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CHAPTER 5: PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES AND PRACTICES IN FORMAL ECEC SETTINGS – 41The EYFS does not require practitioners to use particular pedagogies to support youngchildren’s learning and development, although a guidance booklet for staff on pedagogy wasdeveloped in 2011. 1 The guidance booklet only provides examples of best practices leaving thechoice of pedagogy to the responsibility of ECEC managers and staff. The EYFS requires onlythat the areas of learning must be delivered through planned, purposeful play, with a balance ofadult-led and child-initiated activities. In settings where child-led activities occur, children canalso influence which activities are implemented on the day, although they are not involved withlonger-term planning or organisation.The pedagogical environment in practice is considered to be a “blend” of adult and child-ledactivity. The leader of the interactions continually changes (co-instruction/co-leading, for examplein “circle time”). It emphasises that every child is a unique, competent learner and should besupported to progress at his or her own pace. It emphasises that children learn and develop indifferent ways, and that, as such, all areas of learning and development are equally important. Inpractice, this means that skilled practitioners should, like parents and carers, look foropportunities to participate in children’s activities and to guide children’s learning. For example,if a practitioner sees that a child likes playing with water, he or she might help the child to build awater chute, and talk with them about how the water runs to the ground. Other children might likeplaying with mud, and so a practitioner might assist them to draw patterns in the mud using a stick– helping to develop their motor control, and their understanding that objects can be used to makemarks.DenmarkIn Denmark, no document specifically provides pedagogical guidance or prescribes particularpedagogical approaches, but a pedagogical approach is broadly provided through defined learningobjectives in the pædagogiske læreplan (the educational curriculum for all ECEC-aged childrenfrom. birth to 6 years). This learning plan is developed by each ECEC setting and must includegoals for children’s learning in the following learning areas:• versatile personal development• social skills• language development• body movement• nature and natural phenomena• cultural expressions and values.These learning areas demonstrate that Denmark employs a holistic perspective and objectivefor ECEC, as other Nordic countries do, emphasising the importance of socio-emotionaldevelopment. School-readiness objectives in the academic sense are avoided because a schoollikeenvironment is considered inappropriate at this early stage in a child’s life, and suchobjectives are thought to be unnecessary or even potentially harmful (Jensen, 2009). The conceptthat “One size does not fit all” is a central premise of Denmark’s pedagogical approaches andpractices for different ECEC settings and children of different backgrounds (OECD, 2014b). Thecountry’s acts on day care and Folkeskole (schools), further reveal this pedagogical approach at amore general level.Under the Day Care Services Act, children are considered to be active participants indemocracy, contributing to the development of society and culture. The Danish curriculum placesgreat importance on the dialogue between adults and children in ECEC settings (Ministry ofFamily and Consumer Affairs, or MFCA, 2007). As a result, day-care centres are organised asdemocratic meeting places where the child has an active voice (Jensen, Broström and Hansen,EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE PEDAGOGY REVIEW: ENGLAND © OECD 2015