Saturday, February 4, 2012

Conversations about education in the Nordic


Young children are willing and capable to be agents of change. Adults should listen to children and be aware of their perspectives and ideas in matters that relate directly to them”-   Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Ms. Samuelsson is currently lecturing about early childhood in the United States.  She talks about the 3 types of pedagogues use in preschool there is the developmental psychology view, which is that you do a lot of activities. That children learn best if they are kept busy.  The second is the academic view, the preschool is just that a version of primary school where children are taught lessons to prepare them for kindergarten. And lastly the Socio-cultural view, that children experience things in order to learn

In the socio-cultural view of child development, children use experiences to make meaning of the world around them, that it is how you interact with children that help prepare them for higher education.  This is the current national pedagogy of the Nordic countries.

In Ms. Samuelsson’s belief, emotional support is the key ingredient of excellence in preschool.  She is very concerned about the didactics occurring in the classroom.  How is the language being expanded between the adults and the children?  She talked about the importance of the teacher’s use of questions and explanations in the classroom.

I have enjoyed the interactions with Ms. Samuelsson, although she is currently lecturing and not always available to answer my inquiries, I have been fortunate to watch some of her lectures on Youtube. They have been very educational as well.

2 comments:

tiffany said...

i truly believ that children do use experiences to make the world around them. I have seen children who will take something they saw mommy or daddy do they night before and use it in their play at school the next day. They act it out in blocks, or in house but they always use what they see to play how they want. This is why they always tell us to be mindful of our behavior around children.
great post I liked that I could relate to it.

Ginny said...

Stacie,
Ms. Samuellson seems to be up to date and aware of the happenings in early childhood. It seems the socio-cultural view which is the current national pedagogy of the Nordic countries is what we are trying so desperately to maintain in our country. The academic view keeps rearing it's head getting in the way. We are teaching using the best developmental age appropriate practices. It would help if our lawmakers played games with toys rather than teachers and education.
Ginny