Foundations of Teaching: ECE Teaching and Learning Report

This report examines the foundations of teaching and learning within the context of Early Childhood Education (ECE). It explores the significance of ECE pedagogy and teaching approaches in Australia, emphasizing the importance of meeting the unique needs of young children aged birth to eight years. The report highlights the roles and responsibilities of ECE teachers, including planning, facilitation, and addressing children's physical and emotional needs. It also delves into the creation of safe and secure learning environments, the application of play-based learning practices, and the promotion of neurological development. The report references key figures like John Dewey and Maria Montessori, and emphasizes the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). The report also discusses the importance of teachers' roles, responsibilities, safe learning environments, and the promotion of neurological development in a play-based environment.

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Foundation of Teaching and Learning
Name
Institution

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Foundation of Teaching and Learning
Group 1 Query: 2-Pedagogy and Teaching (W3)
Teaching and learning is a life-long process begins from birth and continues throughout
one’s life. Early Childhood Education (ECE) is the teaching of children. In ECE, children are
regarded as young people who are between the age of birth to eight years. Children in this
category are supposed to acquire a kind of education that is offered to them using a special ECE
pedagogy and teaching approaches. The teaching provided to the ECE learners should be an
appropriate one that is designed to meet their unique needs.
In Australia, ECE should not just be given according to the individual teacher’s wish.
Rather, teaching should be guided by the ECE pedagogy that has been designed and rolled-out
for the teaching of children. Children should be given attention because they are at the
foundation of the education process (Davis, Torr & Degotardi, 2015). Hence, for a teacher to be
effective in the teaching of children, he or she should have a sound knowledge of the ECE
teaching pedagogies (Fettig & Artman-Meeker, 2016). Meaning, the teacher should undergo a
training process in which he or she acquires the required practical and theoretical knowledge on
the teaching of the pre-school children. A competent ECE teacher should, therefore, be a diverse,
flexible, and all-round expert who is guided by a high-degree of professionalism (Dudley, Cotton
& Peralta, 2015). Such a teacher should always dedicate his or her tie for the service of the
learners and take all the necessary steps to ensure that the teaching and learning process is done
appropriately.
One of the major components of ECE teaching is that it should accommodative and
participative. According to John Dewey, an ECE teaching and learning process should give a

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child an opportunity to use its creativity to explore and freely interact with the environment.
Meaning, the teaching and learning process should be pragmatic and hands-on (Daniels, Radil &
Goegan, 2017). The teacher, as a custodian of knowledge, should be at the fore-front of
facilitating the learning process by giving the learners an opportunity to explore and freely
interact with the immediate surroundings. This should be done by allowing the children to play
(De Melendez & Beck, 2018). Playing is recommended because it enables the children to explore
their immediate environment and get to know about what it offers.
The other significant component of an ideal ECE teaching process is that it should be
offered in an interactive environment. According to Maria Montessori, ECE teaching and
learning environment should be done in an interactive environment that involves the
participation of the teacher and the learner (Neumann & Neumann, 2017). Although the teacher
is the custodian of knowledge, he or should not dominate the classroom, but should allow the
children to participate in the process. Learners can be encouraged to take part in the teaching and
learning process, but the teacher should take a leading role in observing the learners,
encouraging, guiding, and correcting any mistakes that they make in the course of their studies.
These can make teaching and learning process to have a positive impact on the learners.
Group 2 Query: 2-Safe and Secure Learning Environments (W7)
ECE teaching can take place both in a formal and informal setting. Whereas a formal
teaching takes place in a classroom setup, an informal process occurs in a non-classroom
environment such as at home in which the kids are taught by the parents, older siblings, and care-
takers. However, whichever the case, it is a common expectation that the process should have a
positive impact on the learners. For this to happen, there are certain conditions that must be met.

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One of such conditions is that the teaching and learning process should occur in a safe
and secure environment. The delivery of the content in a safe and secure environment is a
condition that must be adhered to by all the ECE teachers because it is a major element of the
Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) which emphasizes that a typical ECE teaching
environment should be safe to all the learners. The teaching and learning process can be effective
if offered in a secure environment in which the learners feel safe at all times (Lipponen, Rajala,
Hilppö & Paananen, 2016). To be safe, it means that the environment does not threaten the
safety of the kids in any way. Safety, in this context entails physical, emotional, and cognitive
security. Children are so vulnerable. So, they must be placed to learn in a safe environment. It is,
therefore, incumbent upon he teacher to guarantee the safety of the learners no matter what it
takes to do so.
The learning environment can be made safe and secure by taking a number of steps.
First, the teacher should ensure that the teaching process takes place in an environment with
which the learners are familiar. The learning environment can be made familiar by availing the
playing materials and teaching aids that the learners identify with. Besides, the teaching process
should take place in the presence of the people with which the children are familiar such as
friends, siblings or even parents (Shahali, Halim, Treagust, Won & Chandrasegaran, 2017). The
delivery of teaching content in a safe and secure environment is commendable because it can
advantage the learners in many ways. Most importantly, it can facilitate the learning process by
instilling confidence in the learners and encouraging them to acquire knowledge that can
positively-impact on them. A teacher who is committed to providing an effective teaching
process to the ECE learners, hence, has no choice, but to offer a safe and secure environment for
the learners.

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In conclusion, ECE teaching and learning process should take place in a safe and
secure environment. EYLF, in particular, emphasizes that the teaching and learning process
should be safe and secure because it benefits the learners. Safety and security is necessary
because it creates favorable learning environment that can accommodate all the learners
regardless of their uniqueness. Thus, to achieve this, the teacher should do everything possible
within his or her capacity to guarantee safety by making the learning process to be interactive
and accommodative.
Group 3 Query: 1-Teacher Roles and Responsibilities (W2)
The education system is run by the teachers. A teacher is a specialist who has
undergone training and is equipped with the skills and competencies to use in the instructional
(teaching) process. In ECE, teachers are required because of the significant role that they play in
the teaching and learning process. Without teachers, nothing can be attained whatsoever. This
means that teachers play a pivotal role in ECE, courtesy of the role and responsibilities that they
execute.
The first role of the teacher in ECE is planning. As trained experts, teachers use their
skills to plan for the entire teaching process. Planning must be done because teaching is a lengthy
process that involves different activities. Planning is one of the most important activities in the
teaching and learning process (Nisbet & Shucksmith, 2017). So, as professionals, teachers are
required to be in charge of planning. Meaning, it is the teachers who should organize for the
lesson, select the content, and avail all the aids that are used as teaching resources in class
(Lipponen, et al., 2016). It is only thorough planning that the teaching and learning process can
be successfully-executed.

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The second roe of the ECE teachers is to facilitate the teaching and learning process.
The teacher has got special knowledge that he or she use to teach the learners (Keegan, 2016).
Facilitation incorporates many activities including the management of classroom, organizing of
the learners, and teaching of the content, using the teaching aids, and manipulating the teaching
resources, and managing all the teaching activities such as supervision, monitoring, issuance, and
evaluation of assignments (Shahali, et al., 2017). The teacher should be at the fore-front of
facilitating the process because he serves as an authority who determines and have power to
exercise control over what happens in the class.
Last, but not least, the teacher has a role to provide for the psychological and physical
needs of the pre-school children. In an ECE setup, there are young learners who not only require
academic support, but have to meet other needs such as food, and clothing (Poulton & James,
2018). So, apart from teaching academic knowledge, the teachers have a role to feed the kids,
clean them, comfort them, and change their clothes and diapers whenever a need arises (Uibu,
Salo, Ugaste & Rasku-Puttonen, 2017). All these should be done because the pre-school children
cannot do them on their own without the support of the teachers. All these should be done in
collaboration with the parents.
In conclusion, pre-school teachers have certain roles and responsibilities that they must
discharge. Dealing with kids is quite demanding because they are dependent on the teachers for
all kinds of assistance and attention. Hence, a passionate ECE teacher should dedicate his or her
time to plan for instructions, facilitate the teaching and learning process, and provide all the
physical and emotional support to the learners. These are challenging tasks that require lots of
commitment, dedication, and passion.

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References
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