How important is "environment" to children's learning?

The space, the resources, the access to a wide choice of facilities and the opportunities for them to learn where they feel safe, loved and cherished.

For children to have rich and stimulating experiences that lead to learning, the environment, whether at home or in the nursery, should be well planned, well organised and in tune with the needs of each child - that means that we cannot design how our environment goes together or will work until we have assessed the needs of each child - and we can only do that through careful and meaningful Observation. There must also exist structure for learning; within the nursery, this will be based on the curriculum guidance of the Early Years Foundation Stage, known as the EYFS.

For each child's learning to be meaningful and specific to his or her needs, the environment must be stimulating and enriching. Each child should be able to explore and discover at his or own pace, to make choices and to solve problems, while we work closely alongside to guide, to encourage and to extend their experiences.

But each child experiences environments in different ways and each will have a difference reaction to a built space or an open space. Whatever the age of the child, our challenge is to provide and develop environments that encourage social interaction, effective communication and creative expression - consider every space and area from the point of view of each child, but we should always remind ourselves that it is up to us as adults to ‘Bring the Environment Alive' for each and every child.

One of the key principles of the EYFS is based upon ‘ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS'. This principle is based upon 3 different learning environments:, the ‘INDOOR ENVIRONMENT', the ‘OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT' and the ‘ EMOTIONAL ENVIRONMENT'. All of these is important to the development and learning of the child.

The goal for the ‘Indoor Environment' is to create a carefully planned scenario well equipped with resources and activities that are engaging, yet challenging for the children. The EYFS places emphasis on the need to utilise this environment as the most ‘familiar' when implementing development activities.

The ‘Outdoor Learning Environment' provides an extra dimension for this experience. Outdoor play offers lots of opportunities for developing social problem-solving skills such as the ability to negotiate and compromise, to cooperate and collaborate. Outdoor play gives times for being together and doing things together - unstructured moments are very important! When children are able to act in a way more suited to their needs for space, movement and energy, many behavioural difficulties encountered indoors diminish.

The ‘Emotional Environment' necessitates us as adults becoming more involved in the surroundings to make them welcoming and ‘safe' places for children to feel relaxed. This is based up on the idea that children are more able to learn in an environment in which they feel comfortable, allowing them to be more outgoing and able learn how to express themselves. Our role as adults is not only to provide a stimulating and energetic learning environment for children, but also to engage and inspire in order to encourage each and every child to participate in learning at an early age.

The environment is a space that teaches and has the potential to:

• Promote positive relationships
• Spark all kinds of social interactions
• Contribute to a sense of well-being and to the cultures of the people who inhabit it.

The ‘Reggio Emilio' approach sees ‘the environment as the third teacher'. The approach focuses on how children formulate who they are in the early years of development and dictates that children need to:
• Have some control over their direction of learning
• Be allowed to learn through the senses of touching, moving, listening, seeing and hearing
• Have a relationship with other children
• Be allowed to 'connect with' material items in the environment which they must be allowed and encouraged to explore
• Have endless ways and chances to express themselves.
Another important exponent of education, Maria Montessori said: "The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences."

It is clear that we, as adults and carers, need to make frequent changes and modifications to the environment in order for it to remain meaningful, and to be responsive to the needs of these little learners in their search for knowledge. Let's work to make the most of it!

Article written by Sally Parson, Managing Director of Longacre Childcare Ltd
30 January 2009