This proposal is for a 36 month transnational strategic partnership (BRIC) that focuses on the democratic engagement of children under the age of five years using public spaces. The rationale of the project is that young children are often excluded from access or participation in public spaces and that their democratic engagement is not only a right, but also an essential aspect of their identity and education and citizenship. We contend that there is a need to reconsider the use of public spaces to promote young children’s citizenship, through a combination of voice with action that can lead to genuine participation, inclusion and belonging. Whilst the provision of preschool education and care has become well established in many European countries in recent years, one possible impact of the placing of young children in early childhood institutions is that they are less visible to the rest of society and the children have less opportunity to participate in public arenas and spaces. The objectives of BRIC are to enable: • an exchange of ‘good practice’ between preschool teachers in three countries; • systematic education and training around democratic engagement in public spaces; • the development of open educational resources and targeted activities to engage early childhood professionals, parents, the local community and key stakeholders, including local politicians and representatives from business. The BRIC project will involve 6 preschool teachers who will lead the project with 60 teachers in each of the following three countries; England, Italy and Sweden (total of 180 preschool teachers and approximately 750 families). Key stakeholders such as parents, local politicians and business people will also be invited to participate in the project. It is anticipated that this group will involve around 30 people in each country (total of 90). A systematic and progressive programme of civic engagement is planned, starting from the dialogue between children, preschool teachers and parents in three countries (Italy, Sweden and the UK). The BRIC activities involve the following: • Set up Activities – to include training in Participatory Action Research (PAR) • Orientation and initial activities in Preschools • Focus group documentation exchange and reflection • Local and transnational exchange, documentation and reflection • Forums and national conferences • A range of dissemination activities including webinars and wider dissemination through the project website and social media • An International Conference The overarching design of the project is participatory action research (PAR) with children and preschool teachers. PAR involves working with children and preschool teachers to define an aspect for improvement (use of public space), design a change to address the issue and evaluate the success of the change. In particular, the ‘poly-vocal’ method (Tobin, Wu and Davidson 1989; Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa 2009) will be used in order to elicit children’s and practitioners’ perspectives using video film to record discussion, reflection and documentation about the public spaces. This visual data will then be shared between practitioners in each country and then between the three countries to enable deeper reflection and understanding. It is intended that dialogue, reflection and documentation undertaken by preschool teachers, informed by regional and national dissemination and participation in transnational exchange will impact on practice in preschools and enhance civic engagement. The results of the BRIC model will therefore inform pedagogy and professional development in the field of early childhood education through: • the establishment of Permanent Open Forums • maintenance of the website • conference presentations • evolving practice in preschools • a project Documentation Centre • the production of Case studies and pedagogical documentation for use for reflection by practitioners. These will be in the form of video and written vignettes published online and in hard copy. • publications at local, regional and international level. BRIC will forge crucial links between children, practitioners and policy makers, offering the potential for significant benefits to the civic engagement of young children and the transformation of practice in early childhood education. Practitioners will increase their knowledge and skills through participation in webinars and workshops and attendance at conferences, increasing their appreciation of the advantages of evidence based practice, and greater knowledge of the impact of the significance of young children’s democratic involvement in public spaces. Through participation in the project and democratic engagement in public spaces young children will enhance their sense of citizenship, identity and belonging. A pilot of the BRIC project has been completed (see www.bricproject.org).
The ‘Young Children, Public Spaces and Democracy’ project (BRIC) involved the democratic engagement of young children (under five years) in public spaces in their communities in England, Italy and Sweden. The rationale for the project is that young children are often excluded from access or participation in public spaces and that their democratic engagement is not only a right, but also an essential aspect of their identity, education and citizenship. The BRIC project is a partnership between Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK (ARU), Azienda Speciale Servizi in Bassa Reggiana, Italy (ASBR) and Barnpedagogiskt Forum, Goteborg, Sweden (BPF). The BRIC acronym is derived from the names of the partners. The objectives of BRIC are to enable: a) an exchange of ‘good practice’ between preschool teachers in three countries; b) systematic education and training around democratic engagement in public spaces; c) the development of open educational resources and targeted activities to engage early childhood professionals, parents, the local community and key stakeholders, including local politicians and representatives from business. The BRIC project involved a minimum of six preschools in each of the three countries (Italy, Sweden and England) where a lead preschool teacher coordinated a systematic and progressive programme of civic engagement, starting from the dialogue between children, preschool teachers and parents. Key stakeholders such as parents, local politicians and business people are also invited to participate in the project. Civic engagement was organized around regular visits to three specific ‘Focus Spaces’: i) a pavement, footpath, or equivalent); ii) an indoor space (such as a library, but not a preschool); and, a green outdoor space (such as a park or woodland). These activities took place firstly with children aged 3 – 5 years and secondly with children aged two years and under. The visits and experiences involving the ‘Focus Spaces’ were also documented and reflected on by the participants (Case Studies) and disseminated to preschools, parents, local communities and politicians through a series of Public Forums. In addition, systematic Teaching, Training and Learning Activities for the participating teachers were organized through a regular series of Transnational Exchanges in each of the participating countries. Further, an international conference to disseminate the BRIC project to a wide audience was held in Goteborg, Sweden in June 2017. Overall, the BRIC project has shown that: i. It is possible to promote holistic development and democracy starting with early childhood. ii. Systematic education and training around democratic engagement of children in public spaces is both desirable and highly valuable for the preschool teachers’ continuing professional development - leading to deeper reflection and understanding. iii. By using public spaces as educational arena, it is possible to provide good education with or without infrastructure and involve the whole community. iv. Both young children and older people benefit from regular interaction in public spaces. The impact of BRIC in the communities involved has been to facilitate greater awareness and integration of preschool education, as evidenced by the highly positive feedback and comments about the project recorded at all public forums and the BRIC international conference. During the BRIC project the ‘voices’, thoughts and impressions of the children, preschool teachers, families and communities involved have helped us build a more profound sense of belonging to the places we live in. A significant part of this process is the ‘traces’ that are left when children and adults visit public spaces. Through continued dialogue and reflection around action in public spaces BRIC preschool teachers have acknowledged that their practice has developed to include a wider community based conception of pedagogy. The BRIC approach has become an integral part of the activities of each of the participating preschools and their networks. The project will be sustained through established BRIC preschool teachers’ networks, Permanent Open Forums in each participating country, open public access to the BRIC website (www.bricproject.org) and a Documentation Centre hosted on the website. Due to the perceived success of the project the partner organizations also intend to bid for further funds to continue the work of BRIC.