Teaching Infant & Toddler Education
Effective infant–toddler pedagogy requires intentionality, relational attunement, and recognition that caregiving routines are sites of aural immersion — every nappy change and mealtime is a curriculum opportunity for rich, back-and-forth language exchange (Dean et al., 2019). Educators read and respond to verbal and non-verbal cues, scaffolding learning within each child’s ZPD through responsive caregiving (Kaywork, 2020).
Rather than directing play, intentional teaching involves noticing teachable moments to provide instructional support through expansion — restating a child’s words in a more linguistically sophisticated form — and recasting — turning immature utterances into grammatical sentences (AERO, 2021; Kaywork, 2020). Dialogic book reading, where WH-questions position the child as storyteller and the educator as listener, further develops narrative competence efficiently. Play-based learning — heuristic, sensory, and emerging symbolic — remains the primary curriculum vehicle, with educators enriching rather than directing explorations (Arthur et al., 2024).
Pedagogical documentation through narrative Learning Stories (AERO, 2021) makes learning visible and strengthens family partnership. Continuity of care, translanguaging responsiveness, and co-regulation of emotions further characterise high-quality practice (Masterson, 2018; AGDE, 2022).