Every one of us is born with a personality - with our own package of attributes that helps to determine what sort of a person we become. But perhaps it's not so much what we are born with, it's what we do with our innate qualities that shapes us as a person. The type of person we become colours all else that we do in life.
Positive personal, social and emotional development (PS&ED) is fundamental if a child is to lead a happy and successful life. PS&ED is intentionally placed as the first of the areas of learning in the QCA's Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, as it underpins all other learning.
NEGATIVE INFLUENCES
Not all children's personal, social and emotional development progresses in a positive way. Aspects of today's society can have profound negative effects on a child's well-being and growth. Worst affected are children who:
* are born into poverty, whose parents have lost hope and are unable to provide good parenting
* have families with too little time for them due to patterns of shift work, working away from home or unemployment
* endure turbulent relationships between their parents and/or carers and witness and experience domestic violence
* are pressured to achieve as much as possible as early as possible by adults who themselves have been pressured into believing that this is the path to success for their offspring
* are surrounded by material possessions but are not helped to value them
* have unhealthy diets, are overweight and are overprotected by parents who, understandably, are anxious about allowing their children the freedom that they had themselves
* suffer stress because of global tensions, mainly the children of military and refugee families.
RESILIENCE
Clearly, not all children will encounter negative influences on their development, yet it is vital that all children build up resilience to protect them against setbacks, whether these occur early or later in life.
Resilience encompasses a variety of attributes, principally:
* having confidence and high self-esteem
* being optimistic
* being independent
* having values and beliefs
* being sociable
* being able to understand their own and others' feelings.
What is vital is that early years practitioners do not assume that these various attitudes and abilities will simply happen. Practitioners must plan, foster, support and observe their development in the children in their care.
Parents and practitioners
It is during their early years that children learn to adopt these protective features. And it is the family who provide the first, important influence. All the above traits will be coloured by what close family members allow children to do and what they encourage them to be.
A loving and nurturing family relationship where children are valued for who they are, where feelings are discussed, and friendships and independence are fostered, provides the roots for sound personal growth.
These roots are strengthened by a rich learning environment in the Foundation Stage and early years practitioners' careful attention to all aspects of a child's personal development.
A young child starts at their early years setting with their own expectations, hopes, fears, anxieties, aspirations and curiosities. To bond with children and help them make a sound transition to the setting, practitioners have to find out about the personal heritage that each child brings.
Suggestions for practice
Early years practitioners can:
* gain invaluable information from parents and carers if they show a genuine interest in finding out what makes a child 'tick'.
* use a keyworker scheme to ensure that one person has prime responsibility for establishing a relationship with each child in the setting, and that parents and child are aware of this.
* put a clipboard and pencil in each area of provision and encourage all staff members to observe each child's behaviour and to share their insights about the children's traits.
CONFIDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM
Confidence is a characteristic valued by one and all. In a world that expects so much of them, children do need to develop a belief in themselves. Confidence is closely linked to three factors:
* becoming aware of oneself (self-concept)
* putting a value on oneself (self-esteem)
* knowing one's strengths and weaknesses (self-knowledge).
Toddlers begin to recognise themselves as individuals by, for example, recognising their image in the mirror. In the pre-school years, family members contribute to this identity. When children move to an early years setting, they need to have a secure view of their identity in a group setting.
When we talk about self-esteem we start to place a value on our identity.
Self-esteem is not fixed for anyone and joining a group setting can have a negative effect on a young child's self-regard because they are on unfamiliar territory. The child needs to feel comfortable and 'in control'
of all that is happening in the setting to access all the rich opportunities and demonstrate their skills and what they are understanding.
As young children develop, they start to learn about themselves and what they can do; they begin to recognise the things they find easy and where they need help. Initially, they rely on receiving this information from adults, including boundaries for their behaviour.
The young child who is confident of being loved unconditionally also begins to understand that to receive approval from a family member, they must adopt behaviour worth of approval. In this way the process of socialisation begins, and the praise that the child receives helps them to value themselves. While young children initially find out about their strengths and weaknesses from the adults around them, this is a first step along the road to them making their own judgements about what they can do and how they behave.
Suggestions for practice
To provide for less secure children:
* Ensure that an adult is readily available to insecure children, particularly at vulnerable times of the day, such as the start and end of a session.
* Enable insecure children to maintain a link with home. Encourage them to bring to the setting a familiar toy or a parent's or sibling's photograph which they can then display and have available during the session.
To encourage young children to share their views:
* Show that you are really interested in what children say. Bend down to their level when speaking and listening to them, give them time to talk and try not to interrupt and so cut across their thinking.
* Invite children to share their likes and dislikes about the food they eat, the clothes they wear and their favourite activities at home and in the setting. Their views can be scribed and displayed together with each child's self-portrait, or made into individual books.
Questions for practitioners
* How does the environment show children that they are welcome in the setting?
* How do I help children to consider critically what they have done?
* How much helpful and focused acclaim do I offer children, rather than praising everything and anything?
OPTIMISM
We can try to teach children all sorts of things, but we can't learn for them. Children's inner drive to learn and their conviction that they can do so are key factors in determining what they achieve in life. In their desire to make children competent, adults can push children to learn things that could be taught equally successfully later in life. However, if children have knowledge and skills forced upon them before they are ready to deal with them, they can withdraw their goodwill to respond. And it is much more difficult to rekindle positive attitudes to learn once they have been damaged.
Without any pressure, and on their own terms, babies are hugely motivated to learn. They lack experience of the world but their physical, intellectual, social and emotional antennae are tuned to absorb information and to try to make sense of it.
This driving force needs to be nurtured. We know now that the mechanisms in a child's brain will function best if learning is enjoyable, active and within the child's understanding. Where play methods are the staple diet in a daily programme, the young brain is fully operable.
Children's drive to learn is strongly influenced by how they regard themselves as learners. Early in life, some children may have had their views and thoughts disregarded; some have been overprotected. As a result, they have come to feel they are not very important or competent to do things for themselves.
By contrast others have had many opportunities to grow and discuss their ideas. As a result, they know well that they can succeed, and they shine as eager and capable learners.
We can see these attitudes clearly reflected from children in a setting through what Carol Dweck calls 'helpless' or 'mastery' patterns of behaviour (See Further Reading, page 22).
Children who follow a mastery approach have a positive view of themselves.
They seek new, challenging experiences and believe that they can succeed even in the face of difficulties. Other children are unsure of themselves and they constantly look to others for approval. These are the helpless learners. They give up easily, and when things go wrong, they believe that it is their own fault because they are no good.
Practitioners can sustain the mastery learners by allowing them the freedom to try out different things and new ideas. They need time with the helpless learners, initially to help them to feel safe, and then to experience the small successes which pave the way to recognising 'I can'.
Case study
As a baby and toddler Evan was keen to look at picture books and make marks with large crayons on sheets of paper. His mother was delighted at these early signs of interest in literacy. She sent Evan, when he was three, to a nursery that had as a priority the development of reading and writing.
There, Evan was required to spend part of each day trying to copy his name and other simple words into a workbook. He learned to recognise flashcards of common words and came home with lists of these words to practise. His parents received positive reports of his progress.
Aged four, Evan made a sound transition to his reception clas. But his teacher quickly noticed that he was reluctant to spend any time in early reading and writing activity. He avoided any 'play writing' in role play, claiming that he 'couldn't do it', and he refused to share a book with an adult because he 'didn't know the words'.
This attitude persisted throughout the first two terms, despite his teacher's constant encouragement. It changed significantly with the arrival of a new teaching assistant, who spent 15 minutes a day with Evan, playing games that included hiding picture and word cards for him to hunt in the garden, and sharing activities in role play.
She introduced him to a soft toy rabbit who 'lived' alone in a cardboard box and suggested that Evan became his special friend. She encouraged him to draw pictures for the rabbit, and in turn the rabbit responded with notes written on rabbit-headed paper.
By the end of the year, Evan was writing regular letters to his rabbit friend and started to share books with him. He had also written and illustrated cards for his teaching assistant.
To sum up, by the end of his time at nursery, Evan had apparently developed certain reading and writing skills, but his enthusiasm for learning was dampened. On starting school, he showed signs of 'helpless' behaviour in any literacy activity and made little progress. He required and was given a one-to-one relationship with a sympathetic practitioner to help restore his confidence and develop in him a more positive attitude to learning. Without this support, Evan may well have lost his interest in learning more about literacy for a much longer period.
Suggestions for practice
To help children concentrate and persist:
* Provide regular opportunities for self-chosen activities in which children can make decisions.
* Provide small signs saying 'Please leave' which children can place on an unfinished work to which they wish to return.
* Encourage enquiry and sensory learning by taking children on a sensory walk in a quiet location (wear old clothes). Ask the children to crawl, to look at the ground and describe what they see, to close their eyes, open their ears and say what they can hear, and to close their eyes, open their noses and talk about what they can smell.
To encourage organised approaches to learning:
* Provide boundaries for using equipment and apparatus. Lay circles and squares of material (or small rugs for larger areas) on a surface to mark an area on which to work.
* Help children to think sequentially when they set up, work at or clear away an activity. Ask them what to do first, next, and so on.
Questions for practitioners
* What areas of learning do I enjoy most? What do I enjoy least? How does this affect children's attitudes to learning?
* When working with a group, how well do I ensure that all children are actively engaged rather than simply being compliant?
* How well do I encourage children to contribute their ideas and thoughts in activities?
UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS
Children are not born with fixed ways of reacting to what happens in their lives. In any given situation, children's behaviour will be the result of their individuality, their past experiences, how adults treat them and the genuine choices that they face at the time. By the time they join an early years setting they will have learned some important lessons about behaviour.
It is possible to drill young children to behave 'properly', but this has little to do with sound moral development. If we want children to eventually develop a moral code for themselves, then their behaviour must come from the pull of their own conscience rather than simply complying with being told to do something.
To do this, children need to start to understand the consequences for themselves and others of their words and actions - a very difficult concept and one that will only be secured over time. This learning starts once children are able to project and learn about cause and effect - for example, they can begin to understand that if they throw a cup it might smash. Older and more mature children in the Foundation Stage will then start to recognise intention.
Sometimes we intend to act wrongly and what we do is deliberate. At other times we don't mean to do anything wrong, although the end result is not good. If we help children to recognise these differences as they occur in daily examples of nursery life, they become able to distinguish between deliberate and accidental actions.
Good behaviour also stems from children being able to empathise. Again, these feelings are nurtured early. Where they have been with close family members and carers who share, explain and discuss feelings with them, even young toddlers begin to empathise with those that they love.
Later they can extend this to recognise the feelings of other children and adults who are less familiar to them. They also need practical opportunities when they can practise different behaviour for themselves.
This is possible in role play, where children can explore being a powerful adult and try out different relationships in total safety.
Young children should only be expected to behave in a way that is suitable for their stage of development. Adults may become upset or frustrated because three- and four-year-olds find it difficult to be quiet when adults converse, or to sit and listen to instructions or a story when in a large group. However, fidgety behaviour and interruptions at this age are not necessarily a sign of poor behaviour.
As with all aspects of development, young children do need support to develop values that will influence positive behaviour. Ideally, they need consistent expectations from home and nursery.
Practitioners can also skilfully use situations that occur in daily activities and routines to discuss and reinforce moral issues. Children learn a great deal through observing and imitating the adults who are close to them. It follows, then, that the way in which practitioners behave will be a huge influence. Learning to behave well is a big challenge for young children. Inevitably, sometimes, they will transgress, but they must feel that it is worthwhile to try again. To do this, children must feel secure that even if their behaviour is not wanted, they are always loved for themselves.
Suggestions for practice
To help children begin to develop a sound moral code, practitioners should provide a programme in the nursery which supports good behaviour. For example:
* Introduce children to a puppet who does 'naughty' things. Explain that the puppet does not know how to behave and will need to be told about the agreed nursery rules
* Observe children in role play to learn about their understanding of right and wrong. Use puppets to play out scenarios which involve dealing with different aspects of behaviour, such as being unkind to a child and accidentally breaking a vase. Ask children to advise the puppets what they should do in each instance.
* Help children to settle conflicts. Listen carefully to both parties in the conflict and show interest and concern in what children say and do.
* Capitalise on everyday events to discuss moral issues, such as when a child comforts a friend who has grazed her knee, or an instance of a child showing generous behaviour towards a younger child who has interrupted an activity.
CASE STUDY
At nursery Jodie proudly showed the other children the teddy she had received for her fourth birthday. But she became very upset when Gary, a new three-year-old, grabbed it from her and sat on it. The other children pushed Gary away and returned the bear to Jodie. Later she was observed letting Gary borrow the bear. She explained to their teacher that Gary was only little and she knew that he really wanted a bear like hers.
Practitioners could see that Jodie's generous response demonstrated her mature ability to recognise, empathise and respond positively and unselfishly to Gary's envy and longing for a similar toy.
Questions for practitioners
* How many rules in the setting are totally in the interests of children's well-being, and how many are for the convenience of adults?
* How far do the staff give consistent messages to children about their behaviour?
* What aspects of my behaviour offer a positive model for young children?
UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS
Children's emotional lives are gaining more and more attention and we now recognise how closely feelings can affect children's progress in learning.
Young children's emotions are strong and raw, and some exist on an emotional roller coaster. In such situations, children can be ruled by their feelings.
Initially young children express how they feel through their actions.
Children will literally dance with delight, leap for joy and crumple with despair.
Providing a broad range of activities will allow children many other ways in which to demonstrate and record how they feel - through painting, drawing modelling, constructing, movement and drama. They also need eventually to learn how to express their feelings in words.
We see and hear a great deal about how adults who have emotional problems can track them back to some difficulties in childhood. If early educators aim to prevent these problems in adulthood, they must take advantage of the receptive nature of young children and help them to achieve emotional health. This means creating a climate in the setting which helps children to feel, think and talk about their emotions.
It's worth thinking about the times when young children are most likely to share their feelings. In common with adults, children are unlikely to share intimate thoughts in a large group. They are more likely to confide their feelings in the following circumstances:
* at intimate times (when adults share a meal with them, help to tie up shoe laces or give them a hug when they are working outside)
* when their feelings are stirred by some uplifting experience - perhaps listening to music
* when a story resonates with some personal experience - for example, in the book The Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson, which so well depicts the feelings of children making a transition to a group setting
* when adults are prepared to open up and share some of their own feelings - young children are likely to reciprocate.
Children also need to witness the expression of feelings to understand that emotions are common to us all. As always, practitioners play a very important role as models. The basis of a strong relation between adults and children is founded on feeling. In such a setting children recognise that adults care for them, laugh with them, share their tragedies and excitements, and also become angry when boundaries of behaviour or agreed rules are broken. The latter point is important because young children do not always see anger expressed in a safe environment. So long as love and care are prevalent, children will flourish and grow, given this healthy emotional repertoire.
Suggestions for practice
To learn about how children feel:
* Try to catch children's responses during all parts of the day.
* Observe how they cope with the challenges of new activities or a new member of staff.
* Observe the body language of those children who cannot easily express their feelings, particularly those with English as an additional language.
Provide an environment that enables children to recognise and express their feelings:
* Organise a broad range of activities that enable children to express what they feel in different ways.
* Provide suitable resources, such as a punch bag on which to vent anger, or a large stuffed friendly figure to whom children can confide their worries.
* Have regular displays of adults and children expressing different emotions. Use these in discussions with small groups and encourage children to identify with the feelings and to share their own experiences.
Help children to acquire a clear picture of life in your setting:
* Make clear the daily sequence of events.
* Provide a pictorial time line and refer to it throughout the session.
* Have a large clock and make clear the times when certain activities begin and end (with practice, some four-year-olds will learn to recognise some times on the clock).
Help children to develop coping strategies:
* Use the language of feelings. Suggest labels to describe children's emotions, such as bubbly, excited, fizzy and gloomy. Encourage the children to use the vocabulary in relation to their own feelings and those of others.
* Help self-sufficient and cautious children to recognise feelings and open themselves to excitement, joy and wonder in the safe knowledge that these feelings are acceptable and can be controlled.
* Provide ways of talking to meet needs - for example, suggest that a child requests their turn instead of pushing another child off a bike in frustration.
Demonstrate that everyone has feelings:
* Talk about how you feel, what makes you angry, excited or worried.
* Use situation stories to introduce examples of people experiencing and expressing different emotions.
Questions for practitioners
* What have I done today/this week to help children to think and talk about their feelings?
* What experiences have I provided today/this week to inspire and excite children?
* How do my feelings (impatience, frustration, pleasure, empathy) affect how I interact with individual children?
