TIME: Building and Nurturing Interactions

This e-learning programme is informed by the expertise and experience of Professor Julie Fisher, who is an independent Early Years adviser in England and an advocate for the rights of young children to learn in environments that cherish children’s individuality and enhance their innate competence. Julie’s presentation draws on her own research projects which engage her in constant contact with practitioners and children in both schools and settings.

Educators will have the opportunity to explore a wide range of strategies to build and nurture effective interactions with children. With reflective questions, research insights, and actionable strategies, this course is designed to enhance knowledge and practice in nurturing and building effective interactions with young children. Throughout the lessons, Julie explores what constitutes ‘effective’ interactions between educators and children and describes different strategies to build, nurture and extend effective interactions to support children’s learning.

This course consists of five engaging lessons, each delivered through a series of video clips with references to the revised Aistear (2024), where appropriate. At the end of each lesson, select the arrows to navigate through the content. The programme is structured into the following lessons, each accompanied by a research insight and a reflective question to encourage you to consider your own practice:

1. Introduction to interactions with young children
2. Strategies for building effective interactions with young children
3. Strategies for nurturing effective interactions with young children
4. Empowering children
5. Creating effective and enduring interactions

These lessons provide insights and practical strategies to support high quality interactions between educators and children in early years settings.

For consent reasons, some of the images Julie refers to are not on screen.