But babies don't do anything, do they?' can be a familiar lament and commonly held view among inexperienced practitioners. In fact, babies are competent learners from before birth. Recent brain studies have established that a rich and complex set of connections are made in the early minutes, hours, days and weeks of a baby's life. Babies have even been described as 'the most powerful learning machine in the universe' (Gopnick, Meltzoff and Kuhl, 2001)
To raise the quality of babies' experiences within local settings, a multidisciplinary team in Northamptonshire has created an ongoing, sustainable and inspiring project that empowers practitioners in baby rooms to be confident and passionate about their work. As hoped, the project has helped practitioners:
- be aware of the fantastic potential of babies' learning capabilities
- realise their role has a huge impact on babies' healthy brain development, both emotionally and physically
- recognise the importance of their role in shaping very young children into curious and active learners
- draw on the information presented to them, reflect on their current provision and bring about dramatic improvements in their practice
- feel enthusiastic about and proud of their work and achievements.
COURSE STRUCTURE
Two baby room practitioners from each setting attended three half-day sessions over the course of a year and the training was reinforced through visits from local advisors. Each session had a particular focus and balanced information delivery with practical hands-on resource making. The themes were:
- Babies' brain development - we engaged practitioners in thinking about a baby's brain, the nature of the development and the importance of observations
- Babies' emotional well-being - this included exploring the effects of crying, the importance of loving and meaningful interactions, links between feelings and colours and appropriate sensory play
- Babies' play - we focused on nurturing positive brain development, the importance of laughter and quality interactions.
Participants took away up-to-date information packs and a goodie bag of start-up resources, including high-contrast images, sensory socks and brain development information cards that they could use to help develop their practice. After the sessions, the practitioners were expected to:
- build a case study based on analytical observation of an infant
- set up a display for parents explaining baby brain development
- complete personal development postcards, detailing one theme they would use to enhance their own practice and one theme they would use to enhance the babies' well-being, to be followed up by the advisory team within two months
- complete an 'impact on practice' questionnaire three months after each delivered session.
Practitioners were also able to:
- visit other baby rooms to share good practice
- participate in the filming of the babies engaged in sensory play experiences, which was then analysed as a team and shared with parents
- make stage-appropriate resources for babies, such as unique family rolling tins, sensory bottles and contrasting colour wall hangings.
MAIN MESSAGES
Through the course, we wanted to show that:
- babies are competent learners from birth, with powerful learning capabilities
- sensitive and knowledgeable adults hold the key to unlocking babies' potential
- from birth, children are primarily making sense of their world through sensory exploration and physical movement, which influences neural connections developing in the brain
- every moment of a baby's day is a learning opportunity; they do not distinguish between 'play' and 'care'
- a focused project can impact dramatically on raising quality
- the nurturing that babies experience shapes their brains and their futures.
FEEDBACK
'Babies understand more than we think they do. The things we do do make a difference.' Sherri Thompson
'The Baby Room Project has opened my eyes to the development and awareness of young babies.' Rachel Bessell
'It has been so nice to make resources while on a course which have had a big impact on my baby room.' Melissa Ingram
'The project was inspiring and full of laughter. We have gained some very good experiences to share with our babies.' Wendy Jones
'This has improved my practice so much and benefited the babies and also their parents.' Sarah Porter
IMPACT
A highlight of the training has been the visible changes in baby rooms, which have improved the quality of the experiences for babies and infants, both environmentally and also in the way that the babies were nurtured and celebrated. On follow-up visits, advisers observed that practitioners:
- had a deeper understanding of how to support holistic development
- were engaging in a higher quality of positive interactions with babies
- observed the babies more closely
- were offering more relevant, exciting experiences and incorporating natural and recycled materials into the babies' play
- were seeing 'nappy changing time' as a valuable experience, with nappy changing areas transformed into stimulating spaces, and routines organised around an individual baby's needs rather than those of the setting
- improved practitioners' interactions with parents, feeling confident to share their knowledge and understanding about babies' healthy brain development
- improved communications with parents; many of the settings have now begun to explore innovative ways of sharing elements of a baby's day with their parents.
WHAT WORKED WELL
Key elements contributing to the success of the project were:
- the multidisciplinary team
- needs assessment - these were identified through observations and information gained from ongoing advisory visits to the settings
- participation - involving two staff from each setting made it easier for them to bring about real change
- practitioner commitment
- well-researched, exciting new experiences and resources that staff could create in their own baby rooms
- accessible reading material
- approachable advisers
- the goodie bag
- supportive follow-up visits.
SOME OF OUR REFERENCES
Abbott, L and Langston, A (2005) Birth to Three Matters: Supporting the framework of effective practice. Open University Press
Gerhardt, S (2007) Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby's brain. East Sussex: Routledge
Gopnick, Meltzoff, Kuhl (2001) How Babies Think. London: Phoenix/Orion
Hughs, Anita (2006) Developing Play for the Under Threes: The treasure basket and heuristic play. London: David Fulton
Karmiloff-Smith, A (2005) Baby It's You: The first three years. Beckmann Visual Publishing
Kitzinger, S (2005) Understanding Your Crying Baby. London: Carroll and Brown
Lindon, J (2006) Developing Play In the First Three Years. London: NCB
Panksepp, J (1998) Affective Neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Panksepp, J (2001) 'The Long-term Psychobiological Consequences of Infant Emotions: Prescriptions for the 21st century', in Infant Mental Health Journal 22 (1-2) Jan-Apr: 145
Solihull PCT (2006) The Solihull Approach Resource Pack Early Years. Solihull PCT
Sunderland, M (2006) The Science of Parenting. London: Dorling Kindersley
Winkley, L (1999) Neural Pathways and the Development of the Brain, in Primary Practice no 20 May 30-35
MORE INFORMATION
The Baby Room Project
Northamptonshire's Baby Room Project was devised by Veronica Lawrence (specialist senior educational psychologist, early years), Claire Stevenson (birth to three adviser) and Donna Luck (Foundation Stage adviser).
A one-day event is being planned for local authority professionals who would like to explore the value of delivering the Baby Room Project in their counties.
For further information, e-mail Donna Luck at: dluck@northamptonshire.gov.uk
LINKS TO EYFS GUIDANCE
- UC 1.2 Child Development
- PR 2.2 Parents as Partners
- PR 2.3 Supporting Learning
- PR 2.4 Key Person
