The lecture that inspired me.
One of the key lectures from this module was listening to children after this lecture I found myself wanting to sit and listen to the stories of the children that I look after and understand the way they think about the things they see within the world. one of the key things that stood out for me was the common fraise “Indeed, a child was not even to be much in evidence to the eye.” (Shuttleworth, 2014) or in simple word children are to be seen not heard. This fraise was quite hard to believe, Having spent time with various children I found that to be very unlikely, it reminded me that children are not commonly known for their quietness and it made me wonder how they thought such thing could work.
The mosaic approach is one of the first approaches that I looked at and it has been used within different children setting as it has given guidance to practitioner on how they can better listen to children and use what they say in the way they teach and tend to each child. The mosaic approach regards children as experts in being children and that there views and experiences of life are and should be important. (Clark and Moss,2011)
I found that the notion of listening to children, although amazing and useful can be quite difficult and the government makes it clear that listening to children is very important, however, doing so is not as easy. As practitioners, you work with more than one child so hearing and listening to each child is quite hard and sometimes you may be working with children with disabilities who may have difficulties in communicating, this may make listening and understanding each child quite difficult sometimes the child has gone through abuse so they may not trust adult meaning they may not want to talk. It is hard to know whether they child is not speaking because of pressure, fear of consequence or because theres nothing they want to say. (McLeod,2008)
Malaguzzi who was the founder of the Reggio Emila preschool in Italy referred to the poem ‘hundred languages of children’ that described the many and unique ways children communicate. The Reggio Emilia pre school promotes the countless ways young children communicate. It is in the practitioners’ hands on how hard they work to give children the opportunity to be heard. (Clark and Moss,2008)
Overall, this lecture pushed me to see that listening to people despite their age is a technique that should be used within every form of job you learn so much by listening to people so how much more could we learn if we just listen to children. Children have a unique mindset that we used to have, their view on life could open doors that an adult would naturally over look. Listening to children doesn’t just benefit them but benefit us as adults.
REFERENCES
Clark, A. & moss, P. 2011. Listening to young children: the mosaic approach2nd ed., LONDON: National Children’s Bureau.
Clark, A. & Moss, P., 2008. Spaces to play: more listening to young children using the mosaic approach, London: National Childrens Bureau.
McLeod, A., 2008. Listening to children: a practitioners guide, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Shuttleworth, S., 2014. Jane Eyre and the rebellious child. The British Library. Available at: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/jane-eyre-and-the-rebellious-child [Accessed July 9, 2017].