Translating research about child neuroscience into practice in education
is a daunting prospect for most practitioners. In fact, many see it as
fraught with difficulties and risky. However, the importance of this
research has never been more important. The context of the early years
in the UK, has seen considerable changes within recent years, with a
raft of government regulation and guidance, and a national move to free
childcare entitlement at increasingly earlier ages. Combined with a
mounting pressure for accountability in 'Closing the Gap' between
disadvantaged children and those more fortunate, these pressures make it
fundamental that those working with young children understand what
neuroscience is telling us, and more important, what it is not.
Practitioners, teachers managers, and governors in settings and schools
will not only be called to account for the attainment of their children,
as measured in tests, but in the way children are prepared for lifelong
earning, which will support them for the rest of their school lives and
beyond.
This book is a comprehensive position statement for practitioners that
highlights: where we are now; what we know; what we don't know; what
research developments mean for practitioners and setting, and how this
fits in with the government expectations within the EYFS framework.
Sally Featherstone covers the current thinking in educational research
and neuroscience, how some of this has been misinterpreted by 'early
adopters' or 'over-enthusiastic promoters', and how new information can
help practitioners to be more effective in their work with young
children.
