Narrator 1

Welcome to fostering literacy and numeracy learning in early childhood. This is the second module in a suite of four. Our first module explored the fostering of positive dispositions across literacy and numeracy in early childhood. The two modules that follow this, take a much deeper dive into the areas of literacy and numeracy respectively.

Introduction.

I would like to acknowledge the Aboriginal people who have, for thousands of years, been the custodians of the lands where you are listening to this presentation from and acknowledge their strong continuing connections to lands and waterways across New South Wales. I pay respect to Aboriginal Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are joining this presentation.

This module has been linked to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. It addresses Standard 2.5.2 – Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students' literacy and numeracy development. In this presentation, we are delving into some of the pedagogical practices noted in the Early Years Learning Framework to understand effective teaching strategies in order to support children's literacy and numeracy achievement.

In this session, learners will, understand how assessment informs critical reflection, decision-making and the cycle of planning to promote children's learning in literacy and numeracy. Learners will also reflect on the importance of both intentionality and responsiveness in the provision of inclusive and equitable play-based learning experiences that maximise learning in literacy and numeracy. So, this presentation is looking at how the pedagogical practices support literacy and numeracy in early childhood. As stated, subsequent presentations in the series will focus more on the aspects and concepts of literacy and numeracy.

We will now quickly touch on the definitions of literacy and numeracy from the Early Years Learning Framework.

Understanding literacy and numeracy.

Understanding what literacy and numeracy is and what it looks like is an important first step for early childhood educators. Literacy and numeracy is much more than counting or recognising numbers and knowing the alphabet. Literacy is defined as the capacity, confidence, and disposition to use language in all its forms. Literacy incorporates a range of modes of communication, including music, movement, dance, storytelling, visual arts, media and drama, as well as talking, listening, viewing, reading and writing.

Numeracy is defined as the capacity, confidence, and disposition to use mathematics in daily life. Children bring new mathematical understandings through engaging with problem solving, spatial sense, structure and pattern, number, measurement, data argumentation, connections and exploring the world mathematically are the powerful mathematical ideas children need to become numerate.

As you can see, the EYLF defines literacy and numeracy in a broad and rich way. We know that literacy and numeracy learning is a social process and found in just about every aspect of daily life. Children bring their home and community literacies or ways of knowing and ways of being to their learning. Educators foster children's literacy and numeracy learning through play-based learning environments that promote rich literacy and numeracy experiences. Age-appropriate play is the vehicle to drive children's understanding. And when children play and interact with each other, and responsive and intentional educators, they make connections to new knowledge, skills, and conceptual understandings.

Being mindful.

This is all about beginning with purpose. Curriculum decision making is an ongoing cycle of assessment and planning. What is included or excluded from the curriculum affects how children learn, develop, and understand the world. This is why we need to be making deliberate choices, including how we designed the learning environments, how we facilitate play-based learning, the intentional teaching opportunities we create, and our responsiveness to children.

Positive dispositions and attitudes are essential for children's successful learning in literacy and numeracy and the foundations for these competencies are fostered in early childhood. We therefore have a responsibility to thoughtfully and explicitly incorporate literacy and numeracy experiences into our early childhood programs, and to do so in a way that is underpinned by the principles and practices of the Early Years Learning Framework. We not only draw on our professional knowledge, we also draw on the knowledge that children bring to their learning, including their strengths and interests to guide us. As educators, we use our knowledge of each child to foster a learning environment in which all children are expected to succeed.

Educators consistently communicate to children that they are capable learners with valuable knowledge and experience. We put into place plans and processes that ensure children have fair and equitable access to resources, materials, and supports needed to be successful and capable learners. We are mindful of our own dispositions and attitudes towards literacy and numeracy learning, and recognise the key role of educators in nurturing children's positive dispositions.

Overview.

In this presentation, we will be looking at the pedagogical practices that support educators to foster literacy and numeracy learning in early childhood. We will start by briefly touching on ongoing learning and reflective practice. This asks us to reflect on what we know, but also challenge the status quo by engaging in research and professional discussions to ensure our understandings are in line with current trends and practices. If we don't know what current research is telling us about literacy and numeracy development, then we won't know what to look for as far as teaching and learning in our contexts.

We will then delve into assessing literacy and numeracy, considering the assessment and planning cycle and where assessment for, as and of all fit within this cycle. We will then look at intentional teaching and how educators remained deliberate and purposeful in their decision-making throughout the assessment and planning cycle to ensure learning happens. While planning and providing opportunities for literacy and numeracy is crucial, research tells us it is of great benefit if educators can and do respond during children's play.

The last part of the PL, we'll look at the responsiveness to children and how through their active engagement with children in the learning environment and through conversations, educators can observe and teach with intent and foster positive dispositions for learning, thereby strengthening learning relationships. While we have broken this presentation into four main parts, you will see that they do not stand alone and often overlap and interconnect. Interwoven with these is both play-based learning and learning environments, which highlight how the pedagogical practices rely on each other. Effective teaching and learning of literacy.Ongoing learning and reflective practice

Ongoing learning and reflective practice.

Let's begin with ongoing learning and reflective practice.

Reflective educators strive to understand the impact of their practice.

Reflective practice is a form of ongoing learning that involves engaging with questions of philosophy, ethics and practice. Contemporary early childhood theories, research, evidence of best practice and the EYLF guide and inform this reflective practice.

Reflective educators critically reflect on their current views about home literacies, and also consider how these views influence decision-making and planning. They reflect on educational and social environments and practices to understand how these may privilege some groups over others. Reflective educators critically reflect on their practice and effectiveness, including their role in planning opportunities and environments to scaffold children's literacy and numeracy learning. They also reflect on expected outcomes and consider how these were achieved.

Reflective practice promotes a culture of high expectations and collaborative learning with other educators. Collective knowledge and perspectives are gathered and use to improve practice. Team discussions provide an opportunity for educators to unpack issues, and challenge thinking and assumptions in a safe and purposeful way. Insights gained from this kind of reflective practice guides what we know about literacy and numeracy learning in early childhood, and how we can foster this effectively.

Assessing Literacy and Numeracy.

Now we will explore assessing literacy and numeracy.

Assessment is our core business.

The National Regulations state for the purposes of an educational program. There'll be documentation of assessments of the child's developmental needs, interests, experiences, and participation in the educational program. And assessments of the child's progress against the outcomes and that the educators will prepare the documentation in a way that is readily understandable by the educators at the service, and the parents of the child.

Literacy and numeracy skills form the basis of all learning and are needed in order to learn other skills and participating everyday life. Literacy and numeracy learning is a department priority and it's embedded in both the National Quality Framework and the School Excellence Framework. And is a key focus in the Department of Education's strategic plan. This priority is unpacked a little more in module one, Fostering Positive Dispositions Across Literacy and Numeracy in Early Childhood, and is available on the website. Considering these points, we can see that assessing literacy and numeracy is a crucial part of our core business.

Assessment is embedded throughout the assessment and planning cycle.

Assessment is embedded throughout the assessment and planning cycle. This cycle aims to ensure we add value to outcomes for children. It is not about the way we move through the cycle, or the type of documentation we use, we know that educators do this in many different and equally effective ways. Rather, it is what we gained from the process, which is a deep insight into each child and our own practices. The unpacking of this cycle illustrates how we choose intentional teaching practices that promote successful literacy and numeracy learning outcomes for all children.

When observing or collecting information, we consider the child's strengths and interests, skills and abilities, current knowledge, and their role as a literacy and numeracy learner in play. Through the analysis of learning phase, we consider what the information tells us about what and how the child is learning in relation to literacy and numeracy. When planning, we can sit out what strategies to use and what experiences, environments, and language to provide.

After these, we reflect on how to implement plans and ensure learning occurs. How to be responsive, what statements, questions stems, language can be used to expand and extend on learning. The final phase in the cycle sees educators reflecting and evaluating on the effectiveness and relevance of the experiences, responses and environment in promoting literacy and numeracy learning.

Ways to assess literacy and numeracy.

Now we will explore ways to assess literacy and numeracy. Assessment occurs everyday as we interact with children. We make ongoing judgements about where, when, and how to extend their literacy and numeracy learning. Observations and conversations with children that occur everyday provide insight into children's thinking, application of their knowledge, and how you can extend their learning. For example, you might notice a student, Jamal has a keen interest in the preschool garden. You notice him arranging and rearranging the pots on the ground in a line and to form other shapes. He then engages you in conversation about how many plants will grow and how many seeds will be needed. In this example, the educator is intentionally observing the visible numeracy skills and understandings that Jamal is demonstrating. And they are thinking about how to respond in order to extend this learning.

Assessment may be formal, so recorded observations and samples of children's learning or informal and ongoing such as in the moment observations, interactions and conversations. An example of this might be the use of an oral language screening tool to collect examples and information on where children are at. For example, in relation to greetings and oral requests. This information could be analysed in collaboration with your preschool's speech pathologist in order to develop strategies to support the development of these oral language skills with the children. With informed analysis, assessment provides rich information about learning and teaching for educators, children's families, and for children themselves.

Let's refer back to Jamal again. You might be having a conversation with his father about what he was doing in the garden that day. And he may share that he has observed him making groups of objects at home also, and he has been counting them. By considering both pieces of information, the educator can provide opportunities for Jamal to develop flexible understandings of numbers throughout the following week.

Observing with intent and analysing for meaning.

Effective educators continuously observed with intent and analyse for meaning when they have a deep understanding of current research in literacy and numeracy development, and can recognise when these demonstrable behaviours and understandings are evident in children's learning. As intentional educators observe and play alongside children, they ask themselves, ‘What's happening?’ That could be, how is the child demonstrating the roles and behaviours of a literacy and numeracy learner in their play? What seems important about this? Is the child using early literacy and numeracy understandings and skills to achieve a goal? Where is the child now in their literacy and numeracy development?

And finally, where should we go from here? How can we expose children to literacy and numeracy concepts through dramatic play? How can we expand the children's literacy development through experiences and interactions? How do we provide extension and enrichment for children's literacy and numeracy learning through a play-based approach? What resources and provisions do we add to ensure a rich and culturally responsive literacy and numeracy learning environment? Which educator practices will promote and scaffold this literacy and numeracy learning? Without an analysis or interpretation informed by early childhood theorists, current research and aligned to the EYLF, we only have a narrative simply describing what children are doing.

Reflecting on all the things we've noticed about a child, and analysing what's important about the learning helps us make decisions and intentionally plan for learning environments that provide enrichment and extension through age-appropriate play-based experiences, including providing adjustments as needed.

The role of formative assessment in planning for children's learning.

Assessment for learning or formative assessment is an ongoing process educators’ use to make judgements about children's learning and how they can respond to support it. This type of assessment happens in each moment and interaction with children. Assessment for learning provides information on child's strengths so, what the child knows and can do and what the child is ready to learn next. It is a crucial part of intentionally planning for and implementing literacy and numeracy experiences with children.

Assessment for learning enables educators to make decisions about children's learning and their practice. And that includes designing and creating play-based environments to nurture learning. It considers what may be impacting children's progress and how they can better support them. And that includes identifying adjustments and opportunities for differentiation. Rather than focusing on one summative event at a point in time, by recording observations and gathering information about what's happening over a period of time, formative assessment provides educators with a broader picture to consider and talk about with families, children, and other educators. It ensures educators observed with intent so they can gain a clear picture of children's current understandings across all aspects of literacy and numeracy.

For example, educators know that oral language and vocabulary are important aspects of literacy when learning to read, write and communicate. So, therefore, educators intentionally observe and document in relation to these specific areas over time, such as, how each child is using our language to build and sustain relationships, share stories from personal experiences, talk about storybooks, and engage in stories they've created and imagined through dramatic play. Through these observations and interactions, educators can also see how children use their vocabularies to share information about interests or projects, or how they use their words to communicate ideas and thinking.

Responding in the moment.

Let's consider how we respond in the moment as educators. Not only do educators plan for extended learning experiences throughout the year, they also engage in mini planning cycles on a daily basis to maximise children's literacy and numeracy learning as it happens. Assessment as learning is an 'on the go' or spontaneous assessment that enables planning and implementation to occur as a response. And often this is immediate.

Our assessment or internal on the spot observation answers the questions, what's happening, what seems important, and where to go from here. Assessment as learning enables an educator to engage with or observe children and then pivot and respond in that teachable moment. And this expands and extends children's learning. It provides educators with moments to respond to children's evolving ideas, interests, and dispositions for learning at their point of need, and provide feedback about their learning. It facilitates educators to assess and interpret learning almost instantaneously as it is happening throughout the day in any interaction with children as they play and explore their learning environments. Assessment as learning guides educators to recognise how children actively construct their understandings, and how to respond to children with purpose, such as celebrating literacy and numeracy achievements, and providing that explicit feedback.

This responsiveness to children supports their learning and ensures continued engagement, and also fosters deeper connections and further understandings of literacy and numeracy concepts. For example, a child maybe seen a song with rhyming words, and the educator may make a decision to join in and model that, emphasising the rhyming words by singing louder, or even doing a hand gesture at the appropriate words. The educator has extended the child's literacy learning in the moment. Educators are then able to reflect and evaluate the success of the learning experience, as well as their own responsiveness. And we will continue to explore educators' responsiveness to children later on in the presentation.

Formative assessment tool and the EYLF outcomes.

Over the next two sections, we will take a look at two tools that can be utilised as part of your assessment. This first example, the formative assessment tool, can be used to record, reflect, and respond to your observations. It can be used to record a specific focus for individual children, or even to target a group of children. You can actually download a copy of this example from the website, and then you'll be able to see the content more clearly. In this example, we are looking at the EYLF Outcome 5, children are effective communicators. The first section list examples of evidence showing how children demonstrate this outcome in their learning. And then in the next section, the summary of observable behaviours are recorded that align to this evidence. And these summaries and observations may be recorded once a term, or even as often as needed, depending on each child. And this is your opportunity to differentiate the assessment.

Next to the observable behaviours is a brief analysis that identifies the child's strengths. And then this is followed finally by implications for planning. And this is where you can describe the future learning goals or teaching strategies that you may like to utilise. Just to note for this example, the educator is using the TTAG, so take notice, think aloud, ask a question, give a suggestion strategy. And they respond to what is happening as the child draws. The educator uses each element of the TTAG strategy to guide the conversation with the child. This is quite a respectful and interactive process as it occurs throughout the drawing experience and not all at once.

Summative assessment is important for continuity of learning and transitions.

This second example highlights the use of the transition to school statement. It is a form of summative assessment and is important for continuity of learning through transition.

Assessment of learning is a process educators use to summarise children's learning in a broad way, describing what children know, understand, and can do at a particular point in time. This type of assessment is most often used to communicate information that will assist in the process of transition to school. Summative assessment documentation is an opportunity to communicate children's understandings of key concepts in literacy and numeracy, and their development in terms of the positive dispositions for learning. So, it is a very, very valuable tool. For example, you could share information about the child's phonological knowledge or their ability to subitise with their new Kindergarten teacher, and that may support continuous literacy and numeracy learning across those settings.

Reflection on assessment.

We now have the chance to take a moment and reflect on assessment. Just take a moment and consider how do you assess children's learning in literacy and numeracy? And when reflecting, you can think about how you assess all aspects of literacy and numeracy. For example, how do you assess children's oral language, vocab and phonological awareness? You could also consider number sense, including understanding quantities, patterning and measurement. You may wish to pause the video to complete this reflection.

Intentional teaching.

Narrator 2

Now that we've looked at assessment, we're going to move into intentional teaching and how that supports children's literacy and numeracy learning.

Educators are intentional across all assessment and planning cycle.

So, in planning the program, educators are intentional across every aspect of the planning cycle. They draw on information from assessments and ongoing conversations with the children and families and choose which specific learning experiences, contexts, and settings to use and when. Educators will integrate literacy and numeracy into their daily programs, they choose their resources, materials and provisions, and place these where children will notice and want to use them.

As intentional teachers, they also provide provocations to provoke thought and challenge children's thinking. We know that intentional educators will do many of these high-quality practices in order to support children's learning. They will draw on current research and theory to build their own understandings of literacy and numeracy. They will observe and record children's learning and conceptual understandings in relation to particular outcomes. They will plan specific learning experiences and environments with particular outcomes in mind, they'll choose what teaching strategies, language and questions to use and when. They will deliberately act with specific learning goals in mind for literacy and numeracy, and finally, track the progress of individual children in relation to each outcome and conceptual development so that they can intervene if particular areas need development, or even perhaps extension. And that directly relates to our previous slides on the importance of assessment.

Intentionality ensures learning happens.

We know intentionality ensures that learning happens.But what does it look like? We know that educators will scaffold children's learning to develop deeper meanings and make connections among ideas and between concepts, processes and representations. Educators will support the transfer of knowledge and understanding between experiences. They will take an active role in supporting children's conceptual development and understandings. They will intentionally foster every child's learning in literacy and numeracy through the play-based learning environments. And finally, they will enable children time and space to explore complex ideas that are involved in literacy and numeracy. We know this is so important because for every child who develops clear understandings of particular ideas and concepts, there's potentially other children who may not develop those clear understandings. This is particularly true for those complex ideas relating to literacy and numeracy.

We really do need to discuss that idea that some things may never just naturally emerge from children's expressed or unexpressed interests. We want children to learn key concepts in literacy and numeracy. And while some may learn this just through discovery, even immersion, many will not. Such learning is too important to be left to chance. Educators must purposely plan opportunities for intentional teaching and knowledge building. It is through these experiences that educators provide and the way they interact with the children, the way they intentionally interact with the children that they deliberately focus on dispositions for learning and literacy and numeracy concepts.

Intentional teaching is deliberate and purposeful.

Intentional educators provide experiences to challenge and extend children's higher order thinking. They also model language and vocabulary and describe what is happening. They think out loud and they document and monitor children's learning. So, we know being intentional about literacy and numeracy means that we are taking an active role in promoting it. It involves spontaneous responses to children's play, and taking advantage of those opportunities to talk about literacy and numeracy as they arise on that daily basis, as well as the more carefully deliberate planned experiences that we've designed to introduce or extend an idea or concept. Educators need to be able to move flexibly in and out of those different roles and draw on different practices as the context changes or requires.

Interntional educators plan in context.

We know that intentional educators plan in context. And play is central to that idea.

A powerful way of ensuring engagement and maximising learning opportunities is to embed literacy and numeracy in play-based experiences and those daily routines. When children see and use literacy and numeracy skills in real life situations, their learning becomes then more relevant and meaningful. A play-based curriculum emphasises that children in the early years actively construct their own understandings through those open-ended, play-based experiences using a hands-on approach.

So, what does age-appropriate play look like for us as educators? It's inclusive and promotes the expression of personality and uniqueness, enhances those positive dispositions for learning such as curiosity and creativity. And these were touched on in a previous module in this suite, about fostering positive dispositions for learning in literacy and numeracy. It enables children to make connections between prior experiences and new learning, even across contexts.

Age-appropriate play assist children to develop relationships and concepts. And it stimulates a sense of wellbeing, even helping to connect to cultural identity. So, then literacy and numeracy are not for sprinters, they're long distance events where motivation and persistence are important. Those dispositions, again, providing children with positive experiences of literacy and numeracy. In order to develop those positive dispositions for learning from the very start, and helping them feel successful is an essential factor in building this motivation and persistence. By beginning with play, and utilising its innate appeal to children, we can offer each child the best start in their journey to becoming literate and numerate.

Play-based learning environment are rich in literacy and numeracy possibilities.

Educators create rich learning environments that enable children to apply literacy and numeracy learning in functional, authentic, and meaningful ways. So, literacy and numeracy in those play-based learning environments would mean that educators would be valuing and drawing on children's knowledge, spontaneous interests, and everyday experiences. They'd be fostering a sense of agency through engagement with the learning environment where children draw on their own cultural funds of knowledge to initiate and lead learning. And they would actively co-construct new understandings with children as they engage with this rich learning environment.

Let's take a look at the image here on this slide, which describes the quality learning environment. A quality learning environment is culturally diverse and inclusive, and it includes representations in the various home languages and dialects of the children. It's reaching literacy and numeracy possibilities, and promotes that idea of collaborative learning, learning together, and also engaging in those sustained shared conversations and thinking. And then through the interactions in those play-based literacy and numeracy learning environments, children have a myriad of ways to show and demonstrate and apply their current understandings. With endless opportunities to practice and refine those literacy and numeracy skills.

Let's think about children exploring numeracy concepts, by interacting with a variety of flexible and open-ended materials that may be provided in this environment. This learning environment would enable educators to name and draw children's attention to what they are learning. And educators would intentionally use the language and vocabulary of numeracy and mathematics to support children to develop mathematical ideas, and it gives children a way to express their growing understandings of mathematical concepts.

Reflection on intentionality.

So, now we have a moment for reflection on intentionality. When you intentionally plan for literacy and numeracy, does your mindset change about those play-based environments in order to promote this learning? If so, why? You may like to pause the video to complete this reflection.

Responsiveness in children.

We have looked at how we assess children's learning, how we gather information about them, how we can be intentional in our planning for them in the environments that we provide in the program. And now we're going to have a look at being responsive to children as educators.

Responsive educators nurture dispositions for learning.

We touched on this earlier, those positive dispositions for learning in order to foster literacy and numeracy skills. Educators view children as confident, capable, and involved literacy and numeracy learners and design learning environments that encourage children to develop and apply positive dispositions for learning. It's really important that children see themselves as confident and capable learners too.

Dispositions for learning refers to the way children engaging and relate to the learning process. Learning dispositions affect how children approach learning and this therefore influences the outcomes of their learning in literacy and numeracy. Those carefully constructed learning environments ensure children experienced challenge and success. They encouraged children to explore, to solve problems, to create and construct, collaborate and engage with others. And all of that underpins the development of positive dispositions for learning and therefore then, those emergent literacy and numeracy skills.

Responsive learning relationships.

We also have a responsibility to develop and really foster those responsive learning relationships.

Key aspects to responsiveness to children are, observing them in their play, noticing their non-verbal cues, and listening to their conversations and ideas. It is knowing when to respectfully enter play and their ongoing projects and investigations to stimulate their thinking and enrich their learning in relation to literacy and numeracy. But responsiveness is also recognising when to exit children's play so that they can continue to lead their own learning. So, those responsive learning relationships are strengthened as educators and children learn together and share decisions, respect and trust.

Interrelationship between responsive educators and play.

There's very much an interrelationship between responsive educators and play that whole idea that the educator takes an active role links these together.

Contemporary thinking in early childhood recognises that interrelationship between the intentional and responsive educators and the play-based learning environments, and then how these elements work together to promote children's learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy. It's important that we see the potential for all play to be the site for educators to be intentional and responsive. While we may not be able to respond to obviously every play opportunity, research suggests that children will benefit when we can and do.

Reflection on the educator’s role.

Let's reflect on the educator's role. The educator taking that active role in connecting the intention, the responsiveness in that play-based environment. How are you responsive and intentional when a child is engaged in play-based literacy and numeracy experiences? Consider how you take on an active role when engaging in children's play. You may wish to pause the video to complete this reflection.

Seeing the possibilities for literacy and numeracy earning everywhere.

Finally, it's really important that as active educators we see the possibilities for literacy and numeracy learning everywhere. This quote from Judy Radich, the director of Tweed Heads Cooloon Children's Centre in the talking about practice video series, reflects this idea and reinforces it. ‘It's really about everything that we do. It's not just the experiences and the activities that we provide for young children. It's how we design and set up our learning environments. It's the type of experiences we give children as well. But it's all of the things that we plan. It's our daily routines, it's the structure of our day.’

Key messages for the presentation.

Reflective educators draw on current research and theory to build their own understandings of literacy and numeracy. Assessment enables educators to be intentional across every aspect of the planning cycle, and provide explicit feedback to children about their literacy and numeracy learning. Educators are also thoughtful and intentional when incorporating literacy and numeracy experiences into their play-based programs. These are aligned with the principles and practices of the EYLF.

Educators engage in authentic and functional literacy and numeracy experiences in a play-based way with children, and provide them with hands-on and meaningful opportunities to build their foundational knowledge and skills. Educators recognise and celebrate how children actively construct their own understandings and contribute to others learning through play-based experiences. Finally, intentional and responsive educators take an active role to maximise the potential for literacy and numeracy learning through those rich play-based learning environments.

References

Here are some references that have supported the information in the presentation today. You may like to pause to note them down.

For more information, professional learning and resources, you can visit the Early Learning website at the link here: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/early-learning on the screen.

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