Nursery World - Close up: taking the children's lead in observations

During my research I took the lead from the children to develop research methods that tuned in particularly to those contexts in which they showed curiosity, concentration, creativity or confidence as communicators. As practitioners, we have to tap into our own and others' creativity to ensure that young children's voices are heard. There has to be time to listen and to watch our children develop and learn.

As practitioners, we have to tap into our own and others' creativity to ensure that young children's voices are heard. There has to be time to listen and to watch our children develop and learn.

Simplicity

There was always an emphasis on simplicity in the contexts in which we observed the children. For one teacher, Christine, this meant giving the children as much time as they needed to explore a tiny 'wild' corner of an asphalted playground. For me, it meant a return to using my simple wooden 'treasure chest', made as a student.

Spontaneity and serendipity

Spontaneous conversations and the serendipity of accidental discovery are, obviously, difficult to capture on tape or video, so we made non-verbatim recordings of such incidents in pocket notebooks or on Post-it notes.

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