REFLECTIVE & LIFE-LONG LEARNING
THE HIGHSCOPE DIFFERENCE
Happy birthday Teacher Fowowe Sunday Simeon. May
the lines fall unto you in pleasant places in Jesus name.
Thank you for inviting me to participate in this year’s
annual online marathon training.
I knew teacher Fowowe in 2015 but met him face to
face during the OMEP Nigeria national conference in
Lagos state in 2016.
Since then teacher Fowowe has remained a loyal friend
of OMEP Nigeria, passionate member of Soams
creative platform and dedicated advocate for quality
early childhood education.
I wish you many more years of fruitful practice.
REFLECTIVE AND LIFE-LONG LEARNING.
THE HIGHSCOPE DIFFERENCE!
F A C I L I TATOR
O YI N DA MOLA SO N OLA
FIRST NIGERIAN ENDORSED HIGHSCOPE TRAINER & EDUCATION
CONSULTANT
Reflective Practices in times like this.
Reflective practice simply means ability to be self-aware of
our practice as educators, especially those who care for
children from birth to 8years of age.
Ability to think in greater depth and breadth about how we
make decisions in our daily practice, parenting or
governance.
 Educators in this context refers to parents, child care
givers, practitioners, education administrators, policy
makers, government etc.
Reflective practice in a nutshell
Reflective practice is a form of ongoing learning as
educators examine what happens in their
settings/families and reflect on what they might change
or develop.
Reflective practice in a nutshell
The following should be put in place:
1) Regular communication with co-workers, children during
group activities, with members of the family each day about
aspects of practices that have changed, need to change, is
working well etc.
2) Sometimes practitioners may need to seek out trusted coworkers or members of staff for reflective dialogue so you
guard against isolation that teaching in early childhood can
sometimes create.
3) Regular observation should be made or anecdotes taken
during interaction with children. This could be a source of
inspiration for reflection.
Type of education required for this period
The type of education practice urgently required for this period must :

Focus on development of global skills, be research validated, experiential in
approach and demand continuous learning.

Be vision driven,

Enable development of non cognitive/non educational needs of children,

Be culturally relevant, incorporating sustainable practice. As educators we must
ensure we offer activities, experiences and environments that introduce children
to the environment around them and also support them to find ways of looking
after their own environment whether at home or in care,

The educators must be up to date in child development and competent in child
care practice,

Educators must be adaptable and willing to partner/collaborate with all stake
holders involved in the care and education of the child.
HIGHSCOPE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE AS IT INSPIRES
EDUCATORS TO INSPIRE CHILDREN .
The HighScope difference!!!
Three main things make the difference in how we approach early
childhood education:
1. Research-the rock on which we build everything we do.
HighScope leads education with over four decades of ground
breaking early childhood research.
2. Application- HighScope’s curriculum and products have had
tens of thousands of real-life classroom hours to demonstrate the
validity and effectiveness of our research findings and product
design.
3. Validation-What works, stays. What doesn’t work, we cut out.
We don’t just base our curriculum and products on research- we
validate them with research as well. And when we discover there
is something we can do better, we do it.
What are HighScope’s vision and goals for
young children?
Our vision/goals for young children are:
To learn through active involvement with people, materials,
events, and ideas.
To become happy, independent, responsible, and confident —
ready for school and ready for life.
To learn to plan many of their own activities, carry them out,
and talk with others about what they have done and what they
have learned.
To gain knowledge and skills in non cognitive skills and
important academic, social, and physical areas.
Our Process never ends-It’s Reflective, Continuous &
Consistent Active Learning, Plan-Do-Review , Shared Control
No single process in the HighScope process stands on it’s own.
Our rigorous, ongoing qualification of our materials ensures that HighScope
offers the most effective early childhood classroom teaching strategies and
products available today.
ACTIVE LEARNING-Core of HighScope Approach: HighScope's educational
approach emphasizes “active participatory learning.” Active learning means
children have direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, events, and
ideas.
In HighScope practice educators (parents, teachers etc) are trained in
developmentally appropriate ways to be involved with children.
Educators are trained to thoughtfully provide materials, plan activities, and talk
with children in ways that both support and challenge what children are
experiencing and thinking.
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Reflective Practice through Active
Learning & Shared Control
HighScope’s educational programs for educators working with infants and
toddlers, preschoolers, and young people include so many specific strategies for
carrying out the goal of shared control.
Active Partnership with parents is key as reflected in the HighScope wheel.
Reflecting with children, finding out each child’s learning goals are and
documenting this through anecdotal narrative and images.
Children are supported from a young age to connect their play/learning activities
to their personal goals, interests and experiences
Sharing control means that teachers and learners are partners, both playing an
active role in shaping the educational experience.
When both sides know what to expect and what their respective roles are, they
feel in control of the sharing
And adults are often amazed by what they learn from children and their capacity
to think and solve problems when control is shared.
Shared Control supports Non Cognitive skills
Climate of shared control creates many positive effects:
Children and educators develop empathy and caring for
others.
Children learn to solve social problems by “talking it out”
and trying solutions.
Children develop non cognitive skills such as self
regulation, resilience, problem solving, critical and
creative thinking skills through the interaction and
intentional teaching strategies adopted by the trained
HighScope practitioners.
How HighScope approach differs from other early
childhood programs?
HighScope has unique features that differentiate it from other
early childhood programs. One is the daily Plan-Do-Review
sequence.
A second unique feature is our curriculum content (KDIs),
covering the social, intellectual, and physical building blocks that
are essential to young children’s optimal growth.
Within these preschool content areas are 58 key developmental
indicators (KDIs). The KDIs are statements of observable
behaviors that define the important learning areas for young
children.
HighScope educational approach is consistent with the best
practices recommended by the National Association for the
Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Developing Non Cognitive skills
The HighScope approach-Beyond Academics
Social development is another important learning area in HighScope
programs. Studies continually demonstrate that children in
High/Scope classrooms show high levels of initiative.
Teachers further support social development by helping children
learn how to resolve interpersonal conflicts even in the nursery
classes.
Who uses HighScope?
The HighScope approach serves the full range of children
and families from all social, cultural, financial, and ethnic
backgrounds. The approach is used in public and private
agencies, half- and full-day preschools, child care centers,
home-based child care programs, programs for children
with special needs and primary schools.
Active Learning which is the core of HighScope approach
and teaching strategy is adaptable at all levels of education
from early years to adult education.
What do teachers and other adults
do in a HighScope program?
In HighScope programs, adults are as active in the learning
process as children. A mutual give-and-take relationship
exists in which both groups participate as leaders and
followers, speakers and listeners. Adults interact with
children by sharing control with them, focusing on their
strengths, forming genuine relationships with them,
supporting their ideas, and helping them resolve conflicts.
How can families use HighScope at home?
Many of the activities HighScope settings offer in their programs can
also be done by families at home. For example, parents can provide
many different learning materials often using everyday objects,
waste materials that cost little or nothing. even at this lockdown
period a lot of resources are available online for parents of
preschoolers, Toddlers and infants.
Plan-Do-Review: Parents can encourage children to make plans,
carry them out, and talk about what they have learned from their
experiences. They can try to be more predictable in their routines so
children know what to expect.
And they can use the steps of conflict resolution to help children
resolve disputes with siblings and friends
Reflecting in and out of the moment in HighScope
training programmes:
Reflective activities are key practices in all HighScope training
programmes as participants are exposed to small, large group,
independent activities and supported think through and discuss
their views, understanding etc
1) Reflection in action – thinking about what we’re doing while
we’re doing it – and
2) Reflection on action – thinking about the event after it has
occurred in order to improve your strategies and approach in the
future.
This model offers a continuous learning cycle which is important for
educators because otherwise the experience “just comes and goes.”
Reflecting in and out of the moment in COVID 19
In the midst of the global pandemic , it’s time for educators to start reflecting
in real-time on how early childhood education will undergo large-scale
transformative change.
The current situation provides an opportunity to think outside the box about how
our education systems can best deliver quality childcare, and learning
opportunities for our children to survive and thrive in today’s rapidly changing
and uncertain world.
There will be need for urgent advocacy for children, parents, child carersconcerning their health, protection, safety, admission and training procedure for
childcare practitioners etc.
Need to train parents on how support their children’s learning at home
Reflect on how to close the widening learning inequalities which is already
hurting the vulnerable children in villages, IDP camps etc
I hope the discussion continues at other times till we are able to ensure there is
improvement in quality of early childhood care and service delivery.
Thank you for your participation.