Here at be.Living, we believe welcoming is a crucial aspect of the educational process. In Early Childhood Education, we think of welcoming as a work method to be unfolded throughout the year, beyond the first few days of each semester, when new children start school.
“It is essential for the school to constantly focus on the children under this perspective of welcoming, on a daily basis throughout the entire year. We often read, hear and reflect upon the practice of welcoming only when new children start school, but in fact the entire routine of the school, the group, all time and space management, everything should revolve around making the children feel welcome. When the group is created, the routine is established, but even after realizing themselves as part of a group, each child still has very individual and personal processes. Some days they’ll be more tired, others they’ll be not as interested, and their personal experiences at home can also affect their routine at school. That is why it is paramount to reinforce the importance of making sure they feel welcome every day, throughout the year,” said Camila Maia, Early Childhood Education coordinator.
In order to deepen our look in this specific aspect of our work with the little ones, Camila invited her team of teachers to read the book “Diary of the Host School of Childhood”. Written by Gianfranco Staccioli, a professor at Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, of the University of Florence, the book attempts to tear down the notion of Early Childhood Education as a preparatory stage for literacy, proposing a welcoming early childhood school.
According to the coordinator, the idea is to study each chapter throughout the year, reporting and reflecting on the experiences of day-to-day education, based on the relationships of affection and welcoming between children, teachers and families.
“Starting school is indeed an entirely new and challenging experience for children. But there are also many challenges in the regular school routine: relating with others, limits, rules, arrangements, living in a collective environment. Children who, for any reason, aren’t able to keep up with these arrangements, or who somehow don’t keep up with expectations, must always be treated with a welcoming approach. Their behavior may be manifesting feelings and needs, communicating things that they still can’t verbally express, even if they already learned to speak. Depending on the situation, when a child is run over by emotion, they ultimately manifest that emotion through their bodies. So, we must always see through that and make them feel welcome.”
Besides empowering teachers to carry out this work with the children, the purpose of this study is also to promote welcoming among the team itself. “It is very important for teachers to welcome themselves, and for management to welcome the work of the teaching staff, focusing on each and every one of them, respecting their own time and their needs, which are all different. These are moments of sharing, listening and reflecting upon the daily routine of an educational journey that is loving and caring for everyone involved.”
