Intentional Teaching and its Importance in Early Childhood Education

Introduction:

‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ — William Butler Yeats

Reflected by an early childhood educator, it is evident the response or idea everyone has when you mention to them that you are an early childhood educator; ‘Oh, you get to play with children all day’ or, in a particular tone, ‘You must love kids’. Very limited is the understanding to how important the role of an educator is, more importantly how critical the role of an educator is in the development of a young child. Onlookers will see an educator involved in play with children but will never truly comprehend the purposeful planning that has been implemented nor the intentional teaching employed to inhibit learning. Similar is the thought process and understanding of most parents. The educators have to promote intentional teaching practices and help parents recognize its true purpose and value in supporting children’s learning and development. This essay aims to explain intentional teaching and its relation to early childhood education and care. This essay will also focus on removing or denunciating any confusion amongst educators questioning the need for intentional teaching or that the practice is a formal instruction in a play-based curriculum.

Intentional teaching- Definition and its placement in ECE:

‘Intentional teaching: involves educators being deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their decisions and actions. Intentional teaching is the opposite of teaching by rote or continuing with traditions simply because things have ‘always’ been done that way.’ (Intentional Teaching Practices, 2009, p.15) “The Early Years Learning Framework refers to the term ‘intentional teaching’ as one of the eight aspects of pedagogical practice, making it a part of early childhood professional language.” (Houghton, 2013) The EYLF’s envisions that children’s learning incorporates belonging, being and becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework strives to accomplish this notion through its key principles and practices. The core of extensive research reflects upon the importance of cultivating the children’s sense of identity, spiritual wellbeing and care in their early childhood framework to encourage their healthy development. While some may argue that spirituality deals with religion, in actuality the spirituality is “linked to compassion and children’s rights to being”. (Houghton, 2013) This provides reason for early childhood educators to be ‘intentional’ in all possible aspect of their teaching and care. Seeing as children, spend a significant amount of time with their educators, it is critical that the educators provide a safe and comfortable environments, culture secure connections and encourage their learning and development.

In my introduction, I briefly explained that while parents and society may have a vague understanding of the importance that early childhood educators play in the development of children’s learning and identity, educators themselves foster confusions regarding the true definition and importance of intentional teaching. This may be due to the fact that play-based learning is highlighted such that it takes away from the importance of the contribution of the educators. Thus explaining the difficulty in understanding that “intentional teaching is an essential part of the process of supporting children’s learning”. (Houghton, 2013) Educators also develop a false concept or understanding of the learning outcomes as a result of the view that children have to initiate the interest or an idea that educators can inhibit into the curriculum. What educators forget most of the time is that in a play-based environment there is no pressure to follow a strict timetable. Children benefit from a variety of different and regular small and large group experiences such as stories, discussions, music, and movement. A good way to explain intentional teaching would be the Reggio Emilia Approach; which is not a ‘method’ but rather an adaptation of the approach specific to the needs of their community. Why I want to highlight this approach in explaining intentional teaching is because just as no two children are the same or perceive things the same way, similarly no two communities are the same; “the needs and interests of the children within each community will be different”. (An Everyday Story, 2013)

Reggio Emilia principles are focused around social collaboration (children working in groups where they are an equal participant and all their questions and perspectives are valued); children as communicators (children are encouraged to use language to investigate and explore, to reflect on experiences); the environment is recognized for its potential to inspire children (the space around children respects them as capable by providing them with authentic materials and tools); emphasizes on documenting children’s thoughts and finally the role of adults as mentors and guides. This approach helps us to understand the importance of intentional teaching because many if not most early childhood educators tend to sway to the play-based formalized curriculum and while this gets the job done children may eventually find the work boring and repetitive. The Reggio approach takes into consideration and plays the ‘intent’ to inhibit learning and make the process more exciting and fun so that children enjoy while they learn. Thus the aim is to intentionally place children in opportunities of new experiences rather than having them follow a theme-based curriculum. A simple example is when a child is introduced to an instructor, intentional teaching would suggest that the adult walk up to the child and greet them warmly, make them feel welcome and comfortable by kneeling down to their level to make eye contact, acknowledge the child by name and introduce them warmly to the rest of the children. While this may seem like an everyday event, the ingrained practice is the intent to support the child’s sense of identity, belonging and wellbeing. There are many examples like this that educators often take for granted thinking its procedure rather than intentional actions that are purposeful for the development of children.

Intentional teaching is a continuous process for educators, the end result is not always evidently clear and most parents and educators are unaware of how important it is in promoting child development especially up to the age of 5 years. Children are natural learners and are capable of experiencing their world in many ways and so limiting this opportunity is to limit children’s capabilities. A regime is essential to enable children to understand the concept of ‘time’, in the sense that there is a time for everything for example if you allow a 5 year old to play during nap time, he or she will assume that this is something they can do when ever they want and that nap is not as important as play. Thus a regime of some sort is important but educators need to remember that learning occurs in many ways, if children are not involved in play, conversation, story telling, exploring all contribute to learning. Thus encouraging learning by what the space around children provide is intentional learning. Recognition of spontaneous teachable moments and promoting this to create awareness is the role of an educator in early childhood education. Intentional teaching is not an idea but rather an aspect ingrained in the actions educators take in promoting learning and understanding.

References
An Everyday Story, (2013). The Reggio Emilia Approach: Main Principles | An Everyday Story. Retrieved 26 May 2014, from http://www.aneverydaystory.com/beginners-guide-to-reggio-emilia/main-principles/
Connor, J. (2010). Intentional Teaching (2nd ed., pp. 1-3). Early Years Learning Framework. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/nqsplp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/EYLFPLP_E-Newsletter_No2.pdf
Earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au,. (2014). Intentional teaching, child-centred curriculum and the EYLF – Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved 24 May 2014, from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/every_child_magazine/every_child_index/intentional_teaching_child_centred_curriculum_and_the_eylf.html
Educate.ece.govt.nz,. (2014). Intentional teaching – ECE Educate - New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 24 May 2014, from http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/exploringPractice/InfantsandToddlers/EffectivePractices/IntentionalTeaching.aspx
Houghton, A. (2013). Intentional Teaching - Promoting Purposeful Practice in Early Childhood Settings (1st ed.). Albert Park: Teaching Solutions. Retrieved from http://www.teachingsolutions.com.au/samplepages/sp_Intentional_Teaching.pdf
Intentional Teaching Practices. (2009) (1st ed., pp. 35-36). Australia. Retrieved from http://www.gowrie-tas.com.au/images/pdfs%20psc%20ipsu/INTENTIONAL-TEACHING-STRATEGIES.pdf
TeachHUB,. (2014). Intentional Teaching: Enjoying Teachable Moments. Retrieved 24 May 2014, from http://www.teachhub.com/intentional-teaching-enjoying-teachable-moments