Category Archives: Development tasks

Workshop in Taipei

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taipeiworkshopThe workshop in Taipei on Sunday 20 November collected together the teachers, who had participated in the observation and data collection. The main content of the day was the sharing of teachers experiments and examples of their development models based on the research results. Many of the development tasks were related to outdoors and physical activity. Taipei is a cramped metropolitan, in where the pre-schools may not have a proper outdoor yard of their own. It was very inspiring to see creative solutions for fun and creative physical activity in constricted environment. Of the participating researchers were included, for example, Hui-Chun Lee (Tzu Chi University), professor Li-Chen Wang (Chang Gung University), professor Doris Cheng (Tung Wah Collegesta Hong Kong) and professor Karen Liu (Indiana State University). As an example, in Sanmin pre-school, the children go to the park every day. The group collects smiles from the people they meet in their way. They get smiles a lot! There were people waiting for the children to pass by. For example, a choir of senior citizens were waiting for the children and performed a song for the children. In the park the activities were fast, but the path to park and back took a long time, because there were so many familiar and unknown things to explore.

 

Yilan-Hualien area workshop

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hualienworkshopThe workshop in Hualien on Saturday 19 November 2016 collected together the project early childhood educators participating in the data collection. The teachers presented examples from tree houses to using stumps in math. We also compared the Finnish and Taiwanese research results. In the workhop the teachers input, examples and sharing were essential. There were researchers from Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Turkey and Finland. Participating researchers included professoriHui-Chun Lee (Tzu Chi University), professor Li-Chen Wang (Chang Gung University), professor Doris Cheng (Tung Wah College of Hong Kong), professor Shu-Shuan Shih (Taitung University), professor Hui-Hua Chen (Dong Hwa University), Yeni Rachmavati (Pendidikan University), Mehmet Sahin (Dong Hwa University) and Wei-Chen Zhang (Dong Hwa University). The natural resources, Pacific Ocean, rivers, mountains, plants and animals give the pre-school settings a unique environment, which calls for respect and exploration. Thank you for the participants for a very inspiring day!

Plan – Act – Share

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sharingIn Taiwan children spend time outdoors on average only 29 minutes a day and they are highly physically active only 23 minutes a day. In several pre-schools, the teachers have chosen as their development task increasing  both outdoor activities and physical activity. In the picture there is a map of the pre-school yard. Before children go out,  the map and outdoor possibilities are discussed with children to enrich children’s ideas. The time of outdoor activities has been extended from 30 minutes to one hour. Both children and teachers feel good. The weather is hot and the children sweat a lot! All teachers are outdoors together with children. After washing up children come indoors and the map is used again to deepen the experiences. In the photo, teachers of the group share their experiences with the teachers of other pre-schools and new ideas are developed. For example, the heavy rubber tiles that have been removed may not be thrown away, they can be used in building, math and exercise. The map can be left on floor for children to play and deepen their outdoor horizon.

Riverplan in Taiwan

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riverplanIn Taiwan, the pre-schools have been using the results of the 2015-2016 data collection in their development of the activities. The development model is Riverplan. In the picture, the teachers are planning to increase the support of play. In the Riverplan, north bank is for the opportunities and the south bank are the dangers of the trip. In the river there is the process. First we have to make a good map of the environment we are about to travel. Then we need to clarify what tools and skills we need for a successful journey. Furthermore, in a meaningful trip the differences and personal interests need to be considered if we want the trip to be meaningful for everybody (participation). Finally, we need to consider how we can share our fruits of the trip for everybody to enjoy.

Scientific justification for the recommendations for physical activity in early childhood

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The recommendations for physical activity in early childhood have been based largely on scientific justification. The articles for the Scientific justification for the recommendations for physical activity in early childhood (2016, Ministry of Education and Culture 2016:22) have just been published. The Orientation project results and insight have been a major contributor in this process, see:

Laukkanen, A., Määttä, S., Reunamo, J., Roos, E., Soini, A. and Mäki, P. Perheen tärkeä rooli [The important role of the family], p. 22-26.
Reunamo, J. Lapsilähtöinen toimintakulttuuri edellyttää lapsen kuuntelua [Child-initiated action culture requires listening the child], p. 27-31.
Iivonen, S., Laukkanen A., Haapala, A. and Reunamo, J. Motoristen taitojen kehitys [The development of motoric skills], p. 32-37.
Soini, A., Laukkanen, A., Mäki, P. and Reunamo, J. Fyysistä aktiivisuutta ja liikkumista edistävä ympäristö [An environment that enhances physical activity], p. 44-48.
Kyhälä, A-L. and Soini, A. Organisoitu liikunta [Organized excercise], p. 49-53.
Reunamo, J. and Kyhälä, A-L. Liikkuminen varhaiskasvatuspäivän osana [Physical activity as part of everyday activities in early childhood education], p. 54-58.

Hopefully the articles will be translated in English as soon as possible!

Recommendations for physical activity in early childhood

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The new Recommendations for physical activity in early childhood have been published in 7th September 2016. The recommendations for physical activity in early childhood inform about the amount and type of physical activity for the under eight-year-olds, roles of the physical, psychological and social environments, and planning and implementation of guided physical exercise and education on exercise as part of early childhood education. The Orientation project results and insights have been integrated in the recommendations in many ways. Hopefully we get the English translation for the recommendations as soon as possible!

A grant for our project

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The Finnish National Board of Education has granted our project on Progressive Feedback for 280 000 euro. The grant was clearly the largest sum funded of all applications. This funding is a major support and recognition of our project. The participating municipalities include Espoo, Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Järvenpää, Kerava, Mäntsälä, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Turku and Vantaa. The project coordinating municipality is Kouvola. Thank you for the team for a succesful project! The funding will help us to make the best of progressive feedback. We will concentrate on accuracy, depth, topicality and feedback.

 

Progressive feedback as a permanent practice

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In Finland, in municipalities Espoo, Helsinki, Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Järvenpää, Kerava, Mäntsälä, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Turku and Vantaa, we make the progressive feedback a permanent practice. The observer training starts in January 2017 and the building and testing of the needed infrastructure and tools starts immediately. From September 2017 onward, every day 180 randomized observations is conducted in different municipalities. When we merge the observation data with skills and learning environment evaluations, we get a real time feedback of the essential processes of early childhood education in Finland. This gives us an opportunity to get hold of these processes and change them in a conscious way. Furthermore, we get instant feedback about the effects of the development work almost in real time, which can be shared and further developed by the community and educators.

Progressive feedback

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Our 2015 data collection has been successful. Even in international comparison the project is unique. We have made more than 100,000 observations and we will merge children’s data, learning environment observations etc. with this data to get a full-bodied picture of ECEC. Now we seek to tighten the progressive feedback into a real-time feedback system. This means that we are attempting to change the cycle of data collection over the past five years to a continuous and established feedback for development. We are attempting to work out the details with the municipalities during the spring of 2016. By using careful sampling and online servers we plan to follow real-time changes. Our purpose is to tighten the integration between planning and evaluation to facilitate data-driven decisions.

Online progressive feedback in ECE

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ryhIn a meeting with the participating municipalities in Finland 3rd December in Vantaa, we discussed about the needs and interests to enhance ECE in each municipality. The municipalities situation, resources and interests are versatile. Our task is to integrate these interests to deepen the online developmental feedback. The purpose is 1) to enhance municipalities’ possibilities to get essential feedback and impact its collection, 2) to enhance the tools and possibilities for online progressive feedback, 3) to connect the feedback with ECE development and 4) to steer ECE development based on valid and real-time understanding. In December 2015 the municipalities get a proposition for the practical issues of feedback. In the next meeting 26th February 2016 we go through the questions and propositions evoked by the proposition. We aim to make the decision about starting progressive feedback in April 2016.

Just as an example, we can keep up with the variety of children’ mean physical activity in different groups (see the figure above) and study the effects of different enhancements.