A Regulation Equation: Part Two
Playhood Blog
by karen partridge
6M ago
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself” (James Hinton & John Dewey, 1880s). Dr Montessori developed her method based on close observation of the ways in which children learned, rather than based on what adults wanted them to know and do. The idea of the key metric of success for early years education being the skill of being an independent and lifelong learner is at the heart of progressive schooling, rejecting the ‘factory production line’ model of everyone moulded to be the same and learning specific facts. Primacy must be placed on the growth mindset as early a ..read more
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A Regulation Equation: How Playhood Nurtures Conditions for Connection & Executive Functioning.
Playhood Blog
by karen partridge
8M ago
Social-emotional learning was revealed to be UK parents’ top expectation for their child’s early education in our nationwide research last year (OnDevice, Oct ‘23). It has become a critical area for partnership between families and educators at Playhood, a family community where the nursery school is adjacent to co-working space for parents. “Supporting children to manage emotions” is part of EYFS guidance for all settings. Greater appreciation about how the brain works has transformed understanding of what used to be considered ‘bad behaviour’ and proven the ineffectiveness of punitive discip ..read more
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What even is a ‘family’?
Playhood Blog
by karen partridge
1y ago
Family Values vs. The Value of Families: Towards A New Community Relationships Theory “Studies of symbiotic interactions must reach across disciplinary boundaries” — Merlin Sheldrake, ‘Entangled Life’, p.215. If we’re conscientious about the challenges facing the world today alongside attending to our own well-being, then we urgently need to think about what we expect of our family structures and how they work best for all members to thrive. What is fair to demand from the experience of being in - or having - a ‘family’? And what hierarchies and assumptions are these dependant upon? A Brief Hi ..read more
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Leap of Faith
Playhood Blog
by karen partridge
1y ago
Are you shelf-motivated? Today’s blog post looks at Playhood’s experiments in scaling back materials for more exploratory early years’ play and learning for all. We’ve historically been running weeklong, and now more recently extended sessions, where our space is cleared of the usual carefully-curated Montessori materials and decor. Items are introduced as relevant, or as requested by the children during this time, but the idea is a fresh canvas for exploring and interpreting the space. The ways in which the children respond to their once-familiar environment (and to one another) have been hig ..read more
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Learning to Learn: the lay of the land on AI and early childhood education.
Playhood Blog
by Georgia Norton
1y ago
As artificial intelligence (AI) tools become widely available, earnest discussion of the potential to create efficiencies in workflow sits alongside alarmist fears about the ‘end’ of creativity. Plenty of voices have speculated on their impact on education, at a time when we know more about the foundational importance of the early years. A recent viral video starkly warned parents of the potential risks of a child’s image or voice being manipulated by criminals using content-generative AI. As Playhood is all about bridging the child’s worlds, we wanted to constructively survey some of the oppo ..read more
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Learning to Learn: the lay of the land on AI and early childhood education.
Playhood Blog
by Georgia Norton
1y ago
As artificial intelligence (AI) tools become widely available, earnest discussion of the potential to create efficiencies in workflow sits alongside alarmist fears about the ‘end’ of creativity. Plenty of voices have speculated on their impact on education, at a time when we know more about the foundational importance of the early years. A recent viral video starkly warned parents of the potential risks of a child’s image or voice being manipulated by criminals using content-generative AI. As Playhood is all about bridging the child’s worlds, we wanted to constructively survey some of the oppo ..read more
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Why A ‘Strength-Based Approach’ is the Caregiving Shift We Need
Playhood Blog
by Natalia Baker
1y ago
Continuing our series exploring the “blueprint” — our design for the experience children have at Playhood — today we explore a key way of blending our pedagogical influences with parenting practice. Partnership with parents centres on consistency in caregiving approaches across the home and nursery experience, and happily, much of the clinical research that neuroscience technology has enabled confirms Dr Montessori’s work in supporting child development. Guest-written by Playhood alumna, Natalia Baker, an incredible Parent Coach who’s run a course for our members (”positively life-changing in ..read more
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Playful Literacy: how the ‘science’ of reading reinforces the Montessori approach & what we can do to have fun at home.
Playhood Blog
by Georgia Norton
1y ago
As scientific discoveries reveal more about the workings of our brain, and then translate to policy and practice, a clear pattern is validation of the extensive research that Dr Maria Montessori carried out in the first half of the last century. The mainstream shift to ‘science of reading’ based instruction in the US of late and the fact that literacy is taught earlier in the UK (children entering the equivalent of kindergarten before their 5th birthday) got us discussing what is developmentally-appropriate to expect of children and what our role is as parents in partnership with guides. So, a ..read more
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Playhood’s Blueprint for Early Education: Part 6
Playhood Blog
by karen partridge
1y ago
Cultural Exchange — Learnings from Global Views on Childhood and Education. This month’s blog post briefly surveys a range of approaches to early years’ education from around the world that we reflect upon at Playhood. We aim to ensure our pedagogical practice doesn’t stay within one limited viewpoint (or get stale!) by keeping curious about wonderful traditions from many cultures… Let us start 19,000km away from London! Te Whāriki (meaning ‘woven mat’ in Maori language) is New Zealand’s bi-cultural model for early years education. A powerful image, the mat literally weaves together foundati ..read more
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The Playhood Blueprint for Early Years’ Education: Part 3
Playhood Blog
by Georgia Norton
1y ago
An introduzione to Reggio-Emilia! Continuing our series on the ingredients for our children’s experience, the Reggio-Emilia approach deserves special mention because it is so complementary to the Montessori lifestyle that’s at the heart of Playhood. It’s provided fresh ideas for our practice, most noticeably in our successful seasonal atèlier weeks and approach to a collaborative community here. We will next month be discussing Forest schooling and this is also an intersection with Reggio-Emilia, which anchors firmly in the researching and creative exploration of our natural world, too. ***“T ..read more
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