In Search of the Features of Child Perspectives and Children’s Perspectives in Developmental Pedagogy

Abstract

Developmental pedagogy is an approach to early childhood education based on research, both methodologically as searching for the subjective world of the child, but also as a way to work goal-directed focusing on children’s creation of meaning of different aspects of the world around them. Central features are as follows: to get children to think, reflect, and express themselves; the teachers’ attitude as open minded and trustful to children’s sense-making; and as using variation as a central tool for creating learning opportunities for children. The notion the “playing learning child” also becomes central and has consequences for how play and learning have to be integrated in work with young children. But the most central key question is the crossroad between working goal-directed towards something children should develop an idea about simultaneously as every child should be met in their individual experiences and perspectives.