Negotiation as a Teaching Strategy: Balancing Power between Child and Educator

NEGOTIATION AS A TEACHING STRATEGY WHERE PARTICIPANTS HOLD AN EQUAL BALANCE OF POWER!!!! Is this possible between a young child and educator? Helen Bernstone 19/11/12 FEFRI Conference

Research positions which drive my curiosity- • Teacher power within different teaching strategies ----------------------------------------------------- • Valuing individual cultural interpretation of life experiences • Interpretivism

PROCESS FOR THIS SESSION • Discussion of the definitions of the words • -strategies • -thinking states • 2) Significance of the application of the model

Child thinking status Dependent Interdependent Independent Teaching strategy Instruction Co-construction Negotiation The distribution of power between a child and an educator and the thinking states aligned with each of these strategies in their application

What do they mean? • INSTRUCTION • MacNaughton and Williams 2009 • Seefeldt 1980 • Bruner 1966 • CO-CONSTRUCTION • Hedges & Cullen 2005 • Jordan 2004 • Rogoff 2003

NEGOTIATION • Ubiquitous in Early Childhood eg. • Negotiating curriculum (Ramsey 1987) • Negotiating reality (Nuttall 2004) • Forsyth (1991) and Carr and Lee (2012) refer to an equal balance of power as a seemingly necessary component in a negotiation process • The ones that fit: • Prioritizing and interpreting different beliefs when ,making decisions (Schultz et al., 2008) • Work out a deal where where each participants’ needs are considered and compromises negotiated (Rubin & Everett, 1982)

Negotiation The ability to be an independent thinker within a social constructivist frame. The word independent being interpreted when a person is able to make decisions, uses co-operative behaviours, has respect for a different cultural perspective and as a consequence an ability to share the meaning made through a process of problem or creative resolution either with others or alone when developing “thinking”. There are 4 must haves:

Significance of this model. Hattie (2009) advises that rather than randomly assuming a child’s thinking state where so often the child is learning things she/he already knows or is so very new to her/his understanding that little positive learning occurs. It is recognition of the experiences children have had that defines what learning is to be built upon and what the child already knows.

Skills needed to be able to ‘Negotiate’ from an equal power base • -ability to verbally express the goal • -good use of language • -ability to access resources without assistance • -knowing what resources required • -ability to plan to reach a goal • -accept or reject assistance and justify why • -could suggest ideas and justify them • -compromise if needed • -heard and understood a justification from a different perspective • -could summarise where she had reached in the plan • -ability to agree

I am already powerful • Independent thinking • Do I want to play with others or play alone? I can choose because I have the confidence, competence and understanding to do either?

SO!!!!!!!!! • What power do I acknowledge and for what purpose do I use it? • How do I demonstrate a belief that the child’s experiences are as valuable as my own? • Do I recognise other people’s culture as valuable as my own? • Does this connect for you?

Remember My Reminder: We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. (Anais Nin writer 1903-1977)

REFERENCES • Bruner, J.S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Cambridge, Mass.: Belkapp. • Carr, M., & Lee, W. (2012). Learning wisdom: Young children and teachers recognising the learning, 8 September, 2012 retrieved from The Early Years Wisdom Group. http://www.tlri.org.nz. • Daniels, H. (2001). Vygotsky and Pedagogy. London: Routledge Falmer. Forsyth, P. (1991). How to Negotiate Successfully. London: Sheldon. • Foucault, M. (1977). Crime and punishment: The birth of the prison. USA: Knopf Doubleday. • Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge. • Hedges, H., & Cullen, J. (2005). Subject knowledge in early childhood curriculum and pedagogy: Beliefs and practice. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 6(1), 66–79.

Jordan, B (2004). Scaffolding learning and co-constructing understandings. In A. Anning, J. Cullen & M. Fleer (Eds.), Early Childhood Education Society and Culture. California: Thousand Oaks. • MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children choices in theory and practice, (4th ed.,). Pearson,:Australia. • Newman, D., Griffin, P., & Cole, M. (1989). The Construction Zone: Working for Cognitive Change in School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Nuttall, J. (2004). Negotiating reality in early childhood curriculum: The social psychology of teaching as a group. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 39(1), 44-53. • Ramsey, P. (1987). Teaching and learning in a Diverse World: Multicultural Education for Young Children. Colombia: Teacher’s College Press. • Rogoff, B. (2003).The cultural nature of human development. New York: Oxford University Press. • Rubin, K., & Everett, B. (1982). Social perspective taking in young children. In Young Child: Reviews of Research, 3. S. G. Moore, & C. R. Cooper (Eds.,). Washington, D.C: NAEYC. • Seefeldt, C. (1980). Teaching Young Children. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Schultz, K., Jones-Walker, C. E., Chaikkatur, A. P. (2008). Listening to students, negotiating beliefs: Preparing teachers for urban classrooms. Curriculum Inquiry, 38(2), 155-187.

Negotiation as a Teaching Strategy: Balancing Power between Child and Educator