Promoting Independence in the Early Years!

The development of independence can increase children's self-esteem and confidence. Children who like to do things for themselves may be more likely to try new things, cope with failure, explore and investigate.

Independent learning can be closely linked to current educational metacognition approaches which are often defined as 'learning to learn.' It involves pupils in taking greater responsibility for their learning and to develop an understanding of what is required for them to succeed.

A Journey Towards Independence begins in the Early Years

Being independent suggests that students are able to do things for themselves. When children arrive at school most will be motivated to learn and some will be eager to demonstrate their independence. Educators strive to create a positive learning environment where all children can reach their individual potential, an increase in independence is encouraged and collective responsibility is valued.

The EYFS statutory framework states that children at the expected level of development will "be confident to try new activities and show independence." But how do children demonstrate independence and what does this look like in a classroom environment?

This blog will explore research based strategies and practical activities to help young children to gain a sense of independence.

What does independent student learning look like?

Students who demonstrate high levels of independence may be able to:

• Make choices about their activities.
• Question and make decisions based on prior knowledge.
• Function by themselves but seek help when needed by communicating with peers and adults.
• Take risks and revisit tasks without pressure.
• Use their own initiative and make personal contributions.
• Help to create, organise and maintain the learning environment.
• Bring personal experience, creativity and imagination to tasks.
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills.

Independence doesn't just mean that children have the skills to work alone. Independent learners are motivated to learn, good problem solvers, effective communicators and able to seek help as appropriate.

How to Promote Independence in the Classroom?

To encourage and develop independence and student success teachers must believe that children can be active and responsible learners.

It is important for educators to:

• Encourage children to select and use a range of resources to aid learning.
• Give children genuine responsibility.
• Give children clear learning goals and allow them to judge when they are ready to move on.
• Encourage a creative approach to problem solving.
• Encourage peer support systems.
• Allow children to try things out and make mistakes.
• Use clear questions and explanations.
• Allow time for talk.
• Encourage children to be involved in planning and assessing their own learning.

A positive environment for learning is one where children's feelings are respected, where adults and children talk together and where time is spent helping children to establish an independent approach to learning.

The Reggio Emilia Approach

Reggio Emilia is a town in the Reggio Romangna region of Northern Italy. Loris Malaguzzi, a local teacher, contributed to the development of Reggio Emilia's network of municipal infant/toddler centres and preschools.

Children attending a Reggio Emilia school are encouraged to communicate and express themselves through drawing, painting, talking, dancing, sculpting, building, working with colour and light and play-acting. These are just some approaches that have become known as 'the hundred languages of children.'

An effective learning environment is central to the quality of learning in Reggio Emilia settings. Effort and attention is given to ensure that materials, resources, space and furniture are organised to allow children easy, independent access.

Curriculum Features

The Reggio Emilia curriculum relies on teachers close observation of children in order to raise student achievement. Educators are skilled at putting strategies into place that will extend children's interests based on topics that are familiar to children and to which they can readily contribute.

Students are encouraged to effectively engage, to cooperate, collaborate and problem solve in a physical environment which aids their needs.

Typical features of an effective learning environment include:

• a central area or piazza - where adults and children work and play in a more expansive way than in the classroom.
• the kitchen and bathroom are centrally situated and integral to the children's learning experience.
• Glass windows and partitions reinforce connection between the inside and outside environment.
• Classrooms include private spaces for children.
• Furniture has practical as well as imaginative uses.
• Resources are well organised and accessible.

Students in Regio Emilia settings show independence in many different ways. They are given time to negotiate and plan in small groups, they discuss, reflect and revisit previous learning and prepare for meals and rest times with little help from adults.

Children in Reggio Emilia schools often demonstrate self-assurance, natural curiosity and high levels of interaction with one another. They readily ask for adult advice and are keen to share ideas and the development of their work.

Creating a Classroom Environment that Promotes Independence

In order to create an environment that promotes independence teachers must listen to children and hear what they say, forming a learning environment with them that is purposeful, orderly and encourages a high level of interest.

Children's confidence will grow when they have numerous opportunities to try things out in a safe and supportive learning environment. It is important to nurture positive relationships where learner's efforts are praised and strategies are in place to support failures.

Practical Approaches to Support Independent Learning in EYFS Provision

Ideally, an early years classroom will allow children to independently access necessary resources without asking. It is useful to get down to a child's level and check that they can reach required resources. Classroom areas can be set up to target skills development for example there may be a box of tissues next to a lidded bin or a role play area with dolls clothes to practise manipulating buttons and zips.

Encourage children to take responsibility for their learning environment

• Make setting up an area of the classroom part of the children's learning experience and daily routine. Children may enjoy learning how to fill up their water table. They can be provided with buckets and bowls with lines drawn on them indicating where to fill to. Through this activity children can learn to count how many buckets are needed to fill the water table and they will gain an understanding of capacity and weight.
• Cleaning resources can be set up next to specific classroom areas such as sand, water and creative zones. Adults can show children what they can do if they make a mess or spillage and children can be praised for effort and success. Letting children take responsibility for cleaning up areas in their own learning environment can introduce key life skills and high levels of independence.
• In order to promote independence it can be beneficial if children have responsibility for looking after something in their learning environment. This may be a small garden, vegetable patch or even a class pet. Shared responsibility helps children to build relationships with other students and to appreciate the importance of their actions.
• Instead of children putting their finished work into a drawer provide them with the opportunity to independently display their work. A wall display could include a photograph of a child with a peg attached so that they can peg their work to the board when they have finished. It is also worth thinking about how children can independently display models they have made in creative and construction classroom zones. This helps to create a positive space where children understand that what they do is recognised and appreciated and a sense of belonging is created.

Developing self care skills in EYFS

• Children will be more inclined to go out and play if they know how to get their outdoor clothing on and off quickly and easily. Pentagon's Coat and Welly Racks make it easier for children to develop routines when they come in from play - especially if they are wet and muddy!
• Taking inspiration from the Reggio Emilia school environment, eyfs classrooms can set up a snack area in a restaurant style. Children can select their own bowl/cutlery/ cup and perhaps choose which snack they would like. Students may learn specific skills such as cutting fruit or buttering toast and they can also be involved with washing, drying and putting away.

Independently Accessing Resources in Provision

• In early years classrooms there will be a wide variety of resources in each learning area. Pentagon Play in collaboration with Millhouse have a range of storage units which help children to engage in independent learning. When resources are permanently accessible to classes they need to be displayed at an appropriate height level in clear containers or shallow baskets which allow children to clearly see what is available. It is important for adults to model how to access and use resources and how to put objects away again once finished.
• Careful consideration also needs to be given to outdoor storage. Pentagon's Acorn Self- Select Store allows resources to be attractively display in boxes on shelves with wipe clean label panels. Resources are kept safe, clean and dry which makes a huge difference to outdoor provision as children can access more resources independently. Children can access resources in order to achieve their own learning outcomes which fosters high levels of independence.
• Small World resources consist of numerous small pieces which need to be carefully displayed in order for them to be effectively used. Once items have been categorised into individual components they can be displayed in labelled baskets on open shelving for maximum visibility. In order for play to be effective children need to be able to start straight away and not spend time rummaging through boxes trying to find what they need.
• A Millhouse Continuous Provision Trolley allows children to readily access art and craft materials. Different coloured paints and brushes can be easily self-selected giving children a high level of independence and allowing them to experiment with paint mixing, texture and creative design. There is even a space on the trolley to install a roll of paper which children can access as required to practise large mark making.
• Create a 'Message Centre' to increase student motivation for mark making. Children can independently practise writing their name or a kind note or picture for another child. This could be independently placed in a tray/ cubby- hole displaying a child's photograph.

Provide Genuine Responsibility

• Allow children to operate different forms of technology such as cameras and auditory and visual recording devices to capture elements of their own learning.
• Cooking is a fantastic activity to do with young children. Students can learn and practise a wide range of life skills as well as showing high levels of independence. Adults can work alongside children as they follow simple recipe instructions to make bread, flapjacks, pizza, fruit kebabs or fairy cakes etc. If recipes are typed out using child-friendly language and photographs adults can provide positive feedback and will only need to intervene when necessary.
• When children gain confidence in cooking skills they will be able to make their own classroom resources such as playdough. When children are given opportunities to demonstrate their ability they will be able to make things for themselves and learn from the process.

Allow for Free Exploration

• Den making is a valuable activity which involves many key skills and promotes student engagement. Pentagon's Den Making Posts can be used in conjunction with different fabrics, tarpaulin and beanbags and cushions creating the perfect space for snack time, sharing a book or role play opportunities. Once children have been shown how to construct a simple den they will be able to do it independently, without adult support. No two dens ever look the same and children will be able to alter their den depending on its purpose.
• Pentagon Play resources provide a wealth of opportunities for a range of curriculum areas. A Play Builder Set can be as useful with 11 year olds as it is with the youngest children. Resources with flexible possibilities allow for creative and inventive use. Children can build castles and boats whenever they want to, without having to ask an adult to do it for them.
• A Construction Table or a Tuff Spot Table from the Pentagon Essentials Range can greatly help in creating exciting table- top spaces for open-ended investigations. We want children to be inspired and intrigued by the learning environment we create.
  • A significant amount of self- initiated learning can take place when children are deeply engaged. Children may be involved in exploring different objects with magnifying glasses, sketching what they can see and recording what they notice. They may use a magnet to sort a collection of items into magnetic or non-magnetic piles. Students could explore items that spin or see if they can create their own birds nest from items available. Written prompts or Talking Tins can provide instructions and suggestions and adults can discover children's findings.
• A Pentagon Water Play Package allows for large scale water play. Children will enjoy the independence of being able to use channels to control the flow of the water. Outdoor water play often results in high-level engagement and opportunities for independent student learning.
• Create 'Grab and Go Kits.' A selection of kits displayed in bags/backpacks on hooks which children can take, explore and use themselves provides motivation for learning. The contents of the bags can be based on children's needs and current interests. The idea is that students can take whichever bag they would like and explore the materials. Ideas could include:
  • A Maths Bag - dominos, beanbags, numbered target
  • An Explorers Bag - magnifying glasses, clipboards, binoculars, trowels, mason jars
  • A Music and Movement Bag - ribbons, scarves, shakers, bells.
• Children working in the Transporting Schema will show interest in moving objects or themselves from one place to another. In order to support independent play in this schema students can be provided with baskets, boxes and containers of various sizes which can be filled and moved around the classroom.
  • Children will enjoy using wheelbarrows and carts to move items in the outdoor area which may involve tending to a garden or vegetable patch. A Rope and Pulley Materials Mover situated in an outdoor learning environment can be independently used by students to lift and transport water, bark or sand.

The Importance of Routines to Promote Independence

Clear and effective routines in the early years help to promote independence. The beginning of the day is often a very busy time. Children need to know exactly what is expected of them such as where they put their coat, bag, water bottle and what items they need to collect.

Students may then be required to independently self-register, complete a question of the day or practise a specific skill whilst the class teacher welcomes and greets learners.

Children then need to know how they are expected to gather to begin the day, where they are required to sit and what expectations are during this time. It is useful to show a visual timetable detailing the various stages and activities of the day.

Songs such as 'Welcome, Come to the Carpet, Tidy Up and Going Home.' can be used throughout the day to indicate key changes. The use of assigned classroom jobs can also be useful in promoting independence. Two students may be chosen to form the 'Classroom Police' who check each of the classroom areas and report back to the group on how tidy and organised they are.

Setting High Expectations

When children are supported and encouraged to think for themselves they often show themselves to be very capable. As educators we need to place importance on promoting independence including children being able to use the learning environment for themselves, to make choices and decisions and to start to develop their own views and preferences.

Early years settings must aim to develop and encourage independence to help students to be self-confident and self-reliant. Children will learn to make their own good decisions including what to play with and which activities to engage with.

EYFS pupils should be encouraged to try new things and take risks, exploring the world around them in a safe space. The more capable children feel about their successes the come comfortable they will feel making mistakes until they learn to make the right decisions.

We want children to be able to think for themselves and to choose different ways of doing things which supports their creativity and critical thinking skills but fostering independence takes time and requires practise. Fostering independence is a continuous process.