Beyond the Boxes: Planning for Real Knowledge and Live Children

Abstract

Traditional planning formats may be unduly limiting teachers’ work with young children. The familiar planning grids conceived in terms of developmental domains and/or curriculum areas have a tendency to constrain thinking. These ‘boxes’ completed by staff have often become a routine part of planning without contributing to enriching or empowering interactions between children and adults. There is a growing awareness that such recording formats have the potential to overlook that which is worth knowing from the children's perspective. The insights gained from children's questions and the subsequent possibilities of extended investigations need to become visible in the planning cycle. The challenge this raises for early childhood staff is the focus of this paper which examines issues associated with decisions about planning and recording.