Central to the role of the early years practitioner is to influence the moral, social and intellectual motivation of young children, and there are two main approaches to fostering this development.
The ‘outside in’ approach puts adults clearly in charge so that they manage, control and shape the behaviour of children through extrinsic incentives, rewards and punishments.
Typical incentives that reward ‘good’ behaviour are certificates, trophies, badges and stickers. So, we often hear four-year-olds saying things like, ‘If I eat all my dinner I can choose a star to put on my chart’, and we have parents resorting to the likes of the ‘naughty step’.
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