Findings

My questionnaire revealed interesting findings particularly as I was unsure what to expect. I had 9 responses from various levels of staff and all those who agreed to take part did so. Reviewing the data from the Google Form showed some inconsistencies in staffs opinion and knowledge which was to be expected. However some areas stood out clearly.

Just over half of the participants had no Froebelian training either accredited or through other learning ie their HNC. I asked about the Principles in terms of what they could relate to in practice an outlook. Most of the principles were commonly held and the two with more uneven responses were unity and connectedness and creativity and the power of symbols. Looking further into the questionnaire these two areas were seen as less successful in the nursery. In terms of the most successful areas participants saw in the nursery was the central importance of play, knowledgeable and nurturing educators and most agreed that relationships matter was strong too. The key question of how staff training has impacted practice was varied with the majority (just under half) choosing ‘sometimes – there are attempts at embedding the principles but they could be clearer. Two participants felt not at all and four felt to various degrees; yes. I then focused on two areas block play and nurturing self regulation as previous projects. Most agreed block play could be improved, during one feedback with a participant they said they felt it needed more STEM resources but then didn’t know if this was part of the Froebel approach. Opinion was split in how clear and evident the ethos of nurturing self-regulation was with half saying more support was need here. The final question asked if they felt motivated to learn more and how – all said yes with the majority wanting it to be inside training rather than the accredited training.

Another area of research was observation through informal anecdote and perusing floor books to observe the impact on children’s experiences. Floor books in general revealed a lot of weight given to children’s interests, previous experiences and their voice.  The one for the snack area showed how we promote the children’s independence. A lot of preference for creativity and decision making was shown in the art floor book. The outdoors had some evidence of engaging with nature and many experiences based on children’s interest and staff observations. As a whole the floor books demonstrated some alignment to most Froebelein Principles which could be further developed in terms of unity and connectedness and more symbolic representation.

Informal observation of relationships, autonomy and nurturing self regulation showed a strong value in relationships with parents and children in day to day interactions. In some areas autonomy was respected particularly with regard to choices, decision making and independence skills.

Nurturing self regulation has been a previous focus in the nursery. My observations showed plenty of time given to reassuring children and coregulation. I did also observe that there were inconsistencies in terms of how some areas such as risky play were handled. The children have to wear suits to go outside in wet and cold weather however the children are part of the outdoor risk/benefit assessment and will tell us what they need to wear outside.

Finally I saw evidence of development of block play using Froebelian principles as two staff members are undergoing professional development with Dierdre Grogan (Principle Knowledge Exchange Fellow and Research Associate, Strathclyde University) and have the Froebel Trust leaflet for staff to reflect on in developing the block play. The area as result has been moved to a bigger space.

Conclusion

In answering my main question I feel that my research demonstrates there has been some positive impact from our senior staff being Froebel trained and that the areas for development are achievable as staff are willing to take part in some form of professional learning albeit internally.

Clearly there are areas lacking clarity such as autonomy in risky play where staff are not all in tune with each other on how to manage this. As part of any development here we need staff’s concerns to be validated and collective agreement made on our approach to particular areas of play. The principles that lacked clarity, creativity and the power of symbols plus unity and connection require more understanding to enable them to be woven into our general practice.

In moving forward with a Froebelian approach I feel our next step would be to focus on the one physical area we are currently developing and improving and that is the outdoors. Here we would be aiming to promote children’s engagement with nature using Froebel as our guide. I feel that if we are successful here it would act as a “navigational tool” (Tina Bruce 2012:159) in not just developing other areas but in day to day practice.