Introduction to my Blog

 

My blog talks about many factors and issues within the educational learning context. The first blog that was posted looks at the importance of play within child development. I choose this topic as I felt that there was a lot of research in this area and believed that different types of development can be applied through play.

      The second blog looks at Maria Montessori and the key factors in which she used for her methods. Her ideas of children individually developing themselves inspired me to create this blog. I found all her ideas very interesting and her past experiences of working with children with learning difficulties.

       The third blog looks at children learning through forest schools. As I agreed with this method I believed to form my own opinion by exploring the benefits of this type of learning. From my experiences of forest school from a child allowed to me to remember and apply my knowledge to write this blog.

    The final blog looks at why parents choose home education. This was a very controversial topic as many people disagree with this and feel that every child should have a teacher led education.  I decided to write this so people can read this and understand why parents remove their children from school without judging and take into account the reasons why this decision was made.

 

 

 

All blogs are under the labels of:

·         PLAY

·         MONTESSORI

·         FOREST SCHOOL

·         HOME EDUCATION

 

Finally is a list of all the references that were used within all four of the blogs:         

 

Bartlett, S. and Burton, D. (2012). Introduction to Education Studies. London: Sage.

Bates, J. and Lewis, S. (2009). The study of Education: An Introduction. London: Continuum International.

Cathleen, H. (2010). ‘The Montessori Method: Cultivating the Potential of the Child to Build a more Peaceful World’: Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, 22, 4, pp. 1-18. [online] Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/ehost/resultsadvanced?sid=a103b1e6-4935-4995-8859-60eecc239801%40sessionmgr104&vid=7&hid=127&bquery=montessori+method+of+education&bdata=JmRiPWVoaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl. [Accessed 30^th April 2013].

Child Development Institute (1999)Child Development. [online] Available at http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development.shtml#.UXnBfVxwbIU[ Accessed: 22^nd April 2013].

Durbin, D. (2009). Home Education. London: Hodder Education.

Forestschoollearning.co.uk (2005) Forest School Learning Initiative case study. [online] Available at: http://www.forestschoollearning.co.uk/case-study.php [Accessed: 27 Apr 2013].

Forestschoolwales.org.uk (2013) Forest School Wales [online] Available at: http://www.forestschoolwales.org.uk/aelodaeth-membership/privacy-policy/ [Accessed: 29th Apr 2013]

Galloway, D. (2008). ‘Special Issue on Home Education’: Journal of Evaluation and Research into Education, 17, 2, pp.61-62. [online] Available at: http://www.swetswise.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/FullTextProxy/swproxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Fpdf%2F10.1080%2F09500790308668291&ts=1367361837766&cs=3685647598&userName=5390052.ipdirect&emCondId=5390052&articleID=40368441&yevoID=2462853&titleID=72967&referer=1&remoteAddr=212.219.61.169&hostType=PRO&swsSessionId=zh2Jwm3LV7nXFfkO+K1Okw__.pasc2. [Accessed 30^th April 2013].

Gray, C. and MacBlain, S. (2012). Learning Theories in Childhood. London: Sage.  

Isenberg,J.P. and Jalongo,M.R. (2006) Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development and Creative Development [online] Available at http://www.education.com/reference/article/importance-play--social-emotional/  [Accessed: 22^nd April 2013].

 Jeub, C. (1994). ‘Why Parents choose Home Schooling’: Journal of Educational Leadership, 52, 1, pp.50-54. [online] Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d234b9b4-aa3b-4219-bb22-aeee41ea46a0%40sessionmgr114&vid=2&hid=128. [Accessed on 30^th April 2013].

 Leong, D. J. and Bodrova, E. (2005) ‘Why children need play’, Journal of Scholastic Parent and Child, 13, 1, pp-37-38.

 Meggitt,C. (2008). Child Care and Education. London: Hodder Education.

 Murray, A. and Peyton,V. (2008). ‘Public Montessori Elementary Schools’: Journal of Montessori Life, 20,4, pp.26-30. [Online] Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=a103b1e6-4935-4995-8859-60eecc239801%40sessionmgr104&hid=127. [Accessed 29^th April 2013].

Natanson,J. (1997), Learning through Play. London: Cassell.

O'brien , L. (2009) The Forest School Approach . International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 37 (1), p.45-60. [online] Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/03004270802291798 [Accessed: 29th April 2013].

 Perrott, E. (1982). Effective Teaching. New York. Longman Group.

Rothermel, P. (2008). ‘Can we Classify Motives for Home Education?’: Journal of Evaluation and Research into Education, 17, 2, pp. 74-89. [online] Available at: http://www.swetswise.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/FullTextProxy/swproxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Fpdf%2F10.1080%2F09500790308668293&ts=1367362196122&cs=3114731901&userName=5390052.ipdirect&emCondId=5390052&articleID=40368443&yevoID=2462853&titleID=72967&referer=1&remoteAddr=212.219.61.169&hostType=PRO&swsSessionId=zh2Jwm3LV7nXFfkO+K1Okw__.pasc2. [Accessed 28^th April 2013].

 Rubin , C. (2011) ‘School Readiness’ Learning Through Play. Journal of Communities and Banking, 22, 1, pp. 3-4

 Sharp, J., Ward,S. and Hankin, L. (2009). Education Studies. London: Learning Matters.

Singer, D., Roberta,  G. and Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2006). Play Equals Learning: How Play Motivates and Enhances Children’s Cognitive and Social- Emotional Growth. New York: Oxford University Press.

 Thayer-Bacon, B. (2012). ‘Women in History: Maria Montessori’: Journal of Education and Culture, 5, 3, pp.159-161.[online] Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com.v-ezproxy.smu.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5cbb7b80-9f5b-49a2-aa5f-7cdf3f87029f%40sessionmgr104&vid=2&hid=127. [Accessed 30^th April 2013].

 

 

Why do people choose Home education?

 

Under section seven of the 1996 Education act allows parents to home education their children and legally do not have to have a qualifications to do so.  Parents that educate come in many different forms and have many different reasons.

            Rothermel (2008) explains that one of the most popular reasons for home schooling is the issues of bullying and abuse at school. The pressure of the school environment can be too much for the child to cope with resulting in a negative effect on their education. Many parents have stated that although they reported the bullying taking place the issue has never been reprimanded.

                                                      Parents Views:

Parents may feel dissatisfied with the sizes of the class (Bartlett, 2012). Even though the Government have stated that there is a limit of thirty students to one class. I think that the worry of a bigger ratio and the child not getting the attention of education they need leads to being pulled out of school.

          Although many schools now have the equipment to educate a child with special education needs many children are withdrawn because they cannot cope with the schooling methods or need of one on one teaching that they cannot provide.   Perrot (1982) tells us that they are a number of reports that have shown parents removing children with dyslexia and parents feel that with guidance they are better suited to deal with the situation.

        The National Curriculum from the Education Reform Act 1988 also causes issues. Parents feel that it is too limited and that home education can give them a wider range of learning. Jeub (1994) concludes that if a child wanted to learn about nature they can take them out instead of learning it in the classroom. The issue of standardizing what a child can and cannot learn is also a reason. I think that home schooling removes the element of one standard for all children as each child will learn at different paces.

 

 

       Galloway (2008) discusses that religious reasons impacts parents as they feel that their children are from a specific practising religion which needs to be included in their day to day learning which the school does not practice. Also another reason may be that children live too far away from school or that they did not have a choice of the local schools in the area.

         The final reason I feel may encourage home education is problems with teaching staff.  They feel that their child has been picked on or excluded by the teacher.  Research by Durbin (2009) explained how a child was made to stand up in front of the class explaining why their homework was not given in. In this case the parent felt the child was humiliated in the presence of his fellow students.  

Percentage values of why parents choose to take children out of mainstream school and put into home education in the United States.

 

      There are many different reasons as to why parents choose home education over government run schools. I believe that home education can be very effective and research has proven that many cases have a higher level of education.

What are the Benefits of Forest Schools within the Educational System?

Forest schools in the UK are based on the Scandinavian idea in the 1950’s of embracing the outdoor as a learning environment.  It involves children working with a qualified Forest School Leader once a week throughout the year in local woodland.  Forest School Wales (2013) states that they have become so popular that schools have developed their own forest site within their grounds and further schools are growing to do the same.

              During forest sessions children typically build dens, make rope bridges, fires and learn about the natural environment which is fundamentally self-initiated activities. The benefit of a forest school is that it teaches children everyday skills to stretch beyond the usual boundaries by learning to handle risks, such as the dangers of lighting a fire. I think this is allowing them to learn for themselves instead of being taught.   However O’Brien (2009) argues that forest school does not follow the National Curriculum just because it is not presented in the traditional way of education. In fact I believe it links into the curriculum alongside the core subjects for example it uses science with the experiments that children come up with, the artistic creation of art and the demands of physical education. The main difference is the outdoor context is used instead.

 

 This video demonstrates the activities in which a child can typically do at Forest School

           Leaders of the forest schools enhance this type of learning because it looks at the creativity of different learners such as kinaesthetic and visual (Sharp et al 2009). It can increase self- confidence and self -belief within the child and make them want to come to school because of the enjoyment of freedom in the forest.  A case study of a child that had struggled to listen, concentrate and had a lack of communication with other children saw the total benefits of forest learning (Forest School Learning Initiative 2005). After a few sessions he became excited and had the ability to adhere to rules and when he had an idea he would be the first to start and everyone would follow him.  I believe this allowed him to overcome all the fears that he had.    

          Forest school encourages children to make their own choice which shows independence. Meggitt (2008) explains further that it gives them an option of working individually or as a part of team which can benefit in communication and language skills. They also learn to share material being used and to control their behaviour outside of a classroom environment. I think that it allows you to see the physical changes within the child and alternative view of future potential.

 

Children Playing in Forest School either individually or as a team.

  Overall I believe forest schools are beneficial to the educational system and emphasise to children that learning can take place anywhere not just in the classroom. The demands for forest schools are growing due to the positive results that have been discovered.

 

Key Factors to the Montessori Method

Maria Montessori was educated in medicine and became the first female doctor in Italy in 1896. She worked with children that had learning difficulties and using her observations she created new ideas and techniques to enhance the child’s learning. Gray and Mac Blain (2012) explained that it became a very well-known part of education.

***Maria Montessori using her methods***

 

  Montessori’s key factor was that every child was unique and born with the capability to learn with confidence and that there were various stages within a child’s life. Bates and Lewis (2009) concluded that they were known as the three six year periods, absorbent mind (0-6), childhood 6-12 and finally adolescence (12-18). In development she concluded that all babies and children develop the same cognitive, physical, linguistic social and emotion levels but all happened at different rates. This therefore led to using inclusive practice where diversity became accepted and discrimination was not allowed.

        A part of Montessori’s theory was that the environment believed to play a key role in supporting and extending learning. The environment is constructed with the child in mind. Murray and Peyton (2008) describe how she created child size furniture. The aim is to have a place where it can maximize and facilitate an independent learning. To create this the Montessori schools were well ordered, had creative activities plus physical and mental tasks.

            This therefore resulted in setting up special areas of the classroom. The eight areas are practical life, sensorial, math, language, culture, science and art. The areas incorporated sight, sound taste and touch into the materials that the children choose to play with.  Thayer (2013) argues further that by putting different ages of children together would enhance social skills but would allow the older children to become role models for the younger children.  All of these are set up to allow the child to have their choice in learning which I believe shows a vast amount of learning development.

         Another factor that Montessori encourages is positive relationships meaning that children learn to be independent from a base of loving relationships with parents.  Cathleen (2010) gives evidence from working in a Montessori school that the parents have respect for child to be capable beings rather than little adults. It is added to every aspect of the methods by expecting children to respect their environment, the material, and world themselves and others.  

 

    The key role of the Montessori teacher is that they do not lecture but demonstrate and inspire creativity and independence. Using all the factors above the teacher looks for the desires within in the child.

This video is a tour of a school called Wexford that uses the Montessori method. I choose this because it shows all the activities that children part take in and interviews the staff there.

 

Finally I believe this way of learning is a good way of getting a child to think for themselves and create their own personality at a very young age. It brings about confidence and discourages negativity but encourages creativity. Montessori methods are still used in school today and still growing with children that are attending.

 

 

The Importance of Play for Child Development

 



Play is an enjoyable activity which takes place as its own reward and is not used as a training based tool.  In my opinion activities involving play are very significant into developing stages of children. Research by the children development institute (1999) explains that 75 % of development of learning has to be investigated by the child itself. 

 Learning through play is an important role in growth of cognitive development which refers to the mental process of the child. It aims to exercise the ability to think, remember and solve problems. It gives them a chance to explore and test in whatever they are trying to achieve. An example of this would be a child advancing in the art of puzzle solving and building blocks (Rubin 2011). This means that the cognitive mind becomes larger in their understanding of size, shape and texture. This results in the understanding of relationships between objects. Leong and Bodrova (2005) identify that it also strengthens language within the child because they are able to organise their thoughts into whatever activity they are participating in. By the use of Books, Videos and Educational toys that demonstrate picture and word this can increase the child’s vocabulary, thus extending its everyday use of language.

             Singer et al. (2006) argues that play can also enhance social skills within their development by interacting with other children. I believe this is vital as they are learning to share and take other ideas and creativity into account. I also think that creative thought can be identified as an aspect of problem solving, which is a big part of play. When young children use their imagination they are more creative and perform better in later stages. It also enables them to work as a team at a challenge or as an individual.  

Play: Preschool and Toddler Building with Blocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f3rOz0NzPc&noredirect=1

This video demonstrates that even though they are individually working on building their blocks, they both help each other when they fall over. I believe this clearly shows the social development through the two different ages.

 

               Emotional development also becomes increased through play. Children learn to cope with pleasant or unpleasant feelings by acting out pretend play. Parents explained how their a 4 year old son acted when his dog has been hit by a car. He created a pretend play looking after his dog in a pet hospital. Landreth and Homeyer (1998, as cited in Isenberg and Jalongo 2006) confirmed him saying “I’m sad because the car hurt my dog”. By doing this allowed him to manage his emotions instead of getting angry and learn the aspect of reality.

              Finally it increases physical development with fine and gross motor skills. With the use of repetition in body movement it will allow the body to develop control.  Natanson (1997) studied the actions of an infant at play, first he hit the toy then grasped it and next he picked it up. This shows a vast improvement from simple to complex gestures.

        In my opinion play is an important part of childhood development. It allows different elements of the Child to develop but overall to gain control and to explore the world using imagination will prepare and structure the child for further education.