Pedagogy for infants and toddlers

HomeEarly childhood education resourcesPedagogy for infants and toddlers
type here...
Early childhood
Thought leadership
School

Pedagogy for infants and toddlers

HomeEarly childhood education resourcesPedagogy for infants and toddlers

Topic summary

Specialised infant and toddler pedagogies are crucial for young children’s effective development.

Infant and toddler pedagogy is pedagogy designed for and focused on the needs of children under three. It is focused on strong, intimate relationships and responsive and reciprocal interactions between children and their caregiver(s).  

Experiences of responsive, attuned caregiving in the first years of life facilitate emotional and cognitive well-being. Pedagogies focused on building strong, attuned relationships with children support children’s resilience and security. Positive relationships with caregivers have far-reaching consequences, setting the foundations for adjustment, development and learning across the child’s education.  

There is a strong and well-established research base on the importance of emotionally attuned relationships early in life. There is also a large body of research which suggests that pedagogical skills such as developing joint attention with infants and toddlers are linked to a range of cognitive and social skills including increased abilities in language and communication. Finally, another well-established finding in the research literature is that low quality care and inadequate relationships with adults are a source of stress for infants and toddlers, and associated with a negative impact on brain development, emotional well-being and the immune system which can remain across a child’s lifetime. 

  • Focus on the infant-caregiver relationship as a major component of practice
  • Build firm relationships by increasing one-to-one interaction opportunities and being positive and responsive while allowing time for relationships to develop 
  • Develop strong non-verbal communication skills (particularly listening), and develop sensitivity to infants’ and toddlers’ gestures and body movements
  • Reflect on practice and the quality of relationships 
  • Build positive relationships with other caregivers and parents that enable collaboration

  • What strategies do you use to build relationships with infants and toddlers?
  • Have you learned to understand and respond to each infant or toddler’s individual cues and communications? 
  • How do you ensure calm, unhurried routines for infants and toddlers? 
  • How often do you develop moments of joint attention with infants and toddlers?  
  • How language-rich are your interactions with infants and toddlers? 

Research reviews

How infants and toddlers develop movement skills

An introduction to the processes involved in learning to move.

Māori and Pasifika cultural perspectives on infant-toddler care

An introduction to the importance of culture, identity and belonging in infant and toddler pedagogy.

The Pikler/Resources for Infant Educarers™ approach

A summary of the key tenets of the Pikler/RIE philosophy of early childhood care and education.

An introduction to serve and return in early childhood education

An introduction to the concept of ‘serve and return’, the challenges it brings, and the many benefits for infants and toddlers.

Five reflective questions to ask about your infant and toddler curriculum

Five questions designed to help you reflect on the infant and toddler curriculum in your early childhood setting.
Load more

Webinars

What is specialist about infant and toddler practice?

Professor Carmen Dalli and Dr Karyn Aspden explore the key messages about the specialist nature of high quality infant and toddler practice.

Building trustful relationships and promoting centre wellbeing

This webinar explores the importance of teachers’ relationships with each other in early childhood settings.

Supporting the social and emotional competence of infants and toddlers

Dr Karyn Aspden and Linda Clarke from Massey University discuss their research into the teaching practices that support social-emotional competence of infants and toddlers.

Talking Matters: What teachers need to know about language and responsive relationships

Emma Quigan from Talking Matters talks about what they have learned from their research with mothers and their children about babies’ exposure to language.

Supporting oral language development in the early years

Alison Sutton from Talking Matters talks to Vicki Hargraves about the importance of early language to lifelong learning.
Load more

Infographics

Infants and toddlers pedagogy

The key components of effective pedagogy when working with infants and toddlers.

Snapshots

Specialised practices for infants and toddlers

Key insights from the webinar with Professor Carmen Dalli and Dr Karyn Aspden.
“Thanks for the opportunity. This was without doubt amongst the best professional development I have done in many years.”
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“I've just started and it's incredible! Best professional learning course I have participated in in a long time. I've just completed Part 2 – so inspiring!”
Course participant
Visual Arts in ECE
"I loved how the course was laid out. It was easy to leave and pick up where I had left off. The site was easy to navigate and I liked the videos that backed up the reading."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“Continue with your excellent work. I get feedback that student teachers love it too.”
Educator
Martinborough
“I have found all your webinars to be of incredible value to myself and my team. Thank you.”
Centre Leader
Auckland
“You guys are doing a FABULOUS job - keep up the great work. And thank-you for offering free webinars; readings etc - in this current climate it is so hard to find money for extra things and PD is usually the first thing that gets a budget cut. Having access to your webinars means that there is no excuse for my teachers not keep professionally ahead of the game. My team and I certainly appreciate it.”
Early childhood teacher
Wellington
“I LOVE your work. It is super useful as an AST in a large COL, The Education Hub is a springboard for my own self-driven PD and a good resource for the spectrum of needs in our Kahui Ako. Thank you for the epic work you do!”
Advanced Skills Teacher
New Zealand
“Appreciate the diverse range of resources on offer!”
Intermediate school teacher
New Zealand
“The Education Hub is a gem and I recommend it to all schools I work with.”
Education consultant
New Zealand
“The resources and support provided by The Education Hub are greatly appreciated. As an HOD in a small school, in a small department usually made up of beginning teachers, it often falls on my shoulders alone to try and be up to date with ensuring our programmes are founded on sound pedagogical practices in terms of teaching in general and our particular curriculum area ... so I'm like a sponge when it comes to what you provide.”
Head of Department
“The Hub articles have been really useful and provided conversations for staff meetings and provocations for teachers. Thank you - great work and food for thought.”
School leader
Dunedin
“Articles are always well considered and written. I enjoy the content; it’s a superb resources for teachers”
Teacher (primary)
Tauranga
"I love this site!! I love everything you do for us educators, professional leaders and whanau. I loved this site during my studies last year when I upgraded to a Degree. Love it – thank you!"
New entrant teacher
Wellington
“I really value the Education Hub as a non-partisan (and non-reactionary) force for building consensus around what works and what matters in (New Zealand) education. There's nothing like it, and without it we'd be at the mercy of the more vociferous at both ends of the spectrum (progressive vs conservative).”
Deputy Principal
Christchurch
“Keep up the great mahi, I would struggle to have conversations with teachers about current pedagogy without you!”
Professional development provider
Auckland
“Having discovered The Education Hub this year, it has been timely as I navigate the teaching of structured literacy. The content has been so relevant and reliable, I come away wanting more.”
Primary teacher
Nelson
“The information I have gained from the webinars I have watched this year has been so enlightening and it has fueled my desire to further my own knowledge. We are lucky to have such a great resource.”
Preschool teacher
Palmerston North
“Thank you for providing high quality professional learning that is easily accessible.”
High school teacher
Napier
“I really appreciate the quality and range of the webinars you provide. I love that I can access them later if I don't get to watch them at the time.”
Teacher
Bay of Plenty
"Thank you! This course has renewed my passion for writing meaningful learning stories that are backed up with intentional teaching and show progression of learning and development."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“Thank you to those of you who are working hard to keep this resource relevant and accessible for all of us in the education sector. More specifically, I appreciate the balanced approach taken by your team to specific topic”
School leader
Manukau
"I liked the mix of different aspects that kept things interesting, I enjoyed sharing my new learning with my colleagues and I loved learning new practical aspects of story writing."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“Thank you so much for the valuable service you provide. We are so lucky to have access to this quality of resources.”
Graduate teacher
Blenheim
"I loved how the course was laid out. It was easy to leave and pick up where I had left off. The site was easy to navigate and I liked the videos that backed up the reading."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching

About The Education Hub

The Education Hub’s mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice in education. We want to empower educators to find, use and share research to improve their teaching practice, and then share their innovations. We are building the online and offline infrastructure to support this to improve opportunities and outcomes for students.

New Zealand registered charity number: CC54471

Find out more

We’ll keep you updated

Follow us on social media

Like what we do? Please support us

Donate now to show your appreciation

© The Education Hub 2022 All rights reserved | Site design: KOPARA

Close popup
Message from Nina Hood Founder of The Education Hub

Thanks for visiting our site. We provide all our resources for FREE.
To enable us to continue our work, please take a minute to register.

Thanks,
Nina

Close
Register an Account
Already a member?
*
*
*
*
*
*