Learning is learning no matter the age

When I visited Rutene Road Kindergarten today I found more in common to my practice in my Primary School Learning Community than not. 

The environment supported the students who were 2 to 4 years old to be independent learners.  Everything in the learning space was safe for the students to use.  Everything, from scissors, staples, glue, loose parts, shovels, puzzles, everything.  The attitude of the teachers supported this.  High expectations resulted in students who were calm, self-directed, and collaborative learners.  

The routines supported this. At Mat time which is held twice a day, the students came happily to join in songs, stick games, and finger rhymes.  Then Karakia and Kai.  Little routines set up by the teachers become a visual clue as to what happens next.  All the students were successful.  Their ability to self manage was clear.  They were all happy and engaged in their learning.

Rutene Road Kindergarten are building a new philosophy built around Guy Claxton's Learning Muscles.  My learning community uses a model based on this as well.  These muscles form a visual for deep learning, what it looks like and what the next steps are.  They show teachers how we can support the students in their learning journey.  It was wonderful to see how learning is learning no matter the age.  It was obvious to me as I watched the students play, what they were learning.  One girl showed me her Mahi Whai - String game.  Another student came along with a piece of string.  It was fascinating to watch her try and work out how to change the string so she could use it. Then I watched as the student watched her friend who had already mastered the game.  Ako, learning to learn from someone a step ahead of you - this learning skill - reciprocity - being ready, willing and able to learn alone and with others is a skill that is crucial to all learners no matter how old they are.  This reinforces to me how important it is to keep learning real, whole, and not broken into silo's.  

Peter Gray outlines a very important and crucial philosophy of play.  

1. Self-chosen and self-directed
2. process rather than product driven;
3. contains structures or rules established by the players themselves;
4. imaginative, non-literal and removed from reality
5. occurs between those who are active, alert and non-stressed.

(Grey, 2013; Brewer, 2007)

To me these are what true learning is about.  I saw all these things.  I also saw teachers talking to students, using their knowledge of when to support, when to guide and when to leave a student alone to learn.  Learning this way requires teacher skill to know when supports are needed and to identify what the learning is.

As reflect on my own practice it is about knowing when to introduce next steps into the learning process.  To do this, I need to know the curriculum really well.  That way when I see opportunity in play I can either change the environment next time or demonstrate a new skill or ask questions to help the student to figure out the next step.  Making visible deliberate acts of learning is the new future.  Using dispositions as lenses to frame learning helps with this.  Giving students the vocabulary to explain their learning will help each student to become deliberate learners.  And it all starts from day one....  at home and beyond in the Kindergarten and onto school.  When students arrive at school, they are already learners.  They have a past, they have a story.  They don't come empty, but full.  We as Primary teachers need to take the time to build relationships and in the play based learning community observe them at work learning.

I loved my visit and I came away with many ideas to make learning even better in at my school.  I highly recommend Primary teachers visiting good quality, play based Early Childhood Centres to further their professional development.