Intentional teaching in childcare and early childhood

Take a peek inside our rooms and you’ll see children happily playing. What may not be so obvious is that they’re learning too. Our educators intentionally weave learning into everything children do.

Experts agree young children learn best through play. But that doesn’t mean we just give children a pile of toys and leave them to it. Our educators use intentional teaching strategies to provide children with rich learning opportunities.

What is intentional teaching?

The Australian Government’s Early Years Learning Framework defines Intentional Teaching as when “educators are deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their decisions and actions”. International education expert Ann Epstein explains it simply: “If you can explain why you are doing what you are doing, and how it is helping children learn, then you are teaching intentionally”.

How does intentional teaching work in early learning?

At Edge Early Learning, our educators are continually using intentional teaching strategies. Intentional teaching in childcare can be through planned activities that aim to extend children’s knowledge or can be an educator’s spontaneous response to children’s own ideas and actions in the classroom or playground that offer an opportunity to extend their learning.

Intentional teaching strategies

Educators draw on a range of intentional teaching strategies. Early childhood educators may:

• ask children open-ended questions to encourage deeper thinking;
• design learning activities that expand on children’s own interests;
• provide opportunities for problem solving;
• model appropriate behaviour or demonstrate techniques;
• offer encouragement or suggestions;
• provide provocations for learning;
• extend children’s vocabulary and language skills; or
• intentionally step back and encourage children to lead the learning.

The benefits of intentional teaching in early childhood

The developmental benefits of intentional teaching in childcare include:

• improving cognitive, emotional and social development;
• encouraging curiosity, creativity and independence, and;
• building foundation skills like communication, problem-solving and resilience.

Practical tips for intentional teaching at home

Parents and caregivers can also weave teaching moments into everyday activities at home. Everyday interactions and conversations are great learning opportunities. An example of intentional teaching at home could be asking your child what they might like to bake in the kitchen, encouraging them to think about the tools and utensils they may need, making a shopping list of ingredients, measuring and weighing ingredients and introducing your child to cooking-related vocabulary such as pour, mix, beat and knead.

How Edge Early Learning Implements Intentional Teaching

If you’d like to know more about how intentional teaching strategies are implemented at Early Early Learning, talk to your child’s educator or take a look at this video about loose parts play that encourages problem-solving and teamwork or this video about provocations to inspire children’s learning.