How the Early Years Learning Framework Can Help Shift Pervasive Beliefs of the Social and Emotional Capabilities of Infants and Toddlers

Abstract

The introduction of Belonging, Being and Becoming: the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) offers the potential for a change in collective thinking about the social and emotional capabilities of infants and toddlers. Classical theories of young children's development have held that infants and toddlers are egocentric in being and engage predominantly in solitary play. Common perceptions of important social behaviours such as social and emotional perception, action and understanding are thought to develop primarily in the preschool years. Grounded in an image of the child as able to contribute to his or her own learning, the strong theoretical base of the EYLF affords a view of infants and toddlers as intentional and active participants in their world. This article explores popular societal misconceptions of the social and emotional capacities of infants and toddlers, and uses both psychological and contextual research to put forth a more accurate view. Reflection on the philosophical grounding of the EYLF shows the place of infants and toddlers within it, while examples in practice of observations of children and interpretations of educators help support this. Discussion of a strengths-based view of using the EYLF to document and communicate the learning of infants and toddlers shows how early childhood professionals can act as advocates to reconceptualise towards a common view of infants and toddlers as active learners.

Infants and toddlers: how visible are they in the Early Years Learning Framework?

“…In contrast, the EYLF has not distinguished between pedagogy and outcomes for children under 2 years compared with those for older children (Salamon 2011;Sumsion et al 2009). One explanation for the decision to avoid referring explicitly to the distinct developmental and learning requirements of infants, toddlers and older children has been offered by the authors of the EYLF: '… because of its potential to position infants and toddlers as 'other' in ways that focus on their vulnerabilities, not their capabilities' (Sumsion et al 2009, p. 9).…”

“…The challenge of 'locating' the teaching and learning of under 2-year-old children in the EYLF was raised by Salamon (2011) who, while advocating that the EYLF has the potential to be applicable to children across the entire prior to school age range, admits that 'it could be said that the discourse of the document does not easily reflect this' (p. 5). Salamon argued that the onus is on educators and educational leaders to 'find' references to infants and toddlers in the EYLF document and to understand their relevance to children of this age group.…”

Toddler agency and conversation analysis

“…Piaget's theory of stages of development: Piaget, 1959) still categorises toddlers as egocentric and unable to play well with others. Although stage theories like Piaget's have been critiqued, these deficit views still dominate the discourse (Salamon, 2011), with catch phrases like the 'terrible twos' still being widely used by parents and carers alike, and social commentators making claims like…”

Pursuing Better Childhoods and Futures through Curriculum: Utopian Visions in the Development of Australia's Early Years Learning Framework

“…Early indications from analyses and commentary to date, by academics (for example, Grieshaber, 2010;Krieg, 2011;Millei & Sumsion, 2011) and practitioners (for example, Salamon, 2011) [4], appear to warrant some optimism about the Framework's capacity to generate lines of flight. Our future mapping will endeavour to gauge the trajectories and effects of these lines of flight, and ways in which the Framework might be deterritorialising (undoing) and reterritiorialising (remaking) thinking about better childhoods and futures.…”