Froebelian Principles and Children’s Friendships (2 of 2)
About this episode
In this sixth episode (part 2 of 2) Dr Caron Carter talks to Dr Sacha Powell, Professor Tina Bruce and Dr Stella Louis, reflecting on Froebelian courses and the impact of COVID 19 on children’s friendships.
Guest speakers
Sacha Powell is the Chief Executive Officer of the Froebel Trust – a charity that works across the UK and internationally to promote and advance Froebelian principles in education and learning. The Froebel Trust does this by awarding grants for research and practice development projects and bursaries for professional education; providing free events and resources such as research summaries, practice guides, pamphlets, podcasts and films; supporting professional networks and offering online and in-person training in Froebelian approaches to early childhood education and care. Previously, Sacha was Professor of Early Childhood Care and Care and Director of the multi-disciplinary Research Centre for Children, Families and Communities at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Professor Tina Bruce CBE is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Roehampton where she was Head of the Froebel Nursery Research School and then Director of the Centre for Early Childhood Studies. She studied at the Froebel Educational Institute (which has since become part of the University of Roehampton) at London University and at Manchester University where she trained to work with children with hearing impairments.
She was Coordinator of the Ministerial Early Years Advisory Group (EEAG) for ten years. Her international work includes the USA, (University of Virginia Commonwealth where she was awarded international woman scholar for early childhood education) and Germany, Portugal, Lithuania and New Zealand and Egypt (with British Council) and South Africa.
She has written many books across the years and co-presented the BBC Radio 4 series “Tuning into Children” with Kirsty Wark
Her first book (1987) Early Childhood Education (Hodder & Stoughton) is now in its 5th edition, her latest book 2021 being Friedrich Froebel: A Critical Introduction to Key Themes and Debates (Bloomsbury Academic).
She has edited books, two being award winning with Nursery World, Early Childhood Practice: Froebel Today (2012, Sage) and with co-editors Lynn McNair and Jane Whinnett (2020), Putting Storytelling at the Heart of Early Childhood Practice: A Reflective Guide for Early Years Practitioners. (Routledge).
She is a Vice President of the British Association for Early Childhood Education, Associate Member of the Froebel Trust, and patron of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Nursery World.
Dr Stella Louis is an internationally renowned freelance Early Years consultant, trainer, and author, who has worked with individual nursery settings, parents, nursery schools, local authorities, governments, and charities all over the world.
Originally from South London, Stella began her career as a Nursery Nurse. She is the author of several books including: Understanding Schemas in Young Children; How to Use Work Group Supervision to Improve Early Years Practice and Observing Learning in Early Childhood.
https://tapestry.info/beginners-guides-to.html
Publications and resources
T. Bruce, Y. Nishida, S. Powell, H. Wasmuth and J. Whinnett [Eds.] (2023) Bloomsbury Handbook to Froebel. London: Bloomsbury
M. Cooper, C.T-S. Siu, M. Benson McMullen, J. Rockel and S. Powell (2022) A Multi-Layered Dialogue. Exploring Froebel’s Influence on Pedagogies of Care with 1-year-olds across Four Cultures. Global Education Review, 9(1).
V. Young, K. Goouch and S. Powell (2022) Babysong revisited: communication with babies through song. British Journal of Music Education, 38(3), 273-285.
L.J. McNair and S. Powell (2022) Friedrich Froebel: a path least trodden. Early Child Development and Care, 191(7-8): 1175-1185.
S. Powell (2020) Pedagogical anchors for turbulent times: Montessori, Froebel, Steiner and Pikler. Early Education Journal, 91 (summer 2020), p.3.
S. Powell and K. Goouch (2019) Mother Songs in Daycare for Babies, pp.154-165 in T. Bruce, P. Elfer, S. Powell and L. Werth [Eds.] The Routledge International Handbook of Froebel and Early Childhood Practice.
Gura, P. (ed) (1992) Exploring Learning: Young Children and Blockplay, London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Bruce, T. (ed) (2012) Early Childhood Practice: Froebel Today. London: Sage.
Bruce, T. (2015) Early Childhood Education. (5th edn) London: Hodder Education.
Bruce,T. (2020) Putting Storytelling at the Heart of Early Childhood Practice. London: Routledge.
Bruce, R. (2021) Friedrich Froebel; a Critical Introduction to Key Themes and Debates.
Louis, S (2012) It’s as easy as ABC (and D) South African Kindergartens have been trying out Froebel’s principles, with interesting results? Journal No 66. London. Early Education. Pp. 14-15.
Louis, S (2018) The Far-Reaching Value Of The Short Froebel Courses. Early Years Educator. January.
Louis, S. (2019) – ‘The Froebel Trust work in South Africa 2010-2017’ South Africa Reflections in Bruce, T., Elfer, P., Powell, S., Werth, L., (2019) Routledge International Handbook of Froebel and Early Childhood Practice, London; Routledge.
Louis, S., Bruce, T., and Bruce, I, (2021) Teacher progression in a South African community school in an informal settlement. Impact Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching. P25-28.
Louis , S. (2023).Observing Learning in Early Childhood, London Sage.