Beginning Teaching & Beginning Learning (Moyles et al) - Chapter 2, Organising the environment

Underlying principles.

The manner in which the learning space is organised impacts upon all action within that space - referred to as the hidden/implicit curriculum (Meighan, 1981).

There are three main principles that underline the organisational process:

Organisation of the learning space should maximise children's autonomy as learners as well as their sense of ownership & responsibility.

Organisation of the learning space should support & enhance both adult-child & child-child interaction.

Organisation of the learning space should routinely respond to children's voices.

Organisation of indoor space.

A learning environment should enable children to select the materials they need to support their learning, support children's interactions & free movement, & reflect their interests & their communities.

Teachers should ask themselves these questions to better enact the principles in their environment:

Organisation of space - Is there a flexible approach to the organisation of tables & chairs so that these can support a range of pedagogic strategies (Alexander, 2010)? Is there room for children to move around the classroom safely & freely? Does the space encourage collaboration & communication?

Resources - Are resources accessible or all children & clearly labelled in an appropriate manner? Are children given responsibility for selecting & putting away resources, & for maintaining & organising them as appropriate?

Documentation/display - Can the classroom environment be describes as 'rich' in supporting children's learning? Does the space reflect the children's current interests & learning? Does it celebrate what children bring from home? Who engages with the material displayed?

The principles will also be reflected in how the teacher manages classroom activities.

Routines, rituals & rules that are fair, carefully explained & clearly communicated provide a framework that supports positive behaviour & smooth transitions.

Children are very capable of negotiating appropriate rules of behaviour & should be given the opportunity to contribute to routines.

The principles may be demonstrated through the ethos established in the classroom - which will embody the extent to which children feel that they are respected & encouraged to respect others.

Organisation of outdoor space.

Moving outdoors.

Safran & Oswald (2006) - moving between one space & another can be a flash point for behaviour management.

Organising storage for outdoor clothes near the entrance/exit gives the children the ability to move their activity from indoors to outdoors (vice versa) & allows for a smoother transition.

Tovey (2007) - organisation of the outdoor environment may be a challenge due to physical constraints such as the size of the space & school routines.

White (2008) - young children in an outdoor space should have the chance to engage in ten key experiences.

Some of these support children's autonomy & participation, whilst others encourage risk-taking.

This means the environment must be safe to allow children to engage in risk-taking.

However, the requirement for safety does not mean that children can't undertake appropriate challenges.

Practitioners must be confident the school management structure fully support the provision for & organisation of children's activity.

Waters & Begley (2007) - it is important for children to receive consistent messages about what they can & can't do in their learning spaces.