Interacting with the child in preschool: a crossroad in early childhood education

Abstract

How can preschool teachers approach multiplicity and complexity in the preschool? The aim of this article is to discuss two approaches to education, one based on design and the other on open reflection, and to propose ‘situational sensitivity’ as a concept connected within the latter approach. Special attention is paid to the ethical encounter with the child. The first approach is characterised by learning study, didactic analysis, advocate planning, and educational designs, and is guided by a logic which reduces multiplicity. The second approach to education, exemplified here in the ‘Wondering Together’ project, stresses a more open, reflective attitude that welcomes multiplicity. I argue that situational sensitivity is an expression of that open, welcoming logic. Situational sensitivity supports the concept of bildung, the development of the whole person, by educating towards the knowledge necessary for understanding the world and by honouring the child's experience and perspective.

Keywords:

• preschool
• interaction
• educational approach
• situational sensitivity