The adult in the photo above is doing exactly what is expected of all the adults in the early years at Carterhatch Infant School: she is teaching. And the school is organised in a way to ensure that these teaching opportunities are maximised.
I rarely praise Ofsted, but it now provides a welcome definition of teaching in the early years in its School Inspection Handbook. As well as making clear that teaching should not ‘imply a “top down” or formal’ approach, the definition also acknowledges the broad range of teaching interactions that occur in ‘planned and child-initiated play’, including modelling, questioning, recalling and setting challenges.
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