Ownership and autonomy in early learning: The Froebel Research Fellowship project,2002–2015

Abstract

This article provides a brief review of the main phases and findings of the Froebel Research Fellowship project, which has been funded by the Froebel Trust (previously the Incorporated Froebel Educational Institute) since 2002. The project is investigating the extent to which Froebelian ideals, such as the notion that children’s knowledge should grow from within rather than from outside the child, might be met within the demands of contemporary early childhood education and care. We have completed five main phases of the project, and a sixth is currently under way. In Phases 1–3 (2002–5), we investigated the attitudes and practices of practitioners in relation to the development of children’s personal, social and cognitive skills in the curriculum using interviews, observations and questionnaires. In Phases 4a–c (2005–2008), our focus narrowed to the study of children’s creative thinking and to the effects of social relationships upon it: children’s, parents’ and practitioners’ views were investigated in Phases 4a, 4b and 4c, respectively. Phase 5 (2009–2011) retained our emphasis on the differences between children’s, parents’ and practitioners’ views, but focussed primarily on the distinction between play and learning at home and at school. Our shift in focus from the cognitive aspects of creativity in Phases 1–3 to its social dimension in Phases 4 and 5 has now moved towards emotional and motivational issues in Phase 6 (2012–2015), in which we are investigating children’s well-being.