Edited by Jeni Riley
(Paul Chapman, 18.99, ISBN: 0-7619-4106-1, 020 7374 0645)
Reviewed by Jennie Lindon, early years consultant
This book offers strong support to help readers link research about children's learning to effective, child-focused practice. Readers can use an overview and then concentrate in turn on each of the six areas defined in the Foundation Stage in England.
There are valuable sections about early mathematical learning and about how young children build their general knowledge, before the conventional school subject approach can possibly work.
The authors are rightly concerned about the quality of the transition for children as they navigate the educational stages from three to seven. The book is a strong advocate of the notion that teachers in the first school years must start from the learning position of the children. We need an effective challenge to the top-down demands that younger children 'must be made ready for' the next stage of their education.
The book works less well for the younger end of the age range in the title.
More examples are about children of four years and older, although some of the useful learning stories do not mention children's ages. Examples from the Stepping Stones would have given a better sense of early learning.
Finally, children do not change as you cross internal borders within the UK. But there are differences between the early years and school curriculum frameworks in each country. This book is written as if all UK practitioners follow the system of England. It does not take much space to acknowledge the actual diversity. Newly written books should try to avoid irritating readers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
