Music at the Playeum, Singapore

Good times with our DJ, Johan and Zara at the Playeum - a child-centred discovery centre in Singapore opened in September 2015 and which strongly identifies itself with the Reggio Emilia approach. This is a place where children's freedom of expression and inquiry is celebrated and where four year olds can use hot glue guns. I would recommend to anyone. We got membership the minute they opened and had a lot of fun over the year watching the concept be 'sold' to Singaporean parents. As the Spanish say: poco a poco. The Playeum might be Singapore's salvation!

Take a look at their website to see how they structure their learning opportunities/ ateliers.

Aesthetic codes and how they shape environment

Just reading this fascinating article by Patricia Tarr, Associate Professor in the faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Alberta Canada. It is a comparison of aesthetic codes in typical Canadian/ American preschools and Reggio Emilia preschools.  (We can add to the comparison the schools we went to as children in England, then and today.) 

Where did this cartoonified (to borrow the author's apt term) aesthetic come from? When was it born? How did it grow? How did it cross oceans? How does it compare to Victorian classrooms? And how can we help eradicate it?!

Strongly recommend reading the whole article, but an excerpt: 'Reggio educators include aspects of a home into the school: vases of flowers, real dishes, tablecloths, and plants. There is attention to design and placement of objects to provide a visual and meaningful context. The objects within the space are not simplified, cartoon like images that are assumed to appeal to children, but are "beautiful" objects in their own right. For example, dried flowers hang from the ceiling beams and attractive jars of beans and seeds are displayed on shelves in the dinning area of Arcobaleno Infant-Toddler Center.'

I think the words 'that are assumed to appeal to children' lead us to the root of the problem. Who assumed this? Like the rebranding of Saint Nicolas from historic green to Coca-Cola red, have we let people trying to sell us something (Walt Disney?) tell us what children like?

Who to trust? It seems the good ladies and men (we did find a male) of Reggio Emilia are trusting their 'inner child' and if so, so can we.

But Patricia has another suggestion:

'Art educators need to find ways to collaborate with early childhood teachers to critically examine the aesthetic codes which permeate their classrooms and then together find ways to create environments which support children's aesthetic and artistic development... Reggio has shown how partnerships between artist-teachers and early childhood educators can have a powerful impact on all the learning that occurs. Art educators can be challenged to take on the role of atelierista within a school, working as partners with teachers to support children to communicate their ideas visually, help to create provocative learning experiences, and design environments that enhance children's perceptual awareness and provide places for wonder, curiosity and the expression of ideas.'

Patricia recognises that the teacher might not have had their own aesthetic sensibilities nurtured as children. We wonder if every adult would have an aesthetic sensibility had they gone to school in Reggio Emilia or do genes play a decisive role? How can we test this on the community of adults in Reggio Emilia?

Sudbury Schools - Environment

We're really curious about Sudbury Schools. Having gone to a strict boarding school where we marched into meals, the thought of a Sudbury School delights us - the anarchy!

But would we want to work in one, and most importantly - would we want to send our daughter to one, or even more importantly, would she want to go to one?!

So, why are we hesitating?

Before we discover any more about Sudbury Schools, what are our preconceptions?

Environment

We are absolutely onboard for grown ups stepping back but the environment and how it is set up is a powerful source of learning - does anyone control the environment in a Sudbury School?

For example, do kids come in on a Monday morning to find a milking cow in the grounds, or a million ping pong balls piled up in the rec room? (Or have we just come up with a brilliant new concept school!)

What resources are the kids given? What provocations?

This photo from the newly opened La Rosa de los Vientos Sudbury School near Madrid made us wonder - not to say that kids couldn't do a lot already with this space but would it keep them going for 7 years? What else does Sudbury add, or is that the brilliant point - they don't, the kids do?

We were blown away during our ISN project with the many different ways in which the children were exploring the relatively small amount of big and small loose parts (see below) that we'd made available to them. We know that they were not getting those learning opportunities before we put those loose parts there because we watched they play before and after. That said, we know that even in the most barren playground, children will find something to do. Our parents argument today is of course 'When I was a child, you had one stick and were told to come back when it got dark'. Where is the happy balance? Also, the ISN kids didn't bring the loose parts in themselves - small ones yes but big ones no. Do Sudbury kids arrive at school on Monday morning with cartwheels and car tyres? And if so, how brilliant!

Caine's arcade - what kids will do with a resource rich environment

I was amazed when I first saw Caine's arcade, but not surprised - kids are amazing and with access to the right resources, they have a chance to show us that. Caine's story made me wonder whether the fact that his Dad just left him to it (because he was working) was key? If his Dad had designed and built with him, whilst it could have been great bonding, would Caine have run with this like he did? But we know (from Sugata Mitra's work as a good example) that encouragement can play an important role. Was that the role his Dad played that made this the perfect recipe for Caine? What else played a part?

Reflections on our Nexus and ISN projects: Environment

In June we completed our outdoor learning project in the Nexus International School Nursery/ Kindergarten playground and we have just completed our outdoor learning project at the International School of Nice and are very much still buzzing from what we've learnt.

We wanted to focus on one of the bigger areas which is environment.

Building on our growing awakening, these two projects confirm our conviction that motivation, progression and deep learning are intrinsic within the child WHEN the environment allows it. Our role then as educators is to OBSERVE the child at work to interpret where their curiosity is taking them in order to furnish them with the resources they need to take each next step. We also PROVOKE by adding unexpected resources. Each and every time the child will always do something that we couldn’t have predicted and that is why we must stand back and let the magic happen.

So what is this environment? It is resource-rich and open-ended. It challenges, awes, inspires, provokes and even disturbs - a great example being the Living Organisms atelier at the Loris Malaguzzi Centre. See photos below:

The environment seeks to reach and enliven all the senses.

What's it like inside the famous Diana Preschool in Reggio Emilia?

It is understandably very hard to visit the infant toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia. You can only visit them as part of the International Study Group, and even then, you can't chose the ones you go inside.

We had a good stalk around the outside of the Diana Preschool but didn't get the chance to go in and were really curious to see it as the first municipal preschool in Reggio Emilia and the place where Loris Malaguzzi grew his very special approach. We have however found a pretty detailed description from an unnamed author at Bennett Day School in Chicago of a morning in the famous Diana Preschool. And hopefully we will get the chance to visit ourselves on their open evening in January 2017.

Pictured - atelier at the Diana Preschool, Reggio Emilia

The importance of architecture

Reggio Emilia International Study Group 2016

Our visits to five Reggio Preschools and Infant Toddler Centres during the International Study Group, and the following week we spent in Reggio Emilia, made us realise that not all of them are beautiful. In addition to our visits, we study the municipal statements of money invested on improvements and new buildings, and the data given to us on the course detailing whether or not each preschool or infant toddler centre is in a purpose built building. Approximately half are, and the examples we've seen with our own eyes are open plan and wonderful. Others are housed in old elementary schools and have had little investment for renovation. A few, including one we visited, are somewhere in the middle having had substantial funds allocated to renovate the internal space.

The Loris Malaguzzi preschool and primary school is beautiful but it isn't in a purpose-built building. The interior has however had substantial and expensive restructuring. One of our lectures reveals the thinking behind the architecture. The spaces encourage:

Open relationships: with open doors and transparent walls, allowing the possibility for collaboration and reciprocal relationships.

Creation: All the materials are visible with lots of open shelving and storage around the room so you have inspiration all around you.

Celebration and enhancement: the space allows constructions and creations to remain to allow celebration of the work and further enhancements, including by other learners.