In my journal I noted ‘there are many people, philosophies and pedagogies that have shaped my thinking and practice, beginning with my training for the NNEB qualification at the age of 16yrs (1976-78) when Mrs Stoddart, a nursery teacher at Broomhall Nursery School talked to me about the importance of using the ‘why?’ question with young children as this would feed their curiosity and lead children into their own reflections’. Their Froebelian approach was well embedded into everyday practice by “posing ‘wondering’ questions or making a connection with previous experience” (Tovey, 2020, p13). Years later (2006) I wrote about the importance of children’s questions after my own observations showed that it was mainly the adults who asked them! (Chilvers, 2006, p15-20). This early experience had clearly shaped my own principles and practice and led me to advocate for listening to children and the child’s voice (Clark and Moss, 2001; Cousins, 1999; Issacs, 1931; Rinaldi, 2006).
My ideas and principles are firmly located in Froebel’s thinking and principles particularly his recognition of childhood, respecting and valuing young children, his understanding of the developing child and his resolute focus on observation and the value of play. In this assignment I will reflect ‘back’ on these fundamental aspects of Froebel’s philosophy and consider the way in which they have grounded and guided my own philosophy and practice over the years (reflecting forward).
In 2011 I wrote the following to explain my philosophy, principles and values:
Understanding young children and how they develop and learn is central to how adults support and teach. How can we teach if we do not know the ways in which young children learn? The joy of working with young children is to observe them as they play, talk and create. Then our challenge is to unpick what we have seen and make sense of it so that we can support them further. (https://watchmegrow.uk/about/philosophy/)
Reflecting on Froebel’s principles I can see many threads and connections to the ones I hold. Froebel was clearly a great thinker and a man ahead of his times pioneering, advocating, researching, observing, reflecting on some BIG questions about children & childhood in a period when they were barely acknowledged, poorly treated and had no recognition or rights. He laid the foundations for the advocacy of children’s rights which were taken forward by other pioneers like Steiner (1861-1925), Issacs (1885-1948), Dewey (1859-1952) and Malaguzzi (1920-1994). For example, Froebel’s principles are underpinned by his view of the child he wrote, “Every child should be accepted as an indispensable and essential member of the human race” (Froebel in Lilley, 1967 p57) and that “even the child and the life of childhood be recognised, acknowledged, and actually considered and treated in life relatively as a whole in its worth and dignity” (Froebel,1903 p166). One must imagine here, in these emphatic words, that he was also reflecting on his own challenging childhood.
In my own work I have advocated strongly for children’s right to childhood and early education, which is respectful, based on their developmental pathways and starts from where they are. In the English Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (EYFS) in 2008 the ‘Unique Child’ was the central principle stating:
Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
This principle was underpinned by four themes and commitments including Child Development, Inclusive Practice, Keeping Safe and Health and Well-Being. Others included ‘Active Learning’, ‘Play and Exploration’, ‘Creativity and Critical Thinking’ and ‘Supporting Every Child’ (Foundation Years, 2011). All of which have a direct connection to Froebel’s principles and his view of the child.
From 2000 to 2010 the EYFS principles underpinned practice in all early years settings and schools across England. They united and led educators and teachers in a pedagogical approach which enabled them to dig deeper into practices and research led projects such as the Mosaic Approach (Clarke and Moss, 2001), Listening to Children (National Childrens Bureau,2009) and the Pedagogy of Listening (Rinaldi, 2006). This enlightenment of placing the child’s voice at the centre, following their interests (self-activity), taking time to listen and understand their thinking through ‘watchful’ observation gave children ‘agency’ and gave adults the opportunity to learn from them. This was Froebel’s conviction, he wanted children to be ‘better understood’ (Lascarides and Hinitz, 2000, p85) by adults, he stated “Let us learn from the children. Let us attend to the knowledge which their lives gently urge upon us and listen to the quiet demands of the heart” (Froebel, 1885, p 92).
Sadly, this enlightened, golden age of early childhood ended in 2010 with the change of Government and the start of a challenging political agenda for English education, including early years policy and practice, driven by a very different ideology and principles for early childhood education which did not include the Themes and Commitments, even though they are part of the EYFS Statutory Framework. A relentless focus on school readiness, which continues today, and a curriculum which is completely knowledge driven through structured, sequenced teaching via literacy and maths programmes. Observation as a process has diminished with the use of tick lists apps and assessment is driven by tests with the Early Learning Goals and Baseline at around 4-5yrs old (depending on when a child was born) and SATs (Standard Attainment Tests) at age six. Many educators/teachers are not trained in early childhood education and have little or no knowledge of child development. During this time my work (training, support, research in practice etc) became one of ensuring that the EYFS principles, themes and commitments remained at the heart of pedagogy and practice (See Chilvers, 2013).
The trajectory of early childhood education, in the same period, has been vastly different story for Scotland and Wales with Governments that have seen the imperative of building firm foundations which supported the child and family. In England we look enviously at the way in which pedagogy and practice has been shaped around Froebel’s principles with the commitment and shared understanding of a “..whole way of thinking about children and childhood, based on a set of values and principles” with “No formula or recipe to follow or set of equipment to purchase or prescribed curriculum to adhere to. Nor is it a series of ideas and activities which practitioners can dip into and out of” (Tovey, 2017 p.2).
In my work with educators and teachers, I refer constantly to Scotland’s Realising the ambition: Being Me (2020) and the Welsh Curriculum Guidance Materials (2022) as they embody these key principles and values that all children deserve to experience in their earliest years, particularly starting from the child, observation and play. I wrote the following reflections about these documents in the Autumn 2022 Early Education Journal on Curriculum Perspectives:
It becomes clear that early childhood education has a rich foundational heritage based on sound principles, theoretical and research informed pedagogies, and well-established child-centred practices which view children as competent, capable and active participants in their own development and learning. (Chilvers, p3)
Froebel’s principles and approach are described as a ‘whole way of thinking’ which are centred around a holistic view of the child where everything is connected including ‘feelings, ideas, thoughts, relationships, a sense of identity and the physical self’ (Bruce, 2012 p157). This unity and connectedness also included the family and community. This reminds me of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems theory which nests the child at the centre surrounded by their other contexts and influences. This is a model that framed my pedagogy and teaching with young children and their families, which I later developed in the co-construction of Birth to Five Matters in 2012 (p.38) to show the unique child at the centre surrounded by the many influences and experiences that shape their development and learning. It stressed the need for adults to start with observation to understand the child. Froebel was very clear that observation was the way in which the educator could understand the child’s development and learning and see these connections:
He used his observations as a way of coming to understand children's development and learning. He encouraged parents and educators to observe babies as well as older children. Froebel wanted educators to study how children develop their own learning through their selfactivity, senses, interests, and everyday experiences. He emphasised that learning was multifaceted and integrated and that children develop understanding of subjects through connecting knowledge of mathematics, the arts, nature, and humanities. (Louis, 2022, p3)
Froebel’s observations informed his extensive knowledge of children’s development including babies where he advised “careful observation of the way in which he develops and expresses his thoughts” and recognition of the first smile in “expressing his ability to make himself understood by another human being and shows that he himself understands” (Lilley, 1967, p75-76). There is a wonderful acknowledgement here of the baby’s ‘personality’, ‘uniqueness and ‘individuality’ this is all about the baby’s voice from observations in the early 1800’s! He even advises that parents should be involved in observing their child’s development. A fully encompassing inclusive philosophy.
Froebel emphasised observation to ‘extend our insight…’, ‘analyse experiences’, to become ‘self-aware’ and as a way of ‘understanding ourselves’ to understand others. He goes on to say, “It is important for both his sake and for our own that all this activity of mind should be observed and remembered” (Lilley, 1967, p78). This process of observation, interpretation and documentation is a fundamental part of practice today and goes back to my opening reflections about understanding how children develop and learn so that we can be effective, respectful teachers. Mary Jane Drummond’s explanation of this process has always influenced my thinking and practice for many years …
When we work with children, when we play and experiment and talk with them, when we watch them and everything they do, we are witnessing a fascinating and inspiring process: we are seeing them learn. In our everyday practice, we observe children’s learning, strive to understand it, and then put our understanding to good use. (Drummond, 1994, p13)
I have always been an observer of children which began with my NNEB training under the guidance of Mrs Stoddart and others. When I work with educators on long term research in practice projects we always begin with observation so we can ‘learn from the children’ using narrative observations (Learning Stories) to help us see and understand their child-led play, interests and learning. Observation, as Froebel’s work shows is a form of research and a reflective process which can tell us so much about children’s development and how they are learning (Chilvers, 2022, p 9). It is extremely helpful to view this through the lens of the model below (Education Scotland, 2020, p64) which encapsulates many Froebelian principles particularly that of connectedness and unity, then educators can understand the holistic nature of young children’s development.
The process of ‘reflecting back’ and ‘reflecting forward’ in this assignment has enabled me to dig deeper into my thinking and make some important connections with Froebel’s thinking and principles. Some have been more obvious than others but revisiting and reflecting on my principles and practice has been affirmative and energising particularly in relation to observation and child development. This is a challenging aspect of practice in England for the reasons discussed previously, schools particularly do not see the need for observation and very few teachers understand child development. The work of the Froebel Trust is helping to change this through the pamphlets on Observation (Louis,2022), research in aspects of practice Curriculum Making with young children (Chesworth,2022) and conferences such as the one in Sheffield in March 2025 ‘Inspiring Early Learning’.
My reflections have shown the connections and pathways between Froebel’s thinking and principles in the early 19th Century and how they have formed a strong foundational legacy of early childhood education which is woven throughout current pedagogy in the 21st Century. I have been able to locate my pedagogy and practice into Froebelian principles and am now much more aware of the roots of my values and beliefs. What I wrote in 2011 about my philosophy, principles and values still stand true, but this needs to be understood more widely for the reasons Bruce points out:
In order to educate rather than school and instruct children in narrow ways, practitioners need to be good and informed observers. They need to know about child development which they use a navigational tool (Bruce, 2012, p12).
Birth to Five Matters: Non-statutory guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) Early Education and The Early Years Coalition, London
https://birthto5matters.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Birthto5Matters-download.pdf
Bronfenbrenner, U (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Bruce.T (Ed) (2012) Early Childhood Practice Froebel Today, Sage
Chilvers, D (2022) Mathematical Mastery in Young Children’s Play – Learning from the Talk for Maths Mastery Initiative, Routledge
Chilvers,D (2013) Creating and Thinking Critically – A practical guide to how babies and young children learn, Practical Pre School Books
Chilvers, D (2006) Young Children Talking – The art of conversation and why children need to chatter, Early Education, London
Chesworth, L (2022) Curriculum making with young children, Froebel Trust early childhood research, Froebel Trust
https://www.froebel.org.uk/uploads/documents/Froebel-Trust-PDF-Research-Highlight-Book-Three.pdf
Clark, A and Moss, P (2001) Listening to Young Children – The Mosaic Approach, National Children’s Bureau and Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Cousins, J (1999) Listening to four year olds – How they can help us to plan for their education and care, The National Early Years Network
Early Education (2022) Curriculum Perspectives, Early Education Journal, No.98 Autumn 2022
Drummond, M.J (1994) Learning to See Assessment through Observation, Stenhouse Publishers
Department for Children Schools and Families (2008), Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (EYFS), DCSF, London
Education Scotland (2020) Realising the ambition: Being Me, National practice guidance for early years in Scotland, Education Scotland
https://education.gov.scot/media/3bjpr3wa/realisingtheambition.pdf
Education Wales (2022) A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings. Welsh Government, Education Wales
Foundation Years (2011) The Early Years Foundation Stage Principles, London
https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2011/10/EYFS_Principles1.pdf
Froebel, F (1903) Education by Development – The Second Part of the Pedagogics of the Kindergarten, International Education Series (Translated by J. Jarvis), Appleton and Company, New York
https://ia802804.us.archive.org/18/items/friedrichfroebel01fr/friedrichfroebel01fr.pdf
Froebel, F (1885) The Education of Man, (Translated by J. Jarvis), A. Lovell & Co, New York
Lascarides, V.C and B.F. Hinitz, (2000) History of Early Childhood Education. Routledge, New York
Lilley,I (1967) Friedrich Froebel A selection from his writings, Cambridge University Press
Louis,S (2022) A Froebelian Approach – Observing Young Children, Froebel Trust
National Childrens Bureau (2009), Listening as a way of life, Young Children’s Voices Network, London
Rinaldi.C (2006) In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia – Listening, researching and learning, Routledge
Tovey, H (2020) Froebel’s principles and practice today, Froebel Trust
https://www.froebel.org.uk/uploads/documents/FT-Froebels-principles-and-practice-today.pdf
Tovey, H (2017) Bringing the Froebel Approach to your Early Years Practice (2nd Ed), David Foulton
