Nursery World - Primed for learning

The prime and specific areas must be woven together from the
beginning, says Nancy Stewart, principal consultant at Early Learning
Consultancy.

In recent months I've noted some nurseries working with under-threes who focus only on the prime areas of learning in their planning and observations. At the other extreme, I observed a painful 20 minutes with a group of restless twos, uncomprehending while a loudly enthusiastic practitioner tried to control them as she took them through a phonics session that clearly meant nothing to any of the children.

How can we interpret the prime and specific areas of learning to help us reflect on how best to work with the youngest children? If the prime areas are particularly important for under-threes, does that mean we can just ignore the specific areas in planning and interacting with babies and toddlers? I'd argue that it's not that simple, since the two are different but need to be woven together from the beginning through experiences we offer.

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