An online symposium connecting theory and practice in Australian education contexts in response to the principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach®
LAUNCH DATE: SATURDAY 19 OCTOBER 2024 – ONLINE PRE-RECORDED DIALOGUE SESSIONS
Viewing access will be available for registered participants until Sunday 17 November 2024.
2024 AUSTRALIAN SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS
Key Themes that the Presentation Aims to address:
- Graphic languages as a tool for cultivating research, knowledge, creativity and Imagination
- Interconnectedness of Relationships
- Pedagogy of Listening
- Participation- individual and collaborative
- Documentation
Target Audience:
ECEC, K-6 School Teachers, Other Educational Institutions, University, TAFE, Colleges.
Portraits of a Bearded Dragon
“Children’s intelligences…require interesting educational contexts: they need places where they can be put to the test, develop and grow” (Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and Reggio Children, 2017, p. 16).
“Portraits of a Bearded Dragon” encompasses the construction of relationships, knowledge, ethical care and responsibility through the curious and complex lens of 2-3 year olds using graphic languages as a tool for self-expression, engagement and research alongside our class pet, Spiky.
When 2-3 year olds engage in graphic languages, it is so much more than simply making marks. The nonlinear combination of dynamic learning, intriguing narrative, problem solving, imagination and creativity makes children’s thinking and wonderings visible.
Through the pedagogy of listening, documentation and reflection, children’s insightful theories and knowledge is evident, as is their compassion for Spiky.
Using drawing as a first encounter, then extending into multimedia and digital technology, this presentation showcases our ongoing journey in relationship with Spiky, whilst bringing together our centre community in our everyday.
How does exploring graphic languages support the construction of knowledge, deepen understanding and fuel connections in young children?
Does merging the real and imaginary world fuel creativity and knowledge?
How does deeply listening to very young children support educator analysis of children’s thinking behind their graphic languages?
REFERENCES:
Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and Reggio Children. (2017). The Many Faces of the Assembly: A study of the human figure in drawing, clay, and photography. [DVD Booklet]. Reggio Children.
About the Presenter
Antonia Folden is an Educational Mentor / Director of a service for 2-4 year olds, greatly influenced by the Reggio Approach®. She has extensive experience in the Early Childhood sector working for 24 years in varying capacities. Embedded in her philosophy is a genuine focus on relationships, participation, empathy, the creative arts, mentoring and leadership. She has a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood (Macquarie Uni) and a Graduate Diploma in Counselling. Antonia is highly passionate and committed to supporting and enriching learning experiences for children, families and educators, fuelled by inquiry, inspiring wonder, curiosity, joy and a firm pursuit of lifelong learning.
Key Themes that the Presentation Aims to address:
- Environmental responsibility
- Hope
- Pedagogy of listening
- Communication
- Connection to Country
Target Audience:
Primary school educators.
Hope for Earth's Treasures
With ideas of planting metaphorical seeds of hope for an environmentally responsible future, we embarked on a journey with the children of Dyeerrm (Wadawurrung for Frog) and Lelon (Wadawurrung for Lizard) groups to construct knowledge and understanding of the concepts of balance and action.
Together we explored ideas about cycles, slowing down, and discovering Earth’s treasures. The children have simultaneously used mark making to express their ideas whilst also developing their mark making skills. As their ideas have grown and developed so too has the complexity of their graphic language. Through their journey of noticing Earth’s treasures, the children have identified parts of Country that they feel connected to and passionate about. They noticed that there are treasures above, on and below the Earth and they have identified hopes for the future.
Huxley (aged 5) and Djalu (aged 6) have provided stunning examples of our hopes. Huxley exclaimed ‘I hope that the skies are full of colours’ as he explained his love of rainbow lorikeets and how they play in groups in the sky. Djalu, a proud Wadawurrung boy, declared ‘I hope the kookaburras always have something to laugh about’, referring to his totem animal and thinking about what kookaburras need to feel happy. Huxley and Djalu, along with their groups have used mark making to express their thinking, they have drawn from observation and drawn many drafts as they notice greater details in the Earth’s treasures that they have focused on and they have used their mark making in their design process as they begin to collaborate on an installation artwork that captures all of our hopes. As the children bring their drawings, thoughts and creations together, they have constructed new understandings of how our Earth requires balance and the action that we need to take to protect Earth’s treasures.
About the Presenters
Bridie Premraj, Shae Tweeddale and Sarah Boulton work together at Woodline Primary School. Shae and Sarah co-construct knowledge and discover the world alongside the youngest children in the school. Bridie supports children in developing their artistic and creativity expressions in her role as Visual Arts Guide. Together, Bridie, Shae and Sarah engage in the design of our school project Seeds of Hope. They are life long learners who are enjoying the challenge of bringing project work to life at Woodline Primary School.
Key Themes that the Presentation Aims to address:
- Intentionality and reverence of graphic languages outside of the learning studio
- Graphic language as a force for agency and change
- Educator as advocate
- Amplification
- Illumination of children thinking
Target Audience:
Long Day Care Educators, Directors and Educational Leaders, Agents for change and advocacy in the early years space.
Reshaping us - Children's graphic language as a tool for transforming systems and reimagining possibilities
As educators, we are all familiar with creating artwork displays and wall documentation, but what might mark making and graphic expressions look like in the shared and forgotten spaces and processes within our services?
As a team, we have reflected on how children’s graphic expression can impact, evolve, and enrich all aspects of our work. We have been exploring graphic language as a thinking tool and challenging ourselves to move beyond what is known and comfortable.
If we truly believe that children’s drawings are powerful and intelligent, how does this authenticity impact our management decisions? As a service for and about children, how do we champion their voices in our processes and practices as a business? How do we make this visible and celebrated for families to understand?
What does children’s graphic language look like within our policy documents? How might it impact our recruitment and onboarding process?
How do our shared communal spaces illuminate and amplify our Image of the Child, demonstrating our reverence and respect for their thinking?
As a team, we are committed to a thoughtful approach to graphic language. We aim to resist societal and familial pressures for “cute” and “sweet” images and instead advocate for the capable, powerful, and intelligent child.
About the Presenter
Clare Comedoy is the Pedagogical Leader for Excellence in Education, supporting seven long day care services across both NSW and QLD. Clare is committed to inspiring, challenging, and evolving her team’s approach to teaching and learning. She works in a model of pedagogical companionship, inviting professional tension and robust reflective thinking. She is committed to reimagining possibilities for educators and children through the lens of a capable, resourceful, and intelligent child and educator. Clare’s joy lies in the collaborative dance we do with children and educators, illuminating and supporting them to find delight in each other – embracing curiosity, creativity, and courage.
Key Themes that the Presentation Aims to address:
- Drawing
- Mapping
- Place
- Worldmaking
- Children as Citizens of the Now
Target Audience:
Early Years (Kindergartens & Early Primary), Pedagogical Leadership Teams, Tertiary sector (staff & students)
Draw(ing) with Place: Mapping Our Relations With The More-Than-Human
This presentation showcases an ongoing inquiry into everyday pedagogical practices in the early years, that focuses on connections and entanglements between children, Place and materials. Through drawing and mark-making events, this inquiry shows children’s research processes that produce knowledges, forge relations that matter, and activate collective ‘worldmaking’ (Vintimilla et al., 2023) . In these drawing events, children are active and capable ‘citizens of the now’ (Rinaldi, 2020; Iorio et al., 2022) and creators of culture, who, through collective mark making, collaborate with Place, materials, concepts, ideas and more.
In this emergent process, we walk-together and draw-with places in the community; local suburban streets, construction zones and a gallery as sites for experimental practices that cultivate complexity and dynamic learning encounters. Moving with and between research-creation and action-research events, we conceptualise these ‘worldmaking’ encounters between children, local places, materials, artwork, artists, and histories as productive sites for generating collective knowledges towards more just and livable futures. By taking children’s encounters with local places and materials seriously and asking what is produced by these encounters, we are acknowledging the value of their participation in a world with complex histories and affordances.
How might we enter conversations in collaboration-with Place and materials?
How does Place participate with children in everyday encounters with draw(ing)?
REFERENCES:
Vintimilla, C., Pacini-Ketchabaw, V., & Land, N. (2023). Manifesting living knowledges: A pedagogists’ working manifesto. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 20(1), 4–13.
Iorio, J. M., Hamm, C., & Krechevsky, M. (2022). Going Out and About: Activating children as citizens of the now. Global Studies of Childhood, 12(4), 334-347.
Rinaldi, C. (2020). The child as citizen: holder of rights and competent. The Reggio Emilia educational experience. Miscellanea Historico-Iuridica, 19(1), 11-22.
About the Presenters
Kelly Boucher is an Early Childhood Art Specialist & Pedagogical Leadership Coach. Kelly supports research culture within education settings by facilitating robust exchanges within theory and practice. This helps teachers (re)conceptualise what teaching and learning could be as they bring joy into practice through art, play and a deep curiosity (with) the world.
Dr. Angela Molloy-Murphy was an Early Childhood Educator in the United States from 1990-2020 when she joined the University of Melbourne as an early childhood lecturer. Her philosophy of education is deeply informed by the Reggio pedagogical and political theory of the hundred languages, exalting the value of pluralism and a “dialogue between differences.”
Key Themes that the Presentation Aims to address:
- Drawing to learn
- Science education
- Arts-based practices
- Young children’s learning
- The process of drawing
Target Audience:
Kindergarten and the early years of school.
Drawing Thought: young children’s representational approaches to meaning making in science
When young children draw, there is a tendency to focus on and celebrate the finished product and children’s final accomplishments. Science curriculum documents in Australia emphasise the use of abstractions in science representations, such as arrows. However, these expectations delimit children’s exploratory and creative ways of representing their experience of phenomena, such as force and motion, in ways that are meaningful to them. The philosophies of Reggio Emilia celebrate the many languages and methods that children use to communicate, acknowledging that a range of meaning making practices enable children to make sense of their world. Such approaches recognise that as children draw, they use symbols, schemas, and talk to co-construct knowledge.
This research study investigates how the process of drawing supports children to make sense of the scientific concept of force. The study engages a design-based research methodology with 20 five- year-old children in their first year of school. Children were supported to focus on the process of drawing.
Preliminary results show that children took a creative approach to representing movement. The children’s interest in drawing during the science learning experiences, and during child-initiated play opportunities, increased across the term as a result of this research.
About the Presenter
Rachael Hedger is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Care, and Course Coordinator for the Early Childhood Initial Teacher Education degrees at Flinders University, South Australia. She is a PhD candidate at Deakin University. Her PhD explores how arts-based practices can support children’s science learning. Her research interests focus on how drawing can be used as a vehicle for exploring science concepts, focusing on process and exploration. She is a supporter of learning through play pedagogies and encouraging pre-service teachers to be advocates for young children’s learning.
Key Themes that the Presentation Aims to address:
- Creativity
- Intrinsic self-belief
- Intentionality
- Educator Engagement
- Poetic Documentation
Target Audience:
ECEC and Kindergarten
Creativity and graphic languages beyond the art easel
In my presentation, I will share insights from my journey with my 2023 cohort of children, focusing on how creativity and graphic languages can enhance children’s intrinsic self-belief. By embracing play-based creativity beyond the art easel, we encountered various environments, materials and social interactions to explore the concepts of nature, creativity and emotions and how they inevitably intertwined.
I continuously reflect on my role as an educator, emphasising the importance of modelling and learning alongside the children. Inspired by Trace Balla, I adopted a poetic approach to documenting our experiences, highlighting progress over perfection. This method allowed me to demonstrate the value of exploring graphic languages and fostering a genuine connection with the children.
Our findings suggest that in order for creativity to enhance intrinsic self-belief, it requires intentional and repeated opportunities for these elements to intersect.
About the Presenter
Sarah Wilson is an Early Childhood Educator who has worked alongside 3- and 4-year-old children for over a decade. With a passion for the Reggio Emilia Approach®, authentic documentation practices, and valuing the individualities of each child, Sarah continually seeks new knowledge and perspectives to apply to her work and learning, co-researching with children. Sarah is a creative at heart who prides herself on establishing genuine connections and fostering creative thinking and expression in her role as an educator and advocate for children.
