Modern Learning and early childhood education (ECE)

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modern learning environments

The concept of Modern Learning is pervading education circles of late. Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this as I work in Christchurch where school developments have taken centre stage. The reasons behind the drive for more modern school learning environments include new understandings about how learning occurs, what learning is valuable, and the type of learning environments that actively support this learning. These new understandings demand different pedagogical approaches from those upon which traditional schools were established and are identified as the drivers for change toward meeting the requirements of 21st Century learners.

Influences on ECE environments

I have been wondering how all of this discussion impacts on the early childhood sector (ECE) in New Zealand. In light of future-focused thinking and providing for 21st century learners, have we reached a time when we need to move beyond the firmly entrenched historical influences to the way ECE indoor and outdoor environments are presented? Do the drivers for educational change in general have relevance to the early childhood sector? Do we need to relook at the pedagogy that underpins current practice?

Just as I have been wondering about all of this, the Report of the Advisory Group on Early Learning came across my desk. It should be no surprise that one of the recommendations of the report is for Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to be updated by making its future-focused principles and content more explicit. The context of rapid technological change, implications of global and climate change, and 21st century learning contexts are identified as some of the factors that influenced the development of this recommendation. The report positions “New Zealand’s early childhood centres and schools as well placed to plan for and respond to these changes.” The time has come for the sector to step up and begin progressing the implications of providing for 21st Century learners.

Does ECE have the 21C learner in mind?

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The Medici Effect and getting out of the echo chamber

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I like to read quite widely. My RSS feed is full of all sorts of seemingly random things that inform my thinking and sometimes these ideas provide real me with real challenges to what I believe. The challenge bit is quite intentional. One of the issues we sometimes face in education is the echo chamber we live in. We subscribe to the feeds of people we agree with or whose ideas have grabbed our attention. On Twitter we follow the so-called ‘thought-leaders’. We go to conferences where the EdTech and educational rock stars are speaking and running workshops.

idea-right-on-manGraphic: Bobbi Newman under CC

But, will this give us a wide and varied diet of influences, ideas and inputs into our thinking? I was reading today about the Medici Effect. This refers …

“… to being open to transferring knowledge from different fields, e.g, from business to education. Education is excellent at being reflective and looking inwards, but very rarely does it seem to draw from other fields. Constantly be on the lookout for things you could use in your classroom. …. Having an open mind to ways those outside of education engage and educate is very valuable.”
(p43, Forget being the favourite: 88 ideas on teaching differently by Tim Bowman)

I agree with Tim completely here (and his book is an easy and enjoyable read). But it is the message in this quote that is key. How many of the influences on our thinking do we consciously look out for that are different from our own? How many from outside of the closeted world of education? How many from people we profoundly disagree with?

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Validating resistance

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Change and change management are constant factors within the life of an educator. Whether the context is school or facilitation based, the ever-changing trends in education mean that ongoing professional development and lifelong learning have never been more important. Education in New Zealand is immersed in technological change, and has been for some time. For many who are viewed as ‘outliers’ to the adoption of such technology, it’s time to come in from the cold and find their leadership legs. But with change comes resistance. I used to refer to the change-fighters as ‘eye-rollers,’ a common sight in many staffrooms as something new is being shared. The frustration at being on the receiving end of the roll can often be a tremendous distraction, but it wasn’t until recently that I began to question my understanding of their resistance. Do I validate it? Acknowledge it?

Pete Hall presentation
From Pete Hall’s presentation at Net Hui 2015

Pete Hall from Network for Learning recently posed the question, ‘What if our views of the qualities we believe make someone a better educator, are not in line with the views held by those resisting?’ Is it simply a case of one being right and one being wrong? There are many reasons behind resistance to change, summarised well by Torben Rick on his blog.

Top 12 typical reasons for resistance to change:

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Quite simply included…

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I have been considering the idea of inclusion a lot recently, so when asked to write a post, I decided to write on the subject with reference to someone else’s life, thoughts, ideas and research. However, I changed my mind and then my post, because I know a thing or two about inclusion.

So here goes…

Young FionnaThis is my story.

What I've come to realise is that inclusion, or lack of it, has had a huge impact on my way of being and on whom I have become.

Before sixteen, I was going to be whatever I wanted to be. My future was an open book.  Things were easy for me. Good at school, good at sports,  good at making friends. I was a fairly ‘normal’ teenager with little care for any possible struggles amongst some of my peers. I was too busy making my own way. Being popular. Doing well. Becoming something. Inclusion wasn’t a consideration. I was able to participate easily and naturally in anything I put my mind to. The path I was on was clear of any foreseeable barriers. I was quite simply included, quite simply.

 

This was the person I was.

At sixteen, I had a berry aneurysm (stroke) that paralysed the left side of my body. I lost the use of my left side, my hair, my boyfriend, my schooling, my clarity of thought, my identity and my way of becoming.Fionna in wheelchair I stopped being quite simply included and became someone completely different in the matter of minutes and then years.

This event created a new pathway that led towards the person I was to be.

I quickly became good at other things, like re-learning how to stand, walk, use my left side and be what I perceived as ‘normal’ again. Not ‘disabled’, but ‘able’ to participate. To be included. Certainly not different.

Actually, I was very different. Because my left side was and still is partially paralysed. And it wasn’t just the physical difference that made me different. My entire demeanor, my personality, my outlook, essentially most things about me had changed. But I was still determined to participate in everything. I had big ambitions and I knew what it was like to be quite simply included. I wasn’t going to miss out on a thing.

However, I also learned how to assimilate. I deflected. I disguised. I tried my best to blend in and make myself invisible so people wouldn’t notice anything different about me. Any attention might have made me stand out for what I thought were all the wrong reasons and therefore leave me vulnerable to rejection and criticism. It might make me different. I think a lot of this anxiety stemmed from the fear of being labelled, because in the 1980s, if you were ‘differently-abled’, you were possibly called ‘a cripple’, ‘handicapped’, or at the very best, ‘disabled’. I felt that any label would have a negative impact on my capacity to achieve, or become, or simply be.

This terrified me.

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‘Revitalising zones of the human imagination’ : Māori-Pākehā relations in education

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This blog asks Alex Hotere-Barnes (CORE Education Researcher/Evaluator) 7 questions about:

  • being Pākehā learning reo and tikanga Māori;
  • his experience of working alongside diverse Māori in education; and
  • what gets him up in the morning!

1. Your formative education was spent going to kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori, how did that happen?

The late 70s and early 80s was a period of social and cultural change. My parents were politically active at that time. They were both drawn to liberation movements: stopping violence against women; gay, lesbian and bisexual issues; and anti-racism.

Eventually, the opportunity arose for my twin brother and I to attend kōhanga reo. This happened because my dad was, and still is, pretty ‘out there’ politically. Despite his unconventional views (or hopefully, because of them), he was respected by local whānau and hapū. They invited us to be involved in the local kōhanga reo. This opportunity fitted well with his values and philosophy to raise us as bilingual and bicultural citizens.

whare

When, as an adult, I asked my father why he wanted to expose us to Māori education as a Pākehā middle-class family, he said:

“I had an opportunity for you to learn a broader base of ideas as a part of who you are. My upbringing often felt stiflingly narrow and limited because it seemed so monocultural, even when I could learn as an adult to change. I knew I could use my current experience to offer you what I thought would be a much more useful base. I was resolute that the good things within the Māori world along with our privilege as Pākehā would be a whole new combination for you to choose from as you got older…” (Graham Barnes 1)

I realised later, through my own research, that similar ideological and philosophical beliefs underpinned other Pākehā support and involvement in Māori community development initiatives.

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