Beautiful

Black Country (BCCSIP)

Who would have thought that a modest looking nursery school in the midst of a housing estate in suburban Telford could reveal itself to be a shining model of Early Years practice inspired by the Reggio Emilia pre-schools approach? Madeley Nursery School has developed it's own unique response to this philosophy which will continue to grow and develop - the response was learnt from the children.

Reggio Emilia is an educational philosophy focused on pre-school and primary education. In the Reggio approach, the teacher is considered a co-learner and collaborator with the child and not just an instructor. Madeley are in the throes of their second Enquiry project, 'Beautiful' researching the following questions:

• How do children use photography as a language to develop their aesthetic sensibilities?
• What are the questions, theories, the actions of adults that activate learning?
• What moves learning from the technical action of using a camera to the camera becoming a model of expression?
• What is beautiful and what is ugly?’

Project objectives

The focus for the project arose from dialogue and reflection of the concerns that arise repeatedly in children’s play and nursery encounters: Narratives with contrasts; Princess and witch, Prince and dragon, good and bad etc. Staff had tentatively explored some ideas of children using the camera to direct and take photos of each other to explore some of these identities. Their intention seemed to have real meaning and resonance for the children and involved significant emotional investment surrounding friendships/identity.

Visual artist Debi Keyte-Hartland, has been exploring these questions with the children via the use of cameras and the photographic image to develop a sense of aesthetic within a new language - that of photography. She has brought unique skills and experience to the role; her practice is one of deep reflection, sharing and documenting with staff. The project research is as much about pedagogy as photography; their midterm findings have been recently presented to the National Language of Photography Conference in Birmingham and The Reggio Emilia Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Debi explained, "The project shows that young children often take photographs that reveal strong compositional elements that constantly amaze us. What they find beautiful is challenging our thinking and that is extending our own understandings of aesthetic learning and concepts of beauty. The project therefore is as much about pedagogy and our roles and responsibilities as educators, as it is about photography as a language of expression." The essential part of the process is for children to identify what is ‘the most beautiful’ and the ‘ugliest’. These choices express children’s thinking, some children have a strong emotional link to their response.

Who was involved?

The project involved all pupils at Madeley Nursery School.

Impact

Staff worked with Debi over the course of the day, capturing images and children's spoken language in the form of written learning journals and film to reflect and discuss at weekly staff pedagogy meetings. Through creating images, reflecting on them in dialogue with others and sharing them with a wider group within nursery, staff are covering problem finding and solving, developing and refining new ideas and reflecting on learning. As a team, staff are hoping to be effective, reflective educators who incorporate the perspectives of children, families, colleagues, artists and governors. This aids an understanding of the children better, following their interests and planning for their ongoing development.

Results

Families are engaged through dialogue, sharing work from school and home, photographs, workshops in school and open access to their children’s journals. It’s an atmosphere of genuine respect, openness and collaboration between parent, child and educator. The children clearly love being in an enabling, creative environment that promotes their curiosity and enquiry.