congruent with the findings of the REPEY study (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002), Allen & Whalley (2010, p.100) suggest that the capacity to engage in SST with children is central to effective early years pedagogy. Siraj-Blatchford (2005) identifies some strategies to support children’s SST one of which is “tuning in” or listening effectively to what the children say. Similarly, Nutbrown (2012) argues that:

Children learn much in sustained interaction with other children, as well as adults who are attuned to children’s learning and development needs and who can support their play and foster early interactions between young children.

(Nutbrown, 2012, p.12–13)

One of the success factors for effective SST put forward by Siraj-Blatchford and Smith (2010) is the ability of adults to show an interest in a conversation led by a child, extend it and develop it without resorting to their personal agendas which often involved trying too hard to lead children to what they think is the “right” answer. Deleuze and Guattari (1987) describe a process of thinking which is similar to a rhizome, where thinking can go in all directions with no predetermined order, beginning or end. Such an approach provides opportunities for children to explore and develop their own understandings in a way that is meaningful to them.