The pack, Education for Citizenship in Scotland: Early Years Audit Materials, is designed to support the Education for Citizenship in Scotland framework, launched in June 2002, which applies to education for three- to 18-year-olds and aims to develop young people's capability for citizenship.
The framework stresses the importance of involving young children in decision-making and their community.
The pack includes case studies from early years settings across Stirling.
One looks at steps taken by Park Drive Nursery to implement a positive behaviour policy. The children were gathered into groups of ten with a key worker who used storytelling, video or drawing techniques to present a scenario and asked for feedback.
One adult drew on a flipchart, illustrating how a child was building a tower of bricks which another child kept knocking down. The nursery children were asked what they should do next and what the adult in the area should do and say. Most of them said the tower-builder should tell an adult, who would then ask children to 'go and do a puzzle'. From this staff learned that some activities were being regularly used for 'time out'
purposes and were able to consider the need for a different approach.
Another Stirling case study sets out the use of a six-step approach to resolving conflicts in Croftamie Nursery. It records how a practitioner resolved a dispute between two children over who should be able to play with a bicycle. The staff member approached the children calmly, put a stop to any hurtful actions or language, acknowledged their feelings, gathered information about the conflict, re-stated the problem and asked the children for their ideas and solutions.
Christine Twine, development officer for the Education for Citizenship framework, said that such approaches are essential if children are to develop the capability to be active citizens and take part in decision-making.
'These case studies come from Stirling Council, where there is a well-developed policy on citizenship in early years. They show examples of work that's been done that can help children interpret things on a level that's meaningful to them,' she said.
The pack can be downloaded from www.ltscotland.org.uk/citizenship/evaluation.
