Teaching Early Years

Dr. Amanda Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Early Years education at USW and teaches on the Early Years Education degree and the Working with Children and Families degree. She has taught in both Primary and Further Education before taking up her role in higher Education in 2011. Amanda currently teaches on a range of education modules including play, child development, pedagogy,  and leading and managing others. She competed her PhD in 2018 exploring children’s schemas in the Foundation Phase.  She has had books and research published on Early Years education, Schemas and Transitions within education. Amanda has just completed a suite of materials for the Welsh Government on schemas.  In her spare time, Amanda is a trustee of a charity trying to restore the former miners’ institute in her local village.Karen McInnes has recently moved to Norland College as Research Fellow Previously she was Programme Leader: Postgraduate and International in the Institute for Education at Bath Spa University. She has been an Award Leader for the MSc Play Therapy and MSc Play and Therapeutic Play at the University of South Wales and completed her PhD in play and learning in the early years and qualified as a play therapist whilst there. She has also been a Senior Researcher with Barnardo’s UK Policy and Research Team researching various issues affecting children and their families and making policy recommendations based on her research. Karen has extensive experience working with young children as a play therapist, speech therapist and teacher. She has published on various aspects of early years education and play and is the co-author of The Essence of Play (Routledge, 2013).

This new book on ‘Teaching Early Years’ provides a fresh take on the effective translation of an Early Years curriculum into practice. It advocates an early years pedagogy, which is experiential in nature and playful in approach, but also explicitly emphasises the role of the early years practitioner in the learning process. A key strength of the book therefore is its ability to bridge the gap between the early years of education and the early years of primary schooling, catering for children aged 0-7 years. The book is particularly innovative in its strong interplay between cutting –edge theory and practice-based evidence, reinforced by the unique mix of shared authorship where each chapter reflects a blend of academic and practitioner perspectives, focusing on a broad range of curricular areas of learning. Each chapter is illustrated throughout with case studies of children aged 0-7 from a range of settings, lesson plans, short summaries of chapters, questions for practitioners and further reading, all of which successfully promote engagement on the part of the reader as well as fostering a culture of reflective teaching in practice. Teaching Early Years will be an invaluable resource for any student studying early childhood studies or training to teach at early years or primary levels. This book is also ideal for early years and primary practitioners. Although focused principally on a Welsh and English context, this book has much to offer Early Years students and practitioners across the globe.

• Chapter 1: Introduction - Amanda Thomas and Karen McInnesChapter 2: What can we learn from UK Early Years curricula? - Claire PescottChapter 3: Child development in practice - Karen McInnes and Holly GallanChapter 4: Play and playfulness: The foundation of learning and development - Karen McInnes and Natacha YuenChapter 5: Understanding well-being in the Early Years - Alyson Lewis and Lucy ReesChapter 6: Playing with words – becoming a reader and writer - Rhiannon Packer, Philippa Watkins and Marc HughesChapter 7: Developing mathematical confidence in the Early Years - Catherine JonesChapter 8: Becoming a scientist through an experiential pedagogy - Amanda Thomas, Karen Parker, Carole Carter and Clare GriffithsChapter 9: Inspiring creativity in the Early Years - Catherine Jones and Francine DaviesChapter10: Into the great outdoors: Opportunities and experiences - Alyson Lewis and Rebecca PooleChapter 11: Conclusion - Amanda Thomas and Karen McInnes