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Some first steps...
Discover Froebel
Want to know more about Friedrich Froebel, pioneer of the kindergarten movement? Check out his key principles below, read our beginner’s guide, or dip straight into contemporary blogs and videos from our international team.
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Go deeper. Our courses are aimed at early years practitioners of all levels. They emphasise child-led play, children’s rights and systemic change – and are the heartbeat of our Froebelian community. Some are practical, some academic. Find out more and get started today.
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Looking to connect with fellow practitioners who share your interests? Discover simple, practical provocations for your setting via our practitioner-created Inspiration Directory – and learn more about Froebelians near you through our interactive network map.
Frobelian principles
Slide 1
Unity and connectedness
Young children learn in a holistic way as whole beings whose thoughts, feelings and actions are interrelated. Learning should never be predefined into compartmentalised goals or narrow boundaries. Froebel’s key principle was “freedom with guidance”. He believed everything in the universe is connected. The more we foster this awareness in children, the deeper their understanding of self, others, nature and the wider world.
Great harm is done if, within the… formative years, such sharp divisions and contrasts are made that their sequence and connection, their living core, are forgotten. (Froebel, 1826)
Slide 2
Autonomous learners
Each child is unique and what they do, rather than what they cannot do, is where real life and learning begin. Indeed, children learn best by doing things for themselves. In this way they become more aware of their own gifts, needs and aspirations. By noticing and valuing these, the adult can support self-reflection, a key feature of a Froebelian education.
It is of course easier for them to have an answer given by someone else but it is far more valuable and stimulating for them to find it out for themselves… [so] we should rather put them in the way of finding answers… (Froebel, 1830s)
Slide 3
The value of childhood in its own right
Childhood is not merely a preparation for adulthood or for the next stage in learning. By focussing on achieving a pre-defined set of benchmarks for progression, we risk devaluing children’s lives and gifts in the here and now. Learning begins at birth and continues throughout life.
[Children] have a certain spontaneous insight and judgement, an immediate response, which is for that very reason all the more likely to be right. (Froebel, 1830s)
Slide 4
Find out more
Read more about Froebel’s principles, based on Professor Tina Bruce’s classification, and find links to a wide range of readings at The Froebel Trust website.
You will also find information here about grants to support practitioners and researchers undertaking Froebelian work and study.
The young child twists and turns [the object], picks it to pieces of tries to bite it. We shout at him and say he is clumsy, but he is much wiser than we are. He is driven to know what the object is really like...
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