IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES: EARLY YEARS PRACTICE DURING A PANDEMIC

This month’s post has been written by Eleonora Teszenyi who is a lecturer on the Early Childhood team.

I have long been admiring the practice at an early childhood setting in the Midlands for the practitioners’ resilience, commitment, positive attitude, creativity and professionalism. A recent impromptu conversation with Caroline, Eleanor and Chloe has highlighted for me that behind these attributes is critical reflection deeply engrained at the core of their being as early childhood professionals, because they want the best for every child in their care.

The COVID-19 virus situation created unprecedented conditions for them to work in. Apart from feeling gratitude for their services as essential workers, I was humbled by these three practitioners’ in-depth reflections of their experiences during the lockdown period. Having to adjust practice due to unusual circumstances provided challenges for them like those we have seen and read about in recent publications and media posts. What has really struck me in our conversation is how practitioners in this setting have utilised the opportunity of this different way of working to learn about themselves and their practice. Personal and professional reflection grew organically from within the situation forced upon them. Addressing all the points I discussed with Caroline and her colleagues is beyond the scope of this blog post, but I have selected a few to share because I felt they may resonate with some of the issues other early childhood settings have also experienced.

The temporality of the situation, the uncertainty of how long it may last created a sense of disorientation in practitioners’ pedagogic practice and pedagogic thought and a disruption in how practice matched the continuum of children’s learning. Planning had to be more fluid and adjusted to balance the various components of the educare approach with the increased demand of supervised hygiene and cleansing routines. For example, stopping frequently for hand-washing disrupted the flow of children’s play and adults’ engagement with the children. This often resulted in the reduction of in-depth exploration, sustained shared thinking and the richness of provocations practitioners would normally offer. Not being able to use sensory, malleable play materials such as playdough, water, sand and what we might term ‘messy play’ substances for hygiene reasons profoundly impacted on the well-being and also on the accessibility of these therapeutic type of learning experiences for all but particularly for children with additional needs. Here is the old nugget of realising the value of what is normally taken for granted.

Regrouping to create ‘bubbles’ in order to minimise the spread of infection required practitioners not only to work in newly formed and significantly reduced teams but also to understand and provide for the needs of children of a much wider age range. All of a sudden, practitioners from the baby room had to adjust their approach to the needs of 4-year olds. While practitioners became aware of gaps in their own skills, their introspection also taught them to recognise their own as well as each other’s worth. They became acutely aware of how dependent they were on the diversity of individual strengths and skill sets, which altogether encouraged a culture of honouring each other’s practice. This temporarily new way of working also afforded practitioners with the opportunity for personal re-orientation to the ethos and values of the nursery.

Practitioners also learnt that team relationships were as important as their relationships with the children and their families. A mirrored modelling of empathy secured the feeling of togetherness. Siblings’ pronounced care for one another provided positive models for adults’ in their relationship with each other. Equally, practitioners listening to each other’s individual stories of coping with virus-induced personal circumstances reinforced and modelled empathy in how children were interacting with each other. This reaffirmed the importance of an already existing and key aspect of their practice: the facilitation of regular sibling-play in a learning environment where children are grouped by their age.

There are many more examples of reflection to share but instead, I am turning to you, readers: do you have a story to tell? Join us in our conversation and share your experiences. We would love to hear from you.

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