Sue Robson

Observing Young Children's Creative Thinking: Engagement, Involvement and Persistence.

Abstract This paper looks at young childrens creative thinking as inferred through observations of their activities. A total of 52 episodes of child-initiated and adult-initiated activities in 3- to 4-year-olds in an English Childrens Centre were analysed using the Analysing Childrens Creative Thinking (ACCT) Framework. Results showed that activities such as gardening and construction were as valuable for supporting creative thinking as ones traditionally associated with creativity, for example, music and painting. Outdoor play of all kinds and socio-dramatic play were particularly effective contexts. All adults played a significant role in facilitating childrens initial engagement in activities, and at supporting their speculative thinking and use of prior knowledge. Teachers were often more successful than other adults in supporting the acquisition of new knowledge. Child-initiated activities featured the highest levels of involvement, and were associated with trying out and analysing ideas, flexibility and originality, imagining and hypothesising. This was particularly evident in group or pair play. Children were also more persistent in child-initiated activities. Evidence of risk-taking behaviour was low, although more apparent in child-initiated activities than adult-initiated activities, or activities in which adults were present.

Self-regulation and metacognition in young children's self-initiated play and Reflective Dialogue

This paper looks at ways in which a group of children aged three–four years exhibited evidence of self-regulation and metacognition. Videotaped episodes of childrens activities and audiotaped dialogues between children and practitioners about the activities were analysed using an observational framework. The data here show children of three and four displaying extensive evidence of metacognitive and self-regulatory behaviour, with similar mean levels of frequency across both activities and dialogues. However, whilst the majority of evidence from the activities was of metacognitive regulation and skilfulness, that from the dialogues showed more evidence of metacognitive knowledge. It is also suggested that different social contexts may influence childrens opportunities to develop and display self-regulation. The use of video data and opportunities for young children to reflect on their activities are suggested as valuable tools for research and pedagogical purposes, and as an effective means of eliciting young childrens perspectives on their lives.

What do early childhood practitioners think about young children's thinking?

SUMMARY This study investigates the perceptions and practices of early childhood practitioners in relation to the development of thinking in children aged 3–5 years. Five practitioners working in nursery and reception classes in England were interviewed, and sessions were observed in each setting, including discussions with the children. The results suggest that these practitioners believe that supporting the development of young childrens thinking is an important part of their role, but that it often remains an implicit rather than explicit part of their planning. A range of contexts was cited by practitioners as supportive of the development of childrens thinking, and emphasis was placed on childrens own choices, sufficient time to carry out child-chosen activity, and opportunities for talk. Views were divided about the impact of the curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, and there were some differences in the views of practitioners between the nursery (3–4 years) and reception (4–5 years) age groups.

Best of All I Like Choosing Time: Talking with Children about Play and Work.

Talking with children is suggested as a useful observational tool for gathering information and evidence on childrens understandings. Conversations with children from three different settings are discussed, with reference to their ideas about play, work and learning. Certain common features about childrens conceptions emerge: their tendency to see play as a social activity, largely unconnected with learning, and work as related to often seat‐based, teacher‐initiated tasks. Some differences in attitudes across settings were also apparent, particularly in childrens feelings about choice, and their freedom to choose. A model to account for childrens conceptions is suggested.

Parent perspectives on services and relationships in two English early years centres

This paper presents the views of a sample of parents from two early years settings in England, about their relationships with the centres, and the services available to both themselves and their children. In making their initial choice, and in promoting the centres to others, the importance of informal social contacts is stressed. Parents suggest a range of affective, cognitive and physical benefits associated with their children’s attendance at the centres. As parents, they also value a range of factors for themselves, particularly practical support, feelings of well‐being and peace of mind, and confidence in the safety of their children. Parents derive considerable satisfaction from their relationships with individual members of staff. The notion of involvement as an indicator of successful partnership is challenged, and the importance of strategies and solutions that meet the needs of each community is emphasised.

Supporting Children's Thinking in the Foundation Stage: Practitioners' Views on the Role of Initial Training and Continuing Professional Development.

The English Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage refers to the importance of supporting the development of young children’s thinking, a teaching role that Kite suggests should be seen as the major focus for education. This paper draws on data from the Froebel Research Fellowship Project, Ownership and Autonomy in Early Learning, on the extent to which a sample of 80 early childhood professionals feel prepared for this aspect of their work. A significant number of participants, particularly of those with qualified teacher status, could not remember learning about children’s thinking during their initial training. Participants valued continuing professional development (CPD) that was practical, that provided opportunities to visit other settings, that involved participation in research and that made use of teams and mentors. They also drew distinctions between what might be most valuable on the basis of practitioners’ experience or level of qualification. We conclude that future training should make more explicit reference to ‘thinking’, that engagement in CPD forms part of a benign cycle that may predispose participants to see CPD as valuable, and that it is most valued when participants see its particular relevance to them. It is suggested that future CPD will need to take greater account of the different needs and experiences of early childhood professionals, and of their senses of personal and professional identity.

Self-regulation, metacognition and child- and adult-initiated activity: does it matter who initiates the task?

Debate about the balance between child- and adult-initiated activities in early childhood settings is long standing. This article reports a study of 29 children aged 4–5 years in a London state school, on the influences of child- and adult-initiated activities on childrens self-regulation and metacognition. Whilst both contexts were supportive, children were significantly more likely to demonstrate self-regulation and metacognition in child-initiated activity. Childrens apparent perceptions of adult roles were crucial: in adult-initiated activities children appeared to cede control to adults. At the same time, adults played an important role for children, who were keen to display their knowledge to these significant people. Adults were particularly supportive of childrens procedural knowledge. Practical implications include the importance of adult provision of and engagement in child-initiated activity, to afford them opportunities to observe and support childrens self-regulation and metacognition and to maximise opportunities for childrens autonomy and control.

Are there differences between children’s display of self-regulation and metacognition when engaged in an activity and when later reflecting on it? The complementary roles of observation and reflective dialogue

Abstract Recent years have seen considerable growth of evidence that young children possess metacognitive and self-regulatory skills, alongside a view that some research tools, including observation and video-stimulated interviews, may provide better opportunities to see them. This paper examines possible differences in the evidence these two tools may afford. Data from 29 children aged 4–5 years in a London Reception class were analysed using a behavioural coding scheme. Overall, children were significantly more likely to display self-regulation and metacognition in post hoc interviews about an activity rather than during the activity. This was particularly so for metacognitive knowledge. Children were more likely to show regulatory aspects such as planning and monitoring during an activity, whilst evaluation was more evident in later discussion. Observations and video-stimulated interviews are suggested as valuable tools when combined with one another, offering complementary insights, and helping make children’s learning more visible to both themselves and to adults.

Ownership and autonomy in early learning: The Froebel Research Fellowship project, 2002–2015

This article provides a brief review of the main phases and findings of the Froebel Research Fellowship project, which has been funded by the Froebel Trust (previously the Incorporated Froebel Educational Institute) since 2002. The project is investigating the extent to which Froebelian ideals, such as the notion that children’s knowledge should grow from within rather than from outside the child, might be met within the demands of contemporary early childhood education and care. We have completed five main phases of the project, and a sixth is currently under way. In Phases 1–3 (2002–5), we investigated the attitudes and practices of practitioners in relation to the development of children’s personal, social and cognitive skills in the curriculum using interviews, observations and questionnaires. In Phases 4a–c (2005–2008), our focus narrowed to the study of children’s creative thinking and to the effects of social relationships upon it: children’s, parents’ and practitioners’ views were investigated in Phases 4a, 4b and 4c, respectively. Phase 5 (2009–2011) retained our emphasis on the differences between children’s, parents’ and practitioners’ views, but focussed primarily on the distinction between play and learning at home and at school. Our shift in focus from the cognitive aspects of creativity in Phases 1–3 to its social dimension in Phases 4 and 5 has now moved towards emotional and motivational issues in Phase 6 (2012–2015), in which we are investigating children’s well-being.

Love, satisfaction and exhaustion in the nursery: methodological issues in evaluating the impact of Work Discussion groups in the nursery

ABSTRACT The significance of practitioners’ emotions in nursery interactions is evident in vivid accounts from widely different socio-cultural contexts. Work Discussion (WD) is a model of professional reflection distinctive in its attention to emotion in work interactions. Psychoanalytic conceptions, particularly the notion of the defended subject, underpin WD. Enabling participants in WD to discuss subjective work experience in an open way is thus subtle and sensitive. Research has not addressed how the impact of different models of professional reflection may be evaluated. Can WD, with its explicit attention to the emotions evoked at work, strengthen practitioners’ engagement with children and families? This paper critically discusses the complex methodological issues in evaluating the impact of WD on nursery practitioners, children and parents in the nursery. The challenge is to combine the intense subjectivity of WD with an evaluation that is rigorous and objective. Later papers will illustrate data analysis and report findings.