86 | Quality Early Learning
KEY ELEMENTS OF HIGH-QUALITY ECE PEDAGOGY The Nature and Quality of Adult-Child Relationships The role of the ECE educator is most effectively that of facilitator and guide rather than instructor. This has been referred to as a “relational” rather than an instructional pedagogy (Papatheodorou and Moyles 2008). Numerous studies have shown that direct instruction from an adult has short-term advantages in relation to learning specific facts, but that more indirect adult “scaffolding” of children’s exploratory play and learning has longer-term advantages in supporting children’s development as learners (Bonawitz et al. 2011). Extensive research has demonstrated that curiosity is both intrinsic to children’s development and can be fostered or inhibited by social interactions between ECE educators and children (Engel 2011).Young children naturally ask a lot of questions of adults about their experiences and are constantly testing out their ideas about the world in which they live (Butler, Ronfard, and Corriveau 2020; Gopnik, Meltzoff, and Kuhl 1999). In highquality relational pedagogy, educators support young children to develop these natural and powerful ways in which the young human brain is adapted to learn. They do this by paying close attention to children’s interests and exploration and helping them pursue these interests to extend their learning, a process called scaffolding. Research on scaffolding has indicated a range of behaviors that the adult educator can use to provide the most effective support for children as developing learners. These behaviors involve close observations of children’s exploratory inquiries and problemsolving, showing interest in what the child or children are attempting, sympathetically making suggestions that will extend their ideas and explorations, and providing support that is contingent on their level of understanding, that is, providing more direct support when they are struggling and standing back when they are making good progress (Gillespie and Greenberg 2017; Wood, Bruner, and Ross 1976). Numerous studies of early “episodes of joint attention” between adults and young children (Tomasello and Farrar 1986), of “sustained shared thinking” (Siraj-Blatchford 2007), and of classrooms supporting children’s self-regulation (Perry 1998) have shown the value of adult scaffolding of young children’s learning. Evidence from motivational research has also shown that an approach that supports children’s sense of autonomy, of competence (or selfefficacy), and of self-worth enhances their belief in themselves as learners and their resilience and perseverance—all aspects that are necessary for their development as powerful and self-motivated learners (Deci and Ryan 2008). The nature and quality of adult-child relationships and the role of the educator as scaffolder and guide are key; in addition, there is very strong
