1.1 Explain How Relationships May Be Formed And Maintained.

Within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) it is enormously important for relationships to be formed and maintained. Relationships should be formed between teachers and their pupils, teachers and parents and between teachers themselves. It is important for relationships to be maintained throughout the EYFS so that the child’s learning and development is effectively taught, so parents and carers knows they can trust the teachers and so teachers can work together successfully.

Teachers and their pupils need to have a positive relationship. Teachers build relationships with their pupils the minute they start the school environment. They do this through the way they interact with the child. For example, if a teacher was teaching a class of

Teachers need to build relationships with the children so that children understand boundaries with their class teacher. Piaget (1936, cited Mcleod 2015) also suggests that there are two types of child to adult relationships. The first type of relationships applies to a teacher and a child’s relationship. He believes that constraint is a type of relationship in which the child is expected to respect the adult. The adult (being the teacher) then uses authority to socialise with the child and to instruct the child on what to do. For example; in this instance the teacher may be promoting learning by teaching the child English or Maths. This is then also used to control behaviour. This is because the child understands who the person is and the type of relationship that they have. This is because a teacher and a child’s relationship is different to a parent and a child

The teachers encourage friendship building from the moment the children enter the setting. Wragg (1993) believes that relationships between child and child are extremely important and it is a teacher’s job to encourage these relationships to build. From research gathered it is believed that children build relationships with each other based on the teachers teaching styles and having a variety of teachers. This is because some teachers may tell the children to work independently in silence and not to interact with other children whilst doing so where as other teachers will get the children to complete group work and encourage them to communicate with one another. Allowing children to work together is promoting relationship building as it is allowing the children to get to know each other, they will be learning things about each other and will be forming friendships whilst doing this. Teachers can also promote relationship building between the children by the seating arrangements that they choose. Some teachers will give children their own specific seats when in a classroom and that is where they will sit for the full year. This will then only allow the children to communicate and build relationships with the children that are surrounding them and they will not get a chance to build friendships with the other children in the classroom. The teacher must think carefully about where the