Key European pedagogue to speak at early childhood conference
Press information from Aspect
Key European pedagogue to speak at early childhood conference
12 June 2009
Professor Dr. Ferre Laevers – who directs the Centre for Experiential Education at the Universiteit Leuven in Belgium – is a key speaker at the 2009 Aspect early childhood education conference.
Lynda Trueman of Aspect’s Early Childhood Education group said: “In experiential education – the pioneering approach developed by the Flemish pedagogue Ferre Laevers ¬– the pace and intensity of mental activity in the child or learner is seen as critical to the effectiveness of the learning environment. The approach sits in the mainstream of continental pedagogic approaches and is distinguished by a powerful emphasis on observational strategies.”
Aspect general secretary John Chowcat said: “The increasing integration of education and children’s services highlights the need for a creative approach to the all-round development of children. The innovative practice featured here increasingly chimes with approaches that the government is considering.”
“The theme of the conference, Capturing Childhood, captures the distinctive flavour of Aspect’s increasingly important event which has become the annual encounter between key innovators in theory and practice.”
The Aspect Early Childhood Education Group Annual Conference: ‘Capturing Childhood’ takes place in Salford on June 26-27, 2009. Go to http://www.aspect.org.uk/
Speakers include Julia Moons, project co-ordinator in the Universiteit Leuven EXE-team, a former pre-school teacher who has pioneered much of the pedagogical practice underpinned by the experiential education school of thought.
Claire Warden was formerly a school teacher and university lecturer in primary education. She champions an approach based on re-connecting children to nature. Her latest book is Nurture Through Nature. She is director of Mindstretchers.
Lesley Staggs is an early childhood consultant and was the first ever national director of the Foundation Stage. She led the work in developing the early learning goals and the curriculum guidance for the foundation stage.
Alistair Bryce-Clegg writes extensively on the foundation stage and has carried out research into boys' learning for the government. As an infant and nursery headteacher in South Manchester his school was a model at Foundation and Key Stage One.
Pat Broadhead is the delightfully titled professor of playful learning in the Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education at Leeds Metropolitan University.
ENDS
Information for editors
1 Ferre Laevers There are two principal methods of observation pioneered by Professor Ferre Laevers . The Child Involvement Scale aims to measure the level of a child’s involvement in an activity. This child-centred approach focuses on processes rather than outcomes. He argues that children experience an intense and highly motivated learning experience when they are most involved in an activity. His theory and practice centres on mobilising strategies to deepen experience. He bases his theories on the understanding that the most productive learning occurs when children are so involved that they lose themselves in it.
His five point involvement scale distinguishes between different levels of involvement ranging from the first level, ‘where a child may seem absent and display no energy, activity is simple, repetitive and passive’, to the fifth level, ‘where a child is concentrated, energetic and persistent with intense activity revealing the greatest involvement’.
2 Conference organiser contact The conference is hosted by Salford local authority lynda.trueman@salford.gov.uk.
