Month: August 2017

As a part of our project, Children as Citizens, Children with Rights, we are focusing on what it means to be a citizen at Flinders. In learning of our inquiry, one of our students on placement has been inspired to look more closely at how we can build community between our youngest and oldest groups of children. After much preparation and thought, she began by taking small groups of Sturt House children to visit Baby House. “This is the first time I have ever held a baby’s hand!” Then, after a few visits, some of the Baby House children began to visit Sturt House. “We need to walk slowly with the babies.” Being a citizen at Flinders means being welcome in all our Houses, and being able to build relationships with others. It means focusing on the pathways that connect us, rather than the fences and roads that divide us. It means being supported to engage in meaningful ways, whether that means slowing down to someone else’s pace or bravely reaching out to touch the hand of another. What does being a citizen at Flinders mean to you?

Sarah has moved across the road and begun working with the May Mills, Preschool, Toddler and Baby House children to complete pieces for our Community Arts Project. The children continue to work with paint, collage and metal etching. As the colours and combinations emerge in their circle forms, we are beginning to wonder how it might look as it all comes together… We are inspired by nature, pattern and line.

Recently four of our educators attended the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange biennial conference; Landscapes of Identity. We listened to two educators from Reggio Emilia in Italy, Maddalena Tedeschi and Maura Rovachi, speak passionately and thoughtfully about the progressive approach to early childhood education they are a part of. The conference was two and a half days of challenging, progressive, insightful, inspiring, and at times uncomfortable perspectives on early childhood education. We were challenged to recognise and reconstruct the identity of the individual within the context of the group We were inspired by the incredible connection to community displayed by children, teachers and schools. We wondered about the power of documentation to not only make learning visible, but to be the foundation for new learning. We questioned our professional identity – “Who am I? Tell me that first” (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland). Who are early childhood educators anyway? What will we do with the residual questions, wonderings, inspiration? We don’t yet know. But we are somehow changed. Above all, we walked away with Maura’s words resonating; “We can become a virus, infecting others by changing our point of view.” So let’s go viral…