Valuing children’s voices as we map the journey ahead ...

There are many reasons why this is my favourite time of the year. They are both personal (I get to pack away my suitcase and be at home for an extended period … and there are Jacaranda’s flowering everywhere!) and professional. This is the time of year when some of the schools I partner with here in Australia take the time to deeply reflect on the school year behind them and begin to make plans for the year ahead. The thinking involved in this process is rich and complex. We need to be critical, reflective and creative and there is something about the time of year that seems give us permission to take it slowly, to sink in to the conversations we need to have and to give ourselves time to consider the work we do more deeply. 

 One of the processes we use to support our reflection is to gather data from every single child in the school and to use that data not only to help us understand the strengths and challenges of the year behind us but to inform the ‘map’ we develop for the year ahead.  In a few of my partner schools, teachers have chosen to nothave a fixed scope and sequence or program of inquiry.  The “units” developed with and for this year’s children are just that – for this year. We recognise that contexts, interests and needs change and we want to be responsive to that.  We already have a ‘scope and sequence’ within the mandated curriculum – but we can be responsive and creative about the contexts we harness to uncover that curriculum.

 I have used this process for several years now and with several schools. We ask children (in various ways) to respond to a range of questions including what they would love to learn more about in the year to come, what they think is important to learn about (often linked to current events or issues in the local and global community), what they have found meaningful and engaging this year, what they hope to explore in more depth or what they hope they will continue doing/learning in the year to come. We gather data about their concerns and their joys and the skills and dispositions (learning assets) they feel are their strengths and challenges.  Every, single child contributes information (through 1-1 interviews, surveys, drawings, written responses) and each collaborative team of educators is given time to analyse, identify patterns and themes, reflect on what the data reveals and consider the implications on the journeys of inquiry that we tentatively project into the next school year.  The seeds for the process were planted in me many years ago when I read the work of Professor James Beane, Michael Apple and of course the late Garth Boomer here in Australia.  Negotiating curriculum with learners is certainly not a new idea but one that deserves revisiting.

 I love what this process reveals. Although we gather reflections and feedback from kids throughout the year, there is something powerful about this big moment of pause. I see teams of teachers delighted, surprised, challenged and affirmed but, best of all, I see teachers really listening and noticing - intent on honouring the voices of children. 

 In many ways, the current climate is rife with confronting contradictions for educators. On the one hand, policies champion the value of learner agency, student voice, diversity and differentiation. On the other hand, the current breathless zeal for direct instruction (in literacy and numeracy at least) has prompted a return to one-size-fits-all programs and scripts that favour whole-class teaching, with little or no attention given to the context and needs of particular group of learners. Not only is student voice stifled but teacher voice is too.   This is a time that is challenging us to re-examine our beliefs and understandings about children, pedagogy, curriculum and the purpose of school itself.  And to know what we stand for and why.

 One of the fundamental principles of inquiry as a stance is the right of the learner to participate in the decisions made about and for their learning and a belief in the expertise and insight of the educator to design for learning in response to observation and documentation. Does this mean children make all the decisions? Of course not!  But it does mean that educators must choose to listen - and to consider ways they can design learning experiences that both honour interests and take children’s thinking further.  This process supports the idea of ‘relational pedagogy’ which emphasises reciprocity, joint involvement, respect for children’s ideas and theories, and emphasises meaning making. (Hedges, 2022:125)

 There is so much that is revealed in the process we work through. There are definitely some key differences across contexts that mean the maps we create are bespoke for each school. But in each school, staff noticed some recurring themes that naturally lent themselves to journeys of inquiry.  And as I stood back to think about the data across schools, I found myself jotting down some of the overarching questions that framed the most prevalent interests we noticed. Children tend to ask more specific, focussed questions but the bigger conceptual ideas to which they connect can be summarised below:

• What does it mean to be a friend? How can I build and sustain healthy relationships with others?  How can I manage the challenges of relationships?

• How can we care for other living things?  How can I learn more about the natural world and the diversity of animals with which we share the earth?

• What can we do about climate change? How will it affect us? Why don’t leaders do more to look after the planet?

• What’s it like in other parts of the world? How do other people live? How are we the same and different?

• How do things work?  What makes things function? How are the different parts of things connected?

• What does it mean to belong? How can I belong?  How can I be brave and true to myself and be part

  What dof a group?

• How can I use my creativity to express my ideas? How can I become a more accomplished artist (visual/performing)

• Why do wars happen?  How can we keep ourselves safe? What can we do about conflict in our lives?

• How can cope with the challenge of failure? 

 And, time and time again, children tell us that their learning is enhanced when:

• Teachers are kind and make them feel seen

• They get to go out of the school and have real, direct experiences in the world around them

• They get to ‘do art’. – when they can design, make, create

• They have time to play

• They don’t feel rushed

• They feel successful and proud of their learning and can share it with others

 In a beautiful article (link below) Educator Jane Style challenges educators to tap into the ‘scholarship in the selves’ in contrast to the ‘scholarship on the shelves’. She invites us to consider that the curriculum walks in the door with the children, reminding us that they come to school with their ‘life texts’.  Listening to the voices of hundreds of children over the last 2 weeks has been such an affirmation of this idea. And when we do listen, we are so often blown away by the depth and passion in children’s voices and are compelled to take them seriously.  And it is not too great a challenge to weave those interests, passions and concerns into our plans and to find connections with the curriculum.  This process helps bring the curriculum to life. As we acknowledge, for example, the sheer volume of children interested in and worried about their friendships and the navigation of their social world, we see connections to the health curriculum and the possibilities of linking to broader, transdisciplinary concepts such as connection, cause and effect, change and interdependence.

Inviting learner voice into the process of mapping for inquiry is energising, creative and connecting work. Each time we go through this process, I see teachers leave the room excited and uplifted about the prospect of the learning that lies ahead.  I feel both their sense of agency together with  a strong sense of connection to the children for whom we are designing the learning. And who have the right to be part of that process.

https://www.nationalseedproject.org/images/documents/Curriculum_as_Encounter.pdf

What role to children play in your designs for inquiry?

Just Wondering

Staying awake to the world: taking time to inquire into and build our own "background knowledge"

We’ve just passed the winter solstice here in my part of the world. In Victoria, teachers are in their final week of what feels like the longest term in history. Many colleagues  are visibly exhausted from months of remote teaching and adjusting to new ways of working back at school. My overseas colleagues are also now counting the days down until the school year comes to an end in the northern hemisphere.  This past weekend was the first one for almost four months in which I had not worked in some capacity – either delivering online workshops, writing or planning.  We are all, undoubtedly in need of some time out.  Immersing ourselves in things that take us away from the world of teaching is vital for rejuvenation: for our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. This past week, I have also been reminded of how important our engagement with the world beyond teaching is for, ironically, nurturing the quality of our teaching.

 One of the most profoundly important elements in designing for inquiry learning is the dialogue we have around the ‘planning table’ about the concepts and big ideas that lie at the heart of any inquiry journey. If the journey is exploring the ‘way living things adapt to changing environments’ it is not enough simply to find a few resources and develop some activities – we need to interrogate our own thinking about this big idea.  What do we really understand about adaptation? What background  knowledge do we bring to this?  If our inquiry is into the ‘role that the arts can play in changing the world’, we must ask ourselves how we feel about this statement? What lived experience do we have of this phenomenon? What examples have we heard about? Read about?  If we are supporting children to inquire into the ‘relationship between sustainability and materials’, what decisions have we made recently about choices of materials in our own lives? What do we really understand about the science of materials? If we are designing a journey of inquiry to examine the concept of exploration, how far have we come since our own impoverished education about our history? How many of us might have made the same mistake as our Australian Prime Minister did recently when he claimed we 'did not have slavery in Australia?  

When we engage learners in a process of inquiry, we most often begin by spending time tuning in to their prior knowledge. We identify their ‘first thinking’, theories and ways of seeing the ideas they are inquiring into.  But do we do this sufficiently for ourselves?  How often do we give ourselves time, as a team, to discuss our own experiences, positions, perspectives and understandings of the very things we are inviting our learners to inquire into?    And how often do we take the time to inform ourselves when we feel less secure in our understandings of the issues that sit at the core of the conceptual understandings we have designed for learners?   In my experience, the stronger inquiry teachers – the ones who question with most dexterity and bring a more intentional disposition to their observations, are the teachers who have the better grasp of both the concepts and the ‘content’ the learners are exploring.   I have always been wary of the glib phrase: “Inquiry teachers can learn alongside the children”.  While there is certainly truth in that (I have learned SO much simply being part of an inquiry journey with groups and individuals) it doesn’t mean we are ‘off the hook’.  Our ignorance can prevent us from asking better questions, helping learners make connections or pointing the way to critical information that can help struggling learners make meaning.  In fact I have often observed in my own teaching that the deeper my understanding of something is, the better I am at listening, waiting, questioning and holding back to support the learner.   Even when we might be assisting learners in a personal inquiry that goes well beyond our own field of interest and expertise, we need to know enough about how to connect to and locate others with the expertise … and that, in itself, requires us to stay awake to the world around us. 

 At the very least, taking time to inquire into our own understanding and experience of the conceptual landscape into which we are taking our children can help fuel our own curiosity. True inquiry teachers have what Susan Engel (2015) so beautifully calls “hungry minds’. They become fascinated by the questions children are raising, they are curious about their own ways of thinking about and seeing the material they are sharing with the class. They are voracious learners with open minds and open hearts Spending time connecting with our own experiences and understanding of and questions about the field our learners are inquiring into is time well spent.  It doesn’t mean we need to be experts on every discipline. Primary classroom teachers are generalists by nature. But that doesn’t excuse us from being informed.   So what might this look like? How can we stay more awake in the world and keep our minds hungry?

 Some ideas…

• Prior to a planning meeting, ask each person in the team to locate a clip and/or reading to share with others. These might not be resources you use with students but may fuel your own thinking about the issues.

•  If you design inquiries under a compelling question (broad/open ended/conceptual and non-googleable) go round the table sharing each of YOUR initial responses to the question.  How have your individual life experiences shaped your view of this big idea? How might that impact on your dialogue with learners? 

•  Consider having staff book/movie clubs using texts that are not directly about teaching. Imagine a whole staff here in Australia reading and discussing Bruce Pascoe’s “Dark Emu” or collectively viewing the documentary “The Australian Dream” about Adam Goodes.  What a fantastic way to bring the spirit of inquiry and powerful dialogue into the staffroom! 

• Share your favourite podcasts with each other - the ones that help you really grow your brain. Watch some Ted talks together.

•  If as a team, you are feeling less confident in your background knowledge, invite someone with expertise to come and spend time with you or ‘zoom them in’ to your planning meeting. Be inquirers. Most people with expertise in an area are delighted to have an opportunity to share their passion. 

• If there are places you might take your students as part of the inquiry (gallery/zoo/museum/parkland/historical site) why not have your team meeting at the site after school or on the weekend? 

• Read. Or watch some clips. Or listen to some podcasts.  Or talk to people that have passion and expertise in this area. Come to your planning meeting ready to share some case studies or examples of the big ideas that will drive the inquiry.

•  When planning, as yourselves: What is it that we hope our students will come to understand as a result of this inquiry?  And commit to documenting these as full statements (students will understand ….) not dot points/questions/phrases.  It is easy to generate questions like “What is sustainability?” or “How do people express their culture through the arts?” or “What does it mean to be healthy” and never actually discuss the conceptual understandings that might be developed through those questions.  

• Most importantly, give this work time.  I would argue that these conversations are just as important as the design of learning tasks.  They help us connect to the why. They help us get clarity about our own thinking. They help reveal our biases, our blind spots and our confusions which can pave the way for poor questioning and missed opportunities when we are engaging with children. 

While there is a strong emphasis on learning processes in inquiry, it remains the case that powerful inquiry is fuelled by content of significance.  We can’t get to those conceptual understandings without exploring case studies and examples that gradually help us see patterns and make connections.  As inquiry teachers, we need to remain awake to the world around us. We need to have hungry minds that stay relentlessly curious about the way the world works and the way we understand the world. We need to keep pushing ourselves out of our “comfortable knowledge bubbles” and be prepared to be the geographers, historians, scientists, authors, mathematicians and artists we hope our students will be. And when we don’t know, we need to experience the thrill of the hunt – to yearn to know more. 

So my wish for you – as so many of you take a much deserved break, is that you can spend time revelling in the joy of your own learning about things that go beyond teaching.  So go find those podcasts, visit that museum (even if online), talk to your engineering/landscape gardener/pharmacist/builder friend about their job, listen to some music you have never listened to before, go look at some art, read some long form articles, take a walk in the forest and ask yourself what you know about the ecosystem around you, catch up on some documentaries…and enjoy cultivating your own curiosity.   You’ll be a better inquiry teacher for it. 

How do you ‘stay awake to the world’ amidst your busy life as a teacher? 

 Just wondering