[Tim Keasley]

Woodland Programme at Cambridge Steiner School Kindergarten

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[Tim Keasley]

Researching for various tasks over the past few months has really opened my eyes as to how pedagogical documentation can be used as a living process with the children, staff and parents, rather than just something that it is used as evidence against a tick list, and filed away.

I focussed on the Reggio approach for the ‘environment as third teacher’ essay and documentation is one of the central pillars of the philosophy. Reggio walls are used almost like a police investigation board – children’s work is put up at their height and referred back to as a springboard for next steps.

I was also really inspired by the Mosaic approach reading we did a few Interim tasks back – the process of getting the children to take photos of things they think are important. In the example we read about, it was a way of listening to children’s voices in the evaluation of provision but this approach can have far reaching applications. Using children’s photos around a setting can be a really good way of involving them in establishing their own rules and inspiring other children how to use resources.

Amanda’s anecdote about rewatching videos is something I’d really like to try. At our setting, videos are taken and uploaded to FAMLY without including the children. It seems like it could be a good opportunity to encourage children’s reflective skills.

[Tim Keasley]

SENCO interview

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[Tim Keasley]

Parent partnership review

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[Tim Keasley]

Reflective log

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[Tim Keasley]

Here’s my UW observation task

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[Tim Keasley]

What a helpful metaphor. I think it captures the complicated mix of emotions really well – surprise, confusion, sadness, joy and the constant sense of living in a parallel world to most of the people around you.

I’m still relatively new in my current job and am just starting to meet parents and form those partnerships. This piece highlights a number of important elements for me.

‘Everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy.’ Nursery is a place where you meet lots of different families and this has the potential to bring all of your concerns into sharper focus. It’s important to recognise that Nursery isn’t necessarily an emotionally neutral space for all families and to be sensitive to this.

Families of children with SEND are likely to be dealing with some degree of shock. There’s also the potential for denial and so it may take some time for parents/carers to accept the situation. As Amanda mentioned last session, regular effective communication should mean that these kinds of topics don’t come as a shock and that together you build up a picture of the child over a sustained period of time.

I think its really important to speak about these issues without judgement. As the story say, ‘it’s just a different place,’ with different tulips, not gondolas. I think pointing out the positives risks devaluing the legitimate feelings of pain and grief families may be feeling. In time, families will notice the beautiful things for themselves which will be more meaningful. It makes me think of the parallels with child led learning – the learning we do ourselves is the most meaningful. As practitioners we need to support families with open communication.

[Tim Keasley]

I really enjoyed reading this article and also looking through all of your posts! Its so interesting to hear about different approaches across the settings. Just for a bit of context, I’m still quite new at my setting and getting a feel for how things are done.

I really like the point about children’s competence. Children are worth listening to and their voices contribute to our communities, in our settings and beyond.

How well does my setting listen to children? I think the picture is quite mixed. SST is not yet something I’ve heard staff talking about. That doesn’t mean there aren’t effective interactions with children but the quality of interactions definitely varies. The article also puts forward a really compelling case for listening to children while evaluating provision. I’d really like to suggest this at my setting but I’m also aware that as a new member of staff, not all employees’ voices are listened to in the same way.

How does listening connect to British Values? Listening plays a key role in democracy, the rule of law, freedom and tolerance which all manifest themselves in the day to day life of a nursery. Making children feel heard is the first step.

It seems to me that listening to children’s voices has a complex relationship with the government’s notion of the role of cultural capital in education. The DfE describes cultural capital as ‘essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for success.’ I suppose the big follow up question is who decides what classes as essential knowledge? The government’s use of cultural capital in an educational context has been criticised for being a narrow, top/down approach, prioritising white, middle class values. It doesn’t seem to come from a place of listening and valuing children’s voices.

[Tim Keasley]

Here are my tasks – see you all on wednesday!

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[Tim Keasley]

Hello!

Just managed to sort the log in…!

Here’s my research about Erikson

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