The relationship between the physical environment and learning: A blind spot in New Zealand early childhood education discourse?

Abstract

Although the design, layout and space in ECE environments influences children’s learning, New Zealand’s minimum standards for physical space compare poorly with other OECD countries and there is a paucity of NZ research in this area. This paper argues that the relationship between physical environments and learning is a ‘blind spot’ in NZ ECE discourse.
 In identifying why this blind spot may have occurred, aspects of the ECE sector’s history are described. In particular it is argued that the sector's status as the ‘cinderella’ of the education system has led to political struggle for government recognition, improved qualifications, adult:child ratios, and funding, and that these issues have necessarily dominated ECE sector discourse. In addition it is argued that historical disparities within the sector have meant that concerns about physical space are not necessarily shared across the sector.
 In describing why the relationship between physical environments and learning should be of growing concern, this paper argues that bulk funding and minimum standards for physical space, rather than pedagogy, appear to be influencing the design of ECE physical environments, particularly in corporate ECE which is the fastest growing part of the sector. The paper ends by challenging the government and the ECE sector to redress the lack of attention paid to the impact of the physical environment on children’s learning.

Living in this space: Case studies of children's lived experiences in four spatially diverse early childhood centres

“…It is unclear why there is a paucity of research about how physical space impacts on children's lived experiences (for example, through noise, flow, and mobility). One possible reason is that NZ ECE discourses over the past three decades have tended to be dominated by concerns about funding, teacher qualifications and salaries, and teacherchild ratios (Pairman, 2012). These concerns are consistent with international trends (e.g., Fenech, 2011) and may reflect the paradigm shift towards socio-cultural and social constructivist approaches to learning which place greater emphasis on relationships between adults and children than on physical space and "the factors that once occupied researchers' attention … are now seen as subsidiary to this pedagogical and relational emphasis" (Dalli et al, 2011, p. 25).…”