I woke this morning to my alarm and am sad to say I've regained my habit of pressing (touching) the snooze button. This trip is nearly over and I am tired as well as relaxed enough to do that. I'm completely adjusted to this time zone now, sleeping when all my Aussie friends are up and about. I'm so comfortable in this way of working that I now see coming home is going to be huge adjustment. I feel that I could keep doing this for months.
Today I'm going to Stickland, which is the outdoor venue in the woods for Cowgate children. They are able to go several times a week, parents sign them up for the experience, and children are also consulted. It's too far to walk so we will be catching a mini bus. Presently the parents pay for this but the centre is looking at ways to increase the provision to five days a week and cost free to parents.
8:00.
My morning began with a meeting with Jane, teacher and outdoor educator
I'm waiting in the cafe where we will share breakfast. She's agreed to meet me to talk about her experiences and perspectives of early childhood education and outdoor learning. She has worked in a regular nursery so I'm keen to find out about the contrasts between that and Cowgate.
And here she is
Jane told me about their recent experience of inspections. They are rated on thirteen aspects and it takes four days. It's pretty intense and the staff were put under the microscope and grilled. Jane and the other staff were put through extensive meetings and she said she felt like she was speaking a different language. There was no indication that the inspectors understood the way they do things at Cowgate and there was a lot of intense questioning. The focus on the recording of development was particularly problematic, as the staff here feel strongly that there is more to children's learning than developmental milestones and the assessment of these.
"We were answering questions over and over and trying to do so in different ways but feeling like they didn't get it. We realise now that they were actually trying to understand us, to justify their assessment, but we didn't know that. We thought they were unconvinced and we were expecting a poor result."
They received an unprecedented assessment, the highest possible in all thirteen areas. I'm not surprised, but they were because the experience was so grueling.
When I asked Jane about her understanding of the nursery system in the UK she said that most don't seem to give children choices as they do here in Cowgate and they are very focused on what the authorities are demanding in terms of assessment of children. Her face became grave as she told me this story.
"A friend who was doing some volunteering in a local nursery, she was reading a story to a child"
I visualized the women and child together, enjoying a book, heads bent over the illustrations. A quiet and enjoyable moment for them both.
"A teacher came along, clapping hands and moving children to the mat. My friend was told she needed to stop reading because the little child had to go to the mat to be read a story with all of the children. He had to go and listen in the group so that he could be ticked off the tracker sheet"
Jane shook her head and shrugged her shoulders and we both wondered at a system that not only sees such interruptions to real authentic learning, relationship building and enjoyment as ok, but better. Who is it better for? The child? the teachers? The system?
Jane feels that most nurseries function around adult choices and I think that that is possibly true of Australia, although I see that the Early Years Learning Framework has given us access to different ways and that change towards more child centered learning is becoming more embedded in our everyday practice. Many of our centres are providing for long uninterrupted times for play, free choice between indoor and outdoor play, roving snacks and choices around group participation. There is more creativity and open ended activities provided and I hardly ever see worksheets or stencils these day. I have to say that a month of not seeing this type of Creativity Reducing Adult Product (CRAP) has been extremely refreshing.
I know that for many this is a challenge, not only to the way things have always been done, but to our belief and value systems. It's interesting that to Jane, to do it any other way seems archaic. There is so much evidence around the benefits to children to give them autonomy and agency, it's a mystery to her that many continue to 'live in the dark ages'.
"Staff choose what gets laid out, they decide when it's time to toilet, to eat, to learn in a group and what the children get to play with. Activities are prescribed by adults and agency is limited."
"At Cowgate we give children autonomy. It is part of our ethos, an integral part of the way we operate on a daily basis. For instance, when we were developing our garden, the children were invited to do the planning. They designed it and we listened to them. They can see that we listen and that their ideas come to fruition"
Jane and I had lots more to say to each other. She was someone I could chat with all day. Again I was with a person who challenged my thinking and encouraged me to share my ideas. We were able to build each other up and encourage one another's ways of working. As with everyone I've met on this journey I knew I would have so much to learn from her if only given more time, but, Stickland was waiting. At 9:25 we made our way to the nursery, as Jane was needing to start her work day and I was off to the woods.
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