Having been fortunate enough to attend many courses in early years education, I appreciate the value of high quality training. To ensure that everyone had the same basic knowledge, as a leadership team we put together a package of training that we could deliver in-house and that would cater for staff's varying needs. This was to include nursery and Year 1 colleagues and so provide the children with high quality experiences that build on each stage of their development.
Our first session involved a beginners' tour of the EYFS, looking at each of the themes and commitments, and navigating the Principles into Practice cards. We worked on the principle that nobody knew anything! Staff were encouraged to discuss what we do well now and what we could improve using the four themes as titles.
We then moved on to discussing the role of the adult. It was deemed essential that the staff had the opportunity to explore what the children should be learning and how we can support that.
Our final training session focused on the importance of observation and assessment. Staff were given permission to stand back and observe the children's experiences. This information was then used to help inform future planning for every child's needs.
The next step was to assess the impact of the training and identify further training needs. Through discussions with staff and observations of their interactions with the children, we are able to provide follow-up training. This should include a mixture of factual information and open-ended questioning. We have used brainstorming sessions, group discussions and joint planning to help staff develop their ideas.
We have a fantastic team of teachers and teaching assistants. What we are aiming to achieve now is a fantastic team of early years specialists. We are well on the way!
