Managing Professional Change and Development: An investigation of the observed and perceived values of the use of music in the teaching of mathematics within the EYFS and Year One

Abstract

This paper investigates the effectiveness of using participatory singing and song for teaching of the days of the week in mathematics in year one. It also investigates the attitudes of teaching and support staff to the use of singing and song as a teaching method within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and year one. Although using a very small sample (including a control group) statistical analysis suggests that further investigation of the use of participatory song as a teaching method for this area of learning would be supported by the results. An interesting divergence in attitudes to singing and song are shown between EYFS and year one staff – with EYFS staff much more confident in and positive about the use of song than their year one counterparts.