Socio-cultural contexts in Early Years settings
When children move into an Early Years educational setting, they enter a different
culture where values, beliefs and literacy practices may differ from those in their
homes. Different beliefs about literacy practices across the contexts of home and
early education settings, and the ways in which children experience them, shape
children’s understanding of literacies.
In educational contexts children may experience literacies and the abstract written
language of mathematics in very different ways. In Bruner’s view, education is a con-
stant quest for meaning. From a socio-cultural perspective, teachers can create ‘com-
munities of practice’ in which learners and adults ‘co-construct’ understanding in ways
that make sense to the children, (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Bruner believes that the
aims of educational settings should be to create an ‘enabling culture in which the child
is involved in re-inventing, refurbishing and refreshing’ the culture. He emphasises the
need for pre-schools and schools to create communities of learners: ‘on the basis of
what we have learned in recent years about human learning, that it is best when it is
participatory, proactive, communal, collaborative and given over to constructing
meanings rather than receiving them ... learning in its full complexity involves the
creation and negotiation of meaning in a larger culture’ (Bruner, 1996, p. 15).
The scenario at the beginning of Chapter 8 illustrates a community of learners in
which children are building on their rich, informal knowledge from home. Through
their interactions with peers and adults they are co-constructing their understand-
ing of marks and symbols.
In enabling cultures, teachers also learn from parents and carers about the child’s
knowledge and experience of mark-making and representation that their children
bring with them. Early Years settings can then build on what the child already under-
stands and can do. Staff also need to communicate with families about the culture of
the setting and their beliefs and practices in supporting emergent learners. However,
due to different values and beliefs about the nature of learning, curriculum demands
and the very many pressures on teachers in Early Years settings, there may be a con-
flict between the socio-cultural practices of home and the educational setting. Chil-
dren may find that there is an inconsistency between beliefs and practices at home and
in their educational setting. Barratt-Pugh and Rohl argue that ‘those practices that are
valued by the family and the community may not be valued in formal learning con-
texts, and therefore hold little cultural capital’ (Barratt-Pugh and Rohl, 2000, p. 4).
In terms of representing mathematics, the focus may be on completing a task or
page. Cullen and St George point out that ‘when teachers over-emphasise teacher-
directed tasks such as worksheets, children view learning as dependent on the
teacher’ (Cullen and St George, 1996, p. 4).
In a study of the influence of different cultures and beliefs in home, pre-school
and school settings on the children’s strategies for mark-making, Anning observed
that finding time to ‘tune into children’s meaning making and listening to their per-
sonal “voices” was a challenge for adults. In educational contexts, children’s per-
sonal representations might even be discouraged if they were framed as a distractionMaking marks, making meaning 318657part 1b.qxd 04/07/2006 18:06 Page 31