CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING 2-5 YEARS: Georgia's story by Cath Arnold.
(Paul Chapman Publishing, 14.99, 020 7374 0645)
Reviewed by Jennie Lindon, early years consultant
This book is a welcome contribution to the literature available for early years practitioners. The clear focus on one child is an excellent antidote to the current risks of focusing so much on the general framework, and learning goals for all, that we lose sight of how individual children negotiate the early years.
Georgia attended the Penn Green Early Years Centre and the book describes her perspective on life, personal approach to learning and the changes in her family life over several years. Cath Arnold has managed a helpful blend of some theoretical underpinning to child development, especially that of Piaget and Vygotsky, without losing the freshness of observations of Georgia herself.
The style is straightforward and enables the reader to see the broader development as well as the individual steps for this child. The approach values partnership, since the author brings in the observations made by Georgia's parents as well as the centre.
The chapters work through aspects of development in a way that should encourage readers to look closely at the children in their own setting. The unfolding of areas like mathematical concepts come alive because we can share the connections that Georgia has made. There is a lovely example of how Georgia begins to understand money - a 20p coin is called a 'choo choo' because it will get her a ride on the toy train at the supermarket. The birth of a baby brother and his allergies provoke deep questions from Georgia as she wants to understand.
The observations here show effectively that young children will learn through what is happening in their own lives.
SPECIAL NEEDS IN THE EARLY YEARS: collaboration, communication and coordination (2nd edition).
by Sue Roffey.
(David Fulton Publishers, 14, 020 7405 5606)
Reviewed by Collette Drifte, special needs consultant
This is the second edition of a useful book that I reviewed positively when it was first published in 1999. The author has updated it to take into account new initiatives which have been, or are about to be, implemented, regarding the inclusion and management of early years children with special needs.
The book has clear sections dealing with issues such as roles and responsibilities, identification of SEN, planning and inter-agent collaboration. These are well-written and easy to follow. The chapter which addresses collaborating with parents is very useful and offers excellent suggestions for early years practitioners who are tackling this situation for the first time.
For professionals who have been appointed as a SENCO, this book offers a practical section on the responsibilities that come with the position.
PARANOID PARENTING: abandon your anxieties and be a good parent by Frank Furedi.
(Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 9.99, 020 8757 4400).
Reviewed by Jenefer Joseph, consultant in early childhood education
As is clear from the title, this book is mainly aimed at supporting parents, but also embraces the role of professionals in the complex matter of bringing up children in today's equally complex world.
Furedi's concern is that society has gone overboard, not only in its considerable damning of the ways in which parents attempt to rear their children, but also in emphasising the apparent dangers that confront children in whatever they're doing. His case is powerfully made as he cites innumerable examples of how politicians, so-called experts and 'bumbling amateurs' have made use of the few (very few, but dreadful) incidents of child abuse and murders, to make parents overly protective of their children, with dire consequences both for themselves and their offspring.
Parents, he maintains, have lost their belief in their own abilities, and have become monitors rather than nurturers.
Our security-conscious climate means, for example, that in deciding which nursery to choose, a 1997 study showed that parents rated security second only to 'caring staff'.
The eroding of parental authority has also come about, Furedi claims, through the ways in which 'the professionals' have scared parents with the horrors supposedly resulting from children sleeping in their parents' bed with them; from fathers being or not being present at their child's birth; from smacking; from leaving babies to cry, and more. While the author doesn't seem to include nursery nurses and teachers among those he calls professionals, we need, nevertheless, to listen carefully to what he's warning, and ask ourselves where we lie along the line of keeping children safe, but adventurous.
SUPPORTING LANGUAGE & LITERACY 3 - 8: a practical guide for assistants in classrooms and nurseries (2nd edition).
by Suzi Clipson-Boyles.
(David Fulton, 14, 020 7405 5606)
Reviewed by Marian Whitehead
This practical guide is aimed at supporting well-trained and well-managed classroom assistants and nursery nurses and will be a valuable text for its target readers.
However, the author will surely agree that assistants in all early years settings need and deserve far more professional training than can be provided by well-written and knowledgeable texts, of which this is one.
Most appropriately, the emphasis throughout is on active learning and reflection by the reader and the brief theoretical frameworks are illustrated with examples from real situations in early years settings.
I was surprised that the third chapter plunged into 'Assessment' and the statutory requirements and QCA recommend-ations in England before looking at the important issues of oracy, reading and writing in the early years.
But this is a sensible and useful book and the later chapters on supporting children's reading activities and their developments as writers, and the right approaches for second language learners, are very good indeed.
