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Whilst you’re in the middle of arranging nativity plays and having lots of festive fun, we’re trying to figure out what the year 2020 will bring to Early Years Education.

We’ve done our research so that you can stay ahead of the curve. 

Here are the biggest education trends which you can expect to see when you return to work after your Christmas break.

More focus on Health and wellbeing

Child health and wellbeing has been at the forefront of many conversations over the past few years with staff wellbeing also becoming a huge focus following the recent update to the Ofsted EIF. It comes as no surprise that ‘health and wellbeing’ will continue to be major buzzwords in our sector for 2020. 

February 3rd – 9th is Children’s Mental Health Week and we urge all nurseries to get involved. Showing and helping children to understand their emotions from an early age can build a strong foundation which will help them as they develop through school. 

Please help us to raise awareness of the importance of supporting children and young people’s mental health during the week. Add the dates to your calendar, and download the free resources here: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/

We are currently working with some of your industry leaders and mental health charities to bring to you a downloadable resource which will help you to support your own well being and your staff’s wellbeing. Sign up to our newsletter for updates and expect to see this in the new year.

Did you know that there are also a number of apps out there which are designed to help with wellbeing.  A few of these have been specifically made for children. Take a look at this list prepared by The School Run shown below:

https://www.theschoolrun.com/best-wellbeing-apps-for-kids

Speaking of apps, Bett & the DfE have both reported on the growth of ‘EdTech’ in schools. But does it have a place in early education?

Children using tablets in a nursery

Education and early years education in particular in recent years has thrown itself into tech, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
From a nursery age (and sometimes earlier), children are using technology every day of their lives, it’s no wonder they’re becoming more tech-savvy. 

Critics believe the use of tablets by young children encourages a sedentary lifestyle and that it can affect brain development. Whilst supporters believe tablets can support literacy and creativity in the early years. 

We’ve taken the supportive approach and we’ve had a look into how Edtech could be useful to a nursery setting. With the 2020 focus on child wellbeing, we’ve highlighted some ideas in which using a tablet could actually help children with their physical health.

• Plan a walk with the children using a digital map.
• Take photos of interesting things you see on a walk. You can look at them later and talk about what you saw, or you could draw a map and stick the photos to it.
• Bring the children’s screen time interests into off-screen play. For example, the children could dress up as a favourite TV character or use dolls and figurines to act out scenes.
• Show your child how you look up instructional videos before you do things that are physically active. For example, watch a video on how to pot a plant and then go outside and plant one.

Critics also believe that too much screen time can affect child development.  We believe that a healthy amount of adult led screen time – used in the right way can actually help children develop new skills.

Take a look at some of our ideas below:

• Improve digital skills – for example, by learning video-editing skills through doing a video about a nursery trip.
• Improve creative skills – for example, by drawing, or creating content like video clips, animations or comics
• Improve problem-solving skills – for example, by working out the most appropriate clothes to dress online characters in for rainy weather, or looking at the possible results of virtual science experiments
• Improve communication skills – for example, by learning another language or chatting

But it’s not just the children who are becoming more tech-savvy. You can expect to see more and more nurseries ditching their pens and paper and turning to new technologies in 2020.

Integration of new technology to communicate with parents

In a perfect world, nursery practitioners would spend time discussing a child’s achievements and development with their parents at the end of each day, but in reality, with multiple parents arriving at the same time and others dashing to get home, this is not always possible.

Likewise, many parents want greater involvement in their child’s education, but in the modern world, work commitments can prevent this. In 2020, parents should expect to see more convenient communication methods as nurseries will be turning to parental communication tools like ParentZone.

Head here for 5 ways technology can improve parental engagement at your nursery.

There’s so much going on in 2020 so we have made this helpful 2020 calendar for you to download. It FREE and it includes some important dates to remember for your nursery.