A Place Where Children And Teachers Are Viewed As Being Capable Assignment

When I was working as an educator for a preschool in Denmark, I experienced a great deal of freedom due to the fewer regulations, in contrast to Australia. In addition, the Danish curriculum framework argues strongly to keep away from over prescribing what happens in day-to-day programming (Wagner, 2004). As a result, our time was spent engaged with the children rather than ticking off safety checklists, and there were never any pressures to produce a certain amount of documentation or evidence. I was recognised as doing a great job as an educator, perceived as a competent and capable early childhood teacher and as a result I felt far more relaxed and engaged with the children, enhancing learning by building stronger relationships.

An essential part of a childs learning and development is to engage in positive risk taking (Little, 2006). On a cold winters day, we decided to turn the lights off and light candles in our room. I did not feel fearful implementing this experience due to a culture of not being overly cautious. The children learnt the safety issues and were more than capable of showing awareness of themselves in relation to the candles. As a result we created a harmonious and soothing atmosphere in our room. According to Greenfield (2004): without risk taking we do not reach our potential (cited in Little, 2006, p. 3). Not only were the children experiencing freedom to reach their potential, but so was I as an educator.

There is a term in Denmark en god barndom which translates to a good childhood. One aspect of this idea is to allow children to follow their inspirations and take risks (Wagner, 2004). It can be argued that educators restricting childrens play due to excessive fear of risk can be more harmful and can limit children childrens life opportunities (Wyver et al., 2010). There is a belief in Denmark that if adults become nervous around the safety of children, this negativity rubs off, leaving the child feeling unsure and incompetent (Williams-Siefredsen, 2005). This does not mean that safety is not an issue; however pedagogues adapt their attitude to be as safe as necessary rather than being as safe as possible (Mecham, 2010).

A common practice for Danish pedagogues is to take children on outings. Quite often you will see big groups of children marching behind two or three pedagogues roaming the streets of Copenhagen. On one memorable excursion we took the children to the beach. We decided that once at the beach, the children would build sandcastles. We were the only pedagogues at the beach with this limiting idea. We saw so many children with their pedagogues diving into the water and having fun.

Watching 12 children who were no older than three years of age marching behind two pedagogues we did the maths and were shocked with the ratio. However, as international teachers, we felt that the Danes had the ratios more under control than we did with our expat children. After some time we decided to be courageous and allow the children to dip their feet in the water. We planned to take five children at a time to ensure they were adequately supervised. Our idea quickly disappeared as the older children took their clothes off and dived into the refreshing water. So we accepted that we were in Denmark and when in Rome what else does one do? We jumped into the water with the children and all fears and concerns were washed away with enjoyment and fun.

Can these practices and experiences be mirrored in Australia? Is there room not only for children to engage in risky and challenging situations, but also early childhood professionals as well? ACECQAs Guide to the National Quality Standard states plan learning environments with appropriate levels of challenge, where children are encouraged to explore, experiment and take appropriate risks in their learning (ACECQA, 2013, p. 41). In addition, the assessment guide for element 3.1.1 states assessors may observe challenging elements of outdoor and indoor environments that allow for experiences that scaffold childrens learning and development and offer chances for appropriate risk taking (ACECQA, 2013, p. 84). If adults deny children the opportunity to engage in risk taking experiences, then children are excluded from learning about and evaluating risks (Little, 2006).

It is true that, as educators in Australia, our decision making can be influenced by over-emphasised safety regulations (Wyver et al., 2010), however, I believe that we can also be as adventurous as pedagogues in Denmark. When we hold a strong belief that both the children we work with, and we educators, are competent and capable, we are able to take a step back from being overly cautious and take on the Danish perspective of being as safe as necessary rather than as safe as possible.

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