Views & Opinion “Organised chaos? Just


let it go” Comment by ALICIA BLANCO-BAYO, Early Years lecturer and consultant


A recent discussion with my students helped me realise that in many Early Years settings, the environment can often become the space practitioners prepare for children. As I listened to some of the reasons given to justify why areas were set up in a particular way, many thoughts came to mind. “How would I feel if the furniture and all accessories around my house were chosen


for me?” “How would I feel if someone who thinks they know a little bit about me guided me to do things in a certain way and in a specific place?” As I asked myself these questions, I wondered about children’s feelings. “Do we really know how they feel?”


Organised chaos? It is finally acceptable to say that we observe children so that we can enhance the environment in order to let them lead their own learning. It has been described by those who might not know much about Early Childhood Education, as ‘the organised chaos’. It has only been given such a description because learning has been associated for too long with controlled tasks that have an end product. Someone thought that if we use the word ‘organised’ before the word ‘chaos’, we might be able


to justify the ‘chaos’. I say, “justify the development of individual skills”. When the environment becomes a shared space where children feel comfortable enough to be themselves, it is doing what is supposed to do. When you, as a practitioner, understand why each child makes the choices s/he makes, you have the justification there and then. Open spaces with resources children can turn into creations that did not exist before they designed them, are spaces where thinking and personal growth happens. “How do we ensure children have the opportunity to thrive?” This is


where we refer to the theory and create the framework to work from as practitioners. Vygotsky, Piaget, Maslow, Kolb and many more theorists have helped us understand how children develop. More recent researchers (Gullo, 2005; Dubiel, 2016; Martin, 2018) have studied the importance of observing children so that their needs can be identified and supported according to the stage of development each child is at. This tells us that letting children explore and discover for themselves by providing open ended spaces, can be more beneficial than controlled learning opportunities. All we need to do is be there, ready to enhance the space the child chooses to explore. Be there, ready to understand what the child already enjoys and think about what skills s/he could develop further to get even more from that experience. We need to let go of that urge to control everything that happens so


that we have an end result we can be accountable for. So how do we do this? We do it every time we enter the child’s world. We do it every time we use observations to understand what the child’s interests are, and how we can use them to help him/her develop a wide range of skills. The more opportunities to develop independent thinking, the wider the range of skills a child will develop.


uIf you would like to discuss Early Years with Alicia, she can be contacted via her website www.aliciablancobayoconsultant.com


It’s time to team up


Comment by FRANCE BARTH, learning technologist at CoSector - University of London


In all learning environments, teamwork is key. But when it comes to implementing new and emerging edtech, learning technologists and academics need to stop, collaborate and listen, says CoSector – University of London’s France Barth. When it comes to education, technology is


undoubtedly the way forward. Today’s students have grown up surrounded by


evolving tech, and because of this, their expectations of their university learning experience continue to rise. During my time as a teacher, and now Learning Technologist, I have seen that students expect universities to offer different ways of learning, accessing material, and collaborating. They also expect different types of delivery, such as blended, distance, and part-time learning. So, universities need to be constantly looking at emerging technology, but they also need to make sure their teaching staff are on board with these developments. This is where collaboration is crucial. In my experience, academics can sometimes be reluctant towards


using new and emerging teaching technologies, which of course, creates challenges when implementing new learning solutions. For many academics, if they have a bad experience with technology, they are less likely to engage with it again. Many also still believe that technology is


20 www.education-today.co.uk


going to be a replacement for real-time teaching, but this is actually far from the truth. To combat these common misconceptions, learning technologists at CoSector – University of London are implementing a step-by-step process. Often, academics come to me with a great idea of using tech in the


classroom, but they are not sure how to implement it. So, I ask them firstly, what do you want to use the technology for, what is your overall aim, which students will be using this technology, and how do you think this will enhance their learning? After that, we can provide some real, targeted advice, and go on to demonstrate how the technology works. Once we’ve decided on a plan of action, we start the implementation, training and monitoring process. When we get a little down the line, we stop, and we evaluate the success of the technology. We can also get student feedback and we monitor performance. As you can see, the whole process is collaborative. At no point is the


academic on their own with the technology, and at no point are the learning technologists left to their own devices. It is 100% a joint effort. CoSector recently used this step-by-step process, when approached by


an academic using an online chat to communicate with distance learning students. The academic knew there was other software out there that was potentially more suitable, but they just didn’t know what was available to them. So, using our process, we were able to find the most appropriate video conferencing tool for both the needs of the academic and the students. It was a collaborative process from start to finish. Sometimes academics feel as if they must use new technology, and


they don’t have a choice but to integrate the latest edtech. This can breed a certain level of resistance and hesitation to change. But I think a process such as the one we have in place, highlights how important everyone’s input is. It really is a case of, I need you, you need me, let’s work together.


February 2019


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