1.
Dr Julian Grenier
grenier@outlook.com
@juliangrenier
Nursery World Business
Summit 2019
What’s important in the
years curriculum?

2.
Today’s
keynote
Listening to children and having
conversations with them
Doing more and remembering more
Designing a curriculum
Assessment, not chores
Bringing it all together for a diverse
workforce

3.
Today’s
keynote
Listening to children and having
conversations with them
Doing more and remembering more
Designing a curriculum
Assessment, not chores
Bringing it all together for a diverse
workforce

4.
It’s not just words
EXPERIENCES CONVERSATIONS

5.
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6.
It’s not
just
words
• The number of ‘conversational turns’
parents have with children aged 18-24
months is a stronger predictor of
verbal comprehension and vocabulary
10 years later than the total number of
words spoken, even after controlling
for socioeconomic status.
• http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/c
ontent/142/4/e20174276

7.
Today’s
keynote
Listening to children and having
conversations with them
Knowing more and remembering more
Designing a curriculum
Assessment, not chores
Bringing it all together for a diverse
workforce

8.
Trikes and
bikes

9.
Knowing more and
remembering more
• Being able to take part in longer
conversations
• Using new vocabulary e.g. the
names of birds, flowers or
minibeasts seen and talked about
during a Forest School session

10.
Knowing
more and
remembering
more
• Knowing the language to use when talking about shapes and
their properties e.g. corner or triangle
• Knowing the words and actions of a finger rhyme; knowing
the words of a song; knowing when a piece of music will get
louder, or quieter and responding to that when playing along
with it; knowing the steps of a dance routine (pop music) or a
traditional dance (e.g. country dancing)

11.
Play is
important
“There is good evidence
that being involved in
imaginative play either
with an adult, or with
other children, is
advantageous in terms
of young children’s
language development.”
Professor David
Whitebread, University
of Cambridge

12.
Pretend play
• Pretend play helps children to develop their understanding of
their own thinking, the understanding of others, and to co-
operate (and control their impulses)
• David Whitebread: self-regulation, in some ways, is the
strongest predictor of success. If you can regulate your
attention at four, you are more likely to do well in school and
go onto university.

13.
Knowledge is ‘sticky’
Once you know some things, it’s easier to know more

14.
Ordering and
sequencing
• Strong foundations: does it stand together?
• Why this? Why now?

15.
Today’s
keynote
Listening to children and having
conversations with them
Doing more and remembering more
Designing a curriculum
Assessment, not chores
Bringing it all together for a diverse
workforce

16.
Tracking
• The main use of assessment is to help us plan the resources,
routines and teaching so that children make progress.
• Confidence, fluency and secure understanding matter
• Much of our current assessment practice in the early years is
ineffective and incredibly time-consuming

17.
Available for play and conversation?

18.
Today’s
keynote
Listening to children and having
conversations with them
Doing more and remembering more
Designing a curriculum
Assessment, not chores
Bringing it all together for a diverse
workforce

19.
Support and professional
development
• Beware of fads and one-offs
• What are the best bets?
• Consider how much time will you
need to spend on support and
implementation

20.
• How high-quality interactions extend children’s development
• The relevance of self-regulation to children’s educational success
• The links between early language development and later literacy
• Mathematical and scientific concept development in the early years
• Ways to use observation, assessment of practice and planning to improve quality
• The importance of early home learning and connections across ECEC settings and the home
learning environment
• The relevance of leadership for learning for children’s development and ways to improve it

21.
For ‘best bets’
check out the EEF’s
Early Years Toolkit

22.
Find out more
What happened to curriculum in the
early years?
Development Matters: A good start?
Newham’s Early Years Conference
with Gill Jones HMI, Wendy Ratcliff HMI
and Jan Dubiel: tickets available on 9th
and 10th January 2020 in Stratford East
London
Film clip from Siren Films: video-based
training