Space considerations: materials in the learning environment in three majority world preschool settings

Prochner, Larry; Cleghorn, Ailie; Green, Nicole

doi:10.1080/09669760802343857

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…These include studies of space as control and resistance (Ailwood 2004), as social order (Watkins 2017), as an agent shaping the experience of schooling (Burke and Grosvenor 2008), and as educational spaces marked by inequalities (Reh, Rabenstein, and Fritzsche 2011). The spatial dimensions of preschools have been examined in terms of architecture (Dudek 2000;Mostaedi 2006), materials and learning environments (Prochner, Cleghorn and Green 2008), identities and gender (Frödén 2012;Heikkilä and Ärlemalm-Hagsér 2015), and effective learning (Ata, Deniz, and Akman 2012). Preschool space has also been examined in terms of ideals of childhood (Kraftl 2006), and as a place for social encounters, cooperation, conflicts and the creation of subjectivities (Gallacher 2005;Halldén 2007;Lynch 2017).…”

Section: The Spatial Dimension Of Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preschools in this tradition organize their space to allow children to actively choose and play with materials. This means that preschools are organized into different spaces with specific purposes in mind: for playing with blocks; listening to stories; or for dressing-up (Dahlberg and Moss 2005;Prochner, Cleghorn and Green 2008).…”

Section: The Spatial Dimension Of Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing preschools for an independent and social child: visions of preschool space in the Swedish welfare state

Westberg

2019

Early Years

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The physical environment in early childhood education and care is crucial. This paper examines the Swedish government's vision of preschool design in the welfare state of the 1970s and the conceptions of children and society upon which it was based. Presenting an investigation of reports, booklets, and study materials published by various branches of the central government, this paper analyses an ambitious preschool design intended to provide children with a diverse and stimulating environment that supported their independence and freedom of choice. Unlike similar designs in postwar Europe, this preschool design was not formulated in response to the experiences of the world wars. Inspired by the theories of Piaget and Erikson and based on the rationality of the Swedish welfare state, this preschool design was instead intended to remedy the shortcomings of a perceived anonymous, sterile and barren modern society. In relation to existing research, this paper contributes to the study of the so-called nursery heritage by examining how it was formulated in the setting of the Swedish welfare state. In so doing, the paper also provides ample ground for a continued critical discussion on contemporary strands of neoliberal preschool design.

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Section: The Spatial Dimension Of Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Spatial Dimension Of Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing preschools for an independent and social child: visions of preschool space in the Swedish welfare state

Westberg

2019

Early Years

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“…Visual materials in a school may act as an indicator of the extent to which the school is influenced by Western conceptions of how schooling 'ought' to be carried out (Prochner, Cleghorn & Green, 2008). It is within the materials that language and culture stand to intersect visibly in the classroom and authentic representation can become key to an affective experience conducive to learning (Krashen, 1987).…”

Section: Several Of the Children Are From The Democratic Republic Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Look at the balloon blow up’: Student teacher-talk in linguistically diverse Foundation Phase classrooms

Evans

Cleghorn

2010

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

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This article provides vignettes from teaching practice site visits in linguistically diverse South African Foundation Phase classrooms. The purpose is to point to the complexity of encounters between student teachers and learners when neither are first language speakers of English, the instructional language. The vignettes presented here suggest the potential negative social and pedagogical consequences for learners, in part due to teachers' lack of awareness that language can create a barrier to learning. In noting instances of instructional dissonance, the article concludes by underlining the need for teacher education to include more content relating to the critical role of language in learning as well as to the importance of recognising the rich linguistic and cultural repertoire that learners bring to the multilingual classroom. In addition, teacher graduates' proficiency in the language of instruction cannot be assumed to be adequate; this requires focused attention in policy documents and in teacher education programmes. Nsamenang, 2004).

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“…Complex language encounter pertains specifically to teacher-learner exchanges but does not exclude peer interaction or non-verbal messaging. Broadly, this definition also encompasses the cultural and conceptual shifts that accompany the often-unwitting process of acculturating learners into Western ways of knowing and behaving, in this case via English, as well as through contact with the implicit messages contained within some classroom materials (Cannella & Viruru, 2004;Prochner, Cleghorn & Green, 2008). This research thus adds to the extant literature on the oral, visual and written strategies that teachers could use for establishing meaning and fostering literacy, especially when learners are still acquiring the language of instruction as a second or as an additional language.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During professional and research visits to classrooms in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, exemplary teaching practices have been observed as well as missed opportunities for incidental learning (Cleghorn, Merritt & Abagi, 1989;Cleghorn & Rollnick, 2002;Evans, Gauton, Kaschula, Prinsloo, Ramagoshi & Taljard, 2007). Regardless of the particular instructional context, language can be seen as the thread that ties teacher, text, materials, activity, use of space, and learner together in the overall process of meaning making (Prochner, Cleghorn & Green, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex language encounters: Observations from linguistically diverse South African classrooms

Evans¹,

Cleghorn²

2010

L & L

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This article reports on the initial observation phase of a larger, longitudinal project that explores complex language encounters in grades R (Reception) to 3 classrooms in South Africa. Complex language encounters refer to teacher-learner exchanges that take place when neither teachers nor learners are first language speakers of the language of instruction, in this case English. Observations during teaching practice visits to linguistically and culturally diverse South African urban classrooms yielded several vignettes that illustrate the need for teachers to be provided with strategies to lessen the confusion of some language encounters. Although preliminary, our findings underline how critical it is for teachers to possess full proficiency in the language of instruction as well as cross-cultural competence. That is, in order to attend adequately to diverse learners’ sense-making efforts, teachers need to know how to relate to learners by ‘border crossing’ linguistically, culturally and conceptually.

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Space considerations: materials in the learning environment in three majority world preschool settings

Cited by 13 publications

References 20 publications

Designing preschools for an independent and social child: visions of preschool space in the Swedish welfare state

Designing preschools for an independent and social child: visions of preschool space in the Swedish welfare state

‘Look at the balloon blow up’: Student teacher-talk in linguistically diverse Foundation Phase classrooms

Complex language encounters: Observations from linguistically diverse South African classrooms

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