ABSTRACT
This chapter builds upon the previous chapters and focuses on two key areas, the environment and communicating with others. We have found these aspects to be particularly important to the new student-practitioner as many of you enter higher education with limited experience of providing for, and relating to, young children. The first part of the chapter asks what an enabling environment may look like and what is an enabling practitioner. The second part of the chapter, in recognising the role of the student-practitioner within an enabling environment, explores the importance of effective interpersonal communication. It considers how an awareness of this supports the student-practitioner in learning how to communicate and relate positively to babies and young children.
