Our Pedagogy
What is Pedagogy?
Pedagogy is about how we educate children and help their development. It is the techniques and strategies we use to provide opportunities for development and how relationships and interactions with children affect them.
Early years pedagogy can be many things, but it may touch on things like
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Behaviour – How a child’s experiences shape their behaviour.
Culture – How family life and culture impact learning and relationships.
Critique – Inviting you to challenge assumptions and issues around power, equality, and curriculum expectations.
Development – Focusing on how and why children change in terms of their learning and development over time.
Relationships – How children change and learn in relation to those around them.
At General day nursery, we have our unique approach which is a blend of the many theorists out there. This can be seen both in practice and throughout our environments and continuous provision in our nursery.
Here are some of the theorists that have influenced early years education today and how we are using these approaches to support our pedagogy:
Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator who developed the Montessori method based on thousands of scientific observations. It focuses on each child’s individuality, encouraging curiosity through a carefully designed environment and supports a sense of belonging and preparing our children for life.
What we do:
Enable children to do things for themselves.
An environment that promotes freedom of choice
Respect for the child
Promoting independence
Steiner – The Waldorf approach
The Waldorf approach supports connections with nature, outdoor play and bringing nature in. It takes account of the whole child and believes that children’s learning flourishes in a calm, peaceful, predictable, familiar, and unhurried environment that recognises the child’s sensory sensitivities.
What we do :
Bringing nature in through nature play
Providing nature in the environment both indoors and outdoors
Rhythm of life- flexible routines to fit in with the children
The Reggio Approach
The Reggio Approach looks at the environment as the 3rd teacher. At the core of the Reggio Emilia philosophy is its emphasis on building and sustaining relationships.
What we do:
Continuous provision
Environment as the 3rd teacher
Child led play
In the moment planning
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Froebel
This approach supports exploration outdoors, embracing all weathers and seeing the indoors and outdoors as one whole environment for children. Here it is encouraged to make the natural world – including fear and risk – a part of children’s daily learning experiences.
What we do:
Regular access to outdoor spaces and trips out
Skills based learning
Exploration outdoors
Learning through experiences and sensory play