Constructing relational space in early childhood education

Vuorisalo, Mari; Rutanen, Niina; Raittila, Raija

doi:10.1080/09575146.2014.985289

Cited by 31 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…How we understand childhood and children, for example if there is a common notion that children should attend preschool, affects in general how we think about and study places and spaces for children as well as childreńs places (see Holloway & Valentine, 2000). Earlier research on young children and space predominantly focuses on physical (material) space (see Vuorisalo, Rutanen, & Raittila, 2015). The present article, however, includes both social and material aspects in a relational view of space and place.…”

Section: Space and Place Created In Play And Play As Situatedmentioning

confidence: 95%

Playing bus in a bus – children transforming spaces within a mobile preschool into resources in place-making fantasy play

Berkhuizen

2020

International Journal of Play

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Section: Space and Place Created In Play And Play As Situatedmentioning

confidence: 95%

Playing bus in a bus – children transforming spaces within a mobile preschool into resources in place-making fantasy play

Berkhuizen

2020

International Journal of Play

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“…The spatial and material nature of people's lives is well established in both geography and architecture but has remained on the fringes of research and practice within early childhood education (Vuorisalo et al 2015). This dismissal of classroom space has resulted in its relegation to the backdrop of learning, where it is seen as the container within which education sits (Fenwick et al 2011).…”

Section: Constructions Of Space In Early Childhood Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatially Democratic Pedagogy: Children’s Design and Co-Creation of Classroom Space

Clement

2019

IJEC

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Young children's participation has been specifically foregrounded as a pedagogical element within education policy in Wales. However, there is currently little evidence that this policy concerned with participation has been enacted. This research describes an intervention, Spatially Democratic Pedagogy, as a pedagogical approach to foster young children's participation, through design and co-creation of their classroom space. A group of six children, aged 4-5 years, alongside their teacher, were supported through a design-based intervention to enact, document and analyse this process. The research draws upon social understandings of space, as well as Froebel's ideas about construction of communal gardens. Findings illustrate notable differences in the roles and relationships that formed between the teacher and the children when using Spatially Democratic Pedagogy. Children were teachers, planners, architects, negotiators and problem-solvers, as they participated in coconstruction of their space. The argument is made that it is the process of design and co-creation that becomes the mediator for pedagogical change and acts as the driver for children's participation. The co-construction of space is an important element to support young children's participation in early years classrooms.

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“…For example, kindergarten space is 'determined' as a space for education and care in society. People, including the children in the kindergarten space, have cultural and social knowledge about this space, such as how it could be organized and used (Raittila, 2012;Vuorisalo, Rutanen & Raittila, 2015).…”

Section: Space and Autonomy In Finnish Ececmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kindergarten space and autonomy in construction – Explorations during team ethnography in a Finnish kindergarten

Vuorisalo

Raittila

Rutanen

2018

Journal of Pedagogy

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Children’s autonomy is a cultural ideal in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC). In this article we examine autonomy in spatial terms. The theoretical background is developed by applying spatial sociology. Our starting point is that space is relationally produced, thus, we understand space as continuously negotiated, reconstructed and reorganized phenomena. In this article, we investigate the production of space by different actors in ECEC and seek to show how autonomy is also continuously produced and re-produced in the negotiation of space. For this investigation we use data collected as part of a team ethnographic project in a Finnish kindergarten. The project included conducting observations and interviews with parents and educators. Our research shows that autonomy is developed in multiple ways in kindergarten spaces. Educators as well as children and parents continuously produce and reproduce the kindergarten space within which children’s autonomy variously unfolds as linked to independence, freedom and responsibility in the cultural and ideological setting of a Finnish kindergarten.

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Constructing relational space in early childhood education

Cited by 31 publications

References 26 publications

Playing bus in a bus – children transforming spaces within a mobile preschool into resources in place-making fantasy play

Playing bus in a bus – children transforming spaces within a mobile preschool into resources in place-making fantasy play

Spatially Democratic Pedagogy: Children’s Design and Co-Creation of Classroom Space

Kindergarten space and autonomy in construction – Explorations during team ethnography in a Finnish kindergarten

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