effective teaching - children laid in circle at nursery playing

Published May 14, 2025 Written by Rebecca Smith

Effective teaching in early years

Find out what makes effective teaching in early years.

Early years practitioners teach children every day. Teaching includes the many different ways in which adults help children to learn.

There are many different ways practitioners help children learn. This could be in a large group, a small group or on a one to one basis. Young children develop in all areas of learning at the most rapid rate in their lives between the ages of birth and five, so early years practitioners have a pivotal role to play.

What can practitioners do to make sure they are the most effective teachers?

Understand the many different ways that children learn
Have an in depth knowledge of typical developmental milestones that children go through
Be willing to up-skill themselves and find out more about children’s development and the way they learn
Get to know the children in their care as individuals.

What else makes effective teaching in early years?

Having effective early years teachers who understand children and how they learn is an amazing start. If you couple that with an enabling environment, children in the setting have the best possible chance to thrive.

An enabling environment will:

Be a warm and inviting space, that facilitates a sense of belonging
Offer a range of activities, both familiar and new to spark interest
Encompass inside and outside facilities and allow children the choice of where they would like to play
Offer a range of resources which can be easily accessed by the children
Allow children the time and space to focus on their play.

Three top tips for excellent early years teaching

Playing and exploring: Children are given the freedom to investigate, play and experience the world around them. They are encouraged to ‘have a go’ and learn from doing
Active learning: Children are able to concentrate and learn the skills and resilience to keep on going, even when things get tricky
Creating and thinking critically: Children are encouraged to have and develop their own ideas, investigate what they think might happen, make links between ideas and previous learning and develop a range of strategies for doing things.

Having a thorough understanding of the way children learn and develop is essential to being an effective early years teacher. The environment plays a huge part in teaching children and requires thought and planning to get it right.

Looking for more support for effective teaching in early years?

See our exemplary practice series; ‘Exemplary practice with babies‘, ‘Exemplary practice with two-year-olds‘ and our ‘Exemplary practice with three to five-year-olds‘ online courses. You can also access our ‘Quality of teaching‘ online course.

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