July / August Newsletter « Result #1 on Jul 16, 2009, 11:28am »
July /August 2009
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
I have added July and August together for this news letter, as everything feels extremely calm as staff go off on a well deserved holiday and our children begin their journeys to primary school, additionally I am off on holiday the first three weeks in August…so it will take a little pressure of any other staff member writing it.
This newsletter brings very warm wishes to our wonderful children as they embark on their school journey. There are our little stars, we will miss them very much, but know they will do very well. News from the rooms; news about my award; in our further information section I invited Teresa to share her work on Forest Schools with us all, she altruistically agreed. Also in the further information section I have added a little information about a course Jane and I attended. Alexander’s mummy asked if I could insert the timetable for the coming year…this I have done. I hope this helps you plan.
News from the Bamibin’s
Riley has a new baby brother. Congratulations to the whole family. Bambini’s are enjoying having snack outside in the sunshine. Louise the guinea pig has been coming into the room for little visits.
News from the Salle de Jeux
The children have shown lots of interest in sea creatures…who have invaded the water tray. The children have really enjoyed caring for our new family members – our African Snails and subsequently learning about Africa. Aeroplanes have also been of great interest to the children as some of the children have been venturing off to other parts of the world. Lovely to hear that while Catherine was in Majorca she took with her Cowgate principles, as she went for beautiful walks she ‘litter picked’ with a stick. How wonderful…a true guardian of the earth.
News from Sala Infantil
The goodbyes have been emotional for sure…the staff would like to thank parents for their kind words, cards and thoughtful gifts. I would like to personally thank all the parents for expressing their appreciation of staff, please know your kinds words go far.
The Sala Infantil have been creating new spaces in the garden and working with challenge in existing ones.
We are trying to get hold of three big tractor tyres; can anyone help…know where we can get them?
My O.B.E
Thank you to all the children, staff and parents for their kind words, cards, bouquets of flowers…the staff organised a little surprise event on Saturday 11th July, thank you it was very kind of you all.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank whoever put the award together, your altruism will, I am sure be gifted to you throughout your life I am sure, but thank you from the bottom of my heart what you have done will benefit many children, HMIe are very pleased that someone in the Early Years have received this recognition.
I have been so moved by the letters of support from parents, the First Minister, the Lord Provost, the Cllr Leader, the director herself…in truth the list is endless and as I said I have been much moved.
Further Information Section
Teresa has kindly given her permission for me to share her ‘Forest Schools’ experience with you.
• What are the potential benefits of 3-5 year olds visiting Forest Schools?
Abstract
I first visited Forest School at Johnson Terrace Wildlife Reserve with Cowgate under 5’s. I observed the children experiencing the opportunity to take ‘risks’ in a ‘Wild Setting’. This helped to develop my aim: What are the potential benefits of 3-5 year olds visiting forest school? I interviewed the Edinburgh City Council Forest School Development Officer. I consulted three Forest School leaders, and the children, parents and staff of Cowgate under 5s via a questionnaire. Through developing my objectives I have researched ‘What is a Forest School?’ The history and what makes it unique? I have discovered ‘What happens at Forest Schools?’ From ‘tadpoles to toasting marshmallows.’ Why visit Forest School? Explored the need, recognised by the Bridgwater Early Years Team, for outdoor play opportunities in a ‘woodland setting.’ The potential benefits in terms of health and well being were described by parents as ‘Outdoor, fresh air and freedom.’ Through primary and secondary sources I have researched actual and potential benefits. O’Brien and Murray’s participatory report recorded benefits from, ‘improved physical and motor skills to ‘increased confidence.’ Borradaille recorded improvements in ‘fitness and stamina.’ The Cowgate under 5’s recorded ‘promotes rich imaginative play.’
In January 2009 The Scottish Government Early Years Framework recognised Forest Schools as an important play opportunity.
Forest Schools
I have chosen to research Forest Schools after visiting The Johnson Terrace Forest School, with the Cowgate under 5’s Centre. I wanted to discover more about them, where did they originate? What had inspired the decision to take, three to five year olds, to woodland areas away from the traditional nursery school environment? How do the children, staff and parent helpers respond to the Forest School experience?
On my initial visit I observed children experiencing the opportunity to take both physical and emotional risks. A three year old boy was unsure about stepping down a set of uneven steps, as the session progressed he was using the steps confidently.
The second time I visited Forest School I observed a four year old girl, who was ‘shy’ within the nursery environment. When she was asked to contribute to group discussions she chose not to do so. On her initial visit to Forest School, she was happy to tell the group what she had enjoyed most that day. These two experiences have helped me to develop the aim of my research.
I am also interested to discover if Forest Schools helps to re-address our present day ‘risk averse’ culture? Current theories are challenging. How safe is safe?
‘Children’s health is suffering because they are losing the chance to play outside.’
The Scottish Government has created a holistic approach to the physical and emotional well being of children in, the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland Act 2007). Edinburgh Council has Healthy Schools coordinators and Active School Coordinators. Locally, Edinburgh Council has acknowledged the need for Forest Schools, by supporting Edinburgh’s Forest Schools pilot project (2008-2011). One of the key elements of the forest School Project is to link learning to the Curriculum.
Forest schools reflect children’s rights, e.g. the U.N.C.R.C article 31 states; “You have a right to rest and play and have the chance to join in a wide range of activities.”
Whilst researching Forest Schools, I became aware of how the training, implementation and facilitation reflected the Mandatory Units of the HNC in Childcare course.
I shall mainly be focussing on the theories of Froebel, Piaget, Vygotsky, McMillan and the importance of Outdoor Play (with reference to Tina Bruce) Forest Schools provide equal opportunities; the Edinburgh Cluster Groups provide opportunities for children and young people with additional support needs.
The aim of my research is to discover;
‘What are the potential benefits of 3-5 year olds visiting Forest Schools?”
My objectives are:
1. What is a Forest School? (history, training, resources and equipment required) 2. What happens at a Forest School? 3. Why a Forest School? 4. What are the potential benefits in terms of health and well being? 5. Is Forest School particularly beneficial in an inner city setting? (benefits to children, staff and parents)
The methods of research I shall use are primary which includes interviews, questionnaires and observations.
Interviews:
• I have met with Jenny Watters (Edinburgh Forest School Development Officer) to discuss the Edinburgh Cluster, its history, funding, training and to gather research materials. • I have visited ‘Johnson Terrace’ Forest School with the Cowgate under 5’s Centre. • I have an initial meeting with Jane Garven to discuss information specific to the Cowgate under 5’s centre. • I shall be discussing Forest School with the Cowgate under 5’s children • I shall also be compiling a questionnaire for the children staff and parents
For my secondary research I have compiled a book list, gathered relevant articles and selected relevant websites. I hope to use these resources to focus my research, to develop my objectives and research my aim objectively. My research shall be both local and national with reference also to the Scandinavian models.
What is a Forest School?
“…Well, it’s definitively not a forest and it’s definitely not a school.”
Answered ‘H’ as he eagerly put on his reflective tabard picked up his rucksack and joined an excited group of 4 year olds off to visit Forest School. This was the first of many definitions of and visits to Forest School. Cowgate under 5’s Forest School takes place at Johnson Terrace Wildlife Reserve, which sits just below Edinburgh Castle. During my research I have consulted with the children, parents and staff at Cowgate under 5s. I interviewed the Edinburgh Forest School Development Officer, Jenny Watters to discover, what are the potential benefits of three to five year olds visiting Forest School?
I have broadened my research to include the views of Forest School Leaders from Liberton Nursery and St Crispins School. As members of the Edinburgh Cluster Group they work in partnership with the Forest Education Initiative, which defines Forest School as; “an inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults, regular opportunities to achieve, and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland environment.”
Johnson Terrace
From Scandinavia to Scotland
Forest Schools originated in Sweden in the 1950s as ‘an approach to learning about the natural world.’ In Denmark in the 1980’s the original concept was adapted and incorporated into the Danish smabornspaedogogik (Early Years Education). In 1993, a team from Bridgwater College’s Early groups of children playing outside in the woodland. The ‘children set their own agenda’ they were able ‘to cook on open fires’, ‘explore at their own level’ and ‘sit and whittle sticks.’
The Team had recognised the outdoor play opportunities for children visiting Forest Schools. They returned inspired, adapted what they had observed in Denmark and pioneered the ‘Forest School’ movement in the United Kingdom.
The Bridgwater Forest School Model
The Bridgwater Forest School has a ‘carefully considered philosophy and method.’ A Forest School Leader facilitates the sessions assisted by Forest School trained nursery staff. The group is small; between six to eight children they visit the ‘woodland,’ in all seasons and weathers. The aims of Forest School are to build children’s ‘self-esteem and independence.’
Bridgwater College developed an accredited training programme for Forest School Leaders. Forest School training is now a national initiative. The concept has been expanded to include children with additional support needs, challenging behaviour and all ages.
What Makes Forest School A Unique Experience?
‘A Marvellous Opportunity for Children to Learn (O’Brien and Murray, 2006) O’Brien and Murray identified five key features which are fundamental to all Forest Schools and combined makes it a unique experience. First is the use of ‘woodland’ or a ‘wild site.’ Second, is the high ration of staff to group of children. Thirdly, learning is linked to the curriculum and promotes language, literacy and numeracy. The last two features are the freedom to ‘explore using multiple sense’ and having ‘regular contact’ over ‘significant time.’
Forest Schools in Scotland
Learning Teaching Scotland chaired a steering group to promote Forest Schools. The Forest Education Initiative Scotland now has seventeen cluster groups, the Edinburgh and Lothian Group was formed in 2005. I interviewed Jenny Watters, Edinburgh City Council’s Forest Education Development Officer. She is responsible for coordinating Edinburgh’s Forest School Pilot project and supporting training.
Snowdrops
What Happens at a Forest School?
‘What happens?’ is determined by the ‘woodland’ or ‘wild site’, the elements and the needs of the child. The basic physiological needs referred to by Maslow (1908-70) in his theory ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ are satisfied through each child bringing their own snack, dressing appropriately for the weather conditions and in some instances building shelters. “Through engaging with the world, understanding unfolds.” (Froebel (1782 – 1852) developed the kindergarten concept he recognised children learn through active play, he valued the outdoors which encourages free movement and involves the child in exploring the environment. Working within the five key features the Forest School Leader plans the structure of the sessions. The Forest School Leader ensures that the ‘woodland’ is risk assessed prior to each visit. The site is assessed ‘as safe as necessary.’ Boundaries are sometimes physically created by taping off an area of forest. Games are used to reinforce safety reinforce safety rules and to empower the children with emergency skills, for example, 1, 2,3 where are you? the children learn to respond to sound to locate the adult. It is important that ‘children learn to assess and take manageable risks within the Forest School Environment, overcoming fear of getting lost, uneven forest paths, slippery mud. ‘C’ on her first visit was stung by nettles; ‘B’ an experienced 5 year old forest school buddy suggested a ‘Dock leaf’. ‘B’ knew about Dock leaves he needed some support in identifying one. He was then able to help ‘C’ soothe the sting. Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) describes this as the Zone of Proximal Development (The distance between what ‘B’ knows and with support what he can know and understand) ‘A high ratio of adults to the small group of 6-8 children Ros Marshall of Liberton Nursery explained how this can provide a nurture group for some children having positive effects on their behaviour. Providing a secure environment and a positive relationship can promote positive behaviour. The benefits for staff are they can observe children’s preferred learning styles and schemas.
A favourite activity, across UK Forest Schools is building a fire to toast marshmallows. The Forest School Leader gives the children a small achievable task, which is linked to ‘the curriculum and promotes language, literacy and numeracy.’
The Forest School leader asks the children to collect three sticks each the type and size of sticks required are demonstrated. The sticks should be ‘as long as your forearm,’ as ‘thick as your finger,’ find dry dead wood’ which ‘snaps’. The children are actively engaged in searching the site. I observed the children spontaneously speaking, ‘It’s too long’, measuring against their arms and problem solving ‘I know ‘felt stick snapped to size. One of the children used the stick to ‘mark make’ in the mud. At a Forest School in Fauldhouse a child from Pakistan, with English as a second language, demonstrated fire building skills which impressed her peers and helped to break down barriers. Two children from Cowgate , ‘using their senses’ to explore Forest School found berries which they left as a trail ‘for the birds ‘. Returning the next week they discovered with great delight ‘purple poo’ and made the connection. A constructivist approach, Piaget (1896-1980) believed children need to ‘experiment actively’ and to ‘experience real world’ situations to ‘develop thought.’
Toasting Marshmallow’s
Why Visit Forest School?
‘It’s where we go to play’ ‘A age 5
The Bridgwater staff visited Denmark at a time when outdoor play in UK nurseries was being devalued. Early Years Settings became focused on intellectual development. In 2007 The UNCRC produced a survey of children’s health and well being. The UK came last out of 21 industrialized nations. The loss of children’s play, especially ‘outdoors ’was a major contributing factor. Sue Palmer in her book, ’Toxic Childhood ’describes the effects of 21st century ‘consumer driven, screen based, junk play’ on today’s children.
Forest Schools are a ‘sign that risk aversion can be challenged’ says Tim Gill, by providing’ relative freedom in a woodland’ and trained Forest School leaders‘.
The term ‘Nature Deficit’ created by Richard Louv describe the lack of contact children have with their ‘local’ natural environment. Forest School was inspired by Bridgwater staff after observing children playing in the ‘woodland’.
The UNCRC Article 31 states’,
“You have the right to rest and play and to have the chance to join in a wide range of activities.”
I had asked Forest School Leaders, parents and staff what are potential benefits for the children visiting Forest School. A Forest School leader working with children with severe complex needs and autism spoke of ‘the fun, enjoyment, pleasure, anticipation’. Forest school leader described, ‘a chance to be unhurried, pay attention and play freely’. Lian Higgins, nursery nurse at Cowgate, described ‘risk play,’
“ walking on a frozen pond, digging clay from the ground and building fires to toast marshmallows.”
When I spoke with the children, individually, ‘A ‘responded by saying, ‘It’s where we go to play’. There are no toys at FS , only natural resources, Froebel said ’ as play material becomes less tangible so there is greater advance in creative expression’ .(10) At Forest School in Wales children came across a fallen tree it was assessed by the ranger, who said it was safe to use. Two of the girls’ worked together’ placing a loose branch placed over the fallen trunk to made a ‘see saw’ which they ‘delighted’ in using .The same tree offered the opportunity for risky play, ‘balancing’ one child said that ‘walking along the fallen tree for the first time ‘ was their favourite experience.(16) Tovey in her book ’Outdoor Play’ (17) cites Stephenson definition of ‘risk play’ as “Attempting something never done before; Feeling ‘out of control’ Overcoming fear.”
Tina Bruce describes play as ‘part of a network of development and learning which also includes first hand experiences’ Tovey describes how two boys transformed a bush into a house, ‘This is our house right?’ how they created a door, ‘a bell’ using parts of a branch. The play continued transformed and became a’ hatch’ to sell ‘fir cones’ ice creams. The children had the time and space to wallow in their ‘free flow play.’ (18)
Seeking ‘Betty’ the blackbird
What are the Potential Benefits in terms of Health and Well being of visiting Forest School?
‘Oxygen feeds the brain’ Tina Bruce (18)
The 1948 World Health Organization definition of Health and well being is, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well -being and not merely the absence of disease’ (19) Health and well-being means a holistic approach and demonstrates how physical and mental health is interconnected. The Forest school combination of small groups, high ratio of adults and regular contact, creates a socially secure environment which Maslow believes leads to ‘self esteem ‘and ‘self confidence’. This means the child is open to explore new experiences and becomes an ‘active learner’. A child’s emotional well being can be identified and ‘measured’ through ‘signs of involvement’, Underdown cites Laevers in her book ‘Young Children’s Health and Well Being ‘ one of the characteristic is’ facial expression and composure’. At Forest School I watched a three year old child climbing down the uneven steps tentatively, as he mastered his physical co-ordination; he gained self-confidence evident in his broad smile. Participatory research detailing the benefits of Forest School in the UK by O’Brien, Murray (England and Wales) and Borradaile (Scotland) have recorded health and wellbeing benefits. Borradaille Final Report 2006 (8) used two FS (Primary and high school). Teachers and FSL noted increases in fitness stamina confidence personal and social wellbeing. In physical terms she noted that the children are active 75%of the time spent at FS. She also referred to an increase in confidence and motivation.
OBrien and Murray carried out a longitudinal study detailing ‘how’ and ‘why’ benefits occurred. Physical skills and motor skills improved e.g. through balance and fine motor skills through whittling. Social skills improved including team work e.g. through negotiating. Self-confidence and self-belief increased motivation e.g. excited about visiting Forest School Research from Scandinavia details the benefits of outdoor nurseries. Patrik Grahn compared two nurseries in Sweden one of which was outdoors. The results showed that the ‘outdoor‘children had better balance, were physically stronger, in their hands, arms and bodies. They had increased levels of concentration and less ill-health absences2.8 % compared to 8% of the ‘indoor’ nursery children. The Scottish government has introduced several initiatives to promote children’s health and well being. Active Schools, Eco Schools and Health promoting schools, which includes Forest Schools in its ‘learning outdoors. This is in response to national health concerns including obesity, 15.8% of 2year olds and 18.7% of 5 year olds in the UK are overweight, and 6% are obese. .Research in Scotland shows today’s three year olds weigh more than they did 25 yrs ago, due to reduction in physical activity they are as ‘inactive as office workers.’
What are the potential benefits of visiting Forest School?
I asked the parents children and staff.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Is Forest School particularly beneficial in an inner city setting? (Benefits to children, parents’ staff)
Margaret McMillan (1860-1931) pioneered outdoor nurseries in the UK responding to the health needs of inner city children and working in partnership with their families. The children played, slept and ate outdoors and her greatest resource was the garden. “The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky”
Is an Inner City Forest School a similar resource? Do the children, parents and staff visiting Forest Schools experience the same benefits? Spending time outdoors, in the fresh air discovering wildlife and experiencing the elements. Does this counter the effects of city traffic, hurried pace of life, long working hours and the increase in ‘Risk averse’ society?
“It has helped to open her eyes to the little bit of woodland and nature that are all around us.”(Parent)
Liberton nursery experienced the ripple effect of parents visiting the woods with their children. Craigmillar had a greater response to helping at Forest School.
All the children, parents and staff I have consulted have a positive response to Forest School, “I see the children in a different environment enjoying themselves and coping with challenges.” (Libby Furby St Crispins)
Historically Johnson Terrace was part of Patrick Geddes ‘Lungs of the city’ Now it is, “The forest, just a little forest and there’s a very huge field, something that I really love is a hedgehog called Harriet” ’E’
Conclusion The aim of my research was to find out, ‘What are the potential benefits of 3-5 year olds visiting Forest School?’
Obrien and Murray developed a method to measure actual benefits. They concluded that the benefits of Forest School are improvements in; physical and motor skills; language and communications skills; social skills, including team working; knowledge and understanding of the environment; increased self-confidence and self-belief; and increased motivation and concentration. Borradaille also concluded the following benefits of Forest School; ‘breaks down barriers’ and ‘improves social wellbeing’. The Cowgate under 5’s Report also detailed ‘working collaboratively’ and it ‘promotes rich imaginative play’.
Through primary research, I have found in addition to the ‘actual’ benefits there are further potential benefits including; Outdoor play, new play opportunities including assessing and managing risks. Children accessing the curriculum through real tasks, mastering new skills and extending own learning. Respect for the environment, sharing a ‘wild space’ with wildlife. Promoting positive behaviour and providing a calming effects In terms of further development I would like to undertake the Forest school training and to reflect the Forest school practice within my workplace.
Ref4 www.bridgewater.ac.uk Jan 09/April09 Ref5 Knight ,S ‘ Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning in the Early Years’ Ref6 Lindon, J (2003) ‘Too Safe For Their Own Good?’ Page 10 Ref7 O’Brien,L Murray 'A Marvellous opportunity For Children to Learn’
Ref13 Gill,T (2007) ‘No Fear Growing up in a Risk Averse society Pages 65/66 Ref14 Louv ,R (2005) ‘Last Child In The Woods’ Page 98 Ref15 UNCRC A guide for children and young people www.scotland.gov.uk 02/12/2008
Ref16 Hughes,F Jenner,L ‘An Evaluation of a Forest School Project’ Ref17 Tovey, H (2007) ‘Playing Outdoors’ Page 99 Ref18 Bruce, T (2004) ‘Developing Learning in Early Childhood’
Ref19 Underdown, A (2007) ‘Young Children’s Health and Wellbeing’
Ref20 Underdown, A (2007) ‘Young Children’s Health and Wellbeing’ page7
Austin, R (2007) ‘Letting the Outside In ‘ Stoke on Trent Trentham books • Beaver,M et al (2001) ‘Babies and young Children’ Bath Nelson Thornes. • Bruce, T (2004) ‘Developing Learning in Early Childhood’ London. Sage • Gill, T (2007) ‘No Fear Growing up in a Risk Averse society’ London Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation • Lindon ,J (2005) ‘Understanding Child Development’ London Hodder Education • Lindon, J (2003) ‘Too Safe For Their Own Good?’ London National Children’s Bureau
• Louv ,R (2005) ‘Last Child In The Woods’ New York Algonquin
• Palmer, S (2007) ‘Toxic Childhood’ London • Scott, F (2008) ‘HNC Early Education and Childcare’ Edinburgh Heinemann • Tovey, H (2007) ‘Playing Outdoors’ Glasgow Mc Graw Hill O U Press
• Underdown, A(2007) ‘Young Children’s Health and Wellbeing’ London Open University PressArticles
• Borradaille, L March 2006 ‘Forest School Scotland ‘ An Evaluation. • Forest Education Initiative ‘Forest school Scotland, Guide for Leaders’ • Garven, J McNair, L 2008 ‘Forest School Report'
• O’ Brien, L Murray,R 2006 'A Marvellous opportunity For Children to Learn’
In my action plan I set out a detailed timescale for my graded unit. Initially my primary and secondary research went as planned. I had to adjust my timescale due to Johnson Terrace “resting” over the winter months. This meant that my observations of the forest school sessions happened in the spring. I was able to carry out all my planned activities within a slightly different timescale. I changed the planned date for my questionnaires to incorporate the Easter holidays. This was to ensure that they were not misplaced and coincided with spring visits to Forest School. One of the challenges of my graded unit has been correlating information within the planned timescale.
Team work is crucial within a Forest School environment, the spontaneity of the children’s discoveries means working closely in a team. I feel that I have built good team working skills by supporting the Forest School Leader throughout the Forest School experience. Prior to the forest school session, I help to prepare the resources, snack and children’s medication (e.g. asthma inhalers). Within the Forest School environment, the children have ‘relative freedom’; this is created by the Forest School leader and me supporting the children through, observing behaviour and managing risks. I help to support individual pupils or a group activity such as pond dipping.
The personal difficulties I have faced while writing my report have been juggling work, family and college. Having to develop my IT skills has been a personal challenge.
The aspects of the project that I feel were particularly successful were; visiting Forest School and working with the children, consulting the parents and researching case studies of Forest schools. I have enjoyed observing the children at various stages of their Forest School experience and recognising the ripple effect when back at nursery. I am currently assisting a group of 3-5year olds throughout their six week block. This has been particularly useful in observing potential benefits and changes in behaviour. I have observed children becoming less passive, increase their listening skills and more engaged. I have enjoyed working with the parents, either as parent helpers at Forest School or sharing the questionnaires, which I feel has been a success. I received a 70% return of parental questionnaires and all children and staff responded. Remaining within the word count was a challenge. I found it quite difficult as for every word I wrote I could have written ten. As a result of this I have had to plan each section carefully to ensure that I remained within the word count.
Nature Kindergartens
Jane and I were very kindly invited to attend our dear friends from mind stretchers international conference. The experience has been life changing for me, certainly.
I thought how could I share the experience with you and I have decided to retype some information from their literature to give you a little sense of what the experience was like.
We visited two nature nurseries and their training for excellence centre;
Auchlone Nature Kindergarten
Auchlone Nature Kindergarten is about relationships with people and the environment. “Remember the days when you played in a space that had a ceiling that changed from the palest blue to the darkest grey. You had the freedom to run on a carpet that changed every day, often soft, sometimes hard. Our nature kindergarten offers your child the chance to feel the wind in their hair and when they want to shelter we head to our geodome for hot chocolate or cool water. Our approach cares for your child in a welcoming, supportive small family nursery that has a real connection to learning through nature.”
They also have another Nature Kindergarten ‘Whistlebrae’ Nature Kindergarten in Braco. The same philosophy applies.
They also offer training they have a ‘Centre for Educational Excellence’ The literature begins with… “Image a world where the lines were harsh and unyielding, the textures were consistent and variation is unheard of. Does it inspire you? Now imagine a place where the carpet changes every day, the ceiling is a myriad of different colours, light, shadow and movement. The feelings and movement completely surround you, sometimes breezy, sometimes cold, others warm. Unexpected wonders fly by, sometimes full of colour and sometimes full of noise and movement. If we really want children to thrive we need to let their connection to nature nurture them.” (Nurture through Nature, Claire Warden 2007)
The environment has an affect on us and us on it. The interplay of these two things is at the heart of these spaces. They are provocations for change of thinking in terms of general landscape design for children. Not all children have access to forests, but all children in Scotland have to have access to some form of outdoor area. The naturalised outdoor spaces developed here [the centre of excellence] have come from children’s play behaviours. Their desire to climb and sit on a tree roots, put their feet into rills and hide down in a deep sand pit have left a lasting impression on my thinking and are therefore influential in this space. The space is full. I made that conscious decision so we could share the many diverse environments that occur in outdoor play areas in Scotland in a training space. From beach based areas to tarmac, they all have the potential for outdoor play. The space now has a life of its own. Plants, talking, walking, thinking, over time develops more ideas. Children need to be here to give it a heart, so now it is a site that children from the local schools and centres can use and in turn adapt. The local villagers have come in to sit a while to watch the hares in the field, listen to the buzzard calls and have a cuppa. I do not know exactly what you will see when you walk around, but that surely is the awe and wonder of being outside. I would urge you to sit and settle, take of your shoes, to seek out the quirky to think and reflect about a child’s perspective on play spaces and when you have to move on do so having taken some inspiration from this space.
With kind regards Claire Warden
We had a ‘spiritual’ time, it made me reflect on outdoor learning and our aspirations to be outdoors more. On that note our very dear Donna is going to do her Forest School Leadership course, isn’t that wonderful, so we will have Jane and Donna trained in the Forest School Experience. Our work with our dear friends from the nature kindergartens has only just begun. They are so passionate about their work, as are we, so we are kindred spirits. The journey has begun…
School Dates
The following dates are School Session Dates for 2009 / 10. Cowgate under 5’s has three (out of the five) in-service days per year. I have highlighted these in red for your reference.
Staff resume Monday 17 August 2009 Staff only Tuesday 18 August 2009 Pupils resume Wednesday 19th August 2009 Autumn holiday Schools closed Monday 21st September 2009 Mid-term all break Friday 16th October 2009 Staff resume Monday 26th October 2009 (in-service day) Pupils resume Tuesday 27th October 2009 Term ends Tuesday 22nd December 2009
Staff resume Tuesday 5th January 2010 (in-service day) Pupils resume Wednesday 6th January 2010 Mid-term all break Friday 12th February 2010 all resume Monday 22nd February 2010 Term ends Thursday 1 April 2010
Good Friday Schools Closed Friday 2nd April 2010 Easter Monday Schools Closed Monday 5th April 2010 Spring Holiday Schools Closed Monday 19th April 2010
All resume Tuesday 20th April 2010 May day Schools closed Monday 3rd May 2010 Victoria day Schools closed Monday 17th May 2010 Staff resume Tuesday 18th May 2010 (in-service day) Staff only Wednesday 19th May 2010
Pupils resume Thursday 20th May 2010
Term ends Thursday 1st July 2010
If in doubt please check with your child’s key practitioner about our holidays. Cowgate has public holidays and three in-service days, highlighted in red above.
June Newsletter « Result #2 on Jun 17, 2009, 6:47pm »
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
June 2009
This newsletter brings wonderful news, first of all a warm welcome to our latest recruit Mark; then news from our play and classrooms; an invitation from Carol, Lennox’s mum on homeopathic medicine; and we have more details about ‘easy fundraising to share with you. We cannot have a newsletter without expressing our thanks to our parents. News of our latest awards, and what happened this in-service day. The final section today is about Froebel, A Selection from His Writings, as you, hopefully are aware, in the autumn the Froebel Course is returning to Edinburgh University. Our centre will feature as one of the training settings for visiting students…some Edinburgh Head Teachers and myself spent some time this month living and working with Tina (Bruce) developing the course. Exciting times. I do hope you enjoy the extract from Lilley, I discovered this book in the Froebel archive at Roehampton University. As always…there is no need to read this section if you have no interest here. Until next month…take great care.
Welcome to Mark
Mark will spend his time in the Sala Infantil working with the children over lunch and in the afternoon from 3.00 – 5.45pm. We have framed photographs of all the staff for you to ‘admire’, courtesy of the very wonderful Michael Higgins photography.
Sad Goodbyes
Many of our children are informing us of their leaving dates, as they prepare for the next step in their journey. I am not being terribly emotionally intelligent this year, so if I look upset, do not worry, they are tears of both happiness and sadness as we say goodbye to our wonderful, wonderful children. Many have been with us for 5 years. We know they will embrace school and hopefully take Cowgate principles with them.
Talking of sad goodbyes…one of the teddies from the teddy bears picnic display has left us…if it has gone home in a pocket, or bag, could it please be returned? It is very old…and made for me by a woman who died some years ago. She would be delighted that it had caught a child’s eye, but I would like it to catch many more children’s eyes…I am sure you understand.
News from Bambini’s
“Our babies have been enjoying water play in the garden in the sunshine. Many babies are beginning to walk…how wonderful.”
Talking of wonderful…we have three new babies to celebrate, Feliks (Sala Infantil) has a new baby sister and Ben (La Camera dei Bambini) has a new baby sister…Evie, and Ame has a new cousin!
“The Salle de Jeux enjoyed a trip to Holyrood Park and the Meadows. Children have enjoyed baking…lots of baking this month”
“In the Sala Infantil we are so busy with children’s transitions, both moving into our room from the Salle de Jeux and moving on to Primary One. Children are going to visit their new schools, teachers are visiting us and staff are writing reports of the children’s amazing achievements and skills. A sad time, a happy time, an exciting time – a time full of changes.
Could any parents who have access to scrap paper (who work in offices perhaps) please bring in any scrap excess paper supplies for the nursery. Teresa would like to say thank you to all the parents who filled in her questionnaire about Forest School.
Sunshine
Isn’t it so lovely to see the sunshine again? May I remind parents to bring in suntan lotion, we used to supply it for our children, only to discover that some children are allergic to particular brands, so to be on the safe side, please supply your own. With clear labels, as with your clothes / hats and so on. Thank you for your assistance with this.
A message from Karen
Where possible could parents pay classes by cheque…Karen appreciates this is not possible for all parents. Thank you for your assistance in this.
Infectious Illnesses
Many of our youngest children have been suffering from many little illnesses over recent months. May we ask that if your child is ill you keep them at home until they are better? We do appreciate how difficult this is, but it is a necessary action.
We have also been asked to inform you that should your child or yourself come into contact with the H1N1 virus that you contact NHS 24 0800 1513513. Immediately inform the centre, if advised by NHS 24. Could parents please ensure that all contact details are up to date? Thank you for your assistance with this.
Regarding infant illnesses Carol, Lennox’s mummy has asked me to share the following:
Homeopathy and Children
My usually smiley Lennox has been a rather sad little man for about four weeks now, he has been beset by a horrible cold virus and has had ear infections, a perforated eardrum, eye infections, oral thrush and just in case that wasn’t enough, he’s teething as well. Probably this situation is not uncommon, but it doesn’t make it any easier for the parents to cope with, or the nursery staff, and it is just so difficult to see your little person being just not their usual happy self. Whilst our GP has been very helpful, I have begun to become aware that its seems that conventional medicine cannot offer all the answers for children and there is often nothing that can be done to make life a little easier for them, especially with viral problems. I have begun to explore what can be offered by way of alternative medicine and am quite excited by the possibilities. Lennox and I are off on Tuesday to see a homeopath. Homeopathy involves a holistic approach to promote the body to heal itself. I have also purchased a book on homeopathy and children, and a homeopathic kit. In the index of the book, under the baby section – what do I find as the common ailments – colds, oral thrush, sticky eye, teething….. with a number of suggestions of remedies to try, and a dose of common sense to go with it. It appears that homeopathy can do a lot to alleviate symptoms in children that cause them to be upset, and that sounds like a very good thing to me. I have also found out that homeopathy can be of benefit in relation to first aid for children. Lennox and I are off to see Elizabeth Biagi early next week. She has a website which explains a lot about homeopathy and about how she came to train in it, http://www.homeopathicgarden.co.uk/ It seems that many homeopaths come to be interested in the subject through trying to help their own children. Elizabeth has commented to me on hearing about Lennox that: “Producing symptoms to illness is a healthy response however the symptoms should pass uneventfully and without a reduction in the child’s vital energy in the long term.” I am wondering since the subject is so relevant and interesting to me, whether it might be of interest to other parents and to staff. Perhaps you could let Lynn know if this is the case, as I am wondering whether it would be useful to ask Elizabeth to come to the nursery to talk to us about homeopathy and children, she would be happy to do so. It may be in the future, if there is sufficient interest, we could ask her to run a workshop on using a homeopathy kit at home for common ailments.
Thank you Carol for this…as Carol has said, if you would like us to set up an opportunity for you to meet Elizabeth, please let me know.
Easy Fundraising
Lynn (Walford) suggested we use easyfundraising as a strategy to raise funds for the centre. We have now followed through on what we need to do…here goes:
As an individual, you can use the site to access a vast range of on-line retailers. When you purchase something, a donation is made to the “cause” that you support. There is no extra charge to you when purchasing an item. The funds raised go from the retailer via easyfundraising to the “cause”.
How to use the site
1. To start, you need to Register so that easyfundraising know which cause you want to support. Registration is completely FREE.
2. Next, login using your username / password. This is how the system recognises who you are and which cause benefits when you make purchases.
3. Finally, click any of the retailer links provided and then shop just as you would normally.
Providing you login and use the retailer links provided, easyfundraising will track all the transactions and pay your nominated cause the appropriate donations. These will then be displayed in your easyfundraising account (which you can access online).
NOTE When choosing your “cause”, please make sure that you select • Cowgate Under 5’s Centre Edinburgh
For information, there is already a “cause” in the system called “Pin Point Accounts Cowgate under 11s Football Team”
Here is hoping we are successful
Thanks to Parents
We have so many parents to thank this month, so here goes… Kenris and Hamish for agreeing to be interviewed by Learning Teaching Scotland, you are stars; all the parents that supported us in their comments as we go for our awards; Hamish’s mummy for the plant pots; Alfie’s daddy for the snails; Luke’s daddy for raising funds for us; Connor’s daddy for recycling; I am so sure I have forgotten someone…we could not have this wonderful centre without you, so thank you all for everything you do, and making our job so much easier.
On another note Scott (Craig) has agreed to facilitate the parents’ forum. He has approached another parent about visiting another setting where a successful parent’s forum is running. Could all parents keen to join the forum please let Scott know. Thank you
Thank you to everyone who supported Jane’s research afterwards she wrote:
“My name is Jane Malcolm and I am an MSc Student at Edinburgh University. Cowgate staff kindly agreed to me spending time in the baby and toddler rooms to do some observations of the babies and infants for my dissertation study.
I was hugely impressed by the participatory way they worked with the children. At every point the children were involved in deciding what was happening in the room. The staff spoke to the children warmly, and you felt they had a real connection with each and every child. Their positive approach to dealing with challenging behaviour was impressive; it really sent the right message to the children. The children were encouraged to think about each other and how their actions would impact on their friends.
This kind approach was role modelled by the staff in their interactions with each other and myself. The children were very comfortable with me being there and were happy and relaxed in speaking with me. This calm atmosphere was definitely influenced by the way the staff related to each other. I could have potentially disrupted the flow of the room as I was a new person in the environment but the staff reassured the children and introduced me as someone the children could trust.
Whenever I visit Cowgate I am always impressed by the kindness that is shown by all the staff to the children, visitors, each other and parents. There was a real family atmosphere on the days I spent in the rooms. The baby room had a really warm feeling, almost like home! The toddler room also had a warm, friendly feeling which influenced the calmness of the children.
It is a wonderful place for children to spend time and that, as well as the fabulous surroundings, is created by the staff”.
I just thought you would like to read that.
Awards
We scooped two awards this month. The Finest Woods Award…the award is open to primary, secondary and special schools for either practical or classroom-based projects involved with forestry, woodlands and trees. We were the winners the year for our Forest School Project. Our Forest School is based at a Scottish Wildlife Trust urban nature reserve, in Johnston Terrace. We owe so much to the children for the success of this and of course to Jane our Forest School Team Leader.
The other award we won is the Gardening Scotland Award for our Children’s Garden. Caroline supported the children throughout the project, and it was just perfect on the day. We scooped GOLD. Well done Caroline.
In-Service Day
On our in-service day was such a success. Maureen (Sala Infantil) invited us into her home. Maureen had researched relevant legislation, GIRFEC; Early Years Review; Parents Charter and she then presented it to the staff team. In the afternoon we did our self-evaluation…How are we doing? How do we know? What are we going to do next? We looked at everything from leadership to ethos. The Standard Quality Improvement Plan will be written by July, I will prepare a little summary for you in time for the new term.
The things you may like to know that emerged from our in-service day, in the mean time are:
1. June and Linda has agreed to take over the children’s library; the lending library and re-launch our story sacks. 2. Donna is co-ordinating and leading the summer fair. The date of the summer fair is 22nd August…now if anyone would like to help Donna, I am sure she will be delighted. 3. Tidy Friday – We have agreed to have a tidy day… ‘Tidy Friday’ we need to buy small brushes, shovels, dusters etc for the children. Adults will be much more visible in role modelling sweeping, cleaning etc... 4. Dave will come in every second Saturday to clean carpets / paint etc to support the ‘Tidy Friday’ campaign. 5. We have invited the children to comment on ‘Cowgate’ in order to re-write our mission statement. 6. From this day on our key workers will now be known as ‘key practitioners’ this is in line with the SSSC terminology and truth be told…it sounds better to us
Dates to remember:
Children planting ‘the clock’ in Princes Street Gardens – June 15th Forest School – Wednesday 17th June Teddy Bears Picnic – 25th June 2009 Last day of term – 2nd July 12 noon (term-time only children)
Friedrich Froebel – A Selection from his writings, Irene M.Lilley
Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) has long been known as a great educational reformer and the founder of kindergartens. Froebel inspired a new understanding of children’s activities, their need for manifold experience, and the steps by which they arrive at awareness of themselves, and their world. His principles are now basic to courses in teacher-training.
‘You are occupied, I see, in the education of the people.’ These were the first words spoken to Froebel by Baroness von Marenholtz-Bulow, the woman who was to record the last years of his life and to publicise his teachings throughout Western Europe. She went on to say, ‘This is what is most needed in our time. Unless the people become other than they are, all are beautiful ideals of which we are now dreaming as practicable for the immediate future will not be realised.’ To which Froebel replied, ‘That is true but ‘the other people’ will not come unless we educate them. Therefore we must be busy with the children.’
The story of her first visits in 1849 to his institution at Liebenstein in Thuringa leaves an unforgettable impression of the old man who played with the children, the pied piper who drew them after him up the him. He is the fatherly teacher who instructs the young women who come to learn his methods; they are grouped round him, listening reverently to obscure concepts with which they fill their notebooks, or they stream after him as he walks abroad when ‘the contemplation of a stone or a plant often led to profound outbursts upon the universe.’ At their first meeting he won the Baroness to his cause and, when she brought her influential friends to see his work, he moved them to comments such as, ‘He speaks like a prophet, or, ‘The man is actually something of a seer. He looks into the innermost nature of the child as no-one else has done. He delighted in evading the questions of those visitors who came to analyse and label his ideas. When two such critics considered that his theory echoed Fichte’s idealistic philosophy and Hegel’s dialectic method he said, ‘It is both of these and yet it has nothing in common with either of them; it is the law which the contemplation of Nature has taught me and which I offer to children to guide them in their development. He was impatient with even the most devoted followers who struggle to define a Froebelian canon or to interpret his statements in practical and prosaic terms. They lauded him for his great revelation of childhood, but in the depth and manner of his manner of his thinking he eluded their understanding. In many respects he eludes us still. Born in 1782 he had grown up in the period of early German romanticism when the main lines of his thought were established. On his death in 1852 it seemed as if his long effort to reform German education would be a failure, yet his educational doctrines were to exert a strong if indefinable influence in many countries, particularly in England and America. He inspired a new understanding of children’s activities and ways of learning, and directed attention to their need for manifold experiences if they are to arrive at awareness of themselves and their world. He saw that the young child needs a special environment in which to grow and learn and so he established the institution to which he gave the name Kindergarten. The value which he placed on a study of the child’s intellectual and emotional growth stimulated others to more practical and precise work in this field. His interpretation of children’s play and the outlets which he provided for it have encouraged further study and experiment. His thoughts about child and mother, family and school, derived from commitment to a distinctive and still challenging view of human life. The full message, which was elaborated in terms that have often made understanding and interpretation difficult, calls for a renewal of life in a new pattern, and the full significance of his insights into childhood is still being explored.
The wealth and nature of his writings contribute to the mystery. He seldom wrote in order to explain ideas in general terms. The outpouring of voluminous letters was a continuous monologue in which he developed and elaborated his beliefs. Almost all the works which he published were occasional pieces – pamphlets or letters which made specific appeals for support of his schemes, or articles which described particular aspects and details of his methods. Compilers and translators later on gave to his miscellaneous writings an ordered form which they did not in origin possess. The difficulties of his style are to be seen in ‘The Education of Man,’ the most famous of his writings and the only major educational treatise he ever attempted. Characteristically, he left the book unfinished, since the task was vast and the form and discipline of such a text were alien to him. As with all his public statements, it was privately printed. It was never popular; one suspects that, though widely quoted, it is seldom read ‘in toto’. In al his writings there are formidable difficulties of presentation and meaning. His style is verbose, repetitive, convoluted. There are long rhetorical passages, peculiar word-plays and eccentric emphases. He would never listen to criticism, or use the accepted philosophical terms. However, it is in The Education of Man that the main clues to Froebel’s thought lie. The book contains both the ideas which he formed early in his career and in the germinal points of his later discoveries in the field of young children’s education. There is, in fact, a remarkable continuity in his work, for his basic assumptions, once established, were never altered. Moreover, although his doctrine was expressed in terms peculiar to him and may be repugnant in both form and contest to those who do not accept his assumptions, it is a statement of an educational position derived from a perennial philosophy. Froebel himself has left copious evidence of the influences which formed his thought, and this was done deliberately; he believed that observation and consciousness of the self were essential to the growth of every human being. Like the teacher in Novalis’ novel, ‘The Novices of Sais’, he set himself the task of revealing to others the secrets which he had learned in the course of his own development. ‘The fundamental characteristics of my life from the very first have been increasing self-centuplication, self-analysis and self-education, and they have remained so to this day’. There are at least three major autobiographical statements which are, in effect, three different levels of analysis. In the Letter to the Duke of Meiningen written in 1827 he justified himself as the educator by reflecting on the significance of his experiences in childhood and youth and on the quality of his own apprenticeship to his vocation. A year later, when engaged in friendly controversy with the philosopher Krause, he analysed the same experiences again in order to emphasise the main factors in his intellectual growth and to explain the germinations of his view of life. He went over the same ground yet again when he was involved in a deep emotional crisis. Having run away from the complexities of personal relationships within the small circle of Keilhau, he wrote from his solitude in Switzerland the most revealing of all his personal statements in the letter ‘Letter to the Women in Keilhau,’ in which he explored his awareness of human conflict and tension. As he reveals himself in this agonised appraisal of his personal struggle, Froebel is far more interesting as a human being, and therefore as a teacher, than the all-wise father-figure portrayed by his earnest admirers. He constantly reflected on his own childhood and adolescence and sought to find those factors in the environment which impede or encourage personal growth. He found in his own early history much that was narrowing and repressive. The death of his mother when he was nine months old ‘conditioned my whole future development’. The first ten years of his life – ‘the gloomy lowering dawn’ – were spent in his father’s parsonage at Oberweissbach, a village in the Thuringian forest. Separated from his brothers by a wide difference in age, he was made wretched by the harsh in-difference of a stepmother and the remoteness of a busy and formidable father whom he feared. Yet, although he was denied that membership of a close-knit family group which he regarded as supremely important, he acknowledged the joy of sharing in the work of a busy household and in the concerns of his father’s calling as a Lutheran pastor. The ‘old-fashioned, truly Christian life’ of the parsonage, in particular the mystical and symbolic language of the hymns and sermons which he constantly heard, made an abiding impression on his cast of thought and mode of expression. He interpreted his early experience primarily in terms of opportunities for self-expression given or denied to him as a result of personal relationships. This painful childhood was followed was followed by five peaceful years in which he ‘came to dream of life as a connected whole without contradictions.’ This was possible in his uncle’s quiet clerical household at Stalin, where he found the guidance of sympathetic adults and the companionship of school boys his own age. There followed a period in adolescence which he always described in detail, since he regarded it as his apprenticeship to Nature. In fact, he was apprenticed from his fifteenth to his seventeenth years to a forester, but was mostly left on his own. If his analysis is correct, it was during this solitary period that his mind was set on the search for the laws and patterns of the outer world and its significance fro men. He speaks of his ‘religious communion with Nature’ at this time, and summed up the struggles of his early years in the words ‘I looked within myself and to Nature for help’. The restless search for a vocation in the next seventeen years or so was also his intellectual voyage of discovery. It begins with his journey to Jena University in 1799 and ends in the years at the Universities of Gottingen and Berlin and with the war of liberation. All his basic ideas were established in this period, though they were not reached in any orthodox academic fashion, since he had neither the preparation nor the aptitude for the wide course of study which he chose, and he made few social or intellectual contacts. He sought confirmation of the beliefs which he conceived, and was intent on something which no university curriculum could provide. He never stayed long at any of the three universities he attended, but tried his hand at many employments – land surveyor, estate manager, official in a forest department, private secretary, student of architecture, school teacher, tutor, and assistant in the Berlin mineralogical museum. Nevertheless, a constant purpose emerged as he became aware of his own capacities, and as he inevitably responded to the great movements of thought of his time.
‘When I reached Jena I was seized by the stirring intellectual life of the palace.’ At the turn of the century Jena had become the great capital of the German intellectual revolution. It was a centre of Kantian studies; Schelling had succeeded Fichte at the university, Schiller was lecturing there, and Goethe was near by at Weimar. Froebel says of the years between 1805 and 1810, ‘Although I still always lived in isolation as to my personal inner life, yet I was at many points in full contact with the vigorous mental effort and activity of the stirring time, as regards teaching, philosophy, history, politics and natural science. In spite of his fierce independence and pride in his self-education, Froebel obviously belongs to the age of his formative thought. He knew of the philosophic ideas then dominant, even though he refused to study or use them in any systematic way. He lived in the world of thought which Kant had made and he arrived at his basic ideas at the time when Kantian philosophy was under discussion and criticism by Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. Therefore, he regarded the human being as an organic unity and the human mind as a spontaneously active, formative agency. In his view, the mind functions by combining the manifold sensations of experience into a unity: the objects of sensory experiences are intelligible not merely because the mind receives and associates them, but because it organises them into the unity of consciousness; and this is a constant process and a ceaseless interaction. This consciousness of the external world is also self-consciousness, for the environment and the self are in intrinsic relation. In Froebel’s view the world within us and the world without are related in their modes of development, and there is an affinity between the mind of man and the course of Nature. So, throughout his life, the human being is engaged in developing his mind through the medium of the objects which he perceives and the quality of the response which he makes to them, and this response to experience is a total one, involving spirit, intellect, volition and emotions. The idea of an organic relation between subject and object and of a continuous process of development and interaction throughout the universe is fundamental to Froebel’s educational thought. His greatest debt to any one of the philosophers of his time was to Schelling. There is a danger in plotting Froebel’s thought too precisely, but he himself deliberately marked the chief points. He said he was induced to read the works of Schelling by a young doctor of philosophy whom he had already met in Jena, and whose country estates he was surveying in 1803. From their discussions he became familiar with the text of Von der Weltseele and of Bruno oder uber des naturliche und gottliche Prinzip der Dinge and obviously derived much from Schelling’s early philosophic views. In particular, his interpretation of the relationships between human beings and the external world was largely that of the Naturphilosophic. He saw a reciprocity between self and the objects of its perception; as they are distinct entities this relationship is one of separateness, but as they have the same primary cause and the same essential character it is also one of identity. ‘Nature is visible spirit; spirit is invisible Nature,’ Schelling said. Self and object do not exist in separate strata of being, but form component parts of a total reality, and the pattern of this reality is derived from God, for he infuses both subject and object, the world of the mind and the world of Nature. Everything flows from and returns to a common ground.
In Froebel’s system of thought everything is regarded as created with an inherent form and purpose, yet not necessarily resulting in a predetermined style or pattern or growth. The purpose involves effort and struggle, since every individual being is striving to grow to its full development and to manifest its essential nature in a universe which is creative. The human being is perpetually striving to develop his capacity for experience, so as to ascend to higher levels of consciousness. The process of becoming self-conscious is a continuous effort, for it involves establishing relationships of increasing complexity with the external world and discovering one’s own nature by becoming more deeply aware of one’s own actions. But Froebel knew, as did others who held to this way of thinking, that the process of self-consciousness not one of effortless unfolding. He explained the obvious conflict and tension which creative growth involves in Schelling’s terms of an underlying identity of opposites which, having a common ground, can be reconciled. ‘Nothing comes without a struggle; opposite forces excite it and they find their equilibrium by degrees.’ He also uses phrases in which he attributes the growth of creative relationships to the appearance, within a situation where opposing forces confront each other, of a third factor which by its mediation resolves the tension and creates a new situation. ‘Development is due’, he says, ‘to the reconciliation of opposites through the link of mediation.’ It is, however, futile to look in Froebel’s theories for strict dialectical progression in Hegelian terms or, perhaps, to pay too much attention to his emphasis on formal laws; his phraseology was not intended to be philosophically exact, though much of it was derived from terms in common use. Similarly, he used the scientific theories which he found in vogue. Again, he has documented his sources. At Jena his teacher in botany and natural history was Batsch, who, he tells us, taught him ‘that the skeleton or bony framework of fishes, birds and men was one and the same in plan’ and showed him ‘the mutual relationship of all animals, extending like a network in all directions.’ These were the accepted ideas of the day. This was a period when the study of Nature was a general philosophy rather than an exact science and, here also, Schelling’s early work provided some of the assumptions from which scientific problems were developed. The scientific giants in Froebel’s world were Goethe and Lorenz Oken, though he acknowledged their influence only indirectly and used their concepts only as they suited his purpose. Biological study was largely a search for the structural units on which classification of living things could be based and for the constant factor in development which persisted in the midst of incessant transformation – the thread in the labyrinth of living shapes. Assuming that lower and simpler forms of life appear earlier than the more complex structures and that evolution proceeds by constant rising to ever higher forms, the biologists sought for the unity of form within each species and for the vital force pulsing in all things which they deduced must exist. Goethe, for instance, in his study of plant generation and organisation, thought of the parts of a plant as successive permutations of a basic leaf form. When he extended this concept of metamorphosis to all living beings, he looked for correspondences in the details of anatomical structure and strove to establish the basic types to which all the complex separate elements could be referred. This search for the basic units led the naturalist Lorenz Oken – whose work otherwise must now be regarded as highly fantastical – to an intimation of the cell theory of organic structure. This search for the primal form, and this inquiry into the simple unities of pattern among all the variety of organisms, was probably the most fruitful scientific work of this time. When the total process of evolutionary ascent was regarded it was deduced that man, the last to appear, was the most highly organised species, the highest of living creatures. Such belief in the high rank and worth of human life gives a special glow to this whole period of thought. Froebel believed that all living things are efficiently organised in that each possesses all that it requires in order to be able to exist and achieve total development under the conditions for which it is made. This is not a crude pre-formation hypothesis that each living being contains encased within it from the outset a perfect example of its species, which it lives to unfold. The purposes of growth were at that time more dynamically interpreted. It was believed that in every living thing there is a structural purpose, but that it includes an essential drive towards more intense and complex development. Also, evolution of species seemed to occur when a more highly organised variant of an existing species arose. This was a constant factor, for, it was deduced, all matter contains that which can cause change, since it includes forces both of attraction and of repulsion. Goethe’s idea of the primal polarity of all beings and Schelling’s concept of a fundamental duality in Nature, did not refer to exclusive antagonisms, but to complementary interrelations. All things in the universe are connected and mutually responsive through attraction or repulsion. Both sorts of response are essential to the rhythm of life. In such speculations life was interpreted in terms of significant purpose and harmony; every living thing has evolved out of a primal form, develops according to an archetypal plan common to groups of other living things, exists in order to work out the special structural purpose which is from the outset contained within it, and is alive by virtue of the essential force which pulses throughout the universe. Within the concepts and terminology of Naturphilosophic Froebel struggled to form his own version of the structure of the universe. Characteristically, he expressed this in mathematical terms. His thesis was developed in a treatise – Sphaura – which was written during the first months of his stay at Gottingen University in 1811. In this difficult and incomplete sketch he strove to find the basic form which of itself creates an equilibrium within and between everything that exists. To him the sphere is the basic structural unit, the final form of the universe, and the symbol of the lawfulness and unity of the worlds of mind and Nature. The mode of Froebel’s thought is neither philosophical nor scientific but mystical. His spherical law is a variant of an age-old theme. Although he developed the concept of the sphere with peculiar intensity, it was commonly used by the philosophic naturalists.
Froebel believed that the educator’s primary concerns must be the growth of relationships. He saw no irreconcilable conflict between the individual and society, for, in his view, life is everywhere manifested in separation and fusion, and it is to be explained in terms of an inner organising principle rather than a mechanistic casual pattern.
Keilhau was the centre of his educational work. Here he strove to realise his ideal of the unity of life, and here he established the circle of teachers and pupils whom he involved in the elaboration of his fundamental methods. It became the mother house as he created institutions elsewhere. When he pioneered to ventures in Switzerland, he summoned leading members from the Keilhau circle to run them. When he left the Keilhau experiment behind and went on to the education of younger children, he regarded the Kindergarten centres where he worked as daughter houses and himself as head of the whole complex of institutions. The success of the Kindergarten movement in his lifetime derived from the vitality of such small groups. He demanded from himself and his follower’s tireless service and entire commitment. His unitive ideal of life required that men and women make their distinctive contributions to the work of family and school, but it also acknowledged the tension of polarity in human association and the conflict response of men and women to each other.
As Froebel considered that for every individual there is an eternal complete form, so he regarded it as highly important that the child should be guided in his finite existence, in order that his development may be true to the stages of growth.
In his writings he shows how the first important connection of the child with the mother widens out from family and school into the great complex of human communities, and he insists that, since human beings do not confront each other as isolated units, these are the real connections founded in a single spiritual reality. Furthermore, as the earliest stages of growth are the most important, so the first association is the most formative and the bonds which the individual establishes his surroundings at this time are of vital significance for his growth. ‘Let my aim be to give man himself,’ Froebel declared. Since man’s purpose is to know himself and the aim of education must therefore be the development of this self-consciousness, it is desirable to establish how this is achieved. ‘The child must first see and grasp his own life in an objective manifestation before he can know and understand it in himself.’ He learns to know his surroundings, the shape, texture and function of things, as he acts upon them in ways which are natural to him. For the young child this means of activity is play, the purpose of which is given as ‘to guide children back upon their own nature’ and ‘to lead them onward to observe the life of the outer world.’ For the older child the means are the practical skills and occupations such as Froebel had already developed in the Keilhau household. To the child the adult world of parent and teacher is important, for, without their support, he may be slow to start the ascent from the diversity of sensory experiences to the unity of self-consciousness and, without their guidance, he may not be able to release his essential self or read the secret writing of the outer world.
Phew…well I will stop there Lots to consider I am sure you’ll agree…
May News;etter « Result #3 on May 15, 2009, 1:09pm »
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
This newsletter brings wonderful news; welcome to Heidi; news from the children; our success in achieving £500 in the ‘Finest Woods Awards’; Growing Confidence Project; supporting the school transitions; fundraising opportunity; a chapter from our dear friends books…Nature Kindergartens (if you would like the ISBN le me know);
Welcome
Welcome to Heidi who is working in the Salle de Jeux. Heidi will work from 3.00pm – 5.45pm.
We have asked Michael (Higgins) a wonderful, hopefully flattering, photographer to take photos of the full staff team. When Jane and I were in Denmark we visited a nursery that had all the staff photos in frames…we thought this showed another way of saying how much we value the staff. We have bought some wooden frames for our newly taken photos.
News from the rooms…
Bambini’s - “We’ve been growing seeds and helping them grow. Salle de Jeux - Children have enjoyed making jewellery…this will continue. Children are developing their balancing skills and enjoy water play…especially in the garden. Sala Infantil – Part of the afternoon routine is a walk in the local area…approximately from 3.30pm -5pm. The children very much enjoyed their visit to the castle. Some children are going to North Berwick on Friday 22nd.
Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards
Jane applied to the Forest Education Initiative and the Royal Scottish Forestry Society for the ‘Finest woods Awards’. We were successful in scooping up first prize! Jane wrote about our Forest School activities, including our work with parents and the wider community. Well done to Jane, the Forest School team and…of course all the children . What oh what will we spend the money on?
Growing Confidence Project
After the summer you will be invited to participate in the growing confidence project. The invitation will say something along the lines of…
“Dear parents and carers
We want all our children to grow up happy, confident, secure and able to cope with life’s challenges. Some children manage this better than others. Curious to know more about why this is? Come along to an informal session to find out a bit more about what is emotional well-being and how we can support our children to develop and flourish in today’s busy world. Together we can raise children with confidence.”
As you know Cowgate is one of the nurseries involved in this project, if you would like to know more about it please view their website. www.growingconfidence.org
As part of the growing confidence project we are having an outside woodwork bench built (please see April’s newsletter). The ‘sleepers’ have arrived…
The staff are meeting the ‘Arts Coordinator’ on Monday 11th May to discuss building the woodwork bench and how we begin to build our fire pit! We will report what happens at that meeting in our next newsletter.
Transitions
We have sent out an invite to all the primary schools that our children are going to. Inviting the Head Teacher or appropriate person to come and visit the child here, in the context they play and live. The dates for these visits are…
15th May 1pm – 3pm 5th June 1pm -3pm 12th June 1pm -3pm
Keyworkers will be available to exchange information about the children.
Curriculum Review – Experiences and Outcomes
We will have the printed outcomes and experiences of the Curriculum for Excellence towards the end of the month. The experiences and outcomes represent the agreed description of the content of the reviewed curriculum for all young people from 3 to the end of S3, and which provide a springboard for young people to progress to national qualifications and onwards to move into positive and sustained destinations after school.
The experiences and outcomes have been organised and described in eight broad curriculum areas; these areas are not intended as a prescription for methods of delivering the curriculum, but are designed as a convenient means of gathering together descriptions of learning in similar areas.
We will receive a full set of experiences and outcomes. This will enable staff to see the curriculum from the early years to the end of S3 as a whole, enabling staff in preschool settings to see where their contributions to a child’s learning and development sit in the span of progression. This should enable staff and establishments to plan their contributions to each learner’s education and also support learners in making connections in their learning and effective transitions into primary school. The experiences and outcomes are designed for all who are involved in the planning of learning in pre-school establishments. We are advised to use the material in a manner which best suit the needs of our own establishment. We will share what we receive with you.
Fundraising Opportunity
I received this email from Lynn, Jasmine’s mummy. We have asked our business support officer, Jim to register us.
There is a website called http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ and apparently you can sign up so that if people are doing online shopping with various shops (including Argos, John Lewis etc), 15% of the cost goes to the nursery.
The following chapter is one I know you will be very interested in…it is from Nature Kindergartens, but Claire Warden (an absolute must for all early years practitioners who love being outdoors with the children).
Plants If we imagine the feeling of awe and inspiration that would come over us if we were moving through a bamboo walkway, or a forest of redwoods towering above us, we can begin to understand the perception that children have when they are in a forest or walking through a summer garden packed full of colours, smells and textures. To someone who is less than a metre tall the smallest tunnels of willow will seem as if they were a forest, a log to scramble over feels like a mountain, the size of a new conker in your hand feels enormous. The spaces that we offer need vegetation in them, not artificial grass and flowers that have little sensory exploration. Every aspect of a plant offers a learning opportunity to all children, but especially to the youngest children in our care. The first time you see a root, a leaf, a flower, a fruit or in fact explore plants closely, it takes your breath away. I have residual memories of trying to unfurl a fern leaf just as it was emerging and attempting to wrap it up again, because someone had told me that the elves in the wood had to do it every night to protect the leaf. The world I lived in, obviously created for me and guided by my family, was a place where plants and nature had a variety of functions. There was gardening in order to harvest, cook and eat but also to imaginative times where leaves were held together with pine needles to make magic carpets. The work we do at the nature kindergarten is designed to reconnect children to nature. The children, from two years old, are part of the process of planting, tending and harvesting their food. The vegetables, fruit from miniature trees or vegetation coppiced from pots are used to make everything from jam to potato soup, from plant dyes to sustainable materials for creativity.
Exploring Fruit Horse chestnuts were brought in by a member of the team to develop a schema on enveloping and enclosing. Opening a fruit pod still holds a sense of awe for many people. The fresh new skin of the conker shines within the soft white flesh of the seed case. The discovery of the fruit held a great fascination because they had a dull spiky exterior.
Grass Grass is such a simple word for something that represents a myriad of species. The variety of grass on our planet is truly astounding.
Grass can survive anywhere so it is a very flexible resource for early years environments. There are an increasing number of children with allergies so this should be considered when the pollen starts to develop.
Flowers Flowers offer us colour, scent and a range of textures and pattern. Each year sees the cycle of nature emerge, enabling children and adults to find, touch and experience it for the first time. The sensorial stimulation of flowers provides motivation for movement, the curiosity and investigation drive children’s learning forward.
Seeds As every gardener will tell you, seeds are the hope for the future. Nature offers such a range that children and adults can explore them for years and never know them all.
Leaves and Wood Trees have a very special place in our lives. An aim would be to have a tree in every school and centre in the country so that children can lie under its leaves and babies can gaze up through branches as they fall asleep.
Collecting and gathering is a schema that is repeated throughout life. When we talk it becomes apparent that children make petal perfume through the process of collecting and gathering bits to make the perfume, parents tell me that they made mud soup, collecting and gathering, grandparents tell me of pretend fires they made, collecting and gathering bits and pieces. Many people seem to think that children have lost their creativity, I feel that they have not, however it may be a little lost and often masked by commercial experiences. Our role is to create opportunities to connect to nature.
Some children have a deeper connection to an element or a place. Whether the memory is lodged from birth or whether the emotion is linked to a resource such as a stone or water or perhaps a dominant sense. The little boy in the photograph chooses to ‘root’ himself in the kindergarten through playing a roughly made xylophone in the sound area.
The exploration of the sound of wood can be seen repeatedly across the time he is engaged in play. The woodland site has been designed to both support and extend the experience in the nursery. The little boy played another xylophone that had been made from wood nearby, he explored logs and living trees to hear their sound.
The learning story above shows that these traits and behaviours are within our make-up. Children perceive what is important to adults and respond to it. Through providing materials such as wooden discs, small driftwood, angular off cuts and giant shavings we can offer the material for children to collect, gather and transport around the indoor and outdoor rooms.
April Newsletter « Result #4 on Apr 15, 2009, 12:42pm »
April 2009 - Newsletter
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
This newsletter brings a very warm welcome to our new children and their families; new staff members; little tales from the rooms; news of the new Spanish classes; our gratitude to all the parents who have supported us this month; eco-news; padraig slippers; in the further reading section– two short articles from Lorraine and as we are approaching the time when we prepare children for school there is a chapter ‘Children’s voices on the transition from preschool to primary school’ from Informing Transitions in the Early Years, Edited by Aline-Wendy Dunlop and Hilary Fabian.
Welcome
To all our new children who have begun their Cowgate journey. Thank you to all the parents for choosing Cowgate. We hope you will all enjoy the Cowgate experience.
We are delighted to welcome Mark to the staff team; Mark has accepted our learning assistant post. Mark will support children in the Sala Infantil. We also warmly welcome Scott (Taylor) who is working alongside, Donna, Susan and Maureen in the Salle de Jeux and finally we have recruited Heidi who will also work with the Salle de Jeux team in the afternoons.
The recruitment and selection process can be a time consuming and at times, arduous task. However, with that said, we know you will be absolutely delighted with our choices.
Sandy has had a little baby sister…welcome to the world Isla.
Goodbye to our very dear little Anna…we wish you well at your new school.
La Camera dei Bambini
Bambini’s are very much enjoying having lots of lovely new additions to the Cowgate community.
They have been taking children lots of walks around the centre…admiring the Easter displays.
Salle de Jeux and Sala Infantil
Both rooms have reported on the visits from children in the other spaces…they are settling well.
The Spanish lessons started on Tuesday and the children expressed enjoyment of them.
Spanish Classes
Anyone interested in Spanish classes (Tuesday and Thursday @ 3.30pm – 4.30pm (two classes) please let Lorraine know.
Thank you to our Parents and Grandparents
We have so many parents to thank this month…please forgive me if I left anyone out…
Thanks to…
• Pete and Roxy – for organising an experience for the children ‘Celebrating Iranian New Year’. • Nicola - (Alfie’s mummy) for selling our Woodland Trust Raffle Tickets • Duncan - (Alexander’s’ daddy) – for supporting us in resourcing ‘Friends of the Earth’ labels. • Karen – (Kit’s mummy) for kindly offering her farm land for our ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’ (we had such a lovely day exploring) • Janet – (Ben (B’s) grandmother) for sewing us not one but two ‘I Spy’ wall hangings / floor coverings. They are truly special, we will treasure them. • Reem – (Nassar’s muumy) for everything you did regarding our Comic Relief Fundraiser. • Carol – (Lennox’s mummy) for the supply of Real Nappies, very much appreciated. • Andrew – (Robert’s daddy) for giving his time so generously to be part of the eco-committee. • Kenris – (Celeste’s mummy) for her participation at Forest School. • John – (Kaya’s daddy) for taking recycling to the Grassmarket recycling bank. • David – (Liam’s daddy) for taking recycling to the Grassmarket recycling bank. • Rosie’s granddad for the lovely orchid’s…they are growing beautifully.
Thank you for all you do, we couldn’t do it without you
Parents Consultations
Thank you to everyone for making this a great success; thank you to the staff for all your preparation and dedication to your key children and thank you to all the parents who contributed to the consultations.
Thank you
For the lovely cards and small tokens of appreciation for Easter…lovely chocolates.
Eco-School
We enjoyed two very interesting eco-meetings this month. The children’s one was stimulating…and reassuring, their knowledge is so deep. At the parents / staff meeting we came up with lots of ideas. We have completed the third green flag application and it has been sent to Eco-Schools Scotland. We now wait for an appointment for our ‘Third Green Flag’ assessment.
The children and staff were out on Monday (6th April) picking up litter in the High Street, the children commented… “What a peculiar place to put litter.”(Angus). Not surprising that Angus was surprised…the litter was below a litter bin! Many comments surrounded the word ‘Yuk’…our children were truly wonderful…excellent guardians of the earth.
Lorraine has asked me to remind everyone of the new recycling bank in the Grassmarket area – it is the recycling bank we now use. Padraig Slippers
What would you like to do…you have a choice…would you like to buy a pair of Padraig slippers for your child or would you prefer to borrow a pair? Please let Linda know what you would like to do.
Tesco vouchers / Sainsbury vouchers
Michelle is responsible for the Sainsbury vouchers and Lorraine is responsible for the Tesco vouchers…
Lorraine has asked me to inform you about what we are aiming to buy from the vouchers from the Tesco catalogue…the focus is on supporting and developing our eco-work.
• Mini garden set A delightful mini garden kit all stored in a fabric bag. Contains one rake, one trowel, two scoops, one fork, one spade and a water pump (2) • Edible gardens in schools A growing guide which enables schools to grow their own food to bring back to the classroom • Bird box with camera This hand built nest box camera kit allows us to watch nesting secretly inside a bird box in the centre garden. Camera allows us to see both in the day and night time and microphone allows us to hear what is going on as well as see it. • Why should I recycle A book about recycling • Raw materials recycle cards Recycle game. • Wellie Stand (3) Somewhere to store our wellies. • Bamboo Watering Channelling Set Creating our own channelling system.
We already have many vouchers from last year…but we need many, many more.
Growing Confidence Project
As many of you are aware Cowgate is involved in the ‘Growing Confidence Project.’ There have already been so many wonderful opportunities for us, especially in the areas of training for staff. In recent days, Jane (Garven) and I have met with the ‘Arts Co-ordinator’ and for our community project…I thought you might appreciate a look at the minutes of the meeting…
Growing Confidence Community Projects Promoting emotional well-being in the wider school community
School Cowgate Under 5’s Date 2.4.09 Brief Project Outline ‘ Tools for Life’ an intergenerational project aiming to;
• Develop new skills in using woodworking tools • Learn how to bake bread • Work together • Manage and assess risk in using tools with pre 5’s.
Creating, with an artist, an outdoor wood bench for working on at the nursery. Workshops with parents/carers and children. Making musical instruments form re – cycled materials. Building a fire pit in the grounds of the nursery to bake bread in. Storytelling workshops involving bread- baking. An event to share the music, bread and stories.
There will be CPD for staff during the project in musical instrument making and storytelling.
What is the evidence of the need for this project? Cowgate’s philosophy is to keep the learning for children real, real tasks for life and this project will fit with that ethos. The nursery have a good relationship with parents and this project would build on that with workshops for parents with their children. The school are also an eco-school so recycled materials will be used in the building of the bench and some re – cycled musical instruments. All events will take place outdoors which is at the heart of the learning at Cowgate.
How will this project support the emotional health and wellbeing of pupils? Developing the confidence to use new tools safely and to bake bread which will be shared with the wider community of parents and carers. The working together will support their wellbeing and emotional health will be developed in terms of new skill acquisition and a pride in what they will have achieved. Will this project meet the Growing Confidence Community Project outcomes to: Y • Increase opportunities for different generations to work together
• Improve relationships and respect for other people from the local community
• Strengthen communication and social skills
• Increase self confidence to try new things Please state how many of the following will be involved in the project.
Staff: Pupils: Parents:
Start date: June 2008 Finish date: March 2010
Main school contact (person who will complete relevant paperwork)
Name: Lynn McNair
Tel/email
Names and contacts details of other staff/artists involved in the project:
I agree to acknowledge the Big Lottery Fund in all publicity materials. Signed
Date
Please return this form to: Naomi Stewart, Development Worker, Growing Confidence Project, The City of Edinburgh Council, Waverley Court ¼, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG, Tel 0131 469 3952
I am sure you will agree this is all very exciting…being taught by a carpenter; sculptor…listening to wonderful stories from the storyteller and everyone is invited! When our fire pit is ready and our woodwork bench is built we should have a party to celebrate…wonderful, marvellous times ahead.
Warm wishes always
Lynn and the Cowgate team
Dates to remember:
Friday 10th April 2009 Good Friday – Centre Closed Monday 13th April 2009 Easter Monday – Centre Closed Monday 20th April 2009 Spring Holiday – Centre Closed Monday 4th May Day – Centre Closed
Further reading:
As always please find articles of interest identified by us…no need to read further…the choice is yours…as always
Lorraine thought you might like to read the following two articles…
Develop your child’s curiosity
Curiosity compels us to connect with the world, reach out and test boundaries, establish where they end and everything else begins. For children, curiosity in inextricably linked with the physical exploration, touching, controlling and creating. It’s intensely pleasurable, a sensuous adventure that is rooted in discovery, like the eighteen month old who turns a light switch on and off, over and over again…curiosity in children is innate and undeniable. Doury says ‘when playing…the possible meets the impossible.’ There lies the miracle of childhood – being here with us (adults) but also far away in the world of imagination.
Branching Out – (for you)
Trees provide breathable air, timber, fuel, food, shelter, medicine and beauty. Without trees, we could not live. They can help us think better – Plato and Aristotle did their best thinking in the olive groves around Athens, Buddha found enlightenment beneath a tree, and Isaac Newton realised his theory of gravity when an apple fell from the tree under which he was sitting – and they can help us feel better.
Many of today’s pharmaceuticals are derived from trees. Aspirin comes from willow bark; yews are the source of Taxol, used in the treatment of cancers; ginkgo biloba improves circulation; tea tree oil is beneficial for skin infections; cinchona tree bark contains quinine, the basis of many anti-malarial drugs; and Pycnogenol, which protects against deep vein thrombosis, is made from pine tree bark.
Just being among trees is good for wellbeing…surrounding yourself with trees improves breathing and senses are satiated…people report of feeling peaceful and grounded. The Japanese have a word for this feeling – shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. In 2004, Japan’s National Land Afforestation Promotion Organisation conducted an experiment and discovered that a forest stroll had beneficial effects on blood pressure, heart rate and the immune system. They also found that people who just looked at a forest view for 20 minutes had a 13 per cent lower concentration of the stress hormone cortisol.
As well as thee psychological benefits of trees, attention is turning to the relatively new field of eco-psychology. This is based on the notion that our disconnection with nature is a central factor in many of our emotional woes. The woods help clear the mind simply by breathing in fresh oxygen that is emitted from the leaves…the sounds, smells, sights and textures and even taste of the air enliven all five senses.
So…what are you waiting for…out you go…enjoy a walk in the woods today
Informing Transitions in the Early Years
There is an increasing interest in educational transitions because the level of success during transition to school or transfer between places of education or schools, both socially and academically, can be a critical factor in determining children’s future progress and development (Ghaye and Pascal 1989).
Children’s voices on the transition from preschool to primary school.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in listening to children’s perspectives on matters concerning them and involving them in research. Transition from preschool settings to primary school involves a major change in children’s lives and, therefore, listening to children’s experiences of and views on this critical period is important. This is a period that can play an important role in the future well being of children and their long-term school success. Research has, for instance, revealed that children who have a difficult time adjusting to school from the beginning, and who experience social, behavioural or academic difficulties in the early years of schooling are more likely to continue experiencing these problems throughout their schooling (Ladd and Price 1987; Love Trudeu and Thayer 1992; Entwisle and Alexander 1998; Kagan and Neuman 1998; Margetts 2002). Adults’ views on this period in children’s lives have been studied widely; however in recent years interest in looking at transition to school from children’s perspectives has grown. This chapter focuses on children’s views on the transition from preschool to primary school deriving from recent research. This chapter starts by discussing the reasons for involving children in research. Attention is then given to critical issues in research with children and appropriate methods to use with children. Transition studies involving children as participants are then examined, summarised and discussed, and the chapter concludes with reflections and implications for further research.
Research with children
The increasing interest in involving children in research and listening to their perspectives derives from a recent evolution in how children and childhood are viewed. From a sociological perspective, childhood is viewed as a social construction and children as already social actors, instead of being in the process of becoming such. Childhood and children are therefore seen as worthy of investigation in their own right, separate from their parents or caregivers (James and Prout 1990; Qvortrup 1994, 2004; Corsaro 1997; Christensen and James 2000; Lloyd-Smith and Tarr 2000; O’Kane 2000). From the postmodern perspective, children are looked upon as knowledgeable, competent, strong and powerful members of society (Bruner 1996; Dahlberg et al. 1999). Hence, children are seen as strong, capable and knowledgeable experts on their own lives, possessing knowledge, perspective and interest that is gained from themselves (Langsted 1994; Dahl 1995; Mayall 2000; Clark and Moss 2001).
The contemporary children’s rights movement also emphasises taking children seriously and their right to express their own beliefs (Freeman 1998). The Convention on the Rights of the Child drawn up by the United Nations in 1989 recognises the right for children to participate in decisions affecting their lives and communicate their own views. Article 12 of the convention states that parties should ensure a child who is capable of forming his or her own view should have the right to express these views freely on all matters affecting the child, and that those views should be given weight in accordance with age and maturity (Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989). Recent research with children and young people has thus moved from seeing children as dependent and incompetent, that is, as persons acted upon by others, to seeing children as social actors, participants and co-researchers (James and Prout 1990; Christensen and Prout 2002; Lewis 2004). Researchers now talk about research with children instead of research about or on children (Corsaro and Molinari 2000; Mayall 2000; O’Kane 2000; Fraser 2004). Children’s participation in research builds on the belief that children, just like adults, hold their own views and opinions, they have the right to express their ideas, and they are capable of expressing them. Dahlberg et al. (1999), Dahl (1995) and Mayall (2000) point out that children have their own voices and should be listened to and taken seriously. Clark and Moss (2001), and Langsted (1994) consider children as experts on their own lives, and formation to contribute about themselves. Oldfather (1995) and Alderson (2000) see students as experts on their own perceptions and experiences as learners. Cook-Sather (2002) discussed the importance of authorising children’s perspectives in the critique and reform of education, and Tolfree and Woodhead (1999) see children as powerful social actors, and principal stakeholders who can help shape policy and practice.
Critical issues in research with children
Ethical issues, including informed consent, confidentiality, protection and relationships are fundamental in all research, but in research with children these take on extra substance.
Good relationships between participants and the researchers are of key importance in qualitative research where the researchers and the participants are in close proximity. Researchers conducting research with children have pointed out that children are potentially more vulnerable to unequal power relationships in research than other groups (Coyne1998; Balen et al. 2000/2001; Punch 2002; Robinson and Kellett 2004). Unequal power can exist in terms of age, status and experience. Children may perceive the adult as an authority figure and consequently may try to please the adult for fear of their reaction if they do not. It can be difficult to elude or even reduce the unequal power relationships between an adult researcher and a child. Meeting the children in their natural contexts, where they feel comfortable, is one way to minimise the power differential, while another way to enable children to feel more at ease with an adult researcher is through child-centred or child-friendly method and techniques which build on children’s competences and interests (Morrow and Richards1996; Mauthner 1997; Brooker 2001; Punch 2002; Barker and Weller 2003; Eder and Fingerson 2003). Other authors have suggested that researchers should look at the child as the expert and introduce themselves as a learner who asks the children to be their teacher (Davis 1998; Graue and Walsh 1998). Informed consent means that participants enter the research project voluntarily, understanding the nature of the study and the danger and obligations that are involved (Bogdan and Biklen 1998). When children are asked to give informed consent they must be given enough information in a language understandable to them to allow them to make an informed decision about participation. It is important that they should know and comprehend the purpose of the research, what the research involves, what is going to happen and for how long, how the results will be used and the consequences of taking part. The children must also be able to understand that participation is voluntary and that they are free to withdraw at any time (Davis 1998; Balen et al. 2000/2001); Parson and Stephenson 2003). With young children, these issues might become problematic for several reasons, the most important being the power inequality between the adult and the child, which can result in the children finding it difficult to tell an adult researcher if they do not want to continue. Alderson (2000) suggested that when children agree to participate in a study, their consent should be open for review during the course of the study. The children should have the power to leave when they want. Confidentiality in research means that, unless otherwise agreed to, the participants’ identities should be protected so that the information collected does not embarrass or in other ways harm them (Bogdan andBiklen 1998). There is a universal agreement that researchers should ensure that the participants are not at risk of becoming hurt, and the confidentiality of all data is a fundamental part of respecting and protecting the participant in any study; the situation is certainly the same when children are involved. Morrow and Richards (1996) have pointed out that children are vulnerable, and the interaction between researcher and child involves power relationships that create an obligation on adults to ensure that children do not suffer harm when participating in research. Nevertheless, researchers working with children have cautioned that researchers should be careful of explicitly promising confidentiality, as this may not always be possible, such as in the case of child abuse when a researcher may need to pass on information to others (Balen et al. 2000/2001); Cree et al 2002).
Methods in research with children
When conducting research with children, it is important to keep in mind that children are not a homogenous group of people (Christensen and Prout 2002). James and Prout (1990) have pointed out that variety in children’s voices should be understood and listened to, and similarly Davis (1998) recognises that since there are varieties to children’s cultures, different children may have contradictory wishes and expectations. Since children are different, researchers need to resourceful and use inventive, and original research methods and instruments that suit different children. Graue and Walsh (1998) claim that generating data on children challenges the researcher to be creative, and find new and different ways to listen to and observe children, and this requires constant improvisation. Punch (2002) suggests that one way of researching a diversity of childhoods, and taking into account children’s varied social competencies and experiences is to use a range of different methods and techniques. Baker and Weller (2003) talk about children-centred research methods that place the voices of children at the centre of the research process, and are based upon children’s preferred methods, of communication. Similarly, Fraser (2004) talks about child-centred or child-friendly methods, where attempts are made to negotiate and understand research aims in terms that makes sense to children. She has pointed out that researchers must have a vocabulary and empathy that relate to the child’s conception of their world. Negotiations may be necessary, since different children might need different methods. Those negotiations may lead to particular types of child-friendly methods, which have been negotiated between the researcher and the participant. Researchers have used a range of methods that privilege children as the subjects of research, such as participant observation, focus groups, small group discussion, interviews and structured activities (Mauthner 1997). New methodologies have been developed to allow children to express their beliefs and views through other means than verbal language, for example art work, drama, music, dance, play, photography and videos (Mauthner 1997; Tolfree and Woodhead 1999; Alderson 2000; Christensen and James (2000). Participant observations and interviews in one form or another are the most common method used in research with children. Several authors have recommending interviewing children in pairs or groups (Hood 1996; Graue and Walsh 1998; Greig and Taylor 1999; Mayall 2000; Einarsdottir 2002). The group setting is seen as important for minimising the power difference between the researcher and the children, and the children are more relaxed when with a friend than alone with an adult (Graue and Walsh 1998; Edler and Fingerson 2003). Other researchers have recommended using various props in the interviews, such as toys, paper and crayons, sand, clay, pictures, photographs, dolls and puppets (Brooker 2001; Doverborg and Pramling Samuelsson 2003).
Children’s views on starting school
During the last decade or so, research on children’s transitions from preschool to school has increasingly involved children and sought their views. A selection of the literature on children’s views on transition from preschool to primary school will be reviewed below and the following questions will be examined:
• How do children experience this critical period? • What are their concerns, expectations and anticipations? • What are the commonalities and differences among these studies? • What data gathering methods were used in these studies?
Nordic Studies
In the Nordic countries an emphasis has been placed on taking children’s views and rights seriously. In Norway, Sweeden and Iceland, children have their own ombudsman and in Denmark an advisory board for the children has been established. These are official advocates who ensure that children’s voices are heard and correctly understood within the larger society (Brostrom 2005). Nordic preschools have a child-centred view, where play and free choice is highly valued. Several studies study have been conducted in the Nordic countries on children’s views on their preschool and school and the differences between these. Brostrom (2001, 2003) studied the Danish children’s expectations about school and their fulfilment. The children were interviewed by their teachers in preschool, kindergarten and first grade. When the preschool children were asked what they thought they would do and learn in kindergarten, most of them expressed a school-orientated expression, such as reading, writing and mathematics, while some children expected a combination of preschool and school emphasis. When the children were asked a year later what they had learned in kindergarten, the results show that most of the children experienced congruence between expectations and fulfilment. At the end of first grade, the children were interviewed again. When they were asked what they found different between kindergarten and first grade, the children in general thought they learned more in grade one, and there was more time and space to play in kindergarten. Although several of them expressed a wish for more play, they were satisfied with their first grade. Most of the children said that they had learned what they expected to learn. Rasmussen and Smidt (2002) studied Danish children’s views on their preschool and their primary school. The method of data gathering was children’s photographs and interviews concerning the pictures. The results show that the children view preschool and primary school, and the staff in these institutions quite differently. They see the school teacher’s work involving direct teaching, while the preschool teachers are more on the ‘sideline’, supporting the children In both institutions, they believe that teachers decide on all activities except for play, where the children are in charge. Friends and other children are most important in preschool and school, and children see play as the most important mode of communicating with other children.
Pramling and Williams- Graneld (1993) used open-ended interviews to interview 7-year-old Swedish children, who had attended first grade for 3 months, about their first experiences in school, and their views of the differences between preschool and school. The result of the study reveals that the children described beginning elementary school with mixed feelings. The positive feelings included learning new things, being in new surroundings and making new friends, but they were also worried about what would be expected of them in school. Concerns included the fear of being lonely, curiosity about the new teacher, fear of the unknown, fear of making mistakes and trepidation about low grades. The greatest difference between preschool and elementary school, according to the children, is that there was more time in preschool for unstructured, freely-chosen activities, such as playing. When the children talked about what they learned in elementary school, they primarily mentioned learning to count, read and write. Everything was more difficult and serious in elementary school, according to them. The children believed that the elementary school stands for the right way of learning and that preschool was training for elementary school. The preschool represents play and free learning, while elementary school represents seriousness and structured learning. Another Swedish study (Pramling et al. 1995) shows similar results. A group of first grade children were interviewed about their views on the difference between preschool and school. The children regard school as a place where you work, but in preschool you play. They defined play as something that they themselves choose and although they were working at similar subjects that were organised by the teachers, the children did not define it as play because they did not organise and choose for themselves. They felt that they learned the right way in school. The children said that they had missed preschool, but they were also positive about school. They took both institutions as given and did not question what happens in either environment. In Norway, Eide and Winger (1994) interviewed 6-year-old children attending a preschool group within the primary school area, about what they thought they would do in first grade and what other children had told them that they did in school. The results show that the children seemed to have internalised a traditional and stereotypical view of school. Many of them mentioned that in school you would have to sit still, read, do arithmetic, write and do assignments, instead of the playing that took place in preschool. The children had a general idea of a daily routine in the elementary school, and were concerned about the norms and regulations in the school. They mentioned that they had to be aware of certain routines and rules, such as only playing during recess and raising your hand to say something; they seemed to take the rules for granted and did not question them. When they discussed what they would miss from preschool, they mentioned their friends. These children were attending preparatory class for 6-year-olds before starting school and most of them did not seem to worry about starting school.
Einarsdottir (2003) investigated Icelandic preschool children’s views and attitudes concerning their transition into primary school. Group interviews were conducted with 5- and 6 –year old children during the end of their last year at preschool. The results show that many of the children had the image of school as a place where children sit quietly at their desks learning how to read, write and do mathematics. The children were preoccupied with the ways in which the primary school would be different from preschool. They also saw learning the customs of the school, the school rules and how to behave in school as an important part of what they would be learning in first grade. Many of the children were excited and looked forward to starting school, while others worried about not being able to meet the school’s expectations.
Other European Studies
Corsaro and Molinai (2000) studied preschool children in an Italian preschool and followed them when they started elementary school. Ethnographic methods were employed where the researchers carefully entered and participated daily, for a 5-month period in the preschool, for 4 months at the beginning of the school term in the first grade and for a 1-week period during the end of the school year. The preschool children viewed elementary school as more work than play focussed, and saw their abilities to read and write as important in their forthcoming transition to elementary school. The children also expected that they would not play as much in the first grade as they had in preschool and that they would have to work quietly at their desks. The importance of older siblings was evident and the children often referred to the experiences of older siblings. When the children entered first grade, they discovered that the time was differentiated into tie periods more strictly than in preschool. For example, different parts of the school day were signalled by ringing bells. They also found a sharp dichotomy between work and play that had not existed in preschool. The lack of play-time was one of the children’s major concerns, as was the large number of new rules. The children made a generally smooth transition to elementary school. In regard to adjustment of new rules and schedules, to more highly structured lessons, and to maintaining and expanding friendship, the results revealed that the children’s collective experiences in priming events in the preschool provided insights enabling them to anticipate and accomplish transition. Griebel and Niesal (2002) studied how German children copied with entry into kindergarten. Interviews were conducted with children at the end of the last year in preschool, and 3 and 6 month after entry into school. The results show that all the children were looking forward to school, although some seemed a little anxious about when they would come. Their knowledge about what school meant was vague and they did not report much concrete information even if they had visited the school with their preschool class. All the children were convinced that they would do well at school, were supported by parents and their preschool teachers, and they were not afraid that older children might bully them. After they had attended school for some weeks, they felt that entering school was somewhat different from what they had expected. They were overwhelmed by many new impressions, such as the large number of other children in their classroom and in school, and they had learned that they were told to do things instead of choosing things as in preschool. However, the children enjoyed learning new things and they felt supported by the teacher. Half a year later, the children in general had turned out to be competent school children. They had acquainted themselves with school demands and made friends. Nevertheless, they felt homework to be a burden, and said that they wanted fewer school hours and more free time in the morning.
Asian studies
In contrast to the Nordic countries, Singapore has a highly competitive education system where competition and extrinsic rewards for achievement in school feature strongly even at an early age (Clarke and Sharpe 2003). In a recent study, a group of 6-year-old children were interviewed about their transition from preschool to formal schooling. In the first week of school, each child had a fifth grade child acting as his or her chaperone during recess time. Five months later, the children took part in a structured interview by their friends who had previously been trained. The results show that almost all the children had made new friends, and enjoyed the larger school building and facilities. They held a very serious view of schooling, where learning was centre stage and play took a back seat. They registered a positive view of themselves as learners. Many were concerned about school rules. While the majority did not indicate anxieties about school, some expressed worries that pertained mostly to be reprimanded by teachers, the principal and vice principal (Clarke et al. in press). In Hong Kong, parents, teachers and children expressed their views of transition to school (Chun 2003). The children were interviewed in groups a month after they started primary school and again at the end of the school year. Most of the children said they were happy at school. In the first interview, most of them mentioned that they liked having recess best, playing with classmates and learning new things. A few also mentioned that they liked the enhanced status of being a primary school pupil. The things they did not like were the English lessons and being punished. Nearly all the children said that they preferred the primary school over the kindergarten. In the second interview, although most children liked primary school, some children (typically the low achievers) wanted to go back to kindergarten because there was no homework and no examinations in kindergarten. However, most of the children said they liked the primary school because they enjoyed playing with classmates, the PE lessons, the recess, the opportunity to learn more and studying in an upper grade.
Studies in Australia and New Zealand
In Australia, the Starting School Project has investigated children’s transitions to school for a number of years. As part of that study, informal group interviews were conducted with children who had recently started school, who were about to start school and who had been in school for some time. The interview transcripts were analysed according to the following categories: knowledge, adjustment, skills, dispositions, rules, physical, family issues and educational environment. The categories of rules and dispositions pre-dominated. Dispositions about school were often associated with friends and, for many children, liking school involved making friends and being with those friends. The children emphasised that they needed to know the school rules in order to function well within the school and keep out of trouble, and they were very clear that the rules came from teachers. Children also mentioned physical issues in starting school, such as the size of the school, the physical nature of play and the playground at school. Many showed concern about the big kids and the scary nature of interactions with them. Several children indicated that some knowledge was required to start school, such as knowing how to count, knowing your name and knowing how to read, but few children mentioned skills as being able to colour properly or write all the letters of their name (Dockett and Perry 2002, 2004). In the Starting School Research Project Children’s photos were also used for gathering data (Dockett and Perry, 2003). The children were asked to photograph what they thought kindergarten children needed to know when they start school. As in previous studies, the children often spoke about the rules they needed to know in order to manage the school environment, they took photos of things related to everyday routines and functioning in the classroom, the physical environment, such as the actual classroom and the teacher’s chair, the play area, merit charts and the computer. Other areas of interest were the playground, toilets and specific function areas such as the library.
In another study of Australian children and their families’ views on transition from childcare to school, Elliott (1998) interviewed children on two occasions when they made their transition to school; the first interview was 2-3 months preceding transition, the second 2-3 months into the new school year. Results of the study show generally positive transition experiences of the children. In the first interview, the children were excited about the prospect of attending school and were well informed about what would happen there, such as that they would learn to read and count, and do ‘proper’ drawing. At the same time, some children had a very strong sense of attachment to the childcare centre and individual staff. In the second interview that took place after the children had started school, all the children found the day-to-day experiences very positive. The children recalled feeling both excited and apprehensive about starting school. The author comments that all the children had attended good quality childcare, had participated in varying activities designed to prepare them for school and went to school where they knew other children. As part of a large study on how children 5-9 years perceived their world, a group of 100 Australian children aged 5-6 years were questioned about their early experiences of school. The children were interviewed individually, using an interview schedule consisting of 100 multiple choice and open question. The results indicate that, while most children settle well in school, many have concerns about the affective domain of the school environment, the fear of punishment, being bored and the lack of choice. While just over half of the children like school most of the time, 83% of them said they did not like school work (Potter and Briggs 2003). Peters (2000) examined transition experiences of young children, their families, and their early childhood and primary school teachers in New Zealand. Seven case study children were interviewed and observed in kindergarten first grade. The results reveal that for many of the children, the lack of continuity between kindergarten and elementary school was temporarily unsettling. This was reflected in a number of aspects, including the physical environment, the size of the school buildings and grounds, the number and size of the other children, the length of the day and the demands of the curriculum. They noted that there was less freedom of choice at school, compared with their experiences in kindergarten. The children also mentioned the compulsion to follow routines for work and for play, regardless of what they felt like doing. The children disliked not being able to play when they wanted, having outside time restricted, not having access to resources such as art materials, and being told what to do all the time. The results of the study indicate that, although aspects of discontinuity provided a challenge for the children on entry to school, in general they adapted quickly to the new environment and the demands of the new curriculum, and showed pride in their achievements. The author concluded that, although discontinuities in the children’s experiences as they moved from early childhood to school can be a source of distress for young children, discontinuity was also associated with delight in learning new things. Ledger et al. (1998) studied how children in New Zealand viewed their transition to school. They followed a group a children from preschool to school using participant observations and interviews with the children at home, in their early childhood centre and in school. The findings show that the children had unrealistic expectations about what would happen at school and some became very negative about school soon after they started. Moving from preschool, where they could initiate their own learning, and control their interactions with peers and teachers, to a school environment, where they experienced much more teacher direction, presented problems for some of the children.
A study from the United States
In the United States, Seefeldt et al. (1997) interviewed Head Start children about their conceptions of and expectations for their future schooling. An open-ended questionnaire designed to engage children in a dialogue about their understanding of school was used when the children were interviewed. The children who participated in the study included children at the end of their Head Start year and children who were already in kindergarten. Two major themes in children’s conceptions of school emerged: play, and the cognitive or learning environment. Children realistically talked about the work of school becoming less play centred, more difficult, and more centred on academics as they moved from grade to grade. Some of the children saw this change as normal, and accepted it on the grounds that, as they grew and matured, they would be able to meet the increased demands. In another study on Head Start children’s perspectives about school and the transition to school, a group of children were interviewed after their transition to kindergarten (Ramey et al. 1998). Most of the children had positive perceptions of all aspects of school. However, a subset of children, more often boys, reported they did not like school very much and were not doing well.
Summary and conclusion
The review of the literature on children’s views on transition from preschool to primary school renders some common factors that children see characterising these school levels and they find they have to be aware of for a successful transition. Irrespective of country of residence, the children expect a change from being able to pay and choose in preschool to more academic work in the primary school. They are also aware of that there are new rules and norms that they have to learn and adapt to. For them, that is the nature of school and they do not question it. Many of the studies reveal that other children and friends are very important during this period and the children report that they will miss the children that do not accompany them to school. Many children also report that they will miss playing in the preschool. The studies conducted after the children started primary school reveal that children often experience a setback and feel inferior during the first weeks or months in school, but most of them seem to adapt quickly. Although there are may commonalities among the research results reviewed, there are also some differences and exceptions. For instance, the children in some of the studies did not worry about starting school (Eide and Winger 1994), while children in other studies had mixed feelings about starting school (Einarsdottir 2003; Pramling Samuelsson and Willams-Graneld 1993). Similarly, whereas the children in one study (Ledger et al. 1998) had unrealistic expectations about school, children in other studies had realistic views of school they were doing what they had expected (Brostrom 2001, 2003). Nevertheless, the results of the studies reviewed indicate that most preschool children see starting school as a period of big change in their lives. They expect their days of playing to be over, and they have to take on new tasks and new ways when they start primary school. In most countries, pre-schools and primary schools have different traditions, policies, curriculum, teaching methodologies, environment and surroundings (Fabian and Dunlop 2002; Brostrom and Wagner 2003), and the children have been prepared for this change by their social environment, including their preschools, older children and their parents. One of the interpretations of these results is that children’s perspectives reflect cultural views. From a sociocultural perspective, cultural context plays an important role in shaping children’s views. Bruner (1996) has, for example, pointed out the importance of culture in shaping the human mind and argued that children have a strong ‘disposition to culture’ since they are sensitive to and eager to adopt the ways of people they encounter around them. In a similar manner, Rogoff (1993) discusses the concept of apprenticeship, and suggests that children’s social interactions and involvement in activities are dynamic and inseparable from the cultural context, in which children engage in shared thinking, as well as comparison of ideas with other people that vary in age, skills and status. Graue and Walsh (1998) explain that children cannot remain untouched by their contexts, and that young children especially are more context dependent and context vulnerable than older children and adults. Therefore, children should be studied as members of social systems and as historically and culturally situated as has been pointed out by other researchers (Saljo 1991).
It is also important to keep in mind when looking at these research results that children are not a homogenous group of people (Christensen and Prout 2002), and different children may have contradictory wishes, expectations and perspectives. Although most of the children in the studies reported that they looked forward to school and adapted quickly, this might not be the case with all children. When conducting research with children, a variety of children’s voices should be listened to (James and Prout 1990). Therefore, researchers need to be resourceful, use creative research methods and instruments that suit different children, and take into account children’s varied social competencies and experiences (Morrow and Richards 1996; Mauthner 1997; Graue and Walsh 1998; Brooker 2001; Punch 2002; Barker and Weller 2003; Eder and Fingerson 2003). The most common method used in the studies reviewed in this chapter was the interview in one form or another. Perhaps these methods do not fit all children, and do not take into consideration the interests and strong points of all children, or their preferred methods of communication. Group interviews have been reported as having many advantages with young children (Hood 1996; Graue and Walsh 1998; Greig and Taylor 1999; Mayall 2000; Einarsdottir 2002), but they also have limitations and might possibly only capture the voices of some children with special needs, for instance, might not be heard during group interviews. One consideration for further research on children’s perspectives on the transition to school is to keep in mind that there is diversity among children and varieties of children’s voices to be heard. To be able to capture different children’s perspectives that give their views weight as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) stipulates, we need to meet children on their own premises, in their natural context, using diverse methods that fit different children.
Final word from Lynn…
I do hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did reading, typing and reflecting on it.
In previous years, reports from children and parents of their primary one experience are generally very positive. However, this chapter has encouraged me to reflect on what more we can do to support the children moving on to primary school. As you are aware, as a Froebelian setting, we have never viewed the children’s experiences here at Cowgate as ‘preparation’ for school. It is an experience that connects to all other experiences. Exciting times ahead…tinged with sadness as we say goodbye to children we have worked with and of course…loved.
March Newsletter « Result #5 on Mar 10, 2009, 2:39pm »
Newsletter – March 2009
“A Magical Nursery Day” (Madeline Kelly, 3rd March 2009)
Child’s Play Is Essential
If we watch a young child at play we can see that it is through constant sensory / physical interaction with the environment that she comes to know herself, the world and what flows between them. Movement and play stimulate healthy brain development. Children grasp emotional content through play. Child’s play transforms into thought.
Shairifa Oppenheimer, Heaven on Earth.
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
This newsletter brings… the above title quote from Madeline from her trip to Heriot (3/3/09); news from La Camera dei Bambini on their experiences; news from Salle de Jeux on their planting and poetry and news from the Sala Infantil from the Forest School experience and more; staff presenting; staff in-service day; an Introduction from Bruno Bettelheim’s ‘The Uses of Enchantment’.
La Camera dei Bambini
We are delighted to say it is so lovely to have our Bambini’s back from having the chickenpox. The Bambini’s have very much enjoyed going to the gardens to experience the spring crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils. They have also enjoyed taking little trips to St Giles Cathedral to look at the windows and carvings of animals. On entering the Cathedral Eliot gasped with wonderment as his eyes feasted on the delights around him.
Sadly two little friends have left our community, India and Amy…both are off on wonderful adventures…but we will miss them so very much. New little friends are waiting to join our little community and we will warmly welcome them, but little loves will always leave footprints on our heart.
Salle de Jeux
The children have been very involved in planting and taking care of the greenhouse…they have been enjoying visits to the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens. Scottish stories and poems have captured the children’s interest this month, with favourites being Katie Morag and the Three Craws featuring in regular experiences.
Sala Infantil
During March, children who have already been to Forest School are going for a revisit after Easter. On 4th of March the children attended the first of the visits – it was a wonderful Forest School visit, it was a lovely bright sunny day. The children toasted marshmallows over the fire, as a child who had done this on a previous trip wanted to do it again. We had a lovely visitor from Athens who went to Forest School too and she really enjoyed the experience.
Staff Presenting
Many staff presentations have taken place this month…
Lian, Maureen and Donna went to Angus to share our ‘Inspiring Emotional Harmony’. Lian and Maureen shared this presentation with everyone at the Early Years Conference too (4/3/09). Lian and I delivered a presentation on Play (5/3/09) and on Friday (13/3/09) Jane and I will be presentation at a ‘Grounds for Learning’ conference on our Outdoor Play.
In-Service Day
On this day for learning some staff were on their ‘Growing Confidence’ course and the others experienced a training event from the Edinburgh Rudolf Steiner School.
We heard of the importance of Imitation and Repetition. The following is a summary of what was shared from the Steiner teachers…
“Life is busy in the Kindergarten and the children and the teachers are never idle. They are always engaged in meaningful work. The daily work of preparing food, caring for the classroom and the garden, mending, crafting and cleaning are movement based activities that offer excellent opportunities for the young child to learn skills and to engage her will forces in imitation. The young child learns through imitation and kindergarten life must offer her plenty of opportunities to imitate.
At Circle time imitation and example become a moment of teacher-led activity. As Lynne Oldfield in ‘Free to Learn’ says, “the teacher becomes a source of knowledge and understanding of the world, of vocabulary, of clear speech, control of movement, imagination, listening skills, phonological awareness – all through the clear and conscious example that she presents. These skills lay a solid foundation for literacy and numeracy at a later stage.” During the kindergarten morning we offer the experience of plenty purposeful movement that can be imitated and used in both outdoor and indoor play. Certain movements in the day of a Steiner kindergarten regularly involve imitation and these moments will be repeated on a regular basis. There is thus a rhythmical repetitive element in the kindergarten experience.
Rhythm
Rhythm and repetition, together with example and imitation, are the basis of early learning. A rhythmical life full of a healthy breathing quality can be very therapeutic. It also creates strong habits making instruction and direction as well as punishment, usually unnecessary. The seasons of the year are an important rhythmic element in the Kindergarten. All Kindergarten’s activities – circle time, story, crafts, domestic work – will have a connection with what is happening outside in nature. The celebration of festivals is also an important rhythmical part of kindergarten life.
A strong and lively rhythm helps give the children a deep sense of security.”
The staff very much enjoyed the in-service day. You can see from the above the many similarities in Froebel and Steiner’s philosophy…so for the staff team the training provided an opportunity to affirm their beliefs in their own practice.
“We are all born to a world of rhythms. These unconscious, cosmic rhythms can support us: the seven days of the week, the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, the changing of the season. We don’t have to do anything to create rhythms. They are a gift to us as we work to create rhythms for our children. When we provide supporting rhythms at home and at school we help our children connect in a stronger way with rhythms of nature.
Barbara Patterson and Pamela Bradley. Beyond the Rainbow Bridge.
A Magical Nursery Day
The children enjoyed a lovely trip to Heriot. We were invited to Heriot by another nursery. The children had a wonderful time. Here are a few of the pictures…
Afterwards the children talked excitedly about their wonderful time and Madeline said “What a magical nursery day.” No adult could say it better…
After this trip we realised we need a mini bus of our own…we are now going to explore what we need to do to have our own mini-bus.
Padraig Slippers
We have now raised enough funds to buy all our children a pair of Padraig slippers. Staff members have gone out and delivered training in order to raise the funds. Thank you so very much to all the staff who have supported this venture and to the team in Aberdeenshire for making our dream possible.
Have a wonderful month. I was introduced to Bettleheim and found myself intrigued…there are profound aspects and at times concerning aspects, but overall a thought provoking book…I have a love of fairy tales and thought you may like to share this…I would be interested in your views…If you would like to read ‘Bruno Betteleim’ read on…
The Struggle for Meaning
If we hope to live not just from moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find meaning in our lives…An understanding of the meaning of one’s life is not suddenly acquired at a particular age, not even when one has reached chronological maturity. On the contrary, gaining a secure understanding of what the meaning of one’s life may or ought to be – this is what constitutes having attained psychological maturity. And this achievement is the end result of a long development: at each stage we seek, and must be able to find, some modicum of meaning congruent with how our minds and understanding have already developed… Only in adulthood can an intelligent understanding of the meaning of one’s existence in this world be gained from one’s experience in it. Unfortunately, some parents want their children’s minds to function as their own do – as if mature understanding of ourselves and the world, and our ideas about the meaning of life, did not have to develop as slowly as our bodies and minds. Today, as in times past, the most important and also the most difficult task in raising a child is helping him to find the meaning of life. Many growth experiences are needed to achieve this. The child, as he develops, must learn step by step to understand himself better, with this he becomes more able to understand others, and eventually can relate to them in ways which are mutually satisfying and meaningful. To find deeper meaning, one must become able to transcend the narrow confines of a self-centred existence and believe that one will make a significant contribution to life – if not right now, then at some future time. This feeling is necessary if a person is to be satisfied with himself and with what he is doing. In order not to be at the mercy of the vagaries of life, one must develop one’s inner resources, so that one’s emotions, imagination and intellect mutually support and enrich one another. Our positive feelings give us the strength to develop our rationality; and hope for the future can sustain using the adversaries we unavoidably encounter…
We all tend to assess the future merits of an activity on the basis of what it offers now. But this is especially true for the child, who much more than the adult, lives in the present and, although he has anxieties about his future, has only the vaguest notions of what it may require or be like. The idea that learning to read may enable one later to enrich one’s life is experienced as an empty promise when the stories the child listens to, or is reading at the moment, are vacuous. The worst feature of these children’s books is that they cheat the child of what he ought to gain from the experience of literature: access to deeper meaning, and that which is meaningful to him at his stage of development.
For a story truly to hold the child’s attention, it must entertain him and arouse his curiosity. But to enrich his life, it must stimulate his imagination; help him to develop his intellect and to clarify his emotions; be attuned to his anxieties and aspirations; give full recognition to his difficulties, while at the same time suggesting solutions to the problems which perturb him. In short, it must at one and the same time relate to all aspects of his personality – and this without ever belittling but, on the contrary, giving full credence to the seriousness of the child’s predicaments, while simultaneously promoting confidence in himself and in his future.
In all these and many other respects, of the entire “children’s literature” – with rare exceptions – nothing can be as enriching and satisfying to child and adult alike as the folk fairy tale. True, on overt level fairy tales teach little about specific conditions of life in modern mass society; these tales were created long before it came into being. But more can be learned from them about the inner problems of human beings, and of the right solutions to their predicaments in any society, than from any other type of story within a child’s comprehension. Since the child at every moment of his life is exposed to the society in which he lives, he will certainly cope with its conditions, provided his inner resources permit him to do so.
Just because his life is often bewildering to him, the child needs even more to be given the chance to understand himself in this complex world with which he must learn to cope. To be able to do so, the child must be helped to make some coherent sense out of the turmoil of his feelings. He needs ideas on how to bring his inner house into order, and on that basis be able to create order in his life. He needs – and this hardly requires emphasis at this moment in our history – a moral education which subtly, and by implication only, conveys to him advantages of moral behaviour, not through abstract ethical concepts but through that which seems tangibly right and therefore meaningful to him.
The child finds this kind of meaning through fairy tales. Like many other modern psychological insights, this was anticipated long ago by poets. The German poet Schiller wrote: “Deeper meaning resides in fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that is taught by life.” (The Piccolomini, III, 4.)
Through the centuries (if not millennia) during which, in their re-telling, fairy tales became even more refined, they came to convey at the same time overt and covert meanings – came to speak simultaneously to all levels of the human personality, communicating in a manner which reaches the uneducated mind of the child as well as that of the sophisticated adult. Applying the psychoanalytic model of the human personality, fairy tales carry important messages to the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious mind, on whatever level each is functioning at the time. By dealing with universal human problems, particularly those which preoccupy the child’s mind, these stories speak to his budding ego and encourage its development, while at the same time relieving preconscious and unconscious pressures. As the stories unfold, they give conscious credence and body to id pressures and show ways to satisfy these that are in line with ego and superego requirements.
But my interest in fairy tales is not the result of such a technical analysis of their merits. It is, on the contrary, the consequence of asking myself why, in my experience, children…all levels of intelligence – find folk fairy tales more satisfying than all other children’s stories. The more I tried to understand why these stories are so successful at enriching the inner life of the child, the more I realised that these tales, in a much deeper sense than any other reading material, start where the child really is in his psychological and emotional being. They speak about his severe inner pressures in a way that the child unconsciously understands, and – without belittling the most serious inner struggles which growing up entails – offer examples of both temporary and permanent solutions to pressing difficulties.
The figures in fairy tales are not ambivalent – not good and bad at the same time, as we all are in reality. But since polarisation dominates the child’s mind, it dominates fairy tales. A person is either good or bad, nothing in between. One brother is ‘stupid’ the other is cleaver. One sister is virtuous and industrious; the others are vile and lazy. One is beautiful, the others are ugly. One parent is good, the other is evil. The juxtaposition of opposite characters is not for the purpose of stressing right behaviour, as would be true for cautionary tales. (There are some amoral fairy tales where goodness or badness, beauty or ugliness plays no role at all). Presenting the polarities of character permits the child to comprehend easily the difference between the two, which he could not do as readily were the figures drawn more true to life, with all the complexities that characterise real people. Ambiguities must wait until a relatively firm personality has been established on the basis of positive identifications. Then the child has a basis for understanding that there are great differences between people, and that therefore one has to make choices about who one wants to be. This basic decision, on which all later personality development will build, is facilitated by the polarisations of the fairy tale. Furthermore, a child’s choices are based, not so much on right versus wrong, as on who arouses his sympathy and who his antipathy. The more simple and straightforward a good character, the easier it is for a child to identify with it and to reject the bad other. The child identifies with the good hero not because of his goodness, but because the hero’s condition makes a deep positive appeal to him. The question for the child is not “Do I want to be good?” but “Who do I want to be like?” The child decides this on the basis of projecting himself wholeheartedly into one character. If this fairy-tale figure is a very good person, then the child decides that he wants to be good, too. Amoral fairy tales show no polarisation or juxtaposition of good and bad persons; that is because these amoral stories serve an entirely different purpose. Such tales or type figures such as “Puss in Boots,” who arranges for the giant’s treasure, build character not by promoting choices between good and bad, but by giving the child hope that even the meekest succeed in life. After all, what’s the use of choosing to become a good person when one feels so insignificant that he fears he will never amount to anything? Morality is not the issue in these tales, but rather, assurance that one can succeed. Whether one meets life with a belief in the possibility of mastering its difficulties or with the expectation of defeat is also a very important existential problem. The deep inner conflicts originating in our primitive drives and our violent emotions are all denied in much of modern children’s literature, and so the child is not helped in coping with them. But the child is subject to desperate feelings of loneliness and isolation, and he often experiences mortal anxiety. More often than not, he is unable to express these feelings in words, or he can do so only by indirection: fear of the dark, of some animal, anxiety about his body. The fairy tale, by contrast, takes these existential anxieties and dilemmas very seriously and addresses itself directly to them: the need to be loved and the fear that one is thought worthless; the love of life, and the fear of death. Further, the fairy tale offers solutions in ways that the child can grasp on his level of understanding. For example, fairy tales pose the dilemma of wishing to live eternally by occasionally concluding: 2if they had not died, they are still alive.” The other ending – “And they live happily ever after” – does not for a moment fool the child that eternal life is possible. But is does indicate that which alone can take the sting out of the narrow limits of our time on this earth: forming a truly satisfying bond to another. The tales teach that when one has done this, one has reached the ultimate in emotional security of existence and permanence of relation available to man; and this alone can dissipate the fear of death. If one has found true adult love, the fairy story also tells, one doesn’t need to wish for eternal life. This is suggested by another ending found in fairy tales: “they lived for a long time afterward, happy and in pleasure.” An uniformed view of the fairy tale sees in this type of ending an unrealistic wish-fulfilment, missing completely the important message it conveys to the child. These tales tell him that by forming a true interpersonal relation, one escapes the separation anxiety which haunts him (and which sets the stage for many fairy tales, but is always resolved at the story’s ending). Furthermore, the story tells, this ending is not made possible, as the child wishes and believes, by holding on to his mother eternally. If we try to escape separation anxiety and death anxiety by desperately keeping our grasp on our parents, we will only be cruelly e Hansel and Gretel.
Only by going out into the world can the fairy-tale hero (child) find himself there; and as he does, he will also find the other with whom he will be able to live happily ever after, that is, without ever again having to experience separation anxiety. The fairy tale is future-orientated and guides the child – in terms he can understand in both his conscious and his unconscious mind – to relinquish his infantile dependency wishes and achieve a more satisfying independent existence.
While it entertains the child, the fairy tale enlightens him about himself, and fosters his personality development. It offers meaning on so many different levels, and enriches the child’s existence in so may ways, that no one book can do justice to the multitude and diversity of the contributions such tales make to the child’s life. The delight we experience when we allow ourselves to respond to a fairy tale, the enchantment we feel, comes not from the psychological meaning of a tale (although this contributes to it) but from its literary qualities – the tale itself as a work of art. The fairy tale could not have its psychological impact on the child were it not first and foremost a work of art. Fairy tales are unique, not only as a form of literature, but as works of art which are fully comprehensible to the child, as no other form of art is. As with all great art, the fairy tale’s deepest meaning will be different for each person and different for the same person at various moments in his life. The child will extract different meaning from the same fairy tale, depending on his interests and needs of the moment. When given the chance, he will return to the same tale when he is ready to enlarge on old meanings, or replace them with new ones. As works of art, fairy tales have many aspects worth exploring such as our cultural heritage finds expression in fairy tales and through them is communicated to the child’s mind. Another aspect is undoubtedly the unique contribution fairy tales can and do make to the child’s moral education. Fairy tales, like all true works of art, possess a multifarious richness and depth that far transcend what even the most discursive examination can extract from them. The true meaning and impact of a fairy tale can be appreciated, its enchantment can be experienced, only from the story in its original form – explaining to a child why a fairy tale is so captivating to him destroys the story’s enchantment…it depends to some degree on the child’s not quite knowing why he is delighted by it….(summary from the introduction of Bruno Bettelheim ‘The Uses of Enchantment’ The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales)
Please note…at Cowgate and as a Froebelian…we would never label behaviour ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
Dates to remember:
Eco –Committee (2) Children on March 10th and Parents / Staff on March 16th. Parent Consultations for the Sala Infantil – Week beginning MARCH 23rd. Parent consultations for La Camera dei Bambini and the Salle de Jeux Week beginning March 30th.
February Newsletter « Result #6 on Feb 5, 2009, 2:54pm »
February Newsletter
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
It is with the greatest of pleasure I write to you this month. We have so much to celebrate. The wonderful weather, for example brings such joy and delight to the children. As I look out my window the sun is shining brightly through the trees, children are singing in the hall, it is a lovely day…
The newsletter brings…thanks to our parents for all their generosity in giving so much to Cowgate this month; request for appropriate clothing; story sack launch; plan update; Padraig Slippers; news from Denmark;
Parents are a Gift
In January we were asked, by a leading educational organisation to write about our beliefs and values about working with parents. I have enclosed the article for your perusal.
“Parents are a Gift
Being a parent is the most complex and important activity on the planet (Popov, 1997)
Cowgate under 5’s is an environment where children unfold happily and busily in a carefully arranged play environment, surrounded by peace and love. Our goal is to create a harmonious environment where children, their parents and staff are happy. Our primary concern is always the well being, happiness and holistic development of each individual child in the Centre. Through our shared responsibility with parents, we make decisions together that ensure each child is given the best possible start in life.
Every child is different, with his/her developing view of the world, interests and abilities. We encourage each child to have a positive self-image, the ability to communicate confidently and to value and show respect for others. We respect the many different forms of family life, social and cultural background that every child attending the centre may come from.
We concern ourselves with the child’s life right from the start and warmly welcome families, prior to the placement, meeting with parents in our family room to discuss anything at all, interests, philosophy, or indeed any issues or concerns. When a place is offered to the family we then arrange a home visit. This provides an opportunity to explain clearly what we do and why we do it, we stress that parents are encouraged to be active in the centre – and active can mean so many things to individual families and we promise to respect and support involvement at all levels.
Parent as Educator
To educate means ‘to bring forth’ what already exists. We value parents as the child‘s first educator, a teacher, not a dictator, but a guide.
As educators we [parents and staff] regularly observe children, sensitively tuning into what the child is capable of today, that they may not have been capable of yesterday. We welcome parents contributions to their child‘s ‘Personal Learning Plan’, sharing significant events and observations from their home life.
We keep parents up to date by offering informal chats with key workers and more formally, termly consultations, parents evenings and open days.
There are many other ways in which we appreciate parents being involved in the centre, outings, our annual Nativity Play, our Forest School experience, various committees, for example our eco committee. We also welcome help with repairing resources, sewing, gardening, and cooking or woodworking jobs. If parents play a musical instrument or have another skill to share we invite them to teach us or offer an experience to the children.
Our work with parents will be similar to many early years’ settings who offer good wholesome practice, however, perhaps due to the wonderful trusting relationships we have, we share and discuss theories appropriate to the child’s development. Our monthly newsletters share topics on our learning and some parents express an interest in these topics which offers further journeys of exploring and learning. We share literature together, for example discussing the work of Bruce (2008) to support emerging literacy. As a Froebelian setting we emphasise an appropriate pace of learning. Supporting parents to allow children to take on new responsibilities, without expecting perfection but encouraging them in all they do, building their confidence and responsibility…it takes wisdom to know how and when to tune into our children, at Cowgate by working together with our wonderful families we are all becoming wiser…”
Every now and then it is important to write articles such as the above, it helps us revisit aspects of our approach which we hold very dear.
This leads on very nicely to thank the parents who have come in this month to share what they do for a living with the children. A special thanks to Shirley, Leo’s mummy who explained her role as a nurse with the children. This session had a wonderful impact on the children. Beth, for example, examined my hand with her blue gloves on. I explained I had a small cut on my finger. She treated me with such kindness that it quickly became so much better and as for the after care…it has been wonderful. Beth has checked on me everyday since. Beth may be a doctor one day (I have asked Beth’s permission to print this).
Another parent has suggested that it may be helpful if there was an identified member of staff in each room who collected information for the monthly newsletters. I have since put this to staff and everyone has agreed that it is indeed an excellent suggestion. Staff members who will now collect information from their room colleagues are…
Caroline from La Camera dei Bambini Susan from the Salle de Jeux Person tbc from the Sala Infantil
The same parent suggested that at the end of each newsletter we draw attention to important monthly events…this will start from this month.
Natasha, Reuben’s mum has very kindly agreed to support an event here at Cowgate on Monday 9th February (evening). Thank you very much Natasha we truly appreciate your constant willingness to support all our events. You are like one of the family
Parental participation is of the highest importance to our work here at Cowgate. Please do let us know if there is any way you would like to be involved or if there is anything you would like us to do differently.
Appropriate Clothing
May we make a request that the children have appropriate clothing for this wonderful weather? As you know the children will be out in all weathers. Thank you for this.
Another small request, please can you check your child’s clothing bag? To make things easier for the children (and their parents) it would be useful to have only relevant clothing and footwear in their bags and boxes. Things do get in a ‘little’ mess as the children develop their independence
Story sack Launch
As you know we have a wonderful resource of story sacks. Karen has asked if any parent (s) would be interested in re launching our sacks. We could perhaps organise an evening where we look at what is a story sack and how we proceed from here. The task is quite a big one so to share it with you would be wonderful.
Maureen has agreed to re-launch our book library, so…please watch this space
Sequence Books
Our sequence books have been redesigned. June has taken a photograph of the actual experience and then developed the sequence of events. As you know these are for sale. The new idea works beautifully too, as Indie sat in his buggy waiting to go home, he pointed up at the sequence books in the hall and said ‘Bread’ pointing to the bread book. Our sequence books may soon be in the ‘Mindstretchers’ catalogue too. We have been asked by Claire Warden from Mindstretchers to send them to her. All good for nursery funds
Update from PLAN
First of all thank you to all the parents who supported our raised sponsorship for Kadi Moussa our sponsored child in Niger. We raised £80 through parent and staff donations and the £64 was raised by other fund raising methods. I have copied in the letter for you…
9 January 2009
Dear Cowgate, children, parents and staff
Thank you so much for sponsoring Kadi Moussa in Niger. The generosity of our sponsors is making a tremendous difference to the lives of the poorest there and in all 48 other developing countries – transforming impoverished communities and helping children to reach their true potential.
(In this paragraph PLAN has referred to the ‘Country Progress Report 2008’ I have attached this to the parent’s notice board).
We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in Niger over the last year. As a sponsor, you can feel proud too, because it’s only through your continued support that we’ve been able to do all these things.
And in the current economic climate, your support is more valued than ever. Times are hard in Britain, but global economic problems have hit families in the world’s poorest countries even harder.
As always, it’s children who suffer most. Boys and girls may be pulled out of school and forced to work to help supplement the family income, basic medicines to deal with childhood illnesses may be unaffordable, and families may struggle to pay for the variety of foods children need to grow up strong and healthy.
Now more than ever, such families need to help to keep their children in school, boost their incomes and get the healthcare they need. And with over 70 years’ experience of working in this field, Plan has the knowledge and expertise to give the support they need. So whatever the economic outlook in Britain, I can assure you that your sponsorship is a sound investment in the long-term wellbeing of children in the world’s poorest countries.
On behalf of those children, as well as their families and communities, and of course Kadi Moussa, I’d like to thank you very much for being a Plan sponsor.
Yours sincerely
Marie Staunton Chief Executive.
Thank you again for all your support.
Padraig Slippers
As you know one of our goals is to raise enough money to buy Padraig Slippers for all the children in the centre.
The Padraig Slipper story starts as raw fleece grown by a New Zealand sheep farmer who specialises in producing long staple, high lustre wool for spinning. He scours and cards the fleece ensuring a certain proportion of the natural oil or lanolin is retained in order to preserve the water resistant property of wool. He then passes it over to his brother who spins a soft thick yarn especially for the Padraig Slipper. Further specifications apply to the different slipper sizes – the baby yarn being the finest, the men’s yarn being the strongest and most dense. Once the yarn arrives at the studio it is given to the master dyer who carefully dyes it depending on the season and inspiration. Finally the colourful yarn together with a soft sheepskin lining and a tough leather sole are taken over by the artisans who craft the finished slipper.
Padraig was started 29 years ago by Helen Long. At home with small children, she returned to her childhood love of wool, experienced while growing up on a hill sheep farm in Scotland. Not only was she influenced by her childhood but also by three fascinating years living in small Indian communities in Northwest Territories. Spinning, dyeing, weaving and knitting became a major part of her life. With the discovery of the Indian Head spinning wheel and Salish weaving, she experienced a sense of freedom on her craft, taking freely from both cultures. Her use of colour reflects this clearly.
Faced with an active small son who refused to keep an eye on his footwear while playing on a concrete basement floor, she experimented with warm slippers. Nothing worked until she noticed him sitting curling his toes with obvious enjoyment on a sheepskin rug. The first Padraig slipper was made. Throughout the following years as Helen experimented and developed her skills with different processes and projects the Padraig slipper seemed to develop a life of its own, refusing to be set aside or ignored. Friends, family and customers supported it. Seventeen years ago, she gave in and together with her husband Jeremy, set up a cottage industry with the Padraig slipper as the mainstay of the business. With the emphasis now clearly on the slipper many changes and improvements were made to meet the demand of a much wider market place. Today, although Padraig has grown considerably and is selling right across Canada and into parts of the U.S., the essence of the business is just as clear as in the early days – namely a love of natural materials especially wool, the appreciation of the work of skilled artisans and the enjoyment of working with colour.
We are hoping to raise enough money to buy enough pairs of Padraig Slippers for all the children. Parents may choose to buy them. Our hope is that the children will have their outdoor footwear for outdoor play and exchange them for indoor slippers when coming back into the centre. It may add to a softer atmosphere inside the centre.
PLEASE LET US KNOW BY 23rd February if you would like to order slippers. Inspiring Emotional Harmony – Showcasing
Members of our wonderfully skilled team, Lian, Donna and Maureen presented at the Head Teachers Conference on Monday. The team covered presented an overview of Cowgate and our desire to develop our policy on Emotional Harmony. Many of you contributed to this presentation, offering your very helpful suggestions…so thanks to you for supporting the team in presenting this very successfully at the conference.
They were so successful they have been asked to put on at least three more presentations on the same subject! Well done team, you are all stars
News from Denmark
Jane and I had an interesting time in Denmark. We met lovely people that we hope to keep in touch with. We have already planned to meet Claire and Niki from Mindstretchers and we have already had a visitor from Denmark here at Cowgate. So…what did we find when we got there…as pictures speak louder than words I have included as many as possible without identifying children in them…please accept my apologies as these are my, quite rushed notes…
Our First Visit
Hudruphus Nature Kindergarten
The pedagog Bitten Pedersen explained the pedagogy used in the kindergarten. She warmly greeted us saying “We are a small place, but we have big hearts.” How warming it was to hear those words. Bitten added “We invent and we interpret.”
The values of this kindergarten are;; • Nature kindergarten – children’s interaction with nature is central • Central to pedagogy is play • Children have the power over their own lives • Children have power over their own lives • Children should be met by caring pedagogs who have time to listen (the nursery has a ‘telling chair’ for anyone who has something to say • Fellowship is very important – care for each other, the forest and kindergarten • When children are met with respect they show respect • Children are given the right to find out how high is the tree, how you make a fire, how to use a pen knife and how such a knife can change the branch of wood into the tool to make the bread dough round • Children have time and space to wonder and go deeper into things
A typical day in this kindergarten is…
What is Everyday? 6.30am – First the children are met. We light the fire. Children have breakfast and all make bread. 9.00am – They all get together, they sing, they read, they talk, they laugh and talk about the day. They then eat the bread rolls. 10.00am – They go out into the woods (Rhythm of nature) 11.30am – Back for lunch 12 noon – Lunch, then rest for those that need it. Afternoon – Children choose what to do…go out and groom the goats, sit under a tree and just ‘be’. 5pm – The nursery closes
The kindergarten has rabbits and goats (Egon, Borge and Freja), which the children care for during their time in the kindergarten
As we arrived at Hundruphus the children played in a large sandpit. There was no obvious pedagog supervision as the children played independently outdoors.
The kindergarten is ‘home’ to 24 children – Bitten believed that big kindergarten’s ‘loose something.’
The children and pedagogs meet every morning ‘gathering time’ to discuss what they will be doing that day.
Bitten stressed the importance of a good relationship with colleagues. She said “It is important that we have fun together because the children are always watching.”
The children walk in the forest everyday
Bitten and the children took us a walk in the forest. Bitten explained “We try to find a good day in everyday.”
The children go the same route everyday. They run on, safely and know where to stop. Bitten explained to our group “I work on my intuition. The children are with me leading the way.
Bitten said “There is place in the nature where the children think.”
A challenging climb…not for these children
Bitten said “It is important that we allow the children to show how competent they are…there are lots of dangers and it is about the relationship we have.” She said on our return back to Hundruphus “…it has been a great expedition - I am warm inside.” They make soup on a Monday…which lasts all week. They bake bread in the morning…as we do. “Food in the stomach…as they have used their energy..”
Back at Hundruphus they have a familiar story... “to slow the tempo”
Our Second Visit – Naturskole Hald Ege
Our Wonderful Group
Naturskole Hald Ege is a local authority environmental centre. We were met by Jan Frydendal the centre’s leader. Jan called himself a ‘nature interpreter’. He informed us that there are 90 nature schools in Denmark. Naturskole’s are owned by the state. Jan was a lovely man, he was child like in that his excitement showed…the pleasure he got from the forest was obvious.
We enjoyed a walk round the forest. He said he worked on ‘team building with children’ saying “Team building comes from the inside.” He cuts down trees with groups of children, he said “Children are always keen to cut the trees…there is so much to learn from doing this…” He teaches children to catch fish, smoke them and then together they enjoy eating them.
The trees in the forest were large; a member from our party pointed this out, expressing concern that the children climb these large trees. Jan responded “The risk is if you don’t teach the children to climb trees…otherwise action…” At this Jan made an action of slicing his throat! He explained he teaches the children ‘like any good father’ teach them how to use equipment safely ect. “We cut trees with axes…if we don’t allow the children to take risks we shouldn’t be working with them…”
Our Third Visit Myretuen Bornehave
Myretuen bornehave is a mainstream nursery. The children are 2-4years.
The Waving Window in Myretuen Bornehave
This purpose built nursery had many lovely ideas that we could consider for our own practice here at Cowgate…
For example Jane loved the dryer for footwear…
The Gathering Place
I really liked the place for gathering. In the morning the pedagog light the candles and the fire to welcome the children.
During our visit the fire was not lit, the children lounged around here, reading books, playing with small world resources. Lovely.
Children have a little basket for their belongings
I really liked this idea. Children collect their little basket with their belongings when they need to change into something. The baskets were attached by hooks to a pole. Children could easily access these.
Our final visit
Laerkereden Bornehave
This mainstream centre can have children from 0-4, but they have been unable to provide a place for an infant for a long time due to the lengthy waiting list. Ruth Kristensen explained the pedagogy of this centre.
Ruth explained that 20 years ago the adult would have done everything for them…now children do many, many things without adult intervention. Ruth said “Adults have to take time with children to teach them the basic routines.”
Ruth explained the values of the centre…
• Respect each individual as a unique person • Starting point is the child’s cultural background • Encourage each child’s development • Co-operation with everyone
These four lines Ruth said “Do not seem much…but they are everything.”
We all thought what a lovely place for children to be…
And that was our little trip to Denmark…we did visit one other very special place. (Thank you Liz for letting us share this space with you…we all enjoyed it).
A special place for children to be all they want to be We will be putting on a presentation soon for all interested parents on our Danish trip…watch this space.
I feel very blessed to be part of the Cowgate Community…we have wonderful children who trust us and follow us no matter how efficient or inept we are. They are utterly faithful and believing. We have wonderful parents, who actively support us… one parent recently described us as ‘like family’ which is beautiful. We enjoy working with a wonderful staff team that grows organically day by day, I am so proud of each and everyone of them, I know we are blessed. All things considered I would like to finish now with a poem by Peter Dixon from his book ‘Let Me Be.’
TAPSTEP Roger’s Daddy’s clever, Daisy’s flies a plane, Michael does computers And has a house in Spain. Lucy’s goes to London, He stays there every week… But my daddy has an ear-ring and lovely dancing feet. He hasn’t got a brief case, he hasn’t got a phone, he hasn’t got a mortgage and we haven’t got a home. He hasn’t got a fax machine, we haven’t got a car. But he can dance and fiddle and my Daddy is a Star. A poem written after watching a small child begging with her Dad.
Infant cots
The babies sleep outside – until the temperature drops to -15 degrees.
One lovely idea that I would appreciate your feedback on is that in the centre the parents bring a selection of fruit each week. It goes into a basket and children select fruit and cut it up to share with their friends. Ruth explained that this means the children get a wide variety of fruit and it supports the cultural needs of children in the centre…what do you think…would you like us to do that here?
Note to all parents...it does appear that you do not get the full newsletter on the web forum...if you wish to see the full newsletter please use the internet. Thank you Lynn
January Newsletter - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! « Result #7 on Jan 5, 2009, 1:23pm »
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
This newsletter brings the warmest of wishes for 2009 in the form of a little story from ¡¥Chicken Soup for the Soul¡¦; a very warm welcome to our new children and their families; information on our staffing; an update on our ¡¥Inspiring Emotional Harmony¡¦ Policy. Thank you to the parents and staff who have kindly shared their views and experiences, heartfelt thanks go to Donna and Julie who have driven the policy; Denmark this month;
Love: The One Creative Force
¡§Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbour. ¡KLet no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God¡¦s kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting¡¨ Mother Teresa
A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy¡¦s future. In every case the students wrote, ¡§He hasn¡¦t got a chance.¡¨ Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He asked his students to follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, ¡§How do you account for your success?¡¨ In each case the reply came with feeling, ¡§There was a teacher.¡¨ The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher¡¦s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. ¡§It¡¦s really very simple,¡¨ she said, ¡§I loved those boys.¡¨ Eric Butterworth
After watching Mr Chips last night, I couldn¡¦t resist that ƒº
Happy New Year to You
Welcome
Welcome to all our new children and their families.
Welcome to our new members of staff Caroline (La Camera dei Bambini) Scott (Salle de Jeux and Sala Infantil) Theresa (who you know so well) and Theresa has also asked me to say ¡¥Hello¡¦ to everyone.
Staffing
As you were aware, for a long time The City of Edinburgh Council had a freeze on recruitment. During that time we had staff on long term supply contracts. We were luckier than most, as we were able to keep staff for long periods of time. Now after a very long period of recruitment and selection we finally have some settlement, let me illustrate what the staffing should look like to you very soon.
1. Jane 2. Lian 3. Cheryl 4. Theresa (covering for Julie¡¦s maternity cover)
Part day staff
1. Fiona 2. Maureen 3. Saira 4. Scott
We have such a wonderful staff team. Carefully selected people who have wonderful qualities, skills and levels of insight and understanding of a special kind. What a blessing it is to work alongside such kind and loving individuals. Some of the above changes took place naturally, with some staff indicating a wish to work in another space, or simply to have more hours, other changes occurred due to temporary members being successful during recruitment and selection. We have also very much enjoyed the opportunity to recruit Caroline and two Scott¡¦s during the process.
Inspiring Emotional Harmony
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this policy. Donna and Julie presented it to visitors to the centre. It continues to be a work in progress, but definitely near its completion. I have added the presentation to the end of this newsletter for your information.
As I worked on my PhD over the holiday, I came across this very apt quote from Corsaro, Molinari and Rosier (2002)
¡§If children are valued as participants, then children¡¦s sense of well-being, sense of self and personal agency, as well as their cognitive and social learning are enhanced.¡¨
I don¡¦t know about you, but as we discuss children self-disciplining (although we all agree we do not like that term) it brings to light the topic of childhood participation. At times, I have discovered that both practitioners and parents can be a little unsure about what exactly participation is¡KI hope you¡¦ll find this little definition reassuring¡Kcertainly it resonates with the practice here at Cowgate and my experience of observing the parents and their children here too...
Shier (2001) defined a hierarchical model with five levels through which children¡¦s participation rights can be understood.
The level in Shier¡¦s (2001) model are; (1) children are listened to; (2) children are supported to express their views; (3) children¡¦s views are taken into account; (4) children are involved in decision-making processes; (5) children share power.
On Hogmanay, as we discussed our ¡¥Inspiring Emotional Harmony¡¦ policy, Maureen (Sala Infantil) and I began discussing our meaningful interactions with children. We agreed that we need to offer a strategy that offers a balance, a balance between acknowledging the child¡¦s vulnerability and dependence upon adults; having an appreciation of children¡¦s competencies and capabilities and encouragement as appropriate to allow children greater autonomy and independence.
Open-ended playthings
As you know at Cowgate we enjoy many wonderful visits from friends of Cowgate, we learn so much from them. One of the questions that we are often asked is about our play materials, as you are aware we do not encourage formed materials that can never be anything else, I do hope you know why?¡Khopefully you know that we believe that open-ended materials naturally allows for deep play, where children have the opportunities to wallow thoughtfully and creatively. Bruce suggests that this deep, wallowing play where children have the opportunity to concentrate without interruption or interference is a great predictor of later academic success, as children learn to become engaged in their learning. Vygotsky (1978) agrees with Bruce suggesting that such play leads to higher level thinking because children are using objects symbolically. The act of transformation involves symbolic, abstract thinking. When we observe children playing we can see that children have to enter into an agreement with others, whether peers or adults. ¡¥You know and I know that this is a leaf, but we are both pretending it¡¦s a fried egg.¡¦ This meeting of minds at an abstract level ¡V agreeing, communicating and sustaining the pretence, negotiating the characters, the scripts and the plots of the play requires considerable planning and negotiation. Please take a moment to read the booklet on ¡¥Open-ended Play¡¦ situated on reception.
Talking of Bruce¡K
I have just heard that our dear friend and colleague is on the New Years Honour List ¡V Tina Bruce CBE!
Denmark: Inside ¡V Out Training
Jane (Garven) and I are off this month to study in Denmark. We leave on the 19th of January.
Inside-out aims to give the necessary pedagogical knowledge to develop one¡¦s practice in one¡¦s own setting. The consultancy, training and courses are backed with theoretical and practical knowledge and give each participant the competence and confidence to use the outdoor environment as a learning resource with children, young people and adults.
The Scandinavian tradition of using nature and the outdoor environment as a learning resource and not simply as a place for children to ¡¥let of steam¡¦ has become an important aspect of pedagogy. The majority of nurseries and out of school clubs use the outdoor environment all year round.
Over the past decade there has been a growing interest in using the outdoor environment with children and young people in the UK as a way of developing skills and increasing motivation and learning. Recent research studies illustrate that using the outdoors as a learning resource is highly beneficial for physical, mental, social and emotional development in children, young people and adults.
¡§Wisdom begins with wonder¡¨ ¡V Socrates
For more information contact info@insideoutnature.com
When Jane and I return I am sure we will be desperate to share our experience with you.
What¡¦s in a Name Tree?
Angela from La Camera dei Bambini has asked if parents could bring in a photo of their child with an explanation about why you called your child their name for the ¡¥What¡¦s in a Name Tree¡¦ The tree is a lovely representation of the children who are growing together in the centre. Every child enjoys a great sense of satisfaction and self-worth when they can see themselves on the tree. Furthermore, the children are introduced to the many wonderful associations and cultural values that are contained in each name. Thank you in anticipation.
A little reminder
Could you please remember to mark all your child¡¦s belongings, it does appear many similar items of clothing go home in the wrong bag etc, easy mistake to make of course, but with a little marking it could make life so much simpler ƒº
Final words¡K
A New Year brings many wonderful things lots of things to celebrate. Froebel introduced us to the concept ¡¥All things are all things¡¦ presenting beauty on all levels ¡V helping the child in their celebration of life. Knowing this interrelatedness of himself/herself and the earth, himself /herself and the cosmos, himself/herself and all learning, really does provide the child with both roots and wings. Time to celebrate our New Year.
December Newsletter « Result #8 on Dec 10, 2008, 2:59pm »
December Newsletter 2009 – Time to Celebrate
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
This newsletter brings exciting news of celebrations, I have included the presentation on pedagogy from a course Julie and Donna attended in Glasgow in November, I have chosen to show you, what I hope are significant slides and the paper on pedagogy. A brief explanation of our Christmas Plans. An invitation to join our eco-committee.
As mentioned above, we have enjoyed many exciting celebrations here at Cowgate…
One of the most significant celebrations has been the birth of baby Ben. Emily from the Salle de Jeux has a new baby brother. Everyone is doing very well and Emily is very much enjoying being, as we would have expected a very caring sister. Emily is, rightly so, feeling very important in her playroom. Here is a little story of finding the right place for the baby’s beginning days:
‘Where would be the very best place in all the world for a new baby to begin its life?’ ‘Well, we want the baby to begin its life in our nest’, said the birds. ‘No’, said all those who had gathered to search for the right place. ‘Why, the wind might blow the nest down and the baby would topple to the ground.’ ‘We want the baby here’, said the rabbits. ‘We have a lovely place under the ground near the old fir tee.’ ‘Oh, no, that would never do. There would be too much company,’ said the others. ‘The baby must have a place that is warm and cosy, plenty of food, a little hot tub, and music. Your place will never do.’ So they searched for a long time. Finally they found just the right place near the mother’s heart. Here there was music, there was a little hot tub, there was plenty of food, and there was a place that would be warm and cosy (A story by Betty Peck).
Since beginning this newsletter two other beautiful babies have been born, Angela (La Camera dei Bambini) has given birth to twin girls!
We are still glowing from winning three awards this month…
o The Staff won an award for their work here at Cowgate. Staff who give so fully and richly of themselves so deserve this award. Thank you for all your kind comments of support. o Quality of Life Award – ‘Free, Joyful, Sensory, and Rich Play in the Natural World’ Here is the little quote entered in the brochure…
“Children at Cowgate under 5’s Centre have enthusiastically embraced the Forest School experience and both the children and their families have expressed how this experience has enriched their lives. One of the principles of Forest School is that is ‘builds on an individual’s innate motivation and positive attitude to learning, offering children the opportunity to take risks, make choices and initiate learning for themselves’. The nursery’s philosophy is to trust the child to make their own decisions. The Forest School experience supports this belief by developing the child’s confidence and self-esteem.”
Jane (Garven) is a wonderful Forest School Leader – we have all learnt so much from her. Thank you Jane for sharing your knowledge and skills with everyone, we owe this award to your leadership.
o Nursery of the Year – Please check our website for full details of this exciting award. Just click on the logo and it should open the page for you,
Liz and Donna ventured to London this month to begin their Froebelian training. Both Liz and Donna have come back inspired by the introductory conference. As Cowgate under 5’s Centre is a Froebelian centre, for all our new friends and families I have added some information on Froebel at the end of this newsletter.
Care Commission
We are due to have a visit from Care Commission anytime soon. Thank you to everyone who has completed a questionnaire.
Calling all parents…
Many of our parents who were involved in the eco-committee moved on when their child moved on to school. We would very much like our parents involved in this fundamental part of Cowgate’s philosophy. The idea behind our eco-school committee, pure and simple, is to involve more children and their families in our eco work. For example, one of goals has been to develop our school kitchen with vegetables and salad. We have enjoyed small triumphs in our garden, with lovely fruit and vegetables being enjoyed. Our aim is to have afternoon snack all year round from our garden. Only one of our ideas…please do come and share any of your ideas. Lorraine would love to note your interest. We meet three times each year. Christmas
The celebration of Christmas comes in many forms in the centre…
Our Nativity Play
Our Christmas Nativity Play is due to take place on 16th December @ 2pm. Exciting.
Christmas Outing
Our Christmas Outing is on 19th December. Please collect a letter from reception highlighting the details.
Sponsoring Kadi
Our contribution of £144 for the support of our sponsored child Kadi Moussa in Niger is due.
It is at this time of year we ask that if you are wishing to give the staff a little gift that you instead insert a small donation in Kadi’s box (on reception).
We greatly value your generosity that you express in many, many, ways and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout the year.
May I wish you all a joyful and peaceful Christmas from all of us…
I will leave you with this little poem…
There are many gifts. But a true gift is something you make, Because you make it with your imagination, Your time, your money, Your hands, Your brain, your best wishes. You are really wrapping yourself up And giving yourself away. Of course, that means there is more of you everywhere. And when you bump into pieces of your good old wonderful self, Sparkles fill the air.
(Poetry from the Kindergarten floor, B.P).
Friedrich Froebel - 1782-1852 His life and influence on education Miriam LeBlanc
What was life like before kindergarten, before ‘childhood’ existed? Children worked in mines and factories; nobody celebrated birthdays, and by the age of seven, children were considered adults. Then along came Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), and invented the kindergarten…perhaps as a result of being raised by the proverbial ‘wicked’ stepmother of fairytales, who gave him little love or attention. “Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.” Friedrich Froebel It’s 2005, and we’ve passed the high-water mark for childhood. Our children may not be coal mining, but they deal with the pressures of television, advertising, and loss of outdoor play. This discussion of Froebel is more important than ever. Froebel grew up in the beautiful forests of Thuringia, Germany, with a keen love of nature (the same countryside inspired his famous contemporary, Goethe, to make it his home for decades). This closeness to creation, along with a firm Christian faith, were key to Froebel’s educationist ideas, which were centred in the unity and inner connectedness of all life. Froebel arrived at his involvement in early childhood education via an unlikely mélange of experiences. Weak in language and writing skills as a child, he grew to excel at visually comprehended disciplines such as geometry and mapmaking. A two-year apprenticeship to a Thuringian forester inspired the enthusiastic fifteen-year-old, who had a natural bent for self-education. He gathered local plants for classification, and avidly consumed books on a variety of subjects. By 1805, after studies in the university town of Jena including surveying and architecture, Froebel had settled on architecture as a career. But unexpectedly, Froebel switched paths. A friend--possibly someone who understood this highly gifted youth-- counselled him to abandon architecture for teaching, and this seemed to bring on a revelation of sorts. The would-be architect dropped his plans and decided to pursue education as a profession. He accepted an invitation to teach at a Frankfurt school—one of the first schools based on the educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s progressive ideals. Pestalozzi (1746-1827) saw the child as a being with enormous latent possibility and an innate desire to learn. Teachers encouraged the children’s natural curiosity and exploration: new and daring pedagogy for turn-of-the-century Europe, where young children were expected to endure interminable lectures and waste hour upon hour in rote recitation. After two years of teaching in Frankfurt, Froebel spent the years 1808 through 1810 under Pestalozzi at his Yverdon School, and was deeply influenced by him. Pestalozzi’s ideas are reflected throughout Froebel’s first important work, The Education of Man, as in his well-known motto, ‘Kommt lasst uns unsern Kindern leben!’ (Literally translated as ‘Come, let us live with our children!’. One interpretation suggests, ‘Let us live in an exemplary fashion for our children.') Froebel believed humans are by nature creative beings. He observed that play was a necessary developmental phase in educating the ‘whole’ child, enlisting all his imaginative powers and physical movements in exploring his interests. Though widespread today, this insight was revolutionary in the early nineteenth century, when play was viewed as idle, and children as miniature adults to be moulded as rapidly as possible into economically productive members of society. After more studies at the University of Goettingen, and a tour of duty (1812-1814) in the Napoleonic wars, Froebel supported himself as an assistant at the University of Berlin’s mineralogical museum. There for the next two years he sorted and classified its huge crystal collection, attending lectures on crystallography and mineralogy in between. His observations of the geometrically shaped surface planes of crystals bolstered his belief that fixed laws govern the natural world, and that these same laws guide the development of the child, the adult, and even whole societies. Hence the logic of creation could be illumined through the guided manipulation of forms. In 1816 Froebel declined an offer of a professorship of mineralogy in Stockholm, and instead launched his dream of founding a school where he might test his observations as they related to the educating of children. He opened the Universal German Educational Institute in Gieshelm that year, relocating in 1817 to the nearby village of Keilhau. Froebel ran the Institute himself until 1830, then went on to found schools using his techniques in Switzerland. He later opened his first Kindergarten in 1840 at Blankenburg, Germany. Until this time there had been no educational system for children under seven years of age, nor recognition that young children were capable of learning social and intellectual skills that might serve as a foundation for their whole life. Froebel challenged other conventions in education. In his day, intricate and decorated toys for children were the norm; he found them completely inappropriate. As he formulated his curriculum for young children, Froebel designed open-ended instructional materials called the Gifts, with complementary Occupations. These were for use both in kindergarten and school, and gave children hands-on involvement in practical learning experiences through play. A frequent misconception today is that the Gifts were designed primarily for use as math manipulatives. As Froebel’s insights from his categorization of crystals suggest, they represent in fact much more than that, opening a window to the child’s inner self and leading him to a deepening knowledge of the world and the interrelationships of things. Foundational to the development of the Gifts was the recognition of the value of block play. Froebel believed that playing with blocks gives fundamental expression to a child’s soul and to the unity of life. Blocks represent the actual building blocks of the universe. The symmetry of the soul is symbolized as a child constructs with blocks, bringing them together to form a whole. Through proper use of the Gifts, the child progresses from the material to the abstract: from the volumetric lessons offered by blocks, through the two-dimensional planar ones elucidated by play with parquetry tiles (flat, geometrically-patterned wooden shapes), to deductions of a linear nature drawn from stick laying, to use of the point in pin-prick drawings. Points, in turn, describe a line, and the child completes the logic by returning from 2-D to the 3-D realm of volume through peas work (joining small malleable balls with short sticks) and on to solid three-dimensional work in clay. Froebel did not live to see the flowering of his concept of a ‘garden for children.’ A ban on kindergartens was issued in 1851, a year before his death, by the suspicious and conservative Prussian court. (Why did the autocratic Prussian state feel threatened by kindergarteners? Was it because kindergarteners were becoming free-thinkers rather than a homogenous mass or entry-level workers?) But the great educator’s legacy did eventually become widespread through the untiring persistence of his co-workers. Johann Arnold Barop, who married Froebel’s niece, was one of many of these. While some of Froebel’s protégés would go on to promote the kindergarten internationally, Barop assumed leadership of the fledgling Keilhau School in 1833, and is credited with its survival under persecution from the Prussian authorities. Keilhau and a host of later institutions embodied Froebel’s vision—represented most truly in the first kindergartens of the later 1800s, but with influence extending through the twentieth century and beyond. Interestingly, Barop’s great granddaughter Annemarie, educated in the Keilhau Froebel School where her father was principal, ended up joining the intentional community behind Community Playthings in 1932. Here, where family and school life are inseparably twined, she found an environment in harmony with Froebel’s philosophy of life as an undivided whole. She soon became involved with our community nursery, greatly influencing its future development. Community Playthings eventually emerged as a supporting business to the community, meshing with its educational ethos. The Froebel School at Keilhau is still in operation today. Tabea Manke, one of our nursery teachers, recently visited the site with colleagues. She encountered much reminiscent of the educational philosophy that has profoundly influenced our community childcare and business to the present day.
Research evidence on teachers’ role in the early years
A paper prepared by Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford, President of Early Education, for a meeting with TDA
July 2008
Understanding the Relationship between Curriculum, Pedagogy and Progression in Learning in Early Childhood
To be published in the Honk Kong Journal of ECE December 2008
Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford Chair, Early Childhood Education
Institute of Education University of London 15 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0NS Tel: 020 7612 6218
Abstract This paper provides mutually reinforcing definitions for the terms ‘Curriculum’ and ‘Pedagogy’ are applied in an attempt to provide further clarification of the learning processes involved in ‘Co-construction’ and ‘Sustained Shared Thinking’. The implications for pedagogic progression and for understanding early childhood practices are also identified. The theoretical model is then applied in support of the English Early Years Foundation Stage against charges of inappropriate ‘schoolification’. The paper also provides in outline a new typology of early childhood educational practices.
Defining ‘Pedagogy’ and ‘Curriculum’ Different definitions of the term ‘pedagogy’ and ‘curriculum’ have often been applied throughout the world and this has at times led to confusion. At times pedagogy and curriculum are even applied synonymously or appear indistinguishable. The easiest way to understand the concept of ‘pedagogy’ may therefore be to start by differentiating it from what is generally understood by the term ‘curriculum’.
In New Zealand the Te Whâriki curriculum guidance and framework defines curriculum broadly as; “the sum total of the experiences, activities and events, whether direct or indirect, which occur within an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 10). Such a broad definition seems particularly apt in the case of early childhood education and care although it may sometimes be important to recognise that some sort of learning and development happens whether we consciously design the environment for that purpose or not. Young children are learning all the time, and however implicit or hidden it may be in some settings, the content of this learning (the ‘curriculum’) is nearly always determined by the adults who care for them. The notion of a totally ‘free’ play environment may therefore be considered either an ideal or a myth. The material resources (toys, furniture, props), the activities, the social interactions, and the environments that we offer children, define both the opportunities and the limitations for their learning. The linguistic and cultural context that they are immersed in, even more fundamentally, influences what it is that they learn. Practitioners are therefore faced with the option of simply acknowledging all of these influences or making the choice of actively managing them. In the UK today, most professional early childhood educators choose the latter option, they apply their knowledge and skill to the best of their ability in passing on all those capabilities, knowledge, understandings, and attitudes that they consider to be especially shared and valued by our multicultural society.
The definition of pedagogy that we adopted in the Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) project (Siraj-Blatchford, et al, 2003,) was based on the work of Gage (1985), who argued for a ‘scientific basis for the art of teaching’. Gage argued that we should distinguish between knowledge that is general (nomothetic knowledge), and knowledge that applies to the understanding of particular events or individuals (ideographic knowledge). He argued that teachers creatively apply their nomothetic knowledge to the ideographic problems posed by the unique groups of children that they are faced with; with all of their specific needs, socio-cultural status and cognitive and affective demands. Pedagogy was therefore defined broadly to refer to the full set of instructional techniques and strategies that enabled learning to take place in early childhood settings, that provided opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes and dispositions. This definition was considered wide enough to take in such indirect teacher behaviours as the provision of constructivist ‘discovery’ learning environments, and the encouragement of parents providing educational support at home.
Pedagogy and ‘Sustained Shared Thinking’ Sustained Shared Thinking (SST) was first identified in a qualitative analysis carried out in association with the EPPE research project (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2002; 2003). The qualitative case studies provided detailed accounts of the learning and teaching that was observed (400 hours of adult observations and 254 episodes of child observations) in the most effective settings, and the transcriptions of episodes of SST were subsequently found to provide valuable (concrete) examples of the kind of effective pedagogies that were needed to develop practice. Sustained Shared thinking featured in the Key Elements of Effective Practice (KEEP) (DfES, 2005) that was distributed to all English pre-schools settings, and it has now been included in the national Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) a curriculum framework and guidance for England (DfES, 2007).
The qualitative analysis revealed a general pattern of high child achievement associated with sustained adult-child verbal interactions along with a paucity of such interactions in settings achieving less well. ‘Sustained shared thinking’ came to be defined as:
“…an effective pedagogic interaction, where two or more individuals work (often playfully) together in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, or extend a narrative . (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2003)
In so far as adults consciously engage in SST it can be considered a form of ‘pedagogy’ in the sense that it is something adults consciously do to support and engage children’s learning. But it is also important to recognise that sustained shared thinking involves some curriculum content as well, it always has a contextual object or objective, deals with a particular problem, a concept or activity. Learning has content as well as form, and whenever learning takes place we can say that a ‘curriculum’ is involved (however implicit or hidden that it might be). Pedagogy and curriculum may therefore be considered two sides of the same coin, every learning episode has both.
So what is it that children are learning in the early years? - What is the curriculum? In infancy, in the earliest years, the most significant learning tends to be about the body, safety, and about affection and aggression. In the school curriculum, more formal literacy and numeracy, and any other National Curriculum subjects will be emphasised, and much later the learning will be concerned with the world of employment and citizenship. Curriculum progression here is about initially developing strong foundations and a breadth (of knowledge and understanding), and later introducing a degree of specialisation. In a recent paper I applied Vygotsky (2004) to elaborate upon this and clarify the relationship between pedagogic and curriculum progression further (see Siraj-Blatchford, 2007).
In terms of pedagogy, in the earliest years the child’s individual needs and concerns dominate the curriculum as they first exchange ’significant gestures’ with others. This is a form of sustained shared thinking/communication that provides a means by which the child develops a conscious awareness of ‘others’ and of the ‘self’.
This is further extended in sustained shared thinking associated with improvised play with others; collaboration in increasingly structured activities and games; and then later in life in disciplined collaborations (with strongly defined subjects). In terms of competence, progression goes from at first mastering in the early years the very informal and strongly improvised interactions to later developing capability in the more highly structured and much more formal interactions demanded by adult life.
The adult educators role in sustained shared thinking, is to ‘co-construct’ the curriculum, as both the adult and the child collaborate or take ‘turns’ in influencing its direction. Arguably, in SST the question of who (adult or child) ‘initiates’ any particular activity of dialogue may therefore be considered less important than in other pedagogic contexts as long as the adult doesn’t dominate the process too early and that it is based on experiential and play oriented activity.
Alongside these developments in social interaction young children learn, in their pretend play, to manipulate objects symbolically; to let them ‘stand in’ for each other. This object substitution is extended to objectify the behaviour (and roles) of other people (or animals etc), and supports the child in learning to control their own behaviour in response to these roles. It also ultimately provides the foundations for learning the more sophisticated symbolic systems of literacy and numeracy.
Whenever play partners communicate they do so building upon their own prior learning, which includes their understanding of the perspective of themselves constructed by the other participant in the communication. Forman and Cazdan’s (1998) research shows that children’s problem solving improves in collaboration, as the partners alternately provide scaffolding for each other within what Vygotsky referred to as the partner’s ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD). That is, the ‘zone of capability’ that extends beyond what the partner is capable of doing on their own to include those activities they may successfully do with the support of their peer.
The development of more sophisticated levels of abstraction (and self conciousness) also facilitate the development of a wider metacognition (the knowledge and awareness that children come to develop of their own learning). This metacognition is important in learning to be a more effective learner (or learning to learn), and develops as the child finds it necessary to describe, explain and justify their thinking about different aspects of the world to others through actions and language. As the child’s conceptual knowledge and understanding of the ‘other’, and of the ‘self’, continue to develop, learning ‘dispositions’ become more significant (most graphically illustrated in studies of gendered subject preferences).
Common confusions regarding curriculum and pedagogy
One of the most significant implications of the loose application of the terms curriculum and pedagogy in Europe may have been that they have supported an erroneous view that there are essentially two fundamentally different ‘approaches’ to early childhood education that are applied across Europe; a ‘social pedagogy’ approach where the curriculum is developed at a centre level, and an ‘infant school’ approach where the curriculum is provided by a central authority (Bennett, 2004, Bennett and Tayler, 2006). But as previously suggested it should be recognised that every early childhood interaction does (inevitably) include curriculum content (however inexplicit or hidden it may be), and all children grow up at some point to take an interest (mostly with great enthusiasm) in school curriculum subjects. What should be recognised as important here is not the curriculum content itself but rather the pedagogic differences between settings where some may be seen to offer curriculum co-construction through SST and others either dominate in their interaction with children, or leave them much more free and to their own devices. The evidence that we gained through the REPEY study suggest the need for a balanced approach Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2002; 2003).
Rather than specifying any pre-defined knowledge, skills or attitudes that children would require to achieve success in everyday life, the central aim of social pedagogy has been to empower children as active citizens, so that they can act to change their own lives. In practice this has generally been seen to focus attention on the nurture of children’s identity and self-esteem. But these objectives actually say nothing at all about the curriculum content that is involved. The adults may take either a more, or a less, dominant role in determining the content and these may be influenced either more or less by school subjects and national frameworks. Children are not taught the psychology of identity and self-esteem, even if the pursuit of these wider objectives does lead many practitioners to adopt less dominant or co-constructive approaches.
Similar confusions have arisen in the UK where a diverse range of approaches has historically been developed to satisfy perceived needs for either ‘care’ or for ‘education’ in early childhood. In fact this has been a dichotomy encouraged by the development of separate state pre-school provisions administered by the social services ‘care’ sector, and by education departments. It has also stimulated ongoing controversies over the relative merits of ‘child centred’ and ‘progressive’ or ‘traditional’ methods of teaching in primary education. But recent years have seen a significant moderation of these extreme positions and a growing consensus regarding the need to adopt a more balanced approach (often expressed in terms of a commitment to ‘educare’ or a version of education that includes care).
Yet in Starting Strong II (Bennett and Taylor, 2006), Bennett contrasts the English early years Foundation Stage (FS) with the social pedagogical approach, he argues that it provides an example of an ‘early education’ approach (also referred to by Bennett, 2004, as an ‘infant school’, and in Moss and Bennett, 2006 as a ‘schoolification’ approach), because it has a central specification of curriculum, it underplays the role of parents and the community, and because it focuses upon cognitive development, and school readiness . In terms of the English FS this might always have been an exaggeration but in terms of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) that is being introduced throughout England in 2008 it may be considered demonstrably incorrect. The EYFS is organised around four broad principles related to: the Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments, and Learning and Development. While the EYFS does include 69 Early Learning Goals (the New Zealand curriculum guidance includes over 120), only 30 (43%) actually relate to knowledge content, and only 7 (10%) are concretely specified, the rest being of a very general nature e.g. “Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words” – “Begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people.” Even where the goals do define very specific knowledge content it is often clear that they would in any event be prioritised in most emergent literacy or numeracy curriculum contexts e.g.“Know(ing) that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom” - “Use language such as ‘greater’, ‘smaller’, ‘heavier’ or ‘lighter’ to compare quantities.” In fact it could be argued that it would be hard to imagine any (socio-pedagogic) early childhood curriculum failing to include most or even all the learning goals directly specifying content e.g. “Recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this”.
These Early Learning Goals may also be seen as, in many respects, similar to the objectives (for basic competencies and five broad learning areas) identified by Bennett in the Norwegian national curriculum, and those included in the six areas of the Danish 2004 curriculum. In any event, as Bennett accepts; “Research suggests that a more unified approach to learning should be adopted in both the early childhood education and the primary school systems, and that attention should be given to transition challenges faced by young children as they enter school” (Bennett and Taylor, 2006 p13).
The challenge for early childhood is therefore to provide a transition that stimulates learning and development while avoiding any risk of regression or failure. This is in fact widely recognised by researchers and by policy makers. Efforts are being made throughout Europe to develop better curriculum progression and transition between nurseries, kindergartens and schools. According to Oberhuemer (2004) in Germany, following the publication of disappointing results in the 2001 OECD-PISA International Student Assessment of 15-year-olds, there has been wide recognition that the ‘long tradition of social pedagogy’ in kindergarten must be reconciled with emerging demands for school readiness.
Similarly, in Denmark, according to Brostrom (2006), an Act on Educational Curricula was passed in August, 2004. This requires each preschool to implement six dimensions of aims and content which are expressed as general themes: (a) Personal competencies, (b) social competencies, (c) language, (d) body and movement, (e) nature and nature phenomena, and (f) cultural ways of expression and values (Socialministeriet, 2004):
“… the introduction of the concept of learning and the six curriculum themes are understood as a signal to move away from an extreme child-centered practice towards a practice where the child-care workers play a more active role”. (p393)
In focusing equally upon cognitive and affective socio-behavioural outcomes, the REPEY project may be seen as entirely consistent with a main stream social-pedagogic position strengthened by an awareness and concern for transition which has been emerging throughout Europe.
Understanding the relationship between pedagogy and curriculum A typology of the most commonly applied models of early childhood education has been provided by Weikart (2000) and is shown in Figure 1. The categories that are applied are broadly consistent with others developed by Weikart (1972), Kohlberg & Mayer, (1972) and Baumrind, (1971) and recent research carried out the UK by the Effective Practice in Preschool Education (EPPE) project suggests that as 'ideal types' they are applied just as much in the UK early childhood context as in the US context where they were first developed (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 1999).
The analytical difficulty with the typology is in the definition of curriculum that is applied and the way the term 'initiative' is used. According to Weikart the major organising principle to be considered is the role of either high or low curriculum 'initiation' on the part of the teacher/adult and the child (Weikart, 2000, p58). But in his subsequent elaboration of the various categories of 'educational approach', high teacher initiative is described predominantly in terms of the highly structured pedagogy, and high child initiative in terms of their control over the curriculum.
The major organising principles might therefore be better conceived in terms of pedagogy and curriculum (Figure 2). This would also be consistent with Bernstein's (1981) elaborate analysis of pedagogic codes and their modalities of practice. While a comprehensive structural analysis of the various coding principles employed in early education lies beyond the scope of this paper, we can employ Bernstein's (1981) formulation of classification and frame to distinguish between the different forms of early childhood practice. As Bernstein himself has noted, while this more limited use of the terms may not have been intended when he first coined them, it does demonstrate their analytical value (Bernstein, 1996, p3).
Classification refers to the degree of boundary maintenance between curriculum subject contents. Where the curriculum content is clearly defined in terms of subjects we can therefore refer to that as strong classification. Framing is about whom controls what; who selects, sequences, paces etc. the learning. When framing is weak the child (or parent) has more apparent control, when strong it is the educator/professional who is most clearly in control. So for example, a collaborative, progressive and permissive classroom illustrates weak framing and a traditional didactic one strong framing.
Fig. 2
In Figure 2 the model is inverted to reflect the common transition towards more structured teaching and learning contexts that children experience as they get older. The custodial (or basic care) approach described by Weikart (2000) has also been omitted because no specified curriculum is usually intended in these programmes. In fact, for this reason, they might not be considered to provide an 'educational’ approach at all.
As suggested earlier, the challenge for early childhood is to provide a gradual and supportive transition that stimulates learning and development while avoiding any risk of regression or failure. In the most extreme applications of the Child-centred approach the teacher responds entirely to the individual child's interests and activities. More often, topic or project themes are adopted that have been chosen especially to appeal to the children's interests. The curriculum emphasis is on encouraging children's independence, their social and emotional growth, creativity and self-expression. The classroom/playroom environment is often rich in stimuli, permissive and provides for open-ended exploration and discovery.
The Open-framework approach provides the teacher with a strong pedagogic structure (or framework) that supports the child in their explorations and interactions with, and reflections upon, the learning environment. In this model, the curriculum classification is weaker as the child has a good deal of freedom to make choices between the various learning environments that are on offer. But the optional environments (e.g. sand, water, block play, puzzles etc.) are often provided to achieve particular (usually cognitive or conceptual) curriculum aims, these may be more or less identified by the setting. In some settings children's choices are carefully monitored and a broad and balanced curriculum is encouraged over the medium or long term.
The Programmed approach is highly teacher directed providing for little initiative on the part of the child. The rationale for this method is drawn significantly from theories of learning. This pedagogy is usually applied where curriculum objectives may be clearly (and objectively) classified and is likely to be most effective where learning involves the development of simple skills or memorisation. The curriculum content is often highly structured.
Of course each of these approaches remain 'ideal types' and the practices in many settings will still involve a combination of all three. However, it might be an interesting exercise for the reader to consider which approach/es dominate their own early childhood settings.
References Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology Monograph, 4 (1, Pt. 2). Bennett, J. (2004). Curriculum issues in national policy making. Keynote address to the ECCERA Conference, Malta, September 2, 2004. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Bennett, J., and Tayler, C. (2006) Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education And Care, OECD http://fiordiliji.sourceoecd.org/vl=4204....6n13/s1/p1l.idx Bernstein , B. (1981) 'Codes, modalities and the process of cultural reproduction: a model, Language and Society, Vol.10 PP 327-63 Bernstein , B. (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique, London, Taylor and Francis Brostrom, S. (2006) Care and Education: Towards a New Paradigm in Early Childhood Education, Child Youth Care Forum (2006) 35:391–409 Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2005) Primary National Strategy Key Elements of Effective Practice (KEEP), London, DfES/SureStart Forman, E., and Cazdan, C. (1998) Exploring Vygotskian perspectives in education, in Faulkner, D., Littleton, K., and Woodhead, M. (Eds) Learning Relationships in the Classroom, London, Routledge and the Open University Gage, N. (1985) Hard Gains in the Soft Science: The Case of Pedagogy, Phi Delta Kappa CEDR Monograph, Bloomington, Indiana Kohlberg, L. and Mayer, R. (1972) Development is the aim of education, Harvard Education Review, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp449-496 Ministry of Education: New Zealand (1996) Te Whariki: Early Childhood Curriculum, Wellington, NZ: Learning Media Ltd. Moss, P., and Bennett, J. (2006) Toward a new pedagogical meeting place? Bringing early childhood into the education system, Briefing paper for Nuffield Educational Seminar: September 26 Oberhuemer, P. (2004) 'Controversies, chances and challenges: reflections on the quality debate in Germany', Early Years, 24:1, 9 – 21 Siraj-Blatchford, I. (1999). ‘Early childhood pedagogy, practice, principles and research’ in Mortimore, P. (Ed) Understanding Pedagogy and its Impact on Learning. London: Paul Chapman. Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Muttock. S., Gilden, R., and Bell, D. (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years DfES Research Report 365 Queen’s Printer. HMSO London Siraj-Blatchford, I., and Sylva, K. (2004) Researching pedagogy in English pre-schools, British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 30, No. 5, October Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Taggart, B., Sammons, P. & Melhuish, E. (2003) Technical Paper 10 – Case Studies of Practice in the Foundation Stage. London, Institute of Education Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2007) ‘Creativity, communication and collaboration: The identification of pedagogic progression in SST’ Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education Vol. 1, No. 2 Siraj-Blatchford, I. & Manni, (2007) Effective Leadership in the Early Years Sector: The ELEYS study, Issues in Practice Series, Institute of Education, University of London Sylva, K., Melhuish, E. C., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (2004), The Effective Provsion of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Final Report. London: DfES / Institute of Education, University of London Vygotsky, L. (2004) Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology 42, 1, 4 – 84. Weikart, D. (1972) 'Relationship of curriculum, teaching, and learning in pre-school education' in Stanley, J. (Ed.) Preschool Programmes for the Disadvantaged, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press Weikart, D. (2000) Early Childhood Education: Needs and Opportunity, Paris, UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning
At Cowgate we provide endless opportunities for the children to care for one another. The importance of caring needs take root now in a group situation.
December Newsletter 2009 – Time to Celebrate
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
This newsletter brings exciting news of celebrations, I have included the presentation on pedagogy from a course Julie and Donna attended in Glasgow in November, I have chosen to show you, what I hope are significant slides and the paper on pedagogy. A brief explanation of our Christmas Plans. An invitation to join our eco-committee.
As mentioned above, we have enjoyed many exciting celebrations here at Cowgate…
One of the most significant celebrations has been the birth of baby Ben. Emily from the Salle de Jeux has a new baby brother. Everyone is doing very well and Emily is very much enjoying being, as we would have expected a very caring sister. Emily is, rightly so, feeling very important in her playroom. Here is a little story of finding the right place for the baby’s beginning days:
‘Where would be the very best place in all the world for a new baby to begin its life?’ ‘Well, we want the baby to begin its life in our nest’, said the birds. ‘No’, said all those who had gathered to search for the right place. ‘Why, the wind might blow the nest down and the baby would topple to the ground.’ ‘We want the baby here’, said the rabbits. ‘We have a lovely place under the ground near the old fir tee.’ ‘Oh, no, that would never do. There would be too much company,’ said the others. ‘The baby must have a place that is warm and cosy, plenty of food, a little hot tub, and music. Your place will never do.’ So they searched for a long time. Finally they found just the right place near the mother’s heart. Here there was music, there was a little hot tub, there was plenty of food, and there was a place that would be warm and cosy (A story by Betty Peck).
Since beginning this newsletter two other beautiful babies have been born, Angela (La Camera dei Bambini) has given birth to twin girls!
We are still glowing from winning three awards this month…
o The Staff won an award for their work here at Cowgate. Staff who give so fully and richly of themselves so deserve this award. Thank you for all your kind comments of support. o Quality of Life Award – ‘Free, Joyful, Sensory, and Rich Play in the Natural World’ Here is the little quote entered in the brochure…
“Children at Cowgate under 5’s Centre have enthusiastically embraced the Forest School experience and both the children and their families have expressed how this experience has enriched their lives. One of the principles of Forest School is that is ‘builds on an individual’s innate motivation and positive attitude to learning, offering children the opportunity to take risks, make choices and initiate learning for themselves’. The nursery’s philosophy is to trust the child to make their own decisions. The Forest School experience supports this belief by developing the child’s confidence and self-esteem.”
Jane (Garven) is a wonderful Forest School Leader – we have all learnt so much from her. Thank you Jane for sharing your knowledge and skills with everyone, we owe this award to your leadership.
o Nursery of the Year – Please check our website for full details of this exciting award. Just click on the logo and it should open the page for you,
Liz and Donna ventured to London this month to begin their Froebelian training. Both Liz and Donna have come back inspired by the introductory conference. As Cowgate under 5’s Centre is a Froebelian centre, for all our new friends and families I have added some information on Froebel at the end of this newsletter.
Care Commission
We are due to have a visit from Care Commission anytime soon. Thank you to everyone who has completed a questionnaire.
Calling all parents…
Many of our parents who were involved in the eco-committee moved on when their child moved on to school. We would very much like our parents involved in this fundamental part of Cowgate’s philosophy. The idea behind our eco-school committee, pure and simple, is to involve more children and their families in our eco work. For example, one of goals has been to develop our school kitchen with vegetables and salad. We have enjoyed small triumphs in our garden, with lovely fruit and vegetables being enjoyed. Our aim is to have afternoon snack all year round from our garden. Only one of our ideas…please do come and share any of your ideas. Lorraine would love to note your interest. We meet three times each year. Christmas
The celebration of Christmas comes in many forms in the centre…
Our Nativity Play
Our Christmas Nativity Play is due to take place on 16th December @ 2pm. Exciting.
Christmas Outing
Our Christmas Outing is on 19th December. Please collect a letter from reception highlighting the details.
Sponsoring Kadi
Our contribution of £144 for the support of our sponsored child Kadi Moussa in Niger is due.
It is at this time of year we ask that if you are wishing to give the staff a little gift that you instead insert a small donation in Kadi’s box (on reception).
We greatly value your generosity that you express in many, many, ways and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout the year.
May I wish you all a joyful and peaceful Christmas from all of us…
I will leave you with this little poem…
There are many gifts. But a true gift is something you make, Because you make it with your imagination, Your time, your money, Your hands, Your brain, your best wishes. You are really wrapping yourself up And giving yourself away. Of course, that means there is more of you everywhere. And when you bump into pieces of your good old wonderful self, Sparkles fill the air.
(Poetry from the Kindergarten floor, B.P).
Friedrich Froebel - 1782-1852 His life and influence on education Miriam LeBlanc
What was life like before kindergarten, before ‘childhood’ existed? Children worked in mines and factories; nobody celebrated birthdays, and by the age of seven, children were considered adults. Then along came Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852), and invented the kindergarten…perhaps as a result of being raised by the proverbial ‘wicked’ stepmother of fairytales, who gave him little love or attention. “Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.” Friedrich Froebel It’s 2005, and we’ve passed the high-water mark for childhood. Our children may not be coal mining, but they deal with the pressures of television, advertising, and loss of outdoor play. This discussion of Froebel is more important than ever. Froebel grew up in the beautiful forests of Thuringia, Germany, with a keen love of nature (the same countryside inspired his famous contemporary, Goethe, to make it his home for decades). This closeness to creation, along with a firm Christian faith, were key to Froebel’s educationist ideas, which were centred in the unity and inner connectedness of all life. Froebel arrived at his involvement in early childhood education via an unlikely mélange of experiences. Weak in language and writing skills as a child, he grew to excel at visually comprehended disciplines such as geometry and mapmaking. A two-year apprenticeship to a Thuringian forester inspired the enthusiastic fifteen-year-old, who had a natural bent for self-education. He gathered local plants for classification, and avidly consumed books on a variety of subjects. By 1805, after studies in the university town of Jena including surveying and architecture, Froebel had settled on architecture as a career. But unexpectedly, Froebel switched paths. A friend--possibly someone who understood this highly gifted youth-- counselled him to abandon architecture for teaching, and this seemed to bring on a revelation of sorts. The would-be architect dropped his plans and decided to pursue education as a profession. He accepted an invitation to teach at a Frankfurt school—one of the first schools based on the educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s progressive ideals. Pestalozzi (1746-1827) saw the child as a being with enormous latent possibility and an innate desire to learn. Teachers encouraged the children’s natural curiosity and exploration: new and daring pedagogy for turn-of-the-century Europe, where young children were expected to endure interminable lectures and waste hour upon hour in rote recitation. After two years of teaching in Frankfurt, Froebel spent the years 1808 through 1810 under Pestalozzi at his Yverdon School, and was deeply influenced by him. Pestalozzi’s ideas are reflected throughout Froebel’s first important work, The Education of Man, as in his well-known motto, ‘Kommt lasst uns unsern Kindern leben!’ (Literally translated as ‘Come, let us live with our children!’. One interpretation suggests, ‘Let us live in an exemplary fashion for our children.') Froebel believed humans are by nature creative beings. He observed that play was a necessary developmental phase in educating the ‘whole’ child, enlisting all his imaginative powers and physical movements in exploring his interests. Though widespread today, this insight was revolutionary in the early nineteenth century, when play was viewed as idle, and children as miniature adults to be moulded as rapidly as possible into economically productive members of society. After more studies at the University of Goettingen, and a tour of duty (1812-1814) in the Napoleonic wars, Froebel supported himself as an assistant at the University of Berlin’s mineralogical museum. There for the next two years he sorted and classified its huge crystal collection, attending lectures on crystallography and mineralogy in between. His observations of the geometrically shaped surface planes of crystals bolstered his belief that fixed laws govern the natural world, and that these same laws guide the development of the child, the adult, and even whole societies. Hence the logic of creation could be illumined through the guided manipulation of forms. In 1816 Froebel declined an offer of a professorship of mineralogy in Stockholm, and instead launched his dream of founding a school where he might test his observations as they related to the educating of children. He opened the Universal German Educational Institute in Gieshelm that year, relocating in 1817 to the nearby village of Keilhau. Froebel ran the Institute himself until 1830, then went on to found schools using his techniques in Switzerland. He later opened his first Kindergarten in 1840 at Blankenburg, Germany. Until this time there had been no educational system for children under seven years of age, nor recognition that young children were capable of learning social and intellectual skills that might serve as a foundation for their whole life. Froebel challenged other conventions in education. In his day, intricate and decorated toys for children were the norm; he found them completely inappropriate. As he formulated his curriculum for young children, Froebel designed open-ended instructional materials called the Gifts, with complementary Occupations. These were for use both in kindergarten and school, and gave children hands-on involvement in practical learning experiences through play. A frequent misconception today is that the Gifts were designed primarily for use as math manipulatives. As Froebel’s insights from his categorization of crystals suggest, they represent in fact much more than that, opening a window to the child’s inner self and leading him to a deepening knowledge of the world and the interrelationships of things. Foundational to the development of the Gifts was the recognition of the value of block play. Froebel believed that playing with blocks gives fundamental expression to a child’s soul and to the unity of life. Blocks represent the actual building blocks of the universe. The symmetry of the soul is symbolized as a child constructs with blocks, bringing them together to form a whole. Through proper use of the Gifts, the child progresses from the material to the abstract: from the volumetric lessons offered by blocks, through the two-dimensional planar ones elucidated by play with parquetry tiles (flat, geometrically-patterned wooden shapes), to deductions of a linear nature drawn from stick laying, to use of the point in pin-prick drawings. Points, in turn, describe a line, and the child completes the logic by returning from 2-D to the 3-D realm of volume through peas work (joining small malleable balls with short sticks) and on to solid three-dimensional work in clay. Froebel did not live to see the flowering of his concept of a ‘garden for children.’ A ban on kindergartens was issued in 1851, a year before his death, by the suspicious and conservative Prussian court. (Why did the autocratic Prussian state feel threatened by kindergarteners? Was it because kindergarteners were becoming free-thinkers rather than a homogenous mass or entry-level workers?) But the great educator’s legacy did eventually become widespread through the untiring persistence of his co-workers. Johann Arnold Barop, who married Froebel’s niece, was one of many of these. While some of Froebel’s protégés would go on to promote the kindergarten internationally, Barop assumed leadership of the fledgling Keilhau School in 1833, and is credited with its survival under persecution from the Prussian authorities. Keilhau and a host of later institutions embodied Froebel’s vision—represented most truly in the first kindergartens of the later 1800s, but with influence extending through the twentieth century and beyond. Interestingly, Barop’s great granddaughter Annemarie, educated in the Keilhau Froebel School where her father was principal, ended up joining the intentional community behind Community Playthings in 1932. Here, where family and school life are inseparably twined, she found an environment in harmony with Froebel’s philosophy of life as an undivided whole. She soon became involved with our community nursery, greatly influencing its future development. Community Playthings eventually emerged as a supporting business to the community, meshing with its educational ethos. The Froebel School at Keilhau is still in operation today. Tabea Manke, one of our nursery teachers, recently visited the site with colleagues. She encountered much reminiscent of the educational philosophy that has profoundly influenced our community childcare and business to the present day.
Research evidence on teachers’ role in the early years
A paper prepared by Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford, President of Early Education, for a meeting with TDA
July 2008
Understanding the Relationship between Curriculum, Pedagogy and Progression in Learning in Early Childhood
To be published in the Honk Kong Journal of ECE December 2008
Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford Chair, Early Childhood Education
Institute of Education University of London 15 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0NS Tel: 020 7612 6218
Abstract This paper provides mutually reinforcing definitions for the terms ‘Curriculum’ and ‘Pedagogy’ are applied in an attempt to provide further clarification of the learning processes involved in ‘Co-construction’ and ‘Sustained Shared Thinking’. The implications for pedagogic progression and for understanding early childhood practices are also identified. The theoretical model is then applied in support of the English Early Years Foundation Stage against charges of inappropriate ‘schoolification’. The paper also provides in outline a new typology of early childhood educational practices.
Defining ‘Pedagogy’ and ‘Curriculum’ Different definitions of the term ‘pedagogy’ and ‘curriculum’ have often been applied throughout the world and this has at times led to confusion. At times pedagogy and curriculum are even applied synonymously or appear indistinguishable. The easiest way to understand the concept of ‘pedagogy’ may therefore be to start by differentiating it from what is generally understood by the term ‘curriculum’.
In New Zealand the Te Whâriki curriculum guidance and framework defines curriculum broadly as; “the sum total of the experiences, activities and events, whether direct or indirect, which occur within an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 10). Such a broad definition seems particularly apt in the case of early childhood education and care although it may sometimes be important to recognise that some sort of learning and development happens whether we consciously design the environment for that purpose or not. Young children are learning all the time, and however implicit or hidden it may be in some settings, the content of this learning (the ‘curriculum’) is nearly always determined by the adults who care for them. The notion of a totally ‘free’ play environment may therefore be considered either an ideal or a myth. The material resources (toys, furniture, props), the activities, the social interactions, and the environments that we offer children, define both the opportunities and the limitations for their learning. The linguistic and cultural context that they
November Newsletter 2008 « Result #9 on Nov 3, 2008, 12:37pm »
November 2008 Newsletter
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate,
As I write the autumnal sun is shining bright in my window and I am filled with thoughts of celebration, in abundance, and blessings. In this newsletter I will welcome our new children and their families. I will, as promised, summarise our in-service day (added at the end of the newsletter to enable you to choose whether to read it or not at this time). It is important for those who work with young children to remember to nourish themselves in order to do the best job they can in their work with children, and nourished we are. I will also write of our inspirational visit from Professor Tina Bruce who shared and celebrated the wonders of her experience, encouraging us to look, listen, learn and celebrate our work with children and all the surprises that await us. Before I begin I would like to express my, somewhat naïve, thoughts on the ‘credit crunch’ which we are hearing so much about. Our true riches are playing in the garden…on doing some research for my PhD I came across this quote from Froebel, which distinguishes our constant belief in the spirit of childhood.
“Children are like tiny flowers; they are varied and need care, but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the community of peers.”
Welcome
We are very grateful to the parents of Lucy, Matthew, Sam, Alfie, Honor, Rosie for choosing Cowgate. Please remember to mark all your child’s’ clothes and lunch boxes (if appropriate). We are thankful for the opportunity to share with you this wonderful journey. As you are aware our philosophy supports holistic development, we are keen to work very closely you, please do share with us how we can travel this journey of discovery together.
Thank you
Thank you to all the parents who have supported us this month. You know who you are and what you have done. Please know and trust that we truly appreciate your efforts.
Donna was absolutely delighted with the response for household goods which will be boxed up for the people who were previously homeless and now have a home to call their own. She asked me to thank you personally for your kindness and generosity. I made a unicorn by Community Playthings
We were invited to contribute to the latest publication from Community Playthings. (Please peruse the copy on the reception). Some staff provided observations for this publication on Open-ended play with blocks and simple materials. This opening quote not only supports our beliefs about open-ended materials, but the booklet supports our overall philosophy. You may remember, in recent times, Lian and I had a wonderful visit to Community Play.
“Open-ended play is intrinsic to childhood; children have an impetus to explore and create. When free to experiment with the simplest materials, they find ways to express and develop their thoughts in imaginative play.”
The booklet provides information on:
Play Open-ended play Active learning Imagination Material Time Nature Construction and small-world Large construction Dens Hollow blocks
It is that time of year again when we need to raise £144 in order to continue sponsoring Kadi our sponsored child in Niger. The donation box is situated on reception; please do give a little something if you can. If you are unable to support Kadi at this time, please do not feel concerned, we will definitely be supporting Kadi in 2009. We have our ways
The Scottish Parliament
After a visit from a MSP we received a motion in parliament on 27th October. It read…
“S£M-2747 Gavin Brown: Cowgate under 5’s Centre – That the Parliament congratulates the Cowgate under 5’s Centre on reaching the final of the Nursery of the Year awards, organised by Nursery World; notes that the centre is Scotland’s only representative out of three nurseries that have reached the final in that category; congratulates all the staff and children on this achievement; further notes the centre’s performance in the most recent HM Inspectorate of Education report, which identified the outstanding quality of staff interaction throughout the centre, the excellent progress of children in all aspects of their learning and the exceptional leadership of the head of centre and deputies, and wishes the Cowgate under 5’s Centre every success in the Nursery of the Year awards to be held in London on 21 November 2008.
Supported by: Bill Kidd, Shirley-Anne Somerville, John Lamont, Mary Scanion, Murdo Fraser, Margaret Mitchell, Ken Macintosh, Stuart McMillan, Robin Harper and Jamie McGrigor”
Lovely don’t you think?
Inspiring Emotional Harmony
The consultation period for this policy has been completed. I believe it is almost ready to be shared. I would like to thank Julie and Donna for all their hard work. Thank you for seeing the best in everyone and settling for nothing less. We look forward to receiving the gift of all your hard work. Thank you for your creativeness which has inspired individual passion in all of us.
Music in the Garden
The children truly love the musical instruments in the garden. It now feels complete…the garden is the entire basis for all art and learning. Please take a moment to look at the images of the children playing as you enter the centre.
In Service Day - Essentials of Literacy 0-7 Tina Bruce and Jenny Spratt.
Tina Bruce facilitated our learning on the day. The following is a summary of the areas covered (adapted from the literature).
In the main the staff have reported that the knowledge shared on the day was ‘reaffirming’. However, there were new things to reflect on and consider too. Certainly the day captured the excitement of children’s journey into literacy, literature and new knowledge and understanding. The essentials of literacy are about educating children in the deepest sense.
Summary of Observation
Introduction
The importance of observation was highlighted throughout. Observation is key to supporting and understanding the way children make their unique journeys into literacy. Observation informs the planning for individual children and the way adults engage with the group as a whole. The way adults relate to children, and the enabling environment they create indoors and outdoors are both essential to developing communication, language and literacy. A rich environment needs constant adjustment, in response to what is observed, but there are also essentials which should always be the Conclusion
Observing the uniqueness of each child’s journey from birth to 7 years enables us to:
• Build on the child’s individual interests and needs • Work in partnership with parents as a team • Employ and track children’s progress • Inform our planning both for individual children and for children as a whole • See that children are unique individuals • See how interconnected the different areas of development and learning are.
In this section Tina focussed on how and what adults need to offer to create enabling environments for rich communication, language and literacy.
Baby Songs
There is nothing more fascinating than studying children and how they develop and learn. This involves exploring:
• Brain development • How we can help children to connect, communicate and engage with the people they spend time with • How we can encourage children’s participation in the social and cultural elements of life through baby songs and finger rhymes
In Summary
The parent or key person encourages the use of hands in song. This lays the way for finger rhymes.
• The importance of baby’s relationship with warm affectionate parents, siblings and key people • How can we be helpful to children in developing communication and language from the moment a baby is born because the baby has a need to learn by picking up ideas from a community of people they love • How babies use imitation and mirroring to co-ordinate the integrated strands of movements, looking and listening • How early we see babies showing an intention to communicate with us, and an ability to engage in proto-conversations, because this is how they begin to learn what other people know and do • How music and dance are there from the beginning, and how they support the essentials of later literacy, such as rhythm, rhyme, intonation and alliteration.
Finger Rhymes
Tina highlighted it is important to work with and not against nature:
• Parents and key people are of central importance • By the time a baby is sitting, a great deal has been going on with the baby’s developing vision, proprioception (feeling where their body is located with reference to the floor) and balance (the midline) so that they operate together • The hands continue to play an important part in the developing learning
In Summary
We looked at the important beginnings of multi-sensory learning on the journey into communication, language and literacy:
• How the hands help adults and children to make meaning together through emotive gestures right from the start • Finger rhymes encourage parents and key persons to enjoy early literacy experiences with their children • The songs using the hands develop the midline, tracking and focus, and co-ordination of hand and eye in physical development crucial for later literacy • They help children with fine motor skills and gross motor skills so that each helps the other along in ways which support the development of writing • Finger rhymes are examples of early and engaging opportunities for the development of symbol making and symbol use by children just beginning to represent as they learn to walk, talk and pretend.
Mark-Making and Writing
Reading and writing are not separate processes. They feed into and off each other. They depend upon each other and they help each other along.
We heard how essential it is to have the body co-ordinating in ways which help the physical mechanics of reading and writing. The phonology (sounds and tune of the language) connects with hearing. The sounds link with the movements of the hands and the whole body. Children begin to work out that sounds can be written down as they mark-make, using pencils, paint and so on. They learn that to do this they need to use symbols which everyone can understand.
Key Messages About Children Beginning to Write
• Writing draws on language, thoughts, feelings and relationships, but it is more distanced and remote than talking with people. • Children need to know what writing is about, and what it is for, surrounded by people who enjoy and take writing as a serious pleasure. • Having something you want to say in writing (composing) is different from the mechanics of writing and forming letters (transcribing). • Early finger rhymes help the physical aspects of writing to develop. They enhance biological development. • Larger movements with the shoulders and the whole body are also important. • Handwriting is not writing. Handwriting is how the letters are formed. Until children are spontaneously producing the open semicircle in their drawings and mark-making, it is not appropriate to formally teach them lower casement letter formation. But they often enjoy building words and loose alphabets. • Children should not be pressurized into writing before motor cortex is sufficiently mature, but they should experience enabling environments, with positive relationships respected as the unique people they are. Practitioners who are working with other people’s children need to acquire and update the subject knowledge involved in the mechanics of writing and the creativity, information and pleasure it brings.
Action Songs
Why sing action songs with young children?
Sometimes the things we do with children, as part of our everyday practice, become such a habit that we no longer give them much attention. Students, in their training, learn a selection of songs, often by observing and taking part in group times led by experienced practitioners.
This section of the course focussed on the importance of action songs which use the upper body or the upper and lower body co-ordinating together.
We were encouraged to consider…
Why has the tradition last for over a hundred years? Who started it? Is it a valuable tradition in this day and age?
Friedrich Froebel, pioneered action songs as well as finger rhymes. His influence, though not many people realise this, remains in the action songs we sing daily with the children.
In Summary
Action songs are powerful ways of supporting the development of the essentials of literacy.
• They challenge children in co-ordination. • Action songs support the integration of sound, sight and movement • They give a gentle introduction towards singing games • They help children with phonological awareness, through alliteration, rhyme and rhythm.
During the day we also covered, Action songs (moving around), Nursery Rhymes and Poetry Cards. We were encouraged to complete an action plan.
I do hope you agree that we were truly nourished during this course. I have already observed staff ‘tweaking’ their practice. I would highly recommend that if you have found what is written above useful you purchase the book. As the research for the book led to the information shared on the training day. Additionally, as you know, I love research. I would happily provide further research on this topic in a future newsletter. Please let me know specific area of concern and we will research it.
October Newsletter « Result #10 on Oct 6, 2008, 11:09am »
October 2008 Newsletter
Dear Parents and Friends of Cowgate
Let us celebrate September before we move onto October, wasn’t it a beautiful month. October looks to be very beautiful too, I am hoping that our Rowan trees hold onto their leaves until the end of the month, they are spectacular at this time of year.
This newsletter brings, a warm message from our very dear Lian; a request from Bambini’s; information on our training day; visit from Professor Tina Bruce;; Nursery of the Year Awards; a request for email addresses; information on the Parent Council; I have included a synopsis of a chapter from ‘Playing Outdoors’ by Helen Tovey at the end of this newsletter, you may wish to purchase this wonderful book. I always place these ‘interesting’ chapters at the end of the newsletter to support your choice in choosing whether or not to read it.
A Message from Lian
“I would like to thank my colleagues and our families for their words of support following my nomination for the staff awards. Even if I don’t get any further in the awards, it is reward enough to know I have your support. You know who you are!” Lian Higgins (29th September 2008) On that note…
I am delighted to inform you that the Cowgate Staff Team are now finalists of the staff awards 2008. We will be attending the ceremony in November.
Bambini’s
La Camera dei Bambini staff have asked me to inform you that they are fundraising to buy another double buggy. Every Monday they plan to have a selection of baked goodies to sell. So watch this space.
In –Service Day October 27th
Our in-service day in October surrounds the development of literacy. The content of the training is based on the highly recommended publication ‘Essentials of Literacy’. This excellent publication is aimed at supporting staff to educate children in the deepest sense. The following synopsis was extracted from the introduction.
“When interconnected knowledge and understanding work in close harmony with tried and tested practice wisdom, then practitioners and parents work well together. The result is that children flourish in their development and learning. To bring this about, practitioners need regularly to review and reflect on practice, and to see whether it is in tune with new developments in the understanding of both child development and subject knowledge. Inevitably, we find that we need to make some adjustments and changes. But the changes need to be interconnected to make a consistent, logically coherent whole (Bruce & Spratt 2008:1).
In the book the authors stress the importance of a whole-child approach to teaching communication, language and literacy. At the training our staff will be given information about a range of approaches on how to teach literacy, we will be reminded about why these approaches are important. We will be discussing the importance of finger rhymes, action songs, poetry cards and nursery rhymes as well as theoretical topics such as the idea of the 'whole child', observation, communication with and without words, and brain development. The training will explore how to further develop practitioner understanding of how children develop and learn in general, and emphasise the importance of knowledge about child development in all its aspects in order to best support them. This includes consideration of the unique child, positive relationships and enabling environments. We will get so much out of this training I am sure, we will share our findings with you in next month’s newsletter.
Visit from Professor Tina Bruce
The author of ‘The Essentials of Literacy’ Professor Tina Bruce is visiting us on October 24th. We are very much looking forward to Tina’s visit. Tina is an early years specialist as well as an author. You may have noticed our signage around the centre outlining Tina’s 12 features of play. These 12 features are often called ‘inspirational’ features. The following 12 points enable play to take place.
1. Children need first-hand experiences which need not always be fun. Tina says “children cannot play if they are sitting at tables”. 2. Children make up their own rules while they play. Being in control is an important part of play. 3. Sometimes something a child has made earlier becomes a ‘play prop’. 4. A child must want to play and must be in the mood. 5. Children role play and pretend to be other people. 6. Children ‘pretend play’ which is not necessarily rehearsing for later life. 7. Sometimes children play alone. 8. Children play in pairs / parallel or in groups. 9. Children sometimes make play agendas or scripts. If adults want to join in they must follow the child’s script and not impose their own. 10. Children ‘wallow’ in their feelings. A scale of involvement, developed in Belgium by Professor Ferre Laevers, enables us to decide how immersed in the situation they are. This is important as in Tina’s words “concentration is the greater predictor of academic success”. 11. When children play, they show their skills and competencies. 12. Finally play helps co-ordinate and integrate what the child learns, and brings together all the different aspects of a child’s development.
Tina has been an inspiration to us all at Cowgate. We are all very much looking forward to her visit.
Nursery of the Year Awards
We have been invited to the Nursery of the Year Awards, on November 21st, in London. Our director has very kindly offered to pay to support us with funding. We will keep you posted on our progress.
E-mail addresses
If you would like to have various communication sent directly to your email please provide me with your email address. My email address is: lynn.mcnair@cowgate-nur.edin.sch.uk .
Information on our Parents Council
The remit of the Parent Council is to act as a bridge between the parents and the centre on a range of developments.
The objectives of the Parent Council are:
• To promote productive relationships in the centre community. • To develop and engage in experiences which support the holistic development of the children. • To support the centre in its work through fundraising, eco-school development, healthy school work and so on. • To promote communication and interaction between the centre, the children and their families and the whole school community.
The Parent Council meets four times a year on a Wednesday evening in the family room @ 4.45pm. These meetings are open to any parent. Its membership is drawn from parents, staff and (hopefully) children’s input.
Please do try to make the next meeting; you will be made very welcome. Linda (Rooney) facilitates the meetings if you would like to attend one of the meetings or join the parents council please let Linda know.
Lovely Anecdotes
We have wonderful news to share…
Alexandra has gone onto Roseburn Primary School, her parents Sam and Scott attended a recent curriculum evening at the school. There was a ‘lighthouse of achievement’, which portrayed photographs of children who were achieving in class along the bottom of the lighthouse, there was an odd photograph further up. Sam and Scott despaired where was Alexandra they exclaimed…they looked up, and Scott is a tall man), and there…two from the top was our very dear Alexandra! Sam and Scott were delighted and celebrated with Alexandra. No surprises there…she is now and always has been a little shining star.
Emily has moved to East Linton, and the teacher is concerned that Emily will be running the class pretty soon as she realises with Emily knowledge and skills the teacher may be made redundant. Emily, in true Cowgate form, has already been in the East Linton Gazette!
Rosie popped into today to collect Jasmine and she is loving school! Lynn (mum) said “When I pick her up she is just beaming”.
How wonderful it is to hear about our children who have moved on. They do so well at school. We are all delighted, thank you for sharing these precious moments with us
Padraig Slippers
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. Have a wonderful, fulfilling month.
I will leave you with a little thought…
“Treasure yourself… and…don’t sweat the small stuff…”
Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships Outdoors (Tovey2007:123).
“Making the environment beautiful and challenging is not an end in itself: it is a means to an end. And the end is more important than the means. So it is what children {and adults} do when they play out of doors that is the heart of the matter”. (Drummond 1995:3)
When an environment is rich and challenging, it is all too easy to assume that the children’s play will be equally so, but this is not always the case. I have seen mundane play in the most aesthetically beautiful environments and rich, sustained play in environments that appear unpromising but with sensitive adult support can provide scope for creative and innovative play. This is not an argument for impoverished environments, but an argument for the role of the adult. The key is how adult and children adapt to each other in transforming spaces and in sustaining play.
“Children who spend all their time in the open air may still observe nothing of its beauties. The boy who sees the significance but if he does not find the same awareness in adults the seed of knowledge just beginning to germinate is crushed”. (Froebel, cited in Lilley 1967:146)
Research, although very limited, has been mostly critical of adults’ roles in children’s play outdoors. Hurt et al, for example, noted that there can be ‘an implicit agreement between staff and children about what one does outdoors as opposed to the indoor situation’ (1989:81). They found that the adult role changed from being mainly interactive indoors to being predominantly monitorial outdoors. This notion of an ‘implicit agreement’ is important. The more adults adopt a supervisory role the more likely it is that children will use them for routine help, to arbitrate disputes or even see them as people to avoid. This, in turn, can reinforce the monitorial role and a style of interaction is set up, which, without reflection, can become a pattern that is difficult to change. Adults communicate powerful messages about what is expected, what is important and what is trivial. Often these messages are hidden and implicit, and therefore more pervasive in their impact.
All too often the key phrases of adult talk which dominate an outdoor play area can be negative phrases, such as ‘Mind out. Be careful. Don’t do that. Take turns. Put on your coat. Don’t play on the grass’. The implicit message here is that, despite children’s free choice of activity, adults remain firmly in control, judging the play, arbitrating in disputes, requiring permission, organising activities and so on. Children have more control outdoors. There is more space and, therefore, greater physical freedom than indoors and children can, if they choose, ignore adults, move out of sight and avoid their requests in a way that is rarely possible indoors. Physically, children are often more competent than the adults and they can run faster, balance on high beams and manoeuvre through small spaces in ways that many adults feel insecure and uncertain of their role, they try and reclaim some power and authority by adopting a controlling monitorial role.
My work with a wide range of educators on in-service training courses suggests that there is considerable uncertainty about the role of the adult outdoors. They identify a tension between giving children the freedom to play yet also wanting to ensure children’s safety and feeling pressurised to achieve curriculum outcomes. As a result the adult’s role in children’s play veers between under involvement as play is organised and directed with predetermined learning goals. As Malaguzzi has said, ‘children are dangerously on the brink between presence that they want and repression that they don’twant’ (cited in Edwards et al 1993:158).
Time
How time is organised can support or inhibit the quality of play outdoors. Rich sustained play needs time. It has its own rhythm and momentum, sometimes intense, but short lived, sometimes extending over many hours, days or even weeks. When children have long periods of time for play they can become more deeply involved and engrossed, and the stereotypical notion that young children do not stick at anything for long is often challenged. Leavers identified involvement and persistence as indicators of deep level learning (Pascal and Bertram 1997). However, when adults control time by breaking it up into time-tabled slots or imposing restrictions on access to outdoors or are over zealous in the use of routines, children’s play is disrupted or curtailed. Children themselves begin to devalue play knowing that there is little point in starting to build an elaborate scenario in the sand, for example, when the time outdoors is short lived. Involvement and persistence can be severely limited by seemingly arbitrary temporal restrictions.
Free movement indoors and out
When play can move freely between indoors and outdoors the pace becomes more relaxed and unhurried. Children can make choices as to where they play over time. Research by Bilton (2002) suggests that when rigid time barriers are removed the quality of the play and activity improves dramatically in the indoor, as well as the outdoor areas the pace is less frenetic and pressure of space reduced. Free movement between indoors and outdoors allows play to evolve and helps children to make connections in their learning as the following examples illustrate:
Matthew and Aaron aged 3, mixed water and sand together to make ‘dinner’. They spread the mixture in some flat boxes and then fetched confetti and bottle tops from the nearby collage area to sprinkle on the top. These were then taken to the block area, slid inside a hollow brick to cook and subsequently transported round the garden on trucks before being delivered to the home corner with a flourishing announcement of ;Pizza delivery!’
Quin, aged 4, played with the water wheel and gutters outdoors. He moved indoors to the construction table and made a wheel from the construction straws. He then carried it to the water tray and poured water on the wheel, making it rotate. An adult suggested he find a way to support the axle which kept bending. He then ran outside to inspect the large water wheel then back to the construction table where he joined four wheels on one long axle. With great difficulty he carried this to the outside water tray so that the ends of the axle rested on the side of the tray. He then tested each wheel in turn under the water falling from the large water wheel.
These two examples illustrate how temporal and spatial fluidity can enable play to follow its own momentum and gain in complexity. The second example illustrates how the adult can extend the play. Rigid boundaries would have limited the scope of the play and foreclosed the possibilities of making connections. Over-reliance on a rigid routine, clock watching, perpetually preparing for what comes next, change adults into controllers and monitors of time, rather than enablers. While some routine is necessary to provide a secure and predictable rhythm o the day, flexible and fluid organisation of adults’ time can protect space and time for children’s play and free it from unnecessary interruption. Research in reception classes by Rogers and Evans (2006) found that calling children away from play was the single most disruptive factor in the quality of children’s role play. This, they argued, was because children need time to negotiate roles and develop their ideas but also because the social groups on which the play depended were terminated as a result of the disruption (Rogers and Evans 2006:52).
There is also a reciprocal relationship between children’s autonomy and adults’ time. Strategies to promote children’s independence and autonomy outdoors can reduce the management demands on adults. If children can find the resources they need, access appropriate clothing for different weather conditions and help each other with difficult tasks this frees time for adults to spend observing or interacting with children.
I watched a nursery adult supervising Ellie, aged 13 months. Ellie was intent on crawling towards an attractive stretch of grass. Every time she reached the grass the adult lifted her up and brought her back to the hard surface saying ‘That’s yucky wet grass’. This was repeated many times until Ellie gave up and turned her attention to something else. Had the adult allowed Ellie to get wet or provided appropriate clothes for crawling on the grass, time that was used for controlling and constraining could instead have been used for engaging with what it was that Ellie was interested in and for playfully exploring the wet grass together.
Setting up resources for play
Adults often spend considerable amounts of time setting up resources outdoors and arranging them in interesting configurations. A team of five practitioners I worked with on an in-service training course were shocked to discover that, collectively, they spent 20 hours a week setting out and putting away outdoor resources. While it is important that resources are well planned, look inviting and stimulate new ideas, nevertheless, it is hard for children to play with someone else’s creations. In a small scale piece of action research we observed what children did with these carefully prepared scenarios. Invariably, within a very short time, set-ups had been dismantled or changed leading to a tension between adults and children as to the ownership of the play. For example:
Resources had been set out as a picnic with a tablecloth, food, crockery, and cutlery. A boy surreptitiously removed each plate, cup and saucer, one by one. He then carefully picked up the tablecloth, swirled it around his shoulder and ran off. The ‘tablecloth’ was, from his perspective, a favourite superhero cape. Staff unaware that this had happened despaired that their carefully set up activity had been ‘ruined’. They were ‘set-up’ for the day feeling annoyed and frustrated.
A well-organised, but freely available picnic basket complete with tablecloth would perhaps have protected the play of children who wanted to play picnics, but also saved adults, considerable amounts of time and avoided a boy having to retrieve, illicitly, the resources he needed.
This raises questions about why adults spend so long setting up elaborate play scenarios, such as building a train out of open-ended materials. This seems to negate the value of open-ended materials if they are prepared by adults, rather than transformed by the children. Far more valuable would be if resources were attractively presented and the adult free to help children discuss, negotiate and problem solve how the train might be built. Questions such as ‘Is this a good space?’, ‘what resources do we need?’, ‘What could we use for seats?, ‘Do we need to build a station?’ can act as prompts. Helping children to see the symbolic potential of features of the environment is an important strategy. ‘Maybe these lines on the ground could be the train track’.
When provision is responsive to the previous day’s observations, careful selection and arrangement of materials can be important ways for adults to invite new possibilities, suggest new combinations or encourage a continuation of play from the previous day. For example after observing children’s interest in rolling things down slopes, a range of planks, wheels, barrels and ‘rollable’ resources can develop and extend play.
Sensitive responsive relationships
Pascal and Betram have identified three key principles which underpin effective adult engagement with children:
• Sensitivity: This is the sensitivity of the adult to the feelings and well being of the child and includes elements of sincerity, empathy, responsiveness and affection. • Stimulation: This is the way in which the adult intervenes in a learning process and the content of such interventions. o Autonomy: This is the degree of freedom which the adult gives the child to experiment, make judgments, choose activities and express ideas. It also includes how the adult handles conflict, rules and behavioural issues (Pascal and Bertram 1997: 13)
Sensitive, responsive relationships underpin an affective adult role outdoors. Adults who listen to and engage with what children are trying to do can be a rich catalyst for play. This is not easy and observations of interactions with children often reveal misunderstandings. Is the child painting a wall with a large paint brush and water interested in covering the wall, filling in the rectangular patterns, pretending to be a painter and decorator, or exploring the evaporation of the water on the wall? Interaction based on assumptions as to what we think a child is doing is fraught with difficulty and leads to interactions that can be clumsy and intrusive.
Wells used the metaphor of throwing a ball to indicate the importance of the conversational exchange with young children:
“Like throwing a ball – first ensure that the child is ready with arms cupped to catch the ball, throw gently and accurately so that it lands squarely in the child’s arms. When it is the child’s turn to throw, the adult must be prepared to run wherever the ball goes. (Wells 1986:50) ‘Catching the ball that the children throw us’ is a frequent metaphor in Reggio Emilia, Italy and adult and teacher relationships are likened to a game of ping pong. ‘Supportive adult relationships are based on keying in to the rhythm of the game and modelling an attitude of attention and care’ (Edwards et all 1998: 181).
‘Tuning in’ to children is another metaphor that is frequently used, this time a musical one. Both of these metaphors emphasise the active, reciprocal, responsive role of the adult whose intention is to engage with, understand and respond to children. However, it needs to be recognised that understanding intentions and meeting minds is not easy. Even though we attempt to be in tune, the notes can be discordant and, at times, distinctly out of tune. Children can be tolerant of out of tune singing, but are dismissive if we start to sing a very different song in response to theirs. We can miss the ball occasionally, but if we do not return it the game is over. The important thing is the adults’ intentions, the wanting and striving to understand combined with an informed understanding of young children’s play and learning.
Supporting Risky Play
Stephenson’s (2003) research indicated, it is the adults’ attitudes that make a difference to children’s physical risk taking outdoors. Smith (1990, 1998) goes as far as to argue that risk defines our pedagogical relation to children. When adults are uncertain and anxious about children’s safety outdoors they communicate this to children. Younger children especially look to adults for confirmation of whether something is safe to explore or climb, and quickly ‘read’ the adults’ assessment of the situation. If adults look permanently anxious then children either catch this fearfulness or choose to ignore it, but in so doing their ability to discriminate really risky situations is impeded. Adults have a key role in supporting risk and challenging outdoors. This can include: • Developing shared understandings and expectations within the staff team so that individuals feel supported and ‘safe’ to be risk takers themselves. • Having realistically high expectations of what children can do. Knowing children well enough to make informed decisions as to when to intervene and when to stand back. • Developing a positive disposition to challenge, seeing it as something to be relished, rather to be feared. Fostering children’s autonomy and celebrating achievements how small. • Reflecting on gender differences in attitudes to risk. Is risk tolerated or encouraged more in boys’ than girls’ play? Research referred to by Little (2006) suggests that often it is. • Developing a language to talk about risk and safety, helping children to understand that being safe is under their control and to know how to do things safely. For example:
o It’s best to hold on now but when you feel safe enough you can try letting go; o It needs a lot of practice to be able to do that; o Coming down backwards might be a safer way; o Josh found a very safe way of doing that shall we see how he did it? o That was good you remembered to check there was no one at the bottom of the slide before you pushed the box down.
• Being prepared to say a firm ‘no that’s dangerous because…’ in the rare situations it is needed. Children can feel safer to take risks and be adventurous when there are clear boundaries and when they trust adults’ judgment of a situation. • Teaching skills that will help children to do things safely, for example, ways of controlling speed coming down a slide, safe ways of handling a saw at the woodwork bench or holding an insect, and so on. • Modelling a flexible, innovative approach to situations, ‘that’s a good idea, let’s try it’, rather than the more rigid, cautious approach, ‘we can’t; there’s no time; we don’t move things; we mustn’t make a mess; we’re not allowed’.
Questioning
I have a powerful recollection of being four and taken round the school garden by a well meaning teacher. We stopped to look at the flowers. ‘What’s that called?’ she asked pointing to a rose. I remember thinking ‘Why is she asking me? Doesn’t she know it’s a rose?’ In this moment of confusion I replied ‘I don’t know’. I can still feel the mixture of indignation and humiliation as she replied ‘it’s called a rose dear.’ Young children are often confused by a style of interaction where questions are not puzzling and for finding out, but are used for testing. Power is located with the adult and children begin to see their role as answering, rather than asking questions.
If you want to read more about this innovative book you can buy it at most good book stores.
I thought you might like a copy of this poem, it always makes me smile.
When children come home at the end of the day, The question they're asked as they scurry to play is, "Tell me what you did today?" And the answer they give makes you sigh with dismay. "Nothing, I did nothing today!" Perhaps nothing means that I played with blocks, Or counted to ten, or sorted some rocks. Maybe I painted a picture of red and blue Or heard a story of a mouse that flew. Maybe I watched the rabbit eat today, Or went outside in the garden to play. Maybe today was the very first time That my scissors followed a very straight line Maybe I learned a song from beginning to end, Or played with a special brand new friend. When you're in nursery And your heart has wings, "Nothing" can mean so many things!!
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