children and THEIR working environment

An early years setting in York, UK

The preschool setting is not just a working environment for the teachers but for the children as well, in Sweden there are laws about the working environment for adults so that it is not filled with risks for repetitive damage, that everything can be carried out with minimal risk for accidents and injuries and also to minimise wear and tear on the body. After all in a preschool there is a lot of bending down and lifting. There is also the law that we as teachers (and all workers) should have a break during the day and not work longer than a certain number of hours a day. As a tall preschool teachers I have a back that feels the bending over bit - and knees that seldom go under a table...

But what about the children? Is there a law protecting their rights to a good work/play environment? Are the chairs and tables at their height or adult height? If they are at their height can the children sit at the chairs with their feet on the floor - or do they still dangle despite being "child" height. Ergonomics reveals that dangling legs is actually stressing the back - it is why "tripp trapp" chairs at adult sized tables could in fact be ergonmically kinder on children's bodies...

What about children's needs to move - are rooms and outdoor areas designed so that children can move enough during the day/week? Is enough time allotted for this every day/week? Gross motor skill development is an important part of learning to write - muscles in arms and hands need to be exercised and strengthened so that they are ready to hold a pen. The whole body needs to feel satisfied with play and movement to be able to sit and focus... all children have different needs some need more opportunities for gross motor play than others - is the working/playing environment adapted to meet these needs?

Are preschools being designed with the children's bodies and needs in mind - or is there some other logic behind how preschool settings are arranged, the choice of furniture, the arrangement of rooms etc.?

Is it time for the children to have a law written, too, for their working environment - their rights to an environment that minimises injuries and accidents, rights to breaks, rights to free play and gross motor skill play and rest - as well as everything else on the curriculum? Should children have the right to a maximum number of hours they should spend in a preschool setting? And how many hours do you think that should be...?

translated summary from Swedish a text about working at the preschool

Both children and adults suffer when the working environment is not suitable at a preschool.

In Stockholm there is an increase in the number of preschool places that are needed and not enough new preschools are being created which means many preschools are having to adapt their setting to receive more children than the building is designed for. The demand has also meant that many preschool settings are found in buildings that are not ideal for children -often ventilation and noise pollution measures are not satisfactory. There is also a need for employers to be more aware of risks for work related injuries and sickness and how to prevent these.

Arbetsmiljöverket (Work Environment Group) has seen an increase in work related injuries and sickness and has also noted that staff are often not getting the support they need to make necessary adjustments - one of the problems being that a head teacher is often responsible for up five preschool which mean the quality of the preschool then suffers.

The sound levels of preschools add to stress and is an environmental problem at settings - research in Umeå showed that the sound level at a preschool was around 70 decibels on average during the day which is known to cause tiredness and create stress reactions - for both adults and children.

2011-05-25

Arbetsmiljöverket satsar på arbetsmiljön inom förskolan

excitement

Today I am super excited.

I have just enjoyed my first day at my new work.

Made connections with children and staff and feel so very positive about the whole experience. But more about that another day.

In summer I will be flying to Colorado to visit Boulder Journey School and to participate in their two day conference. This is VERY exciting indeed. My husband and I have discussed whether or not to make it the family holiday - but we have made the decision that it will be just me - 5-7 days to be filled with inspiration and ideas - and no doubt to fill my suitcase with resources...

below are some pictures from Boulder Journey School. Their connection with Reggio Emilia is a huge appeal as well as finding out more about David Hawkins philosophy... I will save that for later too. As its my girls' 12th birthday today - time has been spent with them rather than blogging....

The start of an examination of preschool policies in Sweden

Today I have been at a meeting, the first one of many, where we are discussing and examining the curriculum and the policies governing preschools (and schools and fritids (after school activity)) to see if they are sufficient in supporting/guiding teachers to providing a learning environment for the WHOLE child. Barnverket

This first week we will be taking a closer look at the working environment law - are children's needs covered? Do we need to speak up for the rights of children for a better working/learning/playing environment - do they get enough exercise/movement during the week to satisfy their gross motor skills development and needs?

I also start a new preschool tomorrow. With a Philosophical profile.

There will be many ideas forming this week - both from my reading and discussing - but also from my new experiences at work.

So I am saving energy today - to spend on the rest of the week...

Get creative with Maps

 Whatever you do, don't throw away maps - they can be a marvelous resource with young children. The pictures here show how a map of a zoo can be used to great effect when using small animal figures. This set of animals was a mini vet set, so there were feeding bottles, mini wash-sponges, buckets, vets/zookeepers and medicines to support the small world play. (The book Polar Bear Polar Bear had stimulated this play). The maps were big enough for two children to play together and they were small enough for me to take a whole bunch of them home with me (some zoo maps can be downloaded from the internet)

Tourist maps of cities and any other kind of map can be great fun too - especially if the children are allowed to draw on them and turn them into treasure maps. Michael once drew all sort of monsters inhabiting the sea as well as pirate ships. The route to the treasure was clearly marked on the map as well as other obstacles. Not forgetting where the treasure is located!

Of course maps of your own home town and locating your own house and your route home to preschool or the park etc is exciting and children can get very proud of a small spot on the map representing their home. Taking photographs of homes, and parks and other local sights and adding them to the map with arrows makes it easier for the children to not just see the map, but to be able to see where they live represented in 2D.

Recently I have been looking at maps of the world with the children as we have been collaborating with preschool children in USA and Australia - how far away are they? And how different the streets look on the maps... that not all towns look alike. When asking children "What is a town?" sometimes some very interesting answers are given, but also the names of specific buildings to their own town are given to explain ALL towns...

Floor plans of the setting can be used for the children to make treasure maps at the preschool - and for then for friends to follow the map and find the "treasure" - this can be done in the garden/yard as well.

The fantasy can really flow and whole treasure islands can be drawn and the stories behind how the treasure got to be left there devised - and magically the preschool always seems to get transformed into the island and role play treasure hunting starts...

masking tape on the floor can create stepping stones over crocodile infested creeks, hanging red material between the gap of two shelving units can create a lava flow to creep through, placing stuffed animals in a room can inspire the children to tip toe quietly so the lions and tigers don't wake up and attack... rolling up a mat can create a log over a deep gorge ... etc etc

Expectation

Just a short post today...

I spent some time observing my son's school class and it made me wonder about our expectations of children - and the effect we have on children as teachers (and parents).

I observed two lessons with two different teachers and it was like watching two different sets of children.

With one teacher the children were loud, shouting out, doing what they wanted to and so much time was wasted just trying to get the children's attention. It was a shame because the lesson was fun - you could see that the children enjoyed it once they got going - but transitions from one thing to another were slow and noisy every time.

With the next teacher there was quiet - not oppressive quiet, but a respectful quiet. The children took it in turns to talk and they listened to each other AND the teacher. The time was more effective.

The difference - from what I saw - the first teacher was not consequent, if he said that all the children were to do something he did not follow through, one child left the room and returned later - the teacher did not even find out why this child had done so (I took the time later to find out - the child was upset, the teacher was not paying attention to what was going on. The child WAS melodramatic - but I felt that maybe if the child had been seen or heard that the child would be able to learn a new strategy to deal with disappointment instead of storming out of the room and refusing to partake...). It was LOUD CONSTANTLY. It felt chaotic. This was not free play - this was a lesson. This was a time where the children could learn more about teamwork - learn more about how to move furniture around the room together with others so that they learn about ergonomics - how to use the body in a safe way to lift heavy things and not just prove that they can move a bench from one side of the room to another. So much learning was being missed because no-one could hear each other and there was so much distraction that it was hard for anyone to focus...

The second teacher was consequent. She EXPECTED the children to be quiet. She EXPECTED the children to show respect to each other and listen to each other. She EXPECTED the children to be able to focus for more than a few minutes. She LISTENED to the children and told them she was INTERESTED in them. AND THEY LISTENED TO HER IN RETURN. Sure some of them needed the odd reminder. One of them hid for a while in a corner - but when that child came out again the child received positive focus and was SEEN and was LISTENED too.

Believing in the competence of children is important. Believing them capable is important - but we also need to have EXPECTATION that the children will strive to be competent and capable; to show respect to others as well as themselves.

Freedom - free - free-play

What is freedom? Free? Free-play?
If we are to be creating opportunities for children to experience free play - do we all know what free means? Does it mean something different in childhood than it does in adulthood?

For those of you who follow me on facebook you know that I linked up a preschool in Japan today that seems to offer preschool children a kind of freedom in their play - well at least that is what it looks like - and that was the aims of the architects who designed the preschool building.

But all this talk about free play has got me thinking about what is free? - what does it really mean?  Stephen Nachmanovitch has written a book called "Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art" where he writes that free play is a the creative activity of spontaneous free improvisation - music, art, play and conversation are all included in this... (as conversations are not rehearsed). He also writes about the sanskrit word "Lila (Leela)" which means play - but apparently a much richer version of our word - a divine play of creation and destruction and recreation - it is free and deep and there is delight and joy in the moment. It also means love. 
For more information check

Cosmic Play - more about LILA

If freedom is the ability to act - or play without confinement or restraint, exempt from external control, unhampered, independently, with full right to make all of one's own decisions - are we able to provide this at preschools? Be honest, brutally honest.

I do not think that even we adults are truly free.

I think about how it was moving to Sweden, every one telling me how liberated it was in Sweden for women. Yet to be honest I haven't found it more liberating than England - sure, more mothers work here - but that does not mean that we are liberated? I have friends that have chosen to stay at home to be full time mothers, they are virtually looked down on by others here in Sweden. Why? Because they are letting the side down by not working...? Liberation comes only with CHOICE - and feeling forced to work is not choice and therefore liberation is lost. Yes, I understand the fear that WOMEN will be forced to be barefoot and pregnant chained to the kitchen sink - but what is so bad about looking after children?

If we are going to devalue mothers looking after their own children and their desires to meet their own children's needs - then how on earth can we ever expect respect for our work in early years? ALL people working with children - as a profession or as stay at home parents (mothers AND fathers) deserve respect.

I would have LOVED to have stayed at home with my three children but I was not free to make that choice - economics made that choice for me - instead I put my children into preschool so that I could work in preschool!!! It cost Stockholm MORE money to take care of my children (since there is the universal preschool made available to everyone who want it at an incredibly cheap price) than I made as a part time preschool teacher - think if I had the choice to have the money Stockholm paid for my children to stay at home instead!!!! But that will never happen because of the fear ... well many fears ... and some of them valid ... but they take away choice and freedom all the same.

So back to the children. In a home, children often do not have to compete with so many others to get attention, to exert their will. My sister has one child - and she is able to offer her one child a kind of freedom that I can only dream of giving my three. If I was to give that same freedom to my three there would be chaos - yes they get freedoms, yes we discuss things (over and over) and yes we can change our minds if the children can present things in a logical way that shows us we should reconsider... but all the same our family of five has five wills to negotiate - not the three wills of my sister's family. At preschool there are even more wills to negotiate... in fact the larger the group of children the more rules have to be put in place just to maintain a pleasant atmosphere. Smaller groups are able to go with the flow so much easier...

In a family of five we have enough days in the week to be able to do an activity a day that will please everyone... groups of 12 - 15- 18 - 24 or 30? how are all needs going to be met in the same FREE way. Of course they are most likely not each going to have their own individual plans (or are they?) many will plan and create and play together - in pairs or groups.

I had started this academic year with the children presenting their ideas to the other children to see who would want to join them on the project - I had envisioned (or even hoped - or dreaded, not sure which) that some would say no, and that we would have parallel projects - but ALL SIXTEEN children wanted to do each of the projects that the children presented to each other - sweety volcano, ice experiment and theatre/film - two children had come up with each idea together in their play and were given the option to present it as a project idea for the whole group...

Is this a kind of free play? - it comes from the children - but it is still controlled by the adult?

During free play when the children get noisy indoors or start play-wrestling  - then its time to stop and take them out and get rid of excess energy - but what happens if there is a purpose to the wrestling? - have we given it time? Have we listened to their needs? - is it just the adults who do not like the noise or the boisterous nature of the free play? What is their play saying? - and what are we saying by cutting it off - "sure you have free play now - but only on our terms..."?

I am thinking out loud here.

I am trying to work out what is it I want to offer in "free play" - at a preschool setting. I can offer a better quality free play to my own children when we are at home, on holiday or out at the little house in the woods (get pictures of Laura Ingalls Wilder when I write that - by the way those are the books that made me want to be a teacher...).  - I want to be able to do the same thing at work.

I guess there needs to be a mutual understanding at the setting of what free play is. All the teachers need to understand where the limits are - when do we as adults need to step in?
There would be no point in me getting deeper into free play if my colleagues believe that I am not supporting the children - and I would get frustrated with colleagues who would jump in sooner than my theories of free play called for.

Discussing free play on a deeper level is a necessary thing if we are to work together to support children's right to free play...

Stop - LISTEN

My post about nature play stimulated a comment from Abbie about her son that did not/could not play outside in nature ... it has made me want to return to my thoughts and concerns about outdoor play, and why I wrote that we need to be aware of the children's individual needs.

I sometimes feel that there is a tendency for some people to hop onto the bandwagon - well meaning people, with the very best intentions at heart, but all the same they get an idea of what is good practice/high quality and go with it... whether it be Forest Schools, Reggio or any other early years idea, if the adult is focussing on the idea rather than the child/ren then the result is not going to be the desired quality.

I have experienced, and I have spoken with others that have experienced, preschools that follow a Reggio approach without any understanding for the philosophy/energy driving the preschools in Reggio Emilia. I fully understand that what is happening in Reggio Emilia cannot be lifted and transported somewhere else - because that is hardly useful to the children and the preschool elsewhere. What the RE approach has taught me is that I need to STOP and LISTEN - what are the children saying to me, what are their needs, their interests and how can I support them and challenge them appropriately. I have seen teachers taking time to document and to plan - but are forgetting the children - instead it has become a process of documenting, planning, documenting and planning - I have even felt that some teachers prefer to document and plan and rearrange furniture rather than be with the children... surely it is BEING WITH THE CHILDREN that is the important bit - the documenting and reflecting/planning is just to support the "being with the children part" - I have felt, and I know others have too, that some adults working in early years seem to be with the children so that they can document/reflect and plan!!

So applying this experience to the outdoors - there is an increasing interest in creating opportunities for children to play outside - for more genuine free play - which I think is fantastic. BUT it must be creating opportunities that we focus on - not demanding all children do this.

Abbie wrote
"It turned out that he has a physical genetic condition that means he is in constant pain when standing or walking, and I didn't realise this until he was 7. 

I felt like you that nature play and free play was very important, but to a certain extent I actually put him off playing outdoors, as he came to associate it with pain. He is now 16 and spends all his time indoors, usually at his computer, as that it the only thing he can do. He has no interest in what goes on in our garden or on the organic farm next door."

I believe that we should encourage children to appreciate nature, and to help them create a love and respect for it. But in the end free-play is exactly that - FREE. Not what we, as adults, expect free play to be - but what each child experiences and chooses it to be - whether that be running around forests pretending to be pirates, playing in mud or dreaming up journeys through quantum worm holes - the imagination and the play belongs to the child - and our roles should be to enable that play.

By observing and by listening to the children we can then apply our theories and our philosophies and all our inspiration to create the right opportunities to allow each child to thrive, for each child to achieve their potential and for each child to be a valued member of the group (society).

Sometimes I have felt that when summer finally comes to Sweden there is this HUGE need for preschools to be outside all the time - reminds me of my mother "you have to make the most of the weather". And while I understand the longing for the sun and the warm weather after more than half the year being dedicated to wintery weather  (hats, gloves etc from October to May) the adult need to get out and enjoy the weather should not come before the children's needs. It is OK to be inside a few hours - or even a whole morning - to do a project, read a story or whatever else is required to meet the needs of the children. It is STILL the children that we should be listening to and NOT the weather. As the Swedish saying goes "Ingen dålig väder, bara dålig kläder" - "There's no bad weather, only bad clothing"  (it rhymes in Swedish) - so really, the weather should not be making any difference to what activities/play opportunities we are offering the children.

Yes to nature

Yes to free-play

on the children's terms

and not "but this is how we have always done it" - but stop and listen to the children now - in this group, in this situation. Tomorrow it will be different, as will the next group and the group after that. One year it might be all outside and all nature driven and packed lunches every week; the year after it might be art museums and galleries and packed lunches once a month... or...

(and I appreciate that we are very lucky in Sweden that we do not have to write risk assessments every time we want to go on an excursion - we can literally decide with the children the same day is we want to go to a park or the forest...)