The area I have chosen to cover for my Early years presentation is circletime. This is an area I have researched in detail and feel is very important for young childrens development

University Degree Education and Teaching

Early Years Circletime Presentation- Rationale.

The area I have chosen to cover for my Early years presentation is circletime. This is an area I have researched in detail and feel is very important for young children’s development, especially in the Early Years. Circle time gives children the opportunity to share their feelings and emotions and to develop their talking and listening skills. Circle time is also an effective way for children to develop self awareness. This is important for building their self confidence and a feeling of identity. This is particularly important for young children as it allows them to get to know their class members better and will hopefully reduce any prejudice or stereotyping that may be built up between pupils in the classroom. One main advantage of circle time is offering the children the ability to speak out and communicate their views and feelings to their class members. This is incredibly important for children’s educational development and should be recognised as an area to focus on in the Early Years. The National Curriculum states that:

‘Children’s first approach to language is through listening and talking. Talk is often the first record of any individual or group in response to events and preparation for action. It is our prime means of communication and it is proper that its importance should be recognised in the curriculum in schools’. (The National Curriculum 1999)

Circletime is an effective way of showing to the children that their opinions really matter and that people are interested in them and the way they are feeling. Giving the children a chance to express themselves freely will enhance their self esteem and will hopefully help them to develop the skills and attitudes necessary to act responsibly now and as adults. Circle time is extremely good for children’s development and has advantages such as:

‘Circle Time provides the ideal group listening system for enhancing children’s self esteem, promoting moral values, building a sense of team and developing social skills’. (Mosley, J, 1997, p33)

The context in which I have chosen to set my situation and training is a school where circle time is rarely used. The school has a very high rate of bullying and children struggle to form friendships. The recent ofsted report states that PSHE teaching is unsatisfactory and there is little positive interaction between children whilst working in the classroom. In a recent staff meeting the teachers all expressed a feeling of uncertainty with regards to circletime; they were unsure of the benefits of circletime, what to include in a circletime session, and also how a circletime session should be structured. I therefore feel that a staff development session with regards to circletime may be able to increase staff member’s knowledge of the subject, and also encourage them to use circletime more in their planning and teaching. As there are a high percentage of children who have admitted they are unhappy at school and find it hard to form friendships, I feel that an increase in the use of circletime in school may allow children to start expressing their feelings towards each other and ways to improve friendships. Team building games may also help them to form friendships and get to know each other properly. Teachers can use circletime as a way of delivering the citizenship curriculum and for teaching areas such as sharing and managing feelings. Examining the qualities of friendship could also be covered during this session. In the past this has often led to an improvement in children’s overall development and Mosley suggests:

‘Discipline has improved and pupils’ self esteem risen since ‘circle work’ was introduced in Wiltshire primaries’. (Mosley. J, 2001,p16)

I therefore feel that staff being trained on why circle time can be effective and given some ideas of the types of games to be used would be very beneficial to the whole school.

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‘Discipline has improved and pupils’ self esteem risen since ‘circle work’ was introduced in Wiltshire primaries’. (Mosley. J, 2001,p16)

I therefore feel that staff being trained on why circle time can be effective and given some ideas of the types of games to be used would be very beneficial to the whole school.

In order to be able to improve certain aspects of teaching in the school and to ensure that staff members are trained effectively it is important that the leadership and management is effective within school. To be able to improve as a school it is important that there is a school improvement plan in place clearly showing the areas of progression and where training is needed. It is also important that there is a good team ethos and that all staff feel valued. As part of my training session I aim to use games and discussion to ensure that all members of the staff team are heavily involved in the training and that their opinions are wanted and valued. Before planning my training session I was able to research my chosen area so that the information I will be providing at the training session is up to date and relevant to the particular context in which the staff are working.

I am very aware of how some teachers may feel quite threatened by the introduction of new ideas to the classroom and some staff members may resent being told that their method of teaching is not as effective as it could be. When researching this area I found this quotation very interesting:

‘The extent to which change is well planned, sensitively handled, appropriately timed and sufficiently resourced or a loosely conceived, loosely implemented program of action will depend on the leader’s understanding of the process of change and its implementation in an organisational setting.’ (Rodd, 1998, p127)

I hope that after my introduction of circletime to the group that the staff team will be open to any suggestions of change and that if this change is well organised and structured then it will be more likely to expand the children’s learning and also to increase teacher’s knowledge of other areas of the curriculum. After the introduction of circletime to the group I hope to make this an ongoing theme and to offer more training to members of the group. To ensure that this training is wanted and will be beneficial it will also be important to communicate clearly with all members of the team and to evaluate progress continuously and make sure everybody’s views and opinions are listened to.

It is extremely important that I am able to lead colleagues effectively and have a commitment to training which will benefit both the staff and the children. As Dean reminds us:

‘Effective leadership is particularly concerned with establishing the kind of relationships with those you lead which allow you to lead them forward. They must trust you to work for the good of the community which means their good as well as the children’s good.’ (Dean, J. 1877, p7)

In order to lead and manage a team effectively it is important that the staff team are working together and that they are able to build up relationships between the members to ensure they are working together for the good of the school. To lead the team effectively it is my duty to increase staff expertise and confidence and offer support to any colleagues who feel this may be necessary. During my session I will be introducing the idea of circle time and I hope to offer inspiration to the teachers with regards to this activity and I also hope to make them feel enthusiastic about using it in their teaching. As part of leadership I hope to be able to offer an idea of where I hope the change will lead to; such as a decrease in bullying, and the improvements that this will offer to the learning activities going on within the school.

One particular reason I feel offering training on circletime will be beneficial is due to the fact that the majority of the teachers are quite confused about how circletime can fit into the curriculum and how it can contribute to children relating better to one another in the classroom. Mosley highlights the struggle some teachers face when she says:

‘Some teachers, immersed in the sudden flurry of new books and materials relating to Circle Time, without access to an understanding of the whole model, have found themselves struggling to find a way forward’. (Mosley, J, 1997, p7)

I have therefore planned a staff training session with a focus on the introduction of circletime into the classroom. I will begin the session with a very brief introduction to circletime and what it involves. As many teachers do not use circletime in their lessons and lack confidence in teaching it I have aimed to keep the information quite brief and to the point. I have selected some points which relate directly to the problems of bullying which are apparent in the school and have listed the positive effects circletime can have on the children’s behaviour and development.

The training will begin by me introducing circletime, with the accompaniment of a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting the key points. From past training sessions I have learnt that members of the team work in a variety of ways and many people find information a lot easier to take in if they have a visual resource to look at throughout the session. I have made copies of the PowerPoint presentation for every member of the group so they can follow the on screen presentation on their individual copy if they prefer. I have made the key benefits of using circletime quite brief and decided to only use three points which were relevant to the problems the school is currently having with the issue of bullying.

In order to then get the whole team participating in the training from the outset I have planned to introduce a circletime game which everybody can be involved in quite early on into the training session. I feel that this is important as not all members of the team will actively make themselves involved in the training but by introducing games where everybody has to work together it will hopefully ensure that the whole group are involved. The game I have planned to use involves each member of the team going into the middle of the circle and creating a dance move for the rest of the group to follow. They then return back to the circle and the next person will take their go. Not only would this be an excellent game for the children to play, I also feel that this game is an excellent way to boost the team’s moral and to hopefully build their enthusiasm with regards to circletime games from the beginning of the session. Some members of the group may find this harder than others so I will offer the opportunity for them to ‘pass’ when it comes to their turn if they do not feel comfortable taking part. Offering the opportunity to pass on your turn is also something that the teachers can offer to children in the group when they start to run circletime sessions, as some children will not yet have the confidence to join in and may prefer to watch and listen.

Instead of delivering a talk about my chosen topic, I have chosen to structure the training session as if it were a circle time session. From past experience I have found that if a training session comprises of one person standing and talking from a script for a period of time it can become very boring and doesn’t necessarily suit the learning style of all members of the group. During my circle time session I hope to include aspects that will suit all learning styles, this includes information being delivered by the speaker, being given information through a handout, and interactive learning where all members are actively involved. Structuring my training session in this way will allow the teachers to see and feel exactly what it will be like for the children during their circle time sessions. I also feel that using this as part of any staff training could be effective as:

‘Using circletime for staff meetings and in-service courses would also benefit teachers, since a major cause of stress in any working environment is lack of consultation and the feeling that your opinions are not being considered’. (Circletime website, tutorial 1, accessed 04/03/2005)

After introducing the idea of circletime games to the group I then hope to encourage individual members of the team to work in small groups to discuss their feelings and experiences. This particular activity could also be used with children but I felt it would be beneficial for a staff training session to allow team members to talk with each other about any worries or area of concern they may have. Giving the staff members this opportunity will also hopefully allow them to see how this circletime activity would be beneficial for a group of children who are finding it hard to form friendships or who may be the victims of bullying in the school. Giving the staff members a chance to express any worries and concerns will hopefully increase communication between the team and this should result in a more effective school. Everald warns us that:

‘When many groups in the school (departments, heads of department committees, pastoral teams, etc.) fail to work at peak efficiency, then the effectiveness of the whole school organisation suffers’. (KB, Everald. 1996, p156)

I also thought that this small activity, where team members work in groups of two and three would also be taking into account the members of the team who don’t always feel comfortable working in a large group and may not be as outgoing and willing to share their views with the rest of the group. This may also be helpful to use in a classroom when introducing circletime, as children may find it easier talking in small groups to begin with, and then progressing to talking as a whole class. According to the ‘Belbin Self-Perception Inventory’ a team will often comprise of several types of characters who will not always learn and take in information in a similar way. According to this inventory, team members are given different titles according to the role they take within the group. Often ‘plants’ and ‘shapers’ find it hard to relate to the rest of the group and share ideas, and may lack confidence or be intolerant of other peoples views and opinions. By asking people to work in small groups or in pairs they may be able to share views in small groups and this also gives the opportunity for individuals in the group to be heard and feel that their opinions are listened to. Being given an opportunity to express your feelings is important, especially for teachers who feel that there often isn’t time for this kind of discussion.

‘Teachers need at least one staff meeting per half-term where they don’t have to discuss ‘business’ or National Curriculum issues, but can instead focus on their feelings.’ (Mosley J, 1997, p8)

Once individuals in the group have been given a chance to talk about their feelings with others I then felt this would be a good opportunity to ask for some feedback as to how helpful this activity was at getting people talking to one another. By asking the group to discuss their initial impressions of circle time and how useful they found the activity it will be helpful for me to find out where the training session might lead and whether further time is needed to carry on the discussion. If the group seem to have a general feeling that circletime can be positive and are eager to learn more then this would be a good opportunity to lead the session on further, but if the group seem negative this would be a good opportunity to carry on the discussion further and recap on the benefits circletime can bring to the classroom. As the leader of the session it will also be my role to sum up key points being made by individuals and to be able to move the discussion forwards. As is started here, the leader’s role involves:

‘You not only need to be aware of the direction of the discussion yourself, but must also make others aware of it. This means summing up from time to time in the course of the discussion, perhaps showing points of agreement and difference and moving the discussion on’. (Dean, J. 1987, p141)

In order to recap on some of the important points covered during the training I have designed a quiz for the end of the session, where I have planned to ask the group to go into three smaller groups and work together to complete the quiz. Again this is another opportunity to work together in a small team, using each individual’s skills and abilities to recap the main discussion points covered through the session.

As well as asking the group to discuss their views on circle time and how effective they have found the games and activities covered during the session I will also ask them to evaluate the session at the end, highlighting the areas of the training they really enjoyed and also, the areas which they feel could have been improved. This will also be helpful for myself for future training sessions as I will have a better understanding of the kinds of activities individuals find helpful and which areas to concentrate on in the future. I feel that planning to use a variety of interactive methods throughout the session, as well as ensuring all information is available in different formats; will result in as many individuals in the group being involved in the session as possible and hopefully expanding their knowledge which can then be transferred to the classroom.