Transcript A Creative Curriculum - Nurturing Creativity and

A Creative Curriculum –
nurturing creativity and
imagination at the Thomas
Coram Children’s Centre
Introduction
Bernadette Duffy
• Head of Thomas Coram Centre for
Children and Families
• Chair of the British Association for Early
Childhood Education
• Author of ‘Supporting Creativity and
Imagination in the Early Years’
Today we will be looking at the
work we have been doing at
Thomas Coram on:•
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The importance of creativity for children
Being a creative practitioner
Creating an environment that encourages creativity
Working with artists and others to encourage a
culture of creativity
Part One
The importance of creativity for
children
England and the EYFS
The aim of EYFS is to:• Increase coherence, provide a flexible approach to care
and learning and raise quality and play a key role in
improving the life chances of all children
• End the sometimes unhelpful distinction between care
and learning and between birth-to-three and three-to-five
provision.
• Help us see children’s learning and development as a
process starting at birth
EYFS Principles
A Unique Child
Positive Relationships
Enabling Environments
Learning and Development
Every child is a competent learner
from birth who
can be resilient, capable, confident
and self-assured
Children learn
to be strong and
independent from
a base of loving and
secure relationships
with parents and/or
a key person
The environment
plays a key role
in supporting and
extending children’s
development and
learning
Children develop
and learn in different
ways and at different
rates and all areas
of learning and
development are
equally important
and inter-connected
Child
People
Contexts
Curriculum
1. 1 Child Development
A Unique Individual
A Skilful Communicator
A Competent learner
2.1 Respecting Each Other
•Understanding feelings
•Friendships
•Professional Relationships
3.1 Observation, Assessment and
Planning
Starting with the Child
Planning
Assessment
4.1 Play and Exploration
•Learning through
Experience
• Adult Involvement
•Dispositions for Learning
1.2 Inclusive Practice
Children’s Rights
Equality and Diversity
Early Support
2.2 Parents as Partners
•Respecting diversity
•Communication
•Learning Together
3.2 The Learning Environment
•Children’s Needs
The Learning Journey
Working Together
4.2 Active Learning
Mental and Physical Involvement
Decision Making
Personalised Learning
1. 3 Keeping Safe
•Being Safe and Protected
• Discovering Boundaries
•Making Choices
2.3 Supporting Learning
•Positive Interactions
Listening to Children
Effective Teaching
3.3 The Physical Environment
The Outdoor Environment
The Indoor Environment
The Emotional Environment
1. 4 Health and Well Being
Emotional Well-being
Growing and Developing
Physical Well-being
2.4 Key Person
Secure Attachment
Shared Care
Independence through Support
4.3 Creativity and Critical
Thinking
Making Connections
Transforming Understanding
Sustained Shared Thinking
3.4 The Wider Context
•Transitions and continuity
•Multi-agency working
•The Community
4.4 – 4.10 Areas of Learning and
Development
•Personal, Social and Emotional
•Communication, Language and
Literacy
•Problem Solving, Reasoning and
Numeracy
•Knowledge and Understanding of
the World
•Creative
•Physical
The EYFS and Creativity
4.1 Play and Exploration
• Learning through Experience
• Adult Involvement
• Dispositions for Learning
4.3 Creativity and Critical Thinking
• Making Connections
• Transforming Understanding
• Sustained Shared Thinking
4.2 Active Learning
• Mental and Physical Involvement
• Decision Making
• Personalised Learning
4.4 – 4.10 Areas of Learning and
Development
Personal, Social and Emotional,
Communication, Language and
Literacy, Problem Solving,
Reasoning and Numeracy ,
Knowledge and Understanding of
the World , Creative , Physical
‘’Children’s creativity must be extended by the provision and offered
support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They must be provided
with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and
feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance,
imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and
technology.’’
[EYFS 2007 Practice Guidance p 104]
Practitioners ensure that children have the opportunity to develop the following
aspects of creativity:• Being Creative – Responding to Experiences, Expressing and
Communicating Ideas
• Exploring Media and Materials
• Creating Music and Dance
• Developing Imagination and Imaginative Play
When am I most creative ?
What is creativity
We have been influenced by Anna Craft s work on - “Big c ”
and “little c” creativity
‘Creativity enables individuals to find routes and paths to
travel...It is a process of conscious invention and describes
the resourcefulness of ordinary people rather than
extraordinary contributors.’
It is about:• thinking along unorthodox lines
• breaking barriers
• using non-traditional approaches to problems.
• making new connections
Through creativity we:• Promote the full range of human
potential
• Explore values and ways of working
• Understand our own and other cultures
• Respond
• Experiment
Why is it important
Through their creativity children:• Express their thoughts
• Think about and create new meanings
• Solve problem and gain mastery
• Gain self esteem
• Create their own view of the world
The creative process
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Curiosity
Exploration
Play
Creativity
The difference between
Representation and Reproduction
How we use the arts to promote all areas
of learning
Personal Social and
Emotional
1.Concentration, staying on
task , problem-solving ,
planning and seeing things
through to completion
2.Representing experiences,
feelings and thoughts .
3Learning to share, interact
and relate to others through
meaningful experiences.
4.The creative processes that
links children with the idea of
creation in world religions.
5 Exposure to the arts helps
children learn about their
own and other cultures
6A sense of self-respect and
valuing of others.
.
Communication , Language
and Literacy
1.Opportunities to speak and
listen , for example when
negotiating roles and sharing
resources
2.Understanding the
elements of music ,such as
rhythm and pitch , from which
develops children's ability to
speak
3.Understanding the process
of representation which
leads to understanding the
symbolic nature of written
language
4.The fine motor skills which
are needed for
writing .
5.The narrative skills
necessary for storytelling ,
Problem Solving, Reasoning
and numeracy
1.understanding patterns in
two and three dimensional
representations which helps
children to identify number
patterns later on
2.concepts of shape, size,
line, and area which they will
use to classify and sort
objects
3.the opportunity to explore
spatial concepts through block
play and other forms of three
dimensional representation
4.the opportunity to explore
measurement in meaning full
contexts while constructing
models and textiles
5.symbolic representation
which introduces children to
the concepts they will need to
record data
Knowledge and Understanding
of the World
1.exposure to a wide range of
materials and their properties
.For example , through using a
wide range of methods for
fastening - sticking , tying nailing
- discovering the most
appropriate method for a
particular task
2.Cause and effect. For instance
, through experimenting with
different ways of balancing
blocks
3.Representations based on
observations of the natural world
which develop an understanding
of life and living process
4.opportunities to cut , fold and
fasten
Problem solving. For example ,
deciding the best media to use to
create a representation
Introducing the children to ICT
in meaning full contexts such as
imaginative play .
Opportunities to reflect on what
children know about their
locality and the wider world. For
instance, through representing
their local environment using a
variety of media
1.sequencing events and objects
.For example, when creating a
pattern on a piece of clay
2.expressing views on attractive
and unattractive features of the
environment
3.exposure to artefacts, dance
and music from a variety of
cultures and times which helps
children to develop a sense of
time and place
4.representation and a sense of
spatial awareness which is
needed in map making
Physical
1.
opportunities to
develop and practise fine motor
skill .For example ,through
cutting, drawing , sculpting,
playing an instrument
2.
gross motor skills .For
instance , through dance and
block play
3.
planning , performing
and practising physical skills,
4.
linking actions and
work with others .For example ,
through dancing together and
working on large construction
5.
exposure to dance
traditions
6.
exploring mood and
feeling using movement
7.
body control ,
balance, co-ordination and poise
Part two
Being a creative practitioner
Who helped or hindered your
creativity ?
The role of the adult
• Our role is to: – create conditions within which children support
children to be creative thinkers
– develop children's creative thinking through our
interactions with them
Creating conditions which inspire
children
• Be aware of the nature and value of creativity and
imagination
• Be aware of the importance of equal opportunities and
the need for equality
• Be honest about personal prejudices and challenge
our own assumptions
• Value each child's representations
• Encourage the children to use adults as a resource
• Communicate with parents and others
• Provide access to artists, crafts people, musicians,
dancers
Developing children’s creativity
through our interactions with them
• offer children secure relationships which allow curiosity
to flourish
• be facilitators
• recognise that the process may be more important than
the product
• value children's self initiated activity
• work alongside children as a partner
• be genuine and honest
Examples from Audit Are there :• Outside spaces that complement the inside space?
• Spaces for storing and displaying a range of equipment
and resources
• Materials organised in ways that encourage children to
combine them in new and creative ways?
• Materials and resources organised in ways the allow the
children to take responsibility for their environment?
Part four :Working with artists and others to
encourage a culture of creativity
Music day
Developing the garden
Using found materials
The tunnel project
Garden Room Project
Conclusion