Conserving creativity in the early years

Thoughts from Kathryn Solly, recently retired head teacher of the renowned Chelsea Open Air Nursery School.

I believe that high quality play and learning in the maintained early years sector are at risk. Our future citizens, who learn through their high quality play indoors and out, are beginning to be presented with limited horizons by the society they live in. Our future engineers, artists, lawyers, scientists and entrepreneurs will lack their broad base of rich interactive process based experience from which they develop their rich and innovative ideas.

Just like nature children need time, space and quality nurturing....so how, in the 21st century, do we ensure the rich possibilities of play and the ideas sown by the pioneers such as Steiner, Montessori, McMillan, Isaacs and Froebel are furthered and put into practice? For example: Froebel created the kindergarten to nurture high quality play and learning indoors and out. If such opportunities are not available to young children, what creative possibilities will we see in their future lives? We are also currently educating young children for a world we do not know with jobs that don't yet exist.

Thus why am I so keen that creative opportunities are available to young children in their play and learning? Creativity in its widest sense means connecting the previously unconnected in ways that are new and meaningful to the individual. Think of the real china in the home corner and why it is provided. It gives young children a real experience of life rather than a plastic one. Yes there is a small element of risk but then how do young children learn the actual properties of household objects? If they drop they crack or break, they are difficult to mend and may have to be recycled and eventually replaced when finances allow. Through such experiences, economies and real discoveries young children can learn lessons for life. This type of resourcing underpins the philosophy of real life experience which is important because it enables us to enable children to respond to a rapidly changing world and dealing with the unexpected by extending their current knowledge to new situations and using information in new ways.

Creativity encourages us to take risks, think flexibly, be innovative, play with ideas and respond imaginatively. Anna Craft distinguishes between 'big C' and 'little c' creativity. The former involves major invention, a break with past understanding whilst the latter enables individuals to find new routes and paths to explore. For young children the process of creativity includes curiosity, exploration, discovery, fun, play and it is as important as any product they may create. We know that in the future a creative mind and positive disposition will help children and this world.

The OECD describes early childhood learning as a 'public good' and suggest that more should be invested in early years learning than the later years of higher education as it will significantly act as an investment in fully contributing citizens. Whether we like it or not we are gate keepers who can either these open doors and windows directly for young children or give them the choice of keys to choose from so they can do it when they are ready. I oppose premature formal education and the 'schoolification' of the early years which can really harm children's' self-confidence and the disposition to learn. Many children (especially those well supported at home) will enjoy learning to read, write and solve mathematical challenges. Emergent literacy and numeracy are best achieved in contexts where they make sense to children and are part of their self chosen purpose. Vulnerable children need a longer time with the richest play and learning opportunities in order to develop appropriately. Their inclusion in formal schooling at age two is hardly a recipe for progress. It is merely another guarantee that sooner rather than later they will be put off learning and become some sort of negative statistic!

Thus creativity is not about holding children back but elaborating rich possibilities to learn in all sorts of ways where children's achievements (whatever their starting point) are celebrated, valued and recorded so they can move on to their next steps. We have a rich opportunity to articulate what these young children can learn and should learn. We also must demonstrate how understanding child development and child centred learning is so crucial via playing, exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically. Children are born creative in every sense of the word and thus need to be appropriately nurtured. We need to avoid children experiencing what Shirley Brice Heath calls 'one prolonged stretch of spectatorship' where 'children miss out on the kind of learning that comes through direct experience, participation and collaboration'. Spaces and places, people and experiences which nurture children's imagination and creativity go against the grain of modern life-natural opportunities are being removed and hence we need to design opportunities for children to make the real something they have imagined. As Bernadette Duffy says "We must not be tempted to narrow the curriculum and return to the outdated belief that concentrating only on literacy, numeracy and behaviour will strengthen early years practice."

Creativity and critical thinking should permeate all EY provision going well beyond messy play or what we do in the water tray. In the EYFS the holistic curriculum contributes to a rounded approach to learning and development if it is rooted in play-based learning supported by creative professionally trained staff- it is all about 'possibilities thinking' - the transition from 'what is' to 'what might be' and 'as if' encouraging thinking and imaginative play. Linking play as a means of promoting creativity is a matter of public concern to parents, teachers, business, and cultural organisations:

• How does this work within a culture where innovation happens via numerous ways?
• EPPE stresses the important role of the adult in early years in interacting with the child's freely chosen play. Planning for this child-initiated play is important alongside open-ended questioning such as "I wonder why that happened? or, If we added some more water what might happen?" Drawing attention to different possibilities not providing the answer the adult is looking for
• In order to learn we need to be in a position to be open to new ideas, processes, sensations and feelings. Do we inhibit children by telling them their response is right or wrong too early?
• Do we give children enough time and space to think, talk, and act solo or collectively? Time to grow?
• Quality early years education is not woolly or non-rigorous-it requires a great deal of organisation, planning and reflective thought. There may be appropriate 'outcomes' but not always.
• This is not a luxury but a necessity but is threatened by austerity and the 'schoolification' changes of the government
• Do you think that the plethora of Early Years provision across the maintained, private, independent and voluntary sectors are capable of carrying out this enormous responsibly?
• Do you think that most practitioners in early years take young children's ideas seriously?
• Do you think that political agendas see early years education and care as a means of getting children on a conveyor belt of structured curriculum even earlier or merely a means to get people into work and off benefits?
• Should we be constructing a culture of imaginative innovation?
• Are bodies such as Ofsted asking the 'what if?' questions or just doing the government's bidding?
• Will a new focus on children's play impact upon the bedrock of fiscal policy other than considering how more parents can work?
• Why don't government ministers look at the 'richness' of creative experience for the youngest children in European countries such as Finland?
• If we want a morally just society and we know that a good pre-school education can benefit the most vulnerable children what conditions for success do we need to establish?
• Do we want a culture of box ticking or early years professionals who truly engage with children and their families?
• Do we trust early years professionals to determine the local, quality and feel of the services they provide?

Can you share your ideas please? If you are interested in reading more about the erosion of childhood and play based learning then look at www.toomuchtoosoon.org