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created on 10/03/04 11:52

Reflections on a study visit to Reggio Emilia from 5x5x5 members

In October 2003 six members from the 5x5x5= Creativity in the Early Years project in
Bath & North East Somerset attended the Study Tour in Reggio Emilia. They were
among 250 delegates from across the world. The programme included talks and visits to
both Infant-Toddler and Preschool settings.
Back in the UK at the launch of our local ReFocus group, affiliated to SightLines
Initiative, all six gave a short talk focussing on, what was for them personally, an
important aspect of the visit. Liz considered the role of the educator, Deborah explored
the concept of the atelierista and culture, Ed asked can freedom be organised and
creativity planned? Sue was interested in documentation and reaching parents, Tess
described the role of the atelierista which she observed and Philippa reflected on the
issue of culture.
The order of these reflections is not significant.

What is the role of the educator?

Liz Elders- nursery teacher

Our various experiences throughout the week in Reggio provoked a great deal of
reflection and debate. It was hard to choose one strand of that experience to focus on,
but a key question for me was: “What is the role of the educator (or any adult in the
classroom/nursery)?”

On our last morning in Reggio I attended a presentation by one infant/toddler centre of a

recent progettazione (a type of flexible planning which adapts to the needs and interests
of the children). The strands came together into what I described to Robin Duckett as a
‘web in my head’ – a 3-dimensional web.

I’m going to tell part of the story of the project in the hope that I can convey some of the
complexity, reflections, excitement and curiosities of the teachers, artists and
pedagogistas in this project, and to highlight what for me are the key strands in the web
of thinking about my role as an educator.

I think it would be helpful to ponder, as you read the story; “Where does the teacher
stand in relation to the children – is it in front, behind or beside?”

The progettazione was called the ‘City in Waiting’ – waiting in Italian also means the
unexpected. All the settings in Reggio took part in the project from November to May, in
three locations of the town, (2 streets and the central park), which culminated in Remida
Day (Remida is a centre offering recycled materials; the Remida Day was a celebration
for the whole town to participate in).

The project was about the children’s encounters with the place and their transformation
of it. They wanted to provoke the adults of the town to take a different view of the
children - from the youngest infants to the 5 and 6 year olds - and to highlight their
thoughts and feelings.
The first stage of the project was professional development with all the settings together.
The decision was taken at this stage to make the processes of learning central to the
project.
This particular infant-toddler centre set about discussing how their children might
encounter this place - the central park.

“What will our children bring to this place?

What will they stop and look at?
What will their hands do?
How will they be together?
How will we interpret it?
How will we support their different encounters?
How will we make these visible?”

How do we follow the children’s lines of enquiries and still retain the intentions of enquiry
of the adults?

They visited the park in small groups, with their teachers who observed, recorded and
documented. The park became their laboratory their place of research. The children
gave it identity, significance – “look our shadows came too”. They explored the sensory
aspects, touching and hugging trees, exploring and testing sounds, examining natural
and architectural elements. The children took their time. The adults adopted the
timeframe of the children.

The adults observed the children’s actions back in the centre. They took time to reflect,
to ask more questions. All children touch trees, draw, but how do we give value to these
gestures and marks, how do we interpret them? They wanted to communicate the
children’s views, give them respect, integrity. Give value to their thoughts and feelings.

They revisited the park: the children tested the sounds of the metal bins and trees with
stones and sticks, making a sound map of the park. The adults recorded their sound
experiments, on their next visit. They sought out suitable materials, to take back to the
setting, and then relaunched the children’s own ideas back to them, setting up sound
experiments back at the centre.

They went back to the park again. They observed the children working on benches,
sorting sticks, stones, pine cones, leaves; carting their treasures backwards and
forwards. The materials had an aesthetic quality for the children and they began making
compositions, dedicated to the birds.
“I made a tree for the birds. Come little birds. See how beautiful it is. Come little
blackbirds with white noses.”
“ Benches have legs like tables. Waiting for the children to make them beautiful.”
They began researching these compositions (teacher as researcher). If children of 2yrs
6 months were doing this, what were the pre-compositions, what did children of 9
months or 18 months do? They set up a dialogue with colleagues in other centres about
it (creative learning communities). On further visits they noticed for the first time how the
younger children made pre-compositions, such as placing two daisies on a leaf.

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They took time to observe, to notice where they came from and then asked themselves
how they could support them. This noticing of small things, of how small things grow if
recognised and supported, is at the heart of the pedagogy of listening.

They looked at the processes of learning, making them central to the project and their
research (their lines of enquiry) and through the pedagogy of listening, they supported
the children’s lines of enquiry as well as their own.

Back at the park they notice how all the children are fascinated by the gravel pathway.
They crawl along it, run along it, draw on it with sticks, brush away the stones to expose
the earth.
Matteo: “ I want to make a road out of the earth. No I want to make a path for the
train…I’m going to put sticks on it. We need sticks for lines.”

They discuss ideas for Remida Day. They like the idea of the road; it contains in it the
interaction of the youngest children as the older ones, their collection of natural
materials and their compositions. If they make a road with the children for Remida Day it
will make the adults look at the ground as the children do.

The adults hold a dialogue with the children, proposing and negotiating the idea of the
road. The road will have to be made in sections in the atelier. They discuss with the
children what materials to use, collect them and turn the atelier into something
resembling a building site. They find a place to research materials which will be soft and
fluid, can be poured into moulds where children can make their compositions, and that
will set. They experimented with trays of sand, plaster, clay and cement. The children,
working in pairs, took their time to select their materials, experiment, compose and
make their section of the road.

On Remida Day the road sections were laid out along the pathway of the park for the
city in waiting, to encounter the unexpected. The children’s encounters and
transformations of the place had been made visible (making learning visible).

What I see in this story, this shared experience, this web, is a picture of the educator as
learner and educator as researcher. For us to become learners standing beside the
children we have to break down the power relations between adults and children.

Carla Rinaldi said: ‘We can’t teach unless we also learn’. The role of the educator for me
is best described by one young teacher from an infant-toddler centre (in the video ‘Not
just any Place’) “I believe our work is to stand beside the children, not in front of them, or
behind them, but at their side and to accompany the children in their discoveries about
life and the world. To highlight their differences and their subjectivities trying to give
value to their thoughts, their ideas and their theories.”

I came away from Reggio with a very clear image of ‘the educator as researcher’, of the
necessity to work in collaboration with artists. Our 5x5x5 strapline is ‘researching
children researching the world’ and that is the idea we must hang on to. But we also aim
to make the children’s learning, and our own, visible.

What is unique about our project, here in the UK, is the involvement of the cultural
centre and for me last year it became clear how crucial the role of the curator of a

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cultural centre was in helping us to make that learning visible. That’s something that we
in our triangle will continue to research. We have a unique opportunity in this project
thanks to the vision of Mary and Penny to bring those elements together and make them
work for us. I came away from Reggio feeling very privileged to have been there and
very privileged to be coming back to Bath to 5x5x5.

The Reggio Experience.

Deborah Jones - artist

In the presentations given to us by the Friends of Reggio Children they were describing
and displaying a position in relation to culture and democracy. It was a position of full
participation – saying that all of us can – and do – shape the society we live in and even
if we think of ourselves as, for example, simply consuming what others have produced
we are making choices. Passivity in not an option – we all make culture; we're all active.

Culture and politics were intertwined; when they put the 'Town in waiting' project work
into the city for a day it wasn't only for the aesthetic pleasure of passers-by, it was a
strategic civic engagement – to do with visibility, voice, confrontation even.

They described their processes, wherein they are continuously questioning

representation, asking themselves:
- what are we doing and how shall we make it visible to ourselves?
- how shall we show it to others and what will that mean?

I found all of this exciting. Radical. It connected strongly with aspects of my practice.

And the streets were very beautiful,

and the coffee was more than delicious…

So it was odd when I found, on the 2nd day, that I was feeling a bit restless and out of
place. In trying to figure out why, I realised that the language and terms of reference
being used by the speakers and delegates was entirely the language of education and
pedagogy. I'm fairly used to this, as an artist who works outside of a gallery system,
engaging frequently with communities and organisations who have their own language
and set of references. But because of what I'd understood about the Reggio experience
and because of what we'd done in 5x5x5 I was expecting to hear more about the role of
the artist and…

…but that was the thing. In the Reggio Emilia experience they don’t use the word 'artist',
they use the word 'atelierista'.

What's the difference?

I asked the question; we asked the question, and discussed it between ourselves. We
asked more questions and did a bit of detective work.

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 And the misty orchards were beautiful,
and the local cheese was extraordinary…

A few things were revealed. Of course this is my understanding, not the truth – it shows
you my positions and how I saw something.
An atelierista is someone who has material, practical skills and an engagement with
aesthetics. They work with the children to explore the world through non word-based
languages with different mediums, different sensibilities. And they also play an important
part in the representation of inquiries to the outside world – to the parents and the
broader community.

They usually are not artists with some years of their own practice that is ongoing
alongside their work with the children.

Their integration within the teaching setting they're based in is total. I asked a teacher
on one visit about what it was in particular that the atelierista brought to their inquiries,
their work. She described an inter-changeability between them – it seems that the
atelierista, then, is closer to our idea of an arts teacher than an artist.

As we rooted around the artist/atelierista question we did not get direct answers from
the organisers. In part, this was their chosen strategy – delegates we were not given
answers to the 'how do we do this…' questions, but encouraged to see and discover
things about the Reggio experience within its context.

The philosophical ideas held by the organisers about identity could also have
contributed to their lack of directness around the question of artists' involvement. They
talked about 'subjectivity', saying that an individual's identity exists only in relation to
others - as part of a group or community. This could be at odds with a traditional genius-
model of an artist. The idea (or myth) of an artist as an individual who is outside of
society would directly conflict with the Reggio focus on discovery through continuous
dialogue.

And the clothes shops were beautiful,

and the pastries were mouth-watering…

In the UK we have a strong tradition – dating from the 70's– of community and
participatory arts. It's based on a rigorous, radical philosophy that's politically engaged –
committed to cultural democracy, equality of voice – manifesting and exploring social
contexts, getting stuck in there and producing work of quality and real everyday
meaning.

I had forgotten – again – that this tradition is fairly specific to the UK and what we have
with 5x5x5 is collaborations between children, educators and participatory artists for
whom social engagement is a normal – indeed central – part of our ongoing practice.
Often, what I don't know I can't see, let alone talk about – so maybe the people in
Reggio were evasive around our questions because they don't have a tradition of
participatory arts.

Their stone lions were beautiful,

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 and their rosemary potatoes were fantastic…

It wasn't just me. Most of the delegates were being continuously knocked out by the
beauty of the city and the settings. The organisers told us to examine this beauty and
ask ourselves if it came from underlying values.

So what underlying values are revealed by the culture I returned to? (This is Bristol, not
Bath.) A slightly grubby, ragged place with a raw disobedience and pretend cobble-
stones in the city centre…
The participatory artist – along with the graffiti artist, the d.j., the street-party organiser,
the animation artist – does not consider aesthetics to be simply about beauty. I think we
feel aesthetics is about ugliness too… and humour, and messy inconsistencies. A lot of
the most successful culture we have is informal.

Two things, then, that we have in our situation which mix well with the Reggio
experience – participatory artists and a freedom from the tyranny of good taste - a
culture that allows informal cultural expressions to blossom – including the messy and
inconvenient ones.

And Park Street's quite cool…

and muffins are comforting…

Can Freedom be Organised and Creativity Planned?

Ed Harker – nursery teacher

I am interested in this question as my job is organising and planning a learning

environment and experiences for 60 nursery children every day.

Over the years I have been teaching I have become more interested in the advantages
for both staff and children in developing greater freedom in the way the nursery runs.
Greater freedom allows greater flexibility for staff to respond to the children, allows the
nursery to reflect the children's interests as we get to know the children better through
watching what they are interested in during free flow play.

Along with this is a growing awareness of the importance of allowing and encouraging
creative learning. By this I mean the exploring of novel and personal approaches to
problems and situations.

So my professional life is spent working with colleagues and children to constantly

modify and refine systems of organisation and our planned curriculum to better serve
these two goals: freedom and creativity.

There is a tension and a perceived conflict between freedom and creativity on the one
hand and planning and organisation on the other. But this is partly due to a
misconception about creativity (as being the preserve of rare, disorganised, brilliant,
artistic people) and a lack of clarity about the nature of true freedom (as being able to
exist independent of any structure as some form of benevolent chaos).

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 The issues involved in this question came into much sharper focus when we started
working in the 5x5x5 project last year. How much organisation and planning are needed
to support freedom and creativity without stifling them?

The whole nature of adult 'interventions and provocations' within the children's play was
a vital area to puzzle over. It soon became clear that the whole set-up in school was one
enormous intervention: the whole situation is artificial, designed and planned.

The adult framing for the children's experiences was so incredibly pervasive that it was
often invisible! A non-exhaustive list of ways that we plan and organise in our settings
could include:
• how we group the children
• our session timetable
• staffing arrangements
• our weekly timetable
• our half termly plans
• our overall plan for the changing year
• the resources we make available to the children
• the ways we allow the children to combine the resources
• the separate spaces we create within the environment
• the language we use with the children
• our expectations for behaviour
• our habits of relating to the children and the ways we observe and respond to the
children's learning
• the place given to parents within the setting
• the opportunities we provide for children to use 'one hundred languages', and not just
what one Reggio speaker called 'blah, blah, blah, continuo' - that is the spoken and
written word.

Almost all the above are inescapable issues if you are running an early years setting
and even by ignoring them you are inadvertently organising and planning. So, where to
now? How do we decide how much to plan and organise and in what way?

Of course the question I've posed is only an apparent contradiction. It is only a paradox
if you do not have a clear set of guidelines or principles to base your decisions, or lack
of decisions on.

This is what became very clear during the visit to Reggio Emilia. It was the strong
commitment to a set of values that had been arrived at through dialogue, that allowed
the Reggio staff to have a very assured mix of organisation and flexibility that supported
both freedom and creativity.

They were incredibly AWARE of all the issues arising from all the organisational and
planning decisions they were making. They could talk at ENORMOUS length about any
of them in great depth and always referring to certain key values that they held. They
were very comfortable with the organisational decisions they made and saw
organisation as something that gives reality to ideas. One of the pedagogistas said
'strong organisation maintains the freedom of the practise' and that 'the challenge is to
turn principles into everyday teaching practices'.

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So the first challenge is to establish your principles and values. In our 5x5x5 project
triangle last year, we often effectively paralysed our decision-making through an over-
sensitivity to the notion of 'interventions'. It is now clearer that we cannot help but
intervene and so need to concentrate on being clear about the motives behind our
interventions rather than whether to get involved or not.

So, what are your values and principles? Of course, your principles and values will arise
from your experiences. It is a circular dynamic process but the importance of circularity
was one of the frequent themes that arose in Reggio. That, and the importance of
discovering good questions rather than good answers. As Carla Rinaldi said 'questions
are in search of meaning, not answers', and so I am very happy if I have completely
failed to answer the question I have posed.

Do we welcome others to ‘see through’ what we are learning?

Sue Adams – deputy headteacher

This was a quote from one of the talks by Amelia Gambetti, and I chose it because I
interpret it to refer to parents and documentation, which is the topic of my talk. The
question could also be interpreted as ‘how do we make learning visible for parents?’

In Reggio Emilia, the parents are crucial, they built and managed the first preschools
and still have a central role in the current Preschools and Infant Toddler Centres. Some
of the schools are actually managed by a group of parents who take responsibility for
organising the education of the children, using premises provided by the municipality.
The majority of the schools managed by the Instituzione encourage parents to be aware
of how the finances are spent, which processes and events take place, what they can
raise money for and essentially – what their child is interested in, motivated to learn
about, what they are thinking, feeling and experiencing.
Staff actively seek to share the school’s values with the parents and to discover what
the parents’ views are – what do they think their children need? This shared vision
between staff, parents and children does not just exist somewhere written down in a
mission statement but exists more physically within the schools embodied in all the
activities and decisions made.

Reggio parents are:

• encouraged to listen to their children and to give importance to the words their
children say.
• to share their thoughts about their children’s learning.
• involved in the choosing of activities and provocations which take place in the
schools.

The schools promote equal relationships between staff, children and parents. The
school constructs relationships with parents based on the shared values. It is a place to
transmit, discuss, create and challenge values, by the children, teachers and parents.

Documentation

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Documentation highlights and gives value to the processes which the children use to
learn. It makes visible the children’s experiences.
Documentation comprises photographs, adult scribing of child’s actions, thoughts, ideas,
feelings. It follows progettazione through and is often presented as a Daily Diary which
builds up over the week. The children can then take the diary home in turns to talk to
their family about the experiences that week. Notes are made throughout the morning
and staff use them to pull out threads and interpret the children’s explorations. From
their discussions they develop a ‘compass’ to help children’s choices. Documentation
helps make a memory for the children, it is subjective, a point of view. It is not a product
rather it records thoughts and actions, it is the soul of the project. The observation
carried out is not intrusive and just becomes the natural activity of the staff.

The Documentation Centre in the town is an archive, a resource centre. It holds all the
records of progettazione, children’s work, observations, posters of exhibitions, published
books, videos, photographs, going back to the earliest days of all the Reggio
Preschools. It is used as a reference point for teachers, parents, other staff and for
international visitors.

Sue looked forward to the staff at her school developing documentation skills, managing
time to make it possible and to sharing documentation with the parents.

What is the artist’s contribution in terms of the Reggio Emilia experience?

Tess Richardson Jones – artist

For the purposes of this presentation I have decided to focus on one particular pre-
school – Allende, the atelierista, Stefano and his atelier.

There was an air of calmness and orderliness as I entered the atelier, it was like a
beautiful museum filled with bones, fossils, rocks, sticks, feathers, a preserved
dragonfly, beetles and all sorts of unusual artefacts -like a wonderful exploratory, waiting
to be discovered. Stefano’s identity was clear to see, his fascination with the natural
world was obviously shared with the children. Even the parents were regular
contributors to the ever-growing collection – a wasp’s nest being the latest addition.

The children were able to establish their identity through their explorations of the atelier,
they were being encouraged to examine everything, using all their senses. There were
moveable trollies upon which were placed an extensive array of natural materials of
different colours, textures and smells. Two small boys arrived carrying a large abstract
pencil drawing, Stephano placed a tray of the same dimensions beside the boys. The
drawing was then reinvented using a variety of natural materials. The boys discussed
with Stephano how to fill the spaces between the lines which by now had been
translated into pieces of reed. They worked together making considered choices from all
the options available to them – rosemary, cinnamon sticks, rose petals, nuts, coffee
beans, seeds – Stephano sat quietly, observing, documenting and taking occasional
photographs. He encouraged the children to use all their senses in order to talk about
smells, textures, colours, making suggestions to support their investigations. ‘How many
colours can you see? Which smells do you prefer? ‘All the time extending their learning.

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I became aware of the quality of the questions posed and their value in relation to the
process of learning. All the time the children worked collaboratively making considered
choices as they filled the spaces. Stephano was provoking the boys to smell the coffee
beans and taste the seeds. The pedagogista arrived whereupon the boys completed the
creation was looked at by all from every possible angle, they were delighted to see their
labours being appreciated, and satisfied with their work, they left the atelier smiling. The
morning was at an end and it was time for an open question session for the study tour
visitors.

Question 1: ‘How do you decide on a project?’

Stephano. ‘Well, the educators have an idea of what they are working on. We are not
working from a blank canvas.’

Question 2: ‘How do you extend the project?’

Stephano: ‘By asking lots of questions we can make an hypothesis, for example – how
many smells do they know? We pose questions, its not a matter of - I want the children
to do this or that. Look for the passage of knowledge in the child. If the child says I can
see the smell comes from the holes in the leaf ask: ‘How can we identify the holes?’ The
child may respond …’I could look under the microscope, I could use a magnifying glass.’
I must use my questions to guarantee the possibility of further examination. I must
provoke them into further investigation, into a state of interest.’

Question 3: ‘Is this how you usually work in the atelier?’

Stephano: No, some activities are more directed like … ‘please draw your face’, so that
we can expand their knowledge of the human body. Going back to the leaf, its not about
us cutting it up, dipping it in hot water, squeezing it, making tea with it, its about
following the children’s investigations. It might be exploring certain qualities of particular
materials and working with them or it might be free work in the atelier.

Question 4: ‘What constitutes a project?’

Stephano: ‘Hmmm a project is a very complex thing …it can be very short or long
according to what it is. Everyone participates at different levels. All the children and
adults are involved in the meaning of the project and the expectations of the experience
… the whole day is a project, its not one single activity that is important.’

Question 5: ‘The children’s attention span seems very long, do they arrive like this?’
Stephano: Here there are many possibilities and diversity, there’s always something
spectacular on offer. The children’s attention span develops over time, although we
have noticed that there’s more TV on offer at home and this means that the children
come here and just want to run and play so its more difficult to get them to focus.

I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the staff and interpreters at the preschools.
They were all so willing to share their wealth of knowledge.

I’m home and my mind still buzzing eager to share my enthusiasm and impressions of
Reggio with anyone and everyone. Reflecting on my experience and how it will impact
on the Fellowship* I realise I’m going to be very busy, so here are a few of my points
from the ‘where to go from here list’:
• Try to create opportunities for parents to participate

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 • Keep communication alive
• Always be willing to reconsider my point of view
• Develop my skills of reciprocity, giving back ideas to the children in a different
form to sustain their ideas and add value to them
• And to see that there is possibility and inspiration all around us.

* Tess has a 5x5x5 research fellowship lasting 2 years.

What is culture? How do we value it?

Philippa Forsey – mentor

One lasting impact from the trip to Reggio Emilia and participation in the debates about
education, was the importance placed on the value of culture and how it is created.

We are surrounded by culture here at home. In Italy we imbibed its subtle differences;
the medieval architecture, the markets in the piazza, the well-dressed people, the coffee
shop air. I felt I had to review how culture impacts on education. Provoked by stimulating
seminars, we discovered that in the schools of Reggio Emilia their starting point was
their culture and the importance of values.

In Reggio Emilia they talk about 'creating culture'. Debate is generated amongst
educators, atelieristas, parents, children and pedagogistas. They constantly question
what is around them in their daily lives, through their eyes, ears, touch, taste, smells,
impressions. This debate gives them the courage to look deeply, to challenge accepted
ways of thinking, to practice listening and thinking together. It affects and informs their
educational practice and links them with the communities around them.

This culture of questioning which supports the potential of the child, is one the main
values often debated in Reggio Emilia. The schools support the potential of the child,
not through repetition, but through enquiry and discovery. The schools are not about
consuming knowledge but about enquiring into the nature of their world, challenging
ideas, boundaries, limits and separations. 'All literature extols the brilliance of children,
but to go from theory to reality, this is the educators’ interesting work', they said. With
new approaches to education it is possible to respect children’s rights and learn to listen
to their ideas.

This approach inspired us to ask questions and consider our values and culture with the
children and our communities. The persistent questioning about how to involve parents
and link into the community was inspiring. Connections between the school and the
parents are highly valued. This relationship with families is also seen as an essential
cultural association. The parents are seen as a valuable resource who can bring so
much to the school in their knowledge of their child and in their own life experiences.
The challenge is to find a variety of opportunities to involve parents in the school. It was
heartening to know that in Reggio Emilia they also often struggle with indifference. Their
experience showed that when parents understand that they count and that they are
valued, something comes back. Parents can then stand at the side of their children.
Combined with the work the educators do, this relationship enriches the children’s
potential.

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How can we encourage support and develop this in UK? Maybe meetings once a month
to share the children’s learning, sharing celebrations, study seminars for parents and
teachers, involve parents in part of the discussions, and in the management of the
resources. It would mean thinking of strategies and different opportunities, and also
involving parents in how to motivate others to engage in the school’s activities. It’s about
children, parents, teachers and valuing this participation as part of our culture.

The schools in Reggio Emilia look for, and find, cultural activities, such as visiting the
town. This activity in itself provokes the community to notice the children, ‘that children
have rights, that children bring culture and that children can bring a higher level of
community.’ In these visits the children may link up with a cultural centre (as in the
5x5x5 project) a theatre, for example, or maybe a pizza restaurant, a street in the town -
things that are meaningful in their lives. In so doing they are connecting to history and
building on their visual and sensory literacy. The visits outside have a sense of purpose
although the outcome of the learning is not known in advance.
The teachers, atelieristas, pedegogistas, parents and children discuss the visits at
length: what day to go, how to prepare, what might happen, how they view
independence, would they walk close to the children or let them walk freely, will they be
in small groups or large groups?

Adults are co-learners with the children, a change in perspective that generates learning
and receptivity to children. The children see possibilities, and different ways of going
down a street. There are many threads to follow - images, sensations, surprise, points of
fascination and doubts. Trusting the children and crediting them with exploratory skills is
at the base of these projects.

The following description of a visit to the town focuses on the sense of smell. Why this
theme? 'There were a number of suggestions about smells and in the expressions of the
children’s faces'. 'This was an opportunity to challenge the world of smells, that is little
challenged' and 'exploring this would create new contexts about the street'.
‘You can’t see smells, but you can feel it’
‘Ricardo’s different, he has the smell of his own skin’
The adults were aware of a system of making relationships between things and people.
Using the sense of smell allowed the children to map out the street, giving them a way
into knowledge building and discovery.
‘What if we capture the smells’ suggested some children. Although the children thought
this might be difficult, they began to make plans to capture the smell: ‘a squashy nose’,
‘a bottle put where the smell is’, ‘a Hoover to capture the smells’. They wanted to create
machines to capture the smells.

These activities gave the adults a lot to reflect on. They decided not to create smells
immediately but to create a pallette of smells. This was not done by guessing smells in
jars, but by thinking about where smells come from and sharing ideas with families. One
strategy was to represent smells through drawing. Everyday smells were explored:
coffee, biscuits, the nasty smell of cigarettes, the scent of flowers. They wanted to mix
different smells. They said of them "it’s a smell you can feel, see, tells a story and also
has it’s own memories.’

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The context of this project, the ways it was carried out, the strategies and choices
behind what happened inform the documentation though they may not be visible. New
ideas generated new doubts, these in turn generated new questions. The questions
became the engine of enquiry, not just for the children, but for the adults. This project
like many others was a collaboration between the adults and children where the children
planted the seed of enquiry.

The children became guides to the townspeople on the day that this project was
exhibited in the town. It was a new collaboration and appreciation of culture.

So culture is a way of sharing, inquiry and context. The culture of learning communities
makes possible the discovery of values, through accepting complexity and uncertainty,
learning how to learn and learning awareness.

What do we mean by culture? It’s a word that you can put everything inside. Culture is
created. It includes the things that are meaningful in our lives, and being interested and
involved in them. It is a sense of place, of belonging, our environment, the coming
together of our community. We are creating culture, a creative learning community
where we can generate debate, make changes and grow.

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