Playgroup
A play group offers preschoolers the opportunity to play in a small group. In terms of their history, playgroups are either a substitute for missing state or municipal childcare facilities or a conscious alternative to them.
Country-specific concepts
Playgroup concepts from Germany, Great Britain and Switzerland are presented below. Hildegard Feidel-Mertz points out, however, that as early as 1966 in issue 5 of the papers of the Pestalozzi-Froebel Association, approaches to preschool education in the Middle East, Japan, the USA, Great Britain, Finland and Sweden were presented.
Germany
There is a long tradition in Germany in the course of which early childhood care has developed from a children's institution to a pedagogically sound kindergarten education.
Counter-movements against an overly regulated early childhood education already existed at the turn of the century and intensified in the 1920s. Its roots, partly also based on socio-political reasons, can be found in reform pedagogy and above all in the youth home association , from which the social pedagogical seminar led by Anna von Gierke arose.
The work of the youth home association was ended by the seizure of power . Many former youth welfare workers emigrated.
After 1945, denominational or municipal day-care centers emerged again, which increasingly developed in the direction of cuuricularly structured educational institutions. Against this trend and the authoritarian educational structure that was widespread in kindergartens for a long time, counter-concepts developed in the 1960s.
Although the children's shops were created in many ways as parent-child groups and were based on the self-help of parents for the early childhood education of their children, Hildegard Feidel-Mertz complains that the concept of play groups was not taken up in this context , neither by the Actors in the children's shops still in the socio-pedagogical specialist literature.
Manfred Berger describes the current situation in an article for the Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development :
“Today there is an astonishingly high number of children's shops in Germany's larger cities and metropolitan areas, which 'resulted in reform projects after the political movement collapsed' (Sander / Wille 2008, p. 660). Parents' initiatives were formed and daycare centers were organized as an 'alternative project' within the public education of young children. On the part of the public, these are 'usually referred to as parents' initiative day-care centers, but internally they are still often called Kinderladen', although the 'socio-political situation described for the founding time is no longer relevant' (Iseler 2010, p. 32). "
Great Britain
In Great Britain at the beginning of the 1960s there were no “comparable institutions for pre-school education and, accordingly, also no relatively differentiated and qualified training for socio-educational specialists, as had been developed in Germany for more than a century”. Belle Tutaev , a then young mother who was affected by this situation herself because she was looking for a childcare option , joined forces with other mothers in 1961 to set up a playgroup based on similar initiatives in New Zealand, Australia and the USA , from which the nationwide Pre-School Learning Alliance later emerged (see web links). In 1964, the German émigré and Hilde Jarecki , who trained at the youth home association, joined this movement. She was hired as a Professinal Adviser , whose primary task was to orgasm the playgroups in Inner London and to set up training courses for playgroup leaders.
Hilde Jarecki remained closely associated with the playgroup movement into old age, although she was very critical of the later development towards school-based and high-performance offers. Nevertheless, playgroups in England are still a widespread form of pre-school education and training that are recognized and promoted by the state.
“The umbrella organization, the Pre-School Learning Alliance , has in any case developed into a very professional network with a wide range of facilities, activities, services for parents, training courses, publications and campaigns. Hilde Jarecki's systematic development of a parallel support and qualification structure with a close interlinking of theory and practice has evidently proven itself and, despite many concessions to official requirements, remains a necessary corrective to the high school performance culture that is very widespread in English preschool education.
Switzerland
Within the German-speaking area, playgroups are by far the most important in Switzerland . This is due to the late start of school ( kindergarten / school ). In contrast to day-care centers, playgroups do not require a permit as long as they do not exceed around 15 to 20 hours of weekly activity and as long as no more than ten children take part. The exact legal framework conditions differ from canton to canton and commune.
Differentiation from day care centers
Playgroups typically cater to children around the age of 4 to 12. They are intended to promote social and linguistic skills at an early stage, which is why the offer is mostly understood as a socio-cultural animation and not as a form of care . In contrast to day-care centers, the children's meeting intervals are significantly shorter: the groups usually meet once or twice a week for two to a maximum of four hours. The Swiss Association of Playgroup Leaders SSLV (see web link) recommends a maximum of three weekly visits of one to three hours, for children aged three to five. The orientation framework for early childhood education, care and upbringing has existed in Switzerland since 2012, and is understood as a “reference document” for the needs and rights of small children. “The document is consistently written from the child's point of view and provides the basis for acting in a child-friendly and effective manner in the early morning.” This “reference document” is binding for the playgroup leaders.
Lunch is usually not part of the activities on offer. This is one of the reasons why the playgroup differs from what is offered in day-care centers. However, recently there have been an increasing number of so-called forest play groups and nature play groups , which are mostly only outdoors, often including the preparation of a simple meal at lunchtime and with care intervals of up to five hours.
Within Switzerland, the regulations are strongest in the canton of Friborg , which also has a relatively high density of playgroups (166 playgroups, as of Feb. 2006). Playgroups are subordinate to the municipalities and must offer at least ten lessons of 50 minutes each. In the official terminology of the bilingual canton, the French translation écoles maternelles is used instead of the otherwise more common loan translation groupes de jeu , which indicates conceptual differences, especially since école maternelle is also the translation of the word kindergarten .
Functions
In rural areas, play groups often take on the social function of a day-care center, despite the inherently different conception, if such a function is not feasible due to the low number of children. The demarcation between playgroups and day-care centers based on the terms socio-cultural animation and the care function is relativized to a quantitative rather than qualitative difference, especially since day-care centers, for example, also generally perform a socio-cultural function.
In the transition area between forest and nature play groups with relatively long activity intervals and the inclusion of a meal eaten outdoors, a daycare-like care situation often automatically arises, which allows both parents to work and is therefore in the context of the compatibility of family and work .
Efforts are underway in Basel-Stadt to use playgroups for the linguistic integration of children with a migration background . The project, which is being consulted from June to October 2008, is called With sufficient knowledge of German in kindergarten and aims to have children assigned to playgroups if there is insufficient knowledge of the German language.
Networking
In German-speaking Switzerland, the playgroups are linked to one another via several regional specialist and contact points (VCS). These positions perform a networking and professionalization function. The interest group (IG) playgroups has performed a similar function since 1991 (see web links). The Swiss Association of Playgroup Leaders (SSLV) is the third professional association to promote playgroups.
literature
- Hilde Jarecki: Playgroups - A practice-related approach. Edited and commented by Hildegard Feidel-Mertz and Inge Hansen-Schaberg with the assistance of Beate Bussiek and Hermann Schnorbach. Translated by Sophie Friedländer. Publishing house Julius Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7815-1977-0 . Among other things:
- Hildegard Feidel-Mertz: Introduction: An innovative approach in pre-school education and parenting , pp. 9–18.
- Hilde Jarecki: Playgroups - A practical approach , pp. 23–125.
- Hanna Corbishley: You situation of the playgroups (1995-2001) - interim report of a contemporary witness , p. 127–129.
- Beate Bussiek: Epilogue to the further development of playgroups in England , pp. 131–138
- Sophie Friedländer / Hilde Jarecki: Sophie & Hilde. A life together in friendship and work. A twin book , edited by Bruno Schonig, Edition Hentrich, Berlin, 1996, ISBN 978-3-89468-229-3 .
Web links
-
Pre-school Learning Alliance: Who we are. .
In 2011 the Pre-school Learning Alliance celebrated its 50th anniversary. On youtube there is an interview with Belle Tutaev from 2010, in which she tells in detail (in English) the founding history of the organization: - Belle Tutaev: Founder of Pre-school Learning Alliance
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Hildegard Feidel-Mertz: Introduction: An innovative approach in pre-school education and parenting , in: Hilde Jarecki: Playgroups - A practical approach , pp. 9-18. There are more country sketches in the article en: Pre-school playgroup .
- ^ Manfred Berger: Children's shops and anti-authoritarian education. Models of a counter-society and a changed educational culture . The term playgroup does not appear with him either.
- ↑ Beate Bussiek: Epilogue on the further development of playgroups in England , in: Hilde Jarecki: Playgroups - A practical approach , pp. 131-138.
- ↑ Orientation framework for early childhood education, care and upbringing
- ↑ SSLV: DEFINITION OF PLAYGROUP: CONTENT DEFINITION
- ^ Government Council of the Canton of Basel-Stadt: Government Council resolution of February 3, 2004 on the promotion of playgroups
- ↑ Final version of the HSK guidelines, September 2014