Teaching strategies | Pedagogical approaches

Teaching strategies/ Pedagogical approaches

Active listening
Encouraging children to lead conversations.
Teachers create opportunities for shared, sustained conversations by listening deeply and thoughtfully to what children are saying and actively responding to their contributions.
This method not only fosters communication skills but also validates children’s thoughts and ideas.

Challenging
Offering children opportunities to extend their knowledge and skills in the context of secure relationships.
Teachers gauge when to offer challenges and opportunities through provocation and reflection that will extend children’s thinking and learning.
By doing so, educators help children push their boundaries in a supportive environment.

Collaborating
Enabling children to take the lead in their learning while working with them to contribute to, rather than dominate, the direction of the experience.
This can also include involving others (e.g. family members and members of the community) who may have particular expertise or knowledge that can inform and support learning.
Collaboration in this manner enriches the learning experience with diverse perspectives.

Direct instruction
Using explicit teaching strategies when other strategies might not be safe or appropriate.
This approach ensures that critical information is conveyed clearly and effectively.
It is particularly useful in situations requiring immediate understanding or safety.

Encouraging
Making comments that support, motivate and encourage children to persist.
This positive reinforcement helps build resilience and confidence in children.
Encouragement can transform challenging tasks into achievable goals.

Explaining
Making ideas and requests clear for children.
This is useful when children want or need to understand a concept or idea.
Clear explanations lay the foundation for deeper comprehension and curiosity.

Gaining prior knowledge
Acquiring information about a child’s previous learning, interests and individual needs.
This helps in tailoring educational experiences that are relevant and engaging.
Understanding a child’s background enhances the effectiveness of teaching strategies.

Giving feedback
Offering constructive, specific feedback on behaviours or actions.
This helps children understand the impact of their actions and how to improve.
Feedback is crucial for growth and development in any learning environment.

Holistic, integrated and interconnected approaches
Holistic approaches recognise the integration and connectedness of all dimensions of children’s learning, development and wellbeing.
When educators take a holistic approach, they pay attention to children’s physical, personal, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing and cognitive aspects of learning.
This comprehensive view supports the whole child, not just academic achievements.

Inquiry based learning
Children pose questions and investigate the answers.
This allows them to they feel in charge of their own learning.
Inquiry-based approaches to learning harness this spirit of investigation, creating an interesting, engaging and meaningful curriculum that uses children’s interests and questions as a starting point for effective learning.
Such methods foster a lifelong love for learning.

Intentionality
Educators are intentional in all aspects of the curriculum and act deliberately, thoughtfully and purposefully to support children’s learning through play.
They recognise that learning occurs in social contexts and that joint attention, interactions, conversations and shared thinking are vitally important for learning.
Intentional teaching maximizes the educational value of every interaction.

Labelling
Labelling emotions expands children’s emotional vocabulary.
Further, identifying emotions is also useful for learning to read other people and what they might be feeling.
This practice aids in emotional intelligence development.

Making connections
Helping children to see relationships and inconsistencies.
Teachers contribute to and extend children’s thinking by comparing their experiences and ideas.
Connecting concepts helps in deeper understanding and critical thinking.

Modelling
Demonstrating a skill or routine.
Teachers gradually release responsibility so children can practise and master the skill or routine.
Modelling provides a clear example for children to emulate.

Narrating
This allows children to be the expert of their play and increases vocabulary.
Narrate what the child is doing without inputting your ideas through questioning “You are making curly lines with the blue crayon”.
Narrating play supports language development and self-awareness.

Negotiating
Working with children to consider their own and others’ perspectives, and develop problem-solving strategies and solutions that cater to the different perspectives.
This skill is essential for social interactions and conflict resolution.
Negotiation teaches empathy and cooperative problem-solving.

Positioning
Placing objects or yourself in particular areas.
You may intentionally place different objects together to promote a learning objective.
Strategic positioning can subtly guide children’s exploration and learning.

Project based learning
Acquire knowledge and skills by working on a project over a period of time.
This method encourages sustained engagement and application of learning.
Projects allow for real-world application of concepts learned.

Prompting recall
Reinforce concepts, solve problems, report on observations or develop concentration.
“Do you remember what happened when tried this?”
Prompting recall helps consolidate memory and learning.

Providing choice
Recognising children’s agency by offering opportunities for children to make safe choices and experience the consequences of their actions.
Provisions for choice need to be considered in the context of relationships and should not place children at risk or in danger.
Supporting children to make choices encourages autonomy and independence.
Choice empowers children and fosters decision-making skills.

Questioning
Open-ended questioning can be used to extend children’s thinking and problem-solving.
Teachers emphasise reasoning and willingness to change thinking when gaining information from questioning.
Effective questioning stimulates higher-order thinking.

Reflecting
Guiding children to reflect on their day and their learning experiences, and to engage in thinking that helps them to build on prior learning.
The process of reflection is strengthened by engaging in high-quality verbal interactions about current learning and what comes next for each child.
Reflection is key to metacognition and continuous improvement.

Repeating child’s language
This validates the child’s communication efforts and reinforces language development.
Repeating helps children feel heard and understood.

Researching
Helping children to gather information to find solutions to problems.
Researching involves asking questions and using a range of sources.
This skill is crucial for independent learning and problem-solving.

Responding to cues
Accurately responding to each infant’s pattern of sleep, hunger, alertness, and need for comfort.
This attunement supports the development of trust and secure attachment.
Cue responsiveness is foundational for early emotional development.

Role play
Role plays involve practising communication skills and discovering what works personally for an individual and what does not work.
Children and educators can engage in role play.
Role play enhances social skills and self-awareness.

Scaffolding
Providing children with a supportive framework for taking the next steps or moving to a higher level of thinking.
Teachers use their knowledge of children’s strengths, interests, ideas and needs to break down skills and routines to guide each child.
Scaffolding ensures that learning is challenging yet achievable.

Serve and return
When an infant or young child babbles, gestures, or cries, and an adult responds appropriately with eye contact, words, or a hug, neural connections are built and strengthened in the child’s brain that support the development of communication and social skills.
This interaction is fundamental for early brain development.
Serve and return interactions are critical for language and social development.

Suggesting
This involves offering children advice, ideas and recommendations about what to do next.
Suggestions can guide children without taking away their autonomy.
Appropriate suggestions can lead to new discoveries and learning opportunities.

Sustained shared thinking
Sustained shared thinking occurs when educators support the development of children’s complex thinking and problem-solving skills by engaging children in open-ended and exploratory conversations.
This collaborative approach deepens understanding and fosters intellectual growth.
Sustained shared thinking promotes higher cognitive functions.