Our Planet

Text : Takuto Kashiwagi

During the self-restraint period due to COVID-19 prevention, thanks to the great support by parents and guardians, we were able to decrease the number of child educators than usual. Under such circumstances, it was not just within children that inter-class interactions happened; it was also we, class educators that were blessed with very special opportunities to collaborate with educators from other classes.

From such collaboration, I see that below four features are forming.

 

1.Child educators could discover many sides of a child

In the scenes of childcare, child educators build relationship with children by interacting with them. And when we do, we consider their characteristics, and how the other members of child educators interact with them, however; in a longer term, the characteristics of the particular child educator and their ways and perceptions greatly impact the relationship itself. Children know their child educator very well, and each of them tend to represent different versions of themselves depending on who they are with. In an extreme case, for instance, when there are two members of educators in class, we are able to see two different versions of that one particular child.
From this point of view, we can state that the more numbers of adults children interact with, the more diversity we see in them as we get to discover more sides of them. As a child educator, who always wish to know about a child as comprehensively as possible, such change in our work environment makes us feel fortunate and happy.

2.Child educators can broaden their ways of interaction with children

By studying how other child educators communicate with children, child educators can regularly update their own ways of interaction with children. In such world of child education where there are no “correct” ways of interaction with children, child educators could best educate themselves by encountering a diverse way of communication.

 

3.Children can broaden their view of the world

Similarly to the previous paragraph, children can also broaden their view of the world by spending time with a diverse adults. I believe that whether it be adults or children, it is no different that we could all realise the existence of a new world and new self by encountering new people.

 

4.A new culture formed in the community 

Childcare is all about teamwork. Child educators communicate with each other to go hand in hand (at many times this is practised nonverbally) and search for the most adequate decision for both children and adults on the spot. Therefore, when the structure of the team varies there could be various decisions made, resulting diversity in children’s experiences.

When the structure of the class team is fixed, the relationship between the members of the team become fixed too before we realise. However when the team structure is altered, the way the team do reflection changes, and there will be fusion of different viewpoints. Discussions such as “this worked well” and “that was challenging” will take place based on a brand new perspective that one have never had the chance to encounter before. And by having each child educators take action bearing such shared perspectives in mind, it seems as though the atmosphere of the whole community at Yamanoko has been transforming, too. I have a feeling that such establishment of new team will become the starting point of the formation of brand new culture, and eventually impact the way Yamanoko Childcare Center is as a whole.

So that was the outlook on what changes have been taking place through initiation of “maze koze group” (or multi-age mix  group) activities at Yamanoko Sorai from the child educator’s point of view. I believe that creating system that lets us work on childcare with lots of freedom, eager to explore and play by looking into the points I explained in the previous paragraphs and not get too used to the fixed relationship, or in other words, comfort zone.