Grade level: 1, 2, 3, k, p, e, t.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

This book offers in-depth insights into the revised Early Years Foundation Stage. It provides a broad exploration of the changes in the EYFS and considers how the revised EYFS framework creates both a context for learning and the basis of a curriculum for children from birth to five in early years settings. Focusing on practice, it considers a range of issues arising from the revised EYFS, including the rationale behind the new prime and specific areas of learning, and the new key themes of school readiness and engaging parents. Although the EYFS is a helpful framework for thinking about the relationship between the child, the environment, and learning and teaching at the most significant time in a young child's life, there is limited guidance on how the principles of the EYFS and the areas of learning and development can be put into practice. So if you're looking for further support and guidance on EYFS then this book is the book for you! Key features include: Up-to-date coverage and insight into the revised EYFS Delightful and detailed case studies that help link theory and practice Tips for effective practice Ways to develop teaching and learning appropriately and sensitively in tune with the needs of babies and young children This is essential reading for students who are entering the early years profession as well as for more experienced practitioners. "Ann Langston is one of the most insightful and refreshing writers on early years in the country. In this wonderful book her experience and passion for the EYFS, and for learning and teaching that maximises the life chances of all children, shines powerfully through. This is a tour de force: offering scope and depth in an engaging and informing writing style peppered with fascinating real life vignettes. She begins with principles and ends with a vision for the future. A 'must have' for all those who are privileged to work with young children." Dr Jonathan Doherty, Head of Early Years & Childhood Studies, Faculty of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK "The book provides insightful discussions and examples of practice for working with children birth-five. Topical issues such as liaison with parents or school readiness give pertinent pointers for reflections." Dr Pat Beckley, Bishop Grosseteste University, UK

The unique focus of this book integrates constructivist learning, diversity, and instruction-based assessment, and helps translate principles into practice for teachers of early literacy. The book begins with a brief overview of the recent key national policies and initiatives that have had a significant impact on the teaching of reading and writing at the preschool level. Renowned and respected authors Vukelich, Christie, and Enz describe a continuum of approaches to reading instruction, ranging from emergent literacy to Scientifically-Based Reading Research. They also present their vision of a “blended” approach to teaching literacy that includes the best elements of these diverging views. The authors end this introduction with a set of principles to guide the effective teaching of literacy in preschool and kindergarten classrooms. A Letter to Students from the Authors Dear Student, Helping Young Children Learn Language and Literacy, 2ndedition, is about teaching the language arts –about facilitating reading, writing, speaking, and listening development for children, ages birth through kindergarten. It is intended for preservice and inservice preschool and kindergarten teachers and administrators. The first edition of our book was written in late 1990s and was heavily influenced by the emergent literacy perspective that was dominant at the time. This constructivist view maintains that the best way to teach early literacy is to provide settings and experiences that provide rich, meaningful experiences with language and print. Key emergent literacy strategies include extended classroom discourse, print-rich environments, shared reading, shared writing, and literacy-enriched play. We still believe that these strategies form the core of an effective early literacy program. However, over that past decade, a series of significant national educational events have impacted early literacy education, including the standards movement,No Child Left Behindlegislation, and the use of scientifically-based reading research to make curricular and instructional decisions. The new second edition of our book reflects these important new trends and explains how this new skills-based approach to literacy instruction can be integrated with the earlier constructivist perspective. We advocate blending scientifically-based reading research with the emergent literacy perspective to create a ‘value added’ approach to language and literacy teaching and learning. The second edition contains new content focusing on the “core” knowledge and skills that young children must have to become successful readers: oral vocabulary, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge. Vignettes demonstrate how these skills are directly and systematically taught to young children. We also provide examples of how emergent literacy strategies such as shared reading and shared writing are being used in these same classrooms. We believe that this type of balanced approach to early literacy instruction is the best way to prepare young children to become successful readers and writers. We think that you will find our book to be very user friendly. We provide definitions for key terms and study questions at the beginnings of each chapter and concise summaries at the end. We provide many vignettes, case studies, and “trade secret” examples from master teachers to make learning and teaching come to life. Each chapter ends with a “Linking Knowledge to Practice” feature that helps connect research and theory with the practices that you will observe in preschool and kindergarten classrooms. We hope our text finds its way into your professional library and will become a helpful resource for you as you develop or continue your development as a professional educator. Sincerely, Carol, Jim, and Billie

This work shows that being literate requires more than functional literacy, the recognition of printed words as meaningful. It requires the knowledge of how to use language as a tool for analysing, synthesizing, and integrating what is heard or read in order to arrive at new interpretations.