The reflections above are from one of my presentations (in Swedish) about risky play… the translation…
These are some of the thoughts shared by the participants after the group work
“One got a lot of inspiration”
“There was a lot of discussion in our conversation afterwards about what children may or may not do. My experience is that much is forbidden in school, maybe too much”
“Why are children allowed to climb a climbing frame and not trees?”
“There are too many rules”
It is so wonderful to find out that my presentation/workshop does not just end, but becomes the root of continued reflections and dialogues that could possibly lead to positive changes when it comes to children’s autonomy.
We adults need time to reflect more, individually and together, especially together. We need more time to be curious together to find out why we do the things we do, why we teach the way we do, why we set up our spaces the way we do, why we have the rules we have.
And when we know why, like a deep understanding of that why, not a basic answer that is more of a veneer and doesn’t actually really answer the question, but simply fills the space - then we can start making informed decisions about whether this is the best way of teaching children - and are there any other ways that might be better to meet the wide range of developmental maturity we meet in every class/group.
Really we need more time to reflect.
And to fully understand what reflection is, how we reflect (our own thought processes - rather than reflection as a product) and whether we, as a team, reflect in the same way - and if we don’t how can this benefit us, or how to we overcome complications of that?
Reflection and continuous reflection and re-reflection is where our best learning and growing happens. The challenge is making the time, finding diverse voices to reflect with and being open to challenging our inner biases. It can be uncomfortable to change an opinion but I usually find that's where the most growth takes place. One question inevitably leads to many more!