Teaching Matters in Early Educational Practice: The Case for a Nurturing Pedagogy

Abstract

Research Findings: Research on teaching practice in early-years classrooms of primary schools in Ireland suggests that teachers of Irish 4-year-olds continue to spend more classroom time on traditional, didactic, subject-based teaching than on the nurturing interactions recommended for quality, effective early education (N. Hayes, 2004; N. Hayes, J. O'Flaherty, & M. Kernan, 1997; B. Murphy, 2004). Practice or Policy: Arising from these findings this article argues that teacher education would benefit from a shift in focus from implementing a prescribed curriculum to a focus on the interactive nature of the learning process in young children. Although recognizing that such a shift is not simple, the article proposes that foregrounding the educative nature of care would afford a useful starting point. Introducing the notion of a nurturing pedagogy, the article contends that combining the concept of pedagogy (a space where care and education integrate) with the concept of nurture (conveying an engaged level of interaction) provides a rich and theoretically sound context for reforming teaching practice in early education.