Have spent the last two days visiting some wonderful settings with Michelle. All part of New Shoots (newshoots.co.nz) which has a wonderful philosophy of child centred learning...the environments are all eco friendly with lots of light, windows at child height and outdoor spaces which are carefully thought through. I saw my first maze for children with the Griselinia plant which is native to New Zealand with glossy leaves a bit like laurel - it bushes out and gives a feeling of being hidden whilst still being seen. The children were busy weaving themselves in and out of it!
What strikes me is the level of knowledge and understanding of the practitioners - they know their child development and can articulate what they see children doing very well. Here's an example from a Learning Story about Abbie and Noah as they play together in the sand, Siobhan the key worker evaluates it like this...
"Conflict is a normal part of any healthy relationship. After all, two people cant't be expected to agree on everything, all the time. Learning how to deal with conflict - rather than avoiding it - is crucial. When conflict is mis-managed, it can cause great harm to a relationship, but when handled in a respectful, positive way, conflict provides an opportunity to strengthen the bond between to people"
The Learning Story that Siobhan wrote about Abbie and Noah tells the unfolding story of what happened as they played together (well sort of) - Noah wanted what Abbie had and she had some quite sophisticated ways of dealing with that...its a story that no doubt will end up with them being best mates!!!
Lots to share from some wonderful practice here especially in relation to observation and documentation......
Have been wandering around Auckland to acclimatise and check out the way of life....its a great place. What strikes me is that its such a long way from England yet it still feels like home....but much more chilled out. Have seen loads of children walking in bare feet, including toddlers, happy to run, walk and paddle...must be a great feeling of freedom...never really see that back home. Am looking forward to seeing the early years settings.....have quite a few visits planned in and around Auckland.
I have linked up with the New Zealand Reggio Emilia organisation - www.reanz.org - and making some visits to their centres as well as getting together to talk about practice in NZ, Reggio and England. Am also sharing some thoughts on the 6th March in a presentation called 'A window into children's creative thinking' - so looking at how children develop their creative and critical thinking through following their own ideas and interests....
Will post some thoughts from my visits on the Blog...hopefully some pictures as well. Its taking me ages to upload things but thats more about my skills than the IT!!
I started reading about New Zealand quite a few years ago as I have always had an interest in other philosophies and perspectives on early childhood education. What struck me about Te Whariki, which guides pedagogy and practice in NZ, was the complete focus on the child and family and looking at children's learning through their dispositions. It is a respectful view point - which really sees children's potential and acknowledges the imaginative depths of their thinking and learning. The nearest equivalent that we have in England would be the Characteristics of Effective Learning. Our previous EYFS Curriculum Guidance had some links to Te Whariki particularly in the Themes and Principles (which are still statutory) but this has been even more marginalised in the revised EYFS.
The similarities are mainly with the Themes and Principles of the EYFS - have a look at the following:
Te Whariki EYFS Themes and Principles
Well - Being Unique Child and Positive Relationships
Exploration Unique Child and Learning and Development
Communication Unique Child and Learning and Development
Contribution Unique Child and PositiveRelationships
Belonging Unique Child and Positive Relationships
This is a bit of a rough comparison as in reality all these themes and principles are interlinked and woven together in fact that is what Te Whariki means. It is a Maori word meaning 'woven mat' .....so a metaphor for children's thinking, learning and lives. Malaguzzi explained this in typical style by saying that children's thinking and learning was like 'spaghetti' with everything tangled and intertwined.......thats how we need to think of children's development, especially their thinking..anyone who has worked with (and understands) young children will know that it is not a neat tidy process......so trying to put children's learning into boxes is not a natural or helpful thing to do.....unfortunately we live in an educational world (in England) that does just that! More on that later.......
Am now in Singapore before flying on to New Zealand tomorrow..its very hot, sunny and a bit humid but very interesting. Saw a lovely statue today which celebrates all the children who used to play in the river years ago when Singapore was a developing city in the 1800's....the statue is a series of bronze figures of children jumping off the pier side into the water....probably not very safe especially in view of the fact that the river must have been very polluted! Apparently they only jumped in and swam at high tide as it wasn't as dirty!! Doing a risk assessment on that would be a nightmare.....but they were okay. Will try and learn how to attach a picture so that you can see it!!
I have always wanted to visit New Zealand and see their early years philosophy in action - having read loads about Te Whariki, listened to my gurus Margaret Carr and Wendy Lee at various conferences in the UK and read as much as I can about Learning Stories....I cant wait to visit. So what I am aiming to do is...
And probably lots more.....but that will do for now!
Think my next post will be about how I became interested in Te Whariki........
Having decided to take a trip of a life time to New Zealand to see Te Whariki in action and find out more about the philosophy and practice I finally go on Tuesday 18th February...travelling via Singapore and then into Auckland on Saturday 22nd Feb. This is a big adventure for me..especially as I am not a great lover of flying!!
I want to try and keep a Blog to share some of my experiences and visits to early years settings and centres in New Zealand as well as keeping in touch with people back home...so this is my first effort. See what you think.......
