The revised Victorian Early Years Learning and Development

Framework:Supporting the cycle of teaching and learning

through the early yearsCaroline Cohrssen

(University of Melbourne)

in discussion with

Carmel Phillips and Mary Holwell(Victorian Curriculum and

Assessment Authority)

Presentation focus• Some answers to why, what and how questions

• Child competencies are highly variable; the VEYLDF learning outcomes support planning differentiated teaching for every child

• Smoothing transitions from the home learning environment through early childhood education and care, and into the early years of school

DefinitionsPlay-based learning:

“A context for learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they engage actively with people, objects and representations.”(DEEWR, 2009, p. 9)

Numeracy:“Includes understandings about numbers, structure and pattern, measurement, spatial awareness and data, as well as mathematical thinking, reasoning and counting.”(VEYLDF, 2016, p. 36)

Victorian Curriculum F-10•Number, measurement and geometry, statistics and probability are common aspects of most people’s mathematical experience….• Focuses on developing increasingly sophisticated and refined mathematical understanding, fluency, reasoning, modelling and problem-solving. • (To) enable students to respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations by employing mathematics to make informed decisions and solve problems efficiently.

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VEYLDF

Revised VEYLDF• Elaborated Practice Principles• Learning and development outcomes link to the Victorian Curriculum F-10• Transitions ensure learning continuity

- Home learning environment- Early childhood settings- Early years of school

Increased emphasis in the revised VEYLDF• Respect for Aboriginal culture in all children• Sensitivity to all children and their families• Learning from birth, including learning for very young children• Learning

- ‘A key role of each early childhood professional is to build children’s confidence, sense of wellbeing and security, and their motivation to engage actively in learning with others’ (p. 7)

• Assessment• ‘The unique attributes of each child…must be taken into

account when assessing their learning and development’ (p. 6)

Eight Practice Principles• Reflective practice• Partnerships with families• High expectations for every child• Respectful relationships and responsive engagement• Equity and diversity• Assessment for learning and development• Integrated teaching and learning approaches• Partnerships with professionals

Align with Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

Examples:Standard 1: Know students and how they learnStandard 5:Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

Why focus on numeracy across birth to Age 8?• Learning is cumulative, commences from birth, influenced by the home learning environment (Niklas, Cohrssen & Tayler, 2016)

•Highly variable exposure to ‘maths talk’ (Klibanoff et al., 2006)

• Early maths skills predict literacy and numeracy success (Duncan et al., 2007)

• Play, supported by focussed ‘maths talk’, sets up authentic conceptual learning• Conceptual learning supported by real-world applications (MacDonald & Lowrie, 2011)

• Learning takes place when teachers encourage children’s meta-cognitive processes – reflecting on and communicating the mathematical ideas that emerge in their play (Perry & Dockett, 2007)

What do EC professionals need to know?• Subject content knowledge• Framework and curriculum•Understanding of learners’ mathematical thinking•How to design activities that address specific learning objectives

(Zhang & Stevens, 2013)Supporting concept development, providing feedback that supports learning and and encouraging language use required varying levels of teacher engagement:

Some context, before we consider the ‘How’…• Increasing emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics in early learning• Challenging, if early childhood educators have been trained as education generalists•Highly variable understanding; multiple influences

- In some Indigenous Australian languages, spatial information encoded in absolute terms (Boroditsky, 2011)

VEYLDF Victorian Curriculum F- 10

How? Support conceptual understanding

Problem-solvingHow do you get to Kindergarten?- Finding answers to relevant and authentic questions

• VEYLDF Learning Outcome: Learning• Victorian Curriculum F-10:

Mathematics: Statistics and Probability; Number and Algebra; Measurement and Geometry

Source: Joy Chen, Kindergarten teacher,Raleigh Street Child Care Centre, Melbourne

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Support conceptual understandingProblem-solving: Which book shall we read?- relevant and authentic contexts

• VEYLDF Learning Outcome: Learning• Victorian Curriculum F-10:

Mathematics: Statistics and Probability; Number and Algebra; Measurement and Geometry

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Problem-solvingWhat shape is a soccer ball?

• VEYLDF Learning Outcome: Learning• Victorian Curriculum F-10:

Mathematics: Measurement and Geometry

Support conceptual understanding

Source: Ben de Quadros-Wander, Kindergarten teacher, The University of Melbourne Early Learning Centre, Abbottsford

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‘If young children can see and understand “brontosaurus”, they can do the same for “octagon’’ (Lee & Ginsburg, 2009, p. 39)

Source: Ben de Quadros-Wander, Kindergarten teacher, The University of Melbourne Early Learning Centre, Abbottsford

VEYLDF Learning Outcome: CommunicationVictorian Curriculum: Mathematics: Measurement and Geometry

Formative assessment - definition“Within the field of early years education, we define assessment as the process of observing, recording and documenting what children do, say, make, write or draw in order to make educational decisions that will facilitate each child's progress and maximise socio-emotional and academic outcomes” (Tayler & Ishimine, 2013, p.285).

Ongoing formative assessment• Diverse sources of evidence of

children’s mathematical thinking such as drawing, painting, dance and plan multi-modal learning experiences

• Purposeful learning experiences have clear learning objectives to support child assessment and teacher reflection/evaluation

• Dialogic questions – open-ended questions – invite children to articulate their understanding and make connections

• Assessing children’s understanding and evaluating the learning experience informs the next cycle – and so the cycles continue

“It’s a helicopter.” (Felix, aged 2:7)

(Deans & Cohrssen, 2015)

Focus on formative assessmentIndividual representations of quantity

Assessing children’s understanding and reasoning informs next steps - planning for differentiated teaching

A row of flowers representing 10. Increasing quantity was linked to increasing volume on the computer(Pollitt , Cohrssen, Church, & Wright, 2015).

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Project based learningSetting up 0pportunities for purposeful observations to support formative assessment

Cohrssen, C., De Quadros-Wander, B., Page, J. & Klarin, S. (In press.) Between the big trees: A project-based approach to investigating shape and spatial thinking in a kindergarten program. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. Accepted 5 September 2016.

Source: The University of Melbourne Early Learning

Centre, Abbottsford

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(Cohrssen et al., In press.)

(Cohrssen et al., in press)

ConclusionsThe revised VEYLDF:

• Recognises interconnected outcomes• Supports the cycle of teaching and learning• Emphasises the importance of formative assessment to support differentiated interventions for children• Smooths transitions for all children along individual learning trajectories• Supports continuity of teaching and learning through explicit links to the Victorian Curriculum

Questions and discussion

Revised VEYLDF CONTACT DETAILS

Carmel PhillipsManager, Early Years Unit Victorian Curriculum and Assessment AuthorityEmail : phillips.carmel.j@edumail.vic.gov.au Subscribe to the e-Alerthttp://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/earlyyears/subscribe.aspx

ReferencesBoroditsky, L. (2011). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62-65.Cohrssen, C., De Quadros-Wander, B., Page, J. & Klarin, S. (In press.) Between the big trees: A project-based approach to investigating shape and spatial thinking in a kindergarten program. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. Accepted 5 September 2016.Deans, J., & Cohrssen, C. (2015). Children dancing mathematical thinking. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(3), 61-67. Department of Education and Training. (2016). Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Melbourne, VIC: Department of Education and Training.Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations. (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming: the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF). Canberra: Council of Australian Governments.Duncan, G. J., Claessens, A., Huston, A., Pagani, L., Engel, M., Sexton, H., . . . Duckworth, K. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428-1446. Klibanoff, R., Levine, S., Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., & Hedges, L. (2006). Preschool children's mathematical knowledge: the effect of teacher "math talk". Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 59-69. MacDonald, A., & Lowrie, T. (2011). Developing measurement concepts within context: Children's representations of length. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23, 27-42. Niklas, F., Cohrssen, C., & Tayler, C. (2016.) Parents supporting learning: A non-intensive intervention supporting literacy and numeracy in the home learning environment. International Journal of Early Years Education. DOI: 10.1080/09669760.2016.1155147Perry, B., & Dockett, S. (2007). Play and mathematics. Retrieved from Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) website.Pollitt, R., Cohrssen, C., Church, A., & Wright, S. (2015). Thirty-one is a lot! Assessing four-year-old children's number knowledge during an open-ended activity. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(1), 13-22.Tayler, C. & Ishimine, K. (2013) Assessment. In Pendergast, D & Garvis, S (Eds), Teaching Early Years: Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Australia: Allen & Unwin. (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Victorian Curriculum Foundation-10. Retrieved from http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Zhang, Q., & Stephens, M. (2013). Utilising a construct of teacher capacity to examine national curriculum reform in mathematics. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25(4), 481-502.