The Child the True Foundation Conference Introduction

1. The Child – The True Foundation Setting the context by Wendy Ellyatt

2. Why are we all here?

3. Because we care about the future of childhood

4. I am mentally preparing myself for the five-year-old mind. I want to come down to their physical limitations and up to their sense of wonder and awe. Shinichi Suzuki And recognise that this period of life sets the tone for all that is to come

8. With incredible inner guides

10. And where we have no sense of the difference between work and play

11. “ This is not a free journey, but neither is it a journey with rigid timetables and schedules. Rather, it is akin to a journey guided by a compass” Carla Rinaldi

12. What matters during this time?

13. That we see early childhood as an extraordinarily important and distinct developmental phase of its own rather than a preparation for school

14. That we recognize logic and linguistic capacities as just two of many equally important areas of learning and understanding

15. That there are many non-written and verbal form of expressive language The child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking Loris Malaguzzi

16. And that focusing on any one or two compromises an innate natural balance that is almost certainly to the detriment of the others

17. That we respect the natural rhythms and pace of the child

24. That we celebrate each child’s uniqueness

25. And ensure that children see failure as simply feedback from an ongoing learning process rather than something to be feared and a measure of their worth

26. What do we need to ensure?

27. That observations should be about the interpretation and evaluation of ongoing dynamic PROCESSES rather than static RESULTS

28. That we recognize our own cultural conditioning and do not value adult priorities over children’s natural developmental tendencies

32. That children don’t belong in isolation but are part of much wider creative COMMUNITIES

33. That include NATURE

40. “ Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” William Butler Yeats