What I hope to share with you today

1. Play and Learning in the Early Years for Inclusion (PLEYin) project: learning from cross cultural researchKaren Argent: Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Care

2. What I hope to share with you today • A brief overview of the PLEYin project ‘ story’ • My part in the story including: Working with Romanian and Polish colleagues Some reflections on 4 visits to Romania Personal learning

3. Aims of the PLEYin 2009-2011 project were: • to create networks of early years practitioners across partner countries sharing vocational experiences and education opportunities • to identify and develop practice focused strategies that are play based and designed to include all children and families within the communities where practitioners work , and from that, • to establish common concepts of inclusive learning through play • to share and develop skills and expertise through training seminars • to promote the use of sustainable resources available in the communities where practitioners are located, whether in rural or urban areas • to undertake research and dissemination activities nationally and internationally in order to share and evaluate the partnership project. (Visit http://www.newman.ac.uk/pleyin/?pg=2480 for more details)

4. The end of the PLEYin story? • July 2011 conference • Publication of the project report

5. Who wrote the story?

6. With help from….

7. The beginning of myPLEYin story • What did I already know about inclusion, play and learning? • What did I already know about Romania? • What didn’t I know? • Why did I need to know? • How could I find out?

8. Where is it?

9. Sources: Euromonitor, 2010; Eurostat 2010.

10. October 2009: my first visit

12. Some interesting observations of EY practice

13. And more…

14. A quick visit to Bucharest The House of the People ( Casa Poporului) is estimated to be the most expensive and biggest administrative building in the world. The underground parking has enough space for 20,000 cars!

15. The co- construction of knowledge • On-going discussion with Romanian practitioners and colleagues • Learning more about what I didn’t know • Challenging the ‘ UK does it best’ presumption • Beginning to understand the complexity of inclusion • Sharing reflections with colleagues in England • Seeking further information from reliable sources

16. November 2009: Hosting the first visit to Birmingham • Providing a range of visits for colleagues from Romania and Poland • Adding to the complexity of inclusion • Looking through different lenses • Establishing a community of practice • Working collaboratively to plan seminars • Providing some background information for participants • Writing the case studies

17. Child care summary in communist Romania (with thanks to Adela Popa) Philosophy - the State took responsibility for the children in need and not the (extended) family. Additional factors: • pro-birth policies of the Ceausescu regime • economic depression of the 1980s Result: disastrous system of child protection • high child and infant mortality statistics • large number of children institutionalised(over 100,000 in 1989), one of the highest rates in Eastern Europe • very poor quality of child care institutions

18. Post communism welfare states • Collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 – 1991 • Shift to democratically elected governments • Legacy of communist era: a way of thinking as well as a way of living and working • A turbulent past for Romania – shifts in domination by Germany, Hungary, Saxony…. • Current global and local economic circumstances; accession to the EU; indigenous prejudices all contribute to a challenging period of transition

19. Reform in child care system after 1989 Legislative background • 1990 - Romania ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. • 1997 - the first Governmental Strategy in the field of child rights was approved, covering the period between 1997 and 2000. • 2001 - the child welfare system became a government priority • 2004 - Law no. 272 on the Protection and Promotion of Child Rights was introduced. • 2008 – decentralisation of services to county level responsibility

20. Changes in child care system after 1989 • Shifting priority from “institutional” to “family” care. • Proportion of children in child care institutions dropped over 70% • Over 200 traditional child care institutions have been closed down • The number of children placed with professional foster carers had tripled • Living conditions for children that remained in residential institutions improvedto a large extent • Proportion of children placed in substitute families increased by 75% between 1997 and 2006 • Over 600 alternative types of services for children in need and for preventing the separation of child and his family emerged (funded by county and city councils or by private sources and NGOs) • In Romania, and countries with a similar political history, there has been minimal investment in rural areas: living and working in rural areas is a significant risk factor for families .

21. March 2010: hosting the first seminars in Birmingham • More visits • Anxiety and excitement • Naivety • The plot thickens

22. Playing the facilitator role • Responding to the Romanian case study (Maria) • Focus conversations with groups of participants- this acknowledges in order to share experiences knowledge and views and also to explore statements and ideastogether • These were audio and video recorded to provide qualitative data

23. Working to agree the data categories • Myself and two other team members met and watched the three hours of audio-video recorded data and made independent notes on emerging categories from the focus conversations then compared notes. • Six potential common categories were identified and agreed: Inclusion; Family; Practitioners; Community; Policy; Play • The second phase of the analysis was designed to confirm, change or reject any of the six categories that had emerged in the first phase. Each of the same three team members took the data relating to one case study to re-examine the data carefully then select and arrange data by category (Radnor 2002).

24. He will be further excluded and that will lead to the next generation They need to measure his behaviour therefore he needs to be moved away from the other children because of his behaviour; his behaviour will cause problems for the other children It’s not the behaviour difficulties; it’s his life experiences so far that have caused him trauma As he gets older he may miss more time from education if there is a lack of early intervention INCLUSION ‘You think that teachers are the problem?’ ‘ They are resistant to change.’ They seem to have jumped onto the behaviour problems rather than H’s background They should be looking at H’s behaviour to see if there’s a problem, to put him in SEN

25. I think she travels on the bus, she attends the meeting for unemployed women, she looks after the house- I think she is quite a strong woman Parents own education and potential role in helping Dominik to learn Families do not have much to do with Kindergartens’ Child is not just alienated by agencies but by parents too…. just picking up things from his brothers and sisters at home rather than being sat down and read to by parents FAMILY Practitioners should communicate with the family more and talk about what she is doing in the kindergarten

26. But the child has no voice Have to learn from others and to know background information about families Should provide a haven Their minds and their views need to be changed... the Early Years are the door because this family does not have much information or knowledge ... it is not correct to have judgmental views’ PRACTITIONERS Should explain the child’s background to the class but not to scare them Should explain to parents that their child’s behaviour is wrong

27. The community needs to be involved [with the children’s centre]; there should be images of the community so H can see and develop his understanding of people in the community Workers are supported to help themselves so that its not always seen as support thrown at them - co operatives whereby the community helps themselves COMMUNITY Racism in the community will cause H not to be a happy child H may be isolated in the school and the community through language barriers

28. He played on the streets in devastated buildings Policy depends on what Government is in power Look at the child, not the policy POLICY What would happen to her (the child) after 18? Who would look after her ? ‘ Well, this is a big problem, , there is no caring for children after 18 in Romania. Has to be top down The old lady who often looked after him probably didn’t have any qualifications

29. Early Years education is about learning through play- parents may need to be taught how to play with children PLAY

30. March 2010: my second visit to Romania • Enjoying more interesting cultural experiences • Planning the seminars –learning from England experience • Giving a paper about England at an international conference • More reading and research • Visits to some examples of specialist provision in Sibiu

31. Speranta

32. Centre for Inclusive Education No 2 in Sibiu.A special school for children with hearing impairment

33. Other visits that made me think… • Public School no 25. • Princhindelul Centre. • One child, one hope, (NGO). • Casa Lumininii (NGO)

34. May 2010: my third visit • Setting the England context • Being a research participant in the Sibiu seminars • Lecturing at Sibiu University

35. November 2010: my fourth visit • Writing the story together • The limitations of English as a lingua franca • Research is messy and complicated (– that’s what makes it interesting) • Agreeing the principles

36. So – did we achieve the aims? • to create networks of early years practitioners across partner countries sharing vocational experiences and education opportunities • to identify and develop practice focused strategies that are play based and designed to include all children and families within the communities where practitioners work , and from that, • to establish common concepts of inclusive learning through play • to share and develop skills and expertise through training seminars • to promote the use of sustainable resources available in the communities where practitioners are located, whether in rural or urban areas • to undertake research and dissemination activities nationally and internationally in order to share and evaluate the partnership project. (Visit http://www.newman.ac.uk/pleyin/?pg=2480 for more details)

37. Did I live happily ever after? • A successful end of project conference and publication • Continued professional and personal links with international colleagues • Project embedded in ECEC modules and opportunities to share more widely at conferences BUT …I still don’t know very much about Romania.. perhaps a better understanding of its complex history and how this continues to influence policy and practice.

38. Did everyone live happily ever after? • Book about the project enthusiastically planned but not published – ‘ too niche’ according to the publisher • Changing political landscape in England • On going efforts to promote inclusive practice eg: establishing the Romanian Group for Inclusive Education (2011); Inclusive Education in Kindergarten: dimensions’ challenges and solutions (2012) Report published; continuing work by RENINCO; European funded projects in universities; continuing work by NGOs

39. Personal reflections • Harsh economic times mean further exclusion for all minorities in all three countries • The central framework of human rights must be defended for all children and their families • Keep up to date with international politics and always question how these are interpreted by the media • Do not forget the impact of what I saw in Romania – this is more important than anything else

40. Some recommended reading • Bugan, C. (2012) Burying the typewriter. London: Picador • Rusu, H. and Bejenaru ‘ Romanian Childhoods: continuity and change through intergenerational lenses’ in Clark, M.M. and Tucker, S ( 2010)(eds.) Early childhoods in a changing world. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Ltd.

41. Thank you For more details about the research and / or the project, please contact me k.m.argent@newman.ac.uk And visit http://www.newman.ac.uk/pleyin/?pg=2480