Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers: Teaching Early Years

Aimed at all beginning teachers involved in early years teaching.

This text looks at the unique role of the early years teacher and outlines how you can support the development of children as unique individuals through an enabling environment, building success through effective relationships, outstanding provision and purposeful assessment. It encourages you to think about your own development in a holistic sense in order to promote outstanding professional practice.

The Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers provide accessible, carefully researched, quick reads for early career teachers, covering the key topics you will encounter during your training year and first two years of teaching.  They complement and are fully in line with the new Early Career Framework and are intended to assist ongoing professional development by bringing together current information and thinking on each area in one convenient place.

Introduction

1. What is it like to be an early years teacher?
2. How to promote outstanding provision and purposeful assessment
3. The who, why and how of fostering effective relationships
4. How to create a successful enabling learning environment
5. Where will the journey lead? Supporting children as unique individuals
6. What next? Ongoing development as an early years professional

Acronym buster

Index

Lorna Williams is a senior lecturer on a primary initial teacher training team where she leads the early years and supports and mentors future early years teachers. She is the PGCE early years (3-7) cohort lead at the University of Worcester. She was an early years teacher in schools and a pre-school setting for almost 20 years. During her primary teaching career she taught in Years 1 and 2 in large infant schools and taught in Reception and Year 1 in a village primary school. She has been involved in the opening of an onsite pre-school and has been an early years phase leader. She has always been passionate about the early years and each child’s unique development and early learning journey.

Colin Howard is a senior lecturer in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) at the University of Worcester supporting outstanding training for trainee teachers and their class-based mentors. He has been involved in primary education for over 30 years of which 15 years were as a successful headteacher in both small village and large primary settings. His research and school experience links to primary science, mentoring trainees, school leadership, SEND and teacher professional identity. He has written publications linked to primary science, teachers and student’s mental health and well-being, British Values, mentoring in schools and school leadership and management. 

Emma Hollis' absolute passion is teacher education. After gaining a First Class degree in Psychology and training as a primary teacher, she became Head of initial teacher education for a SCITT provider in Milton Keynes. She sees teacher education as a continuum and, whilst her heart will always be very close to the initial stages of a teacher’s development, she is also dedicated to ensuring teachers are given access to high quality professional development throughout their careers.  Emma took up the role of Executive Director Designate of NASBTT in April 2017 and has been in the post of Executive Director since September 2017.