The importance of teacher positioning in practice

Teacher positioning in practice 

The organization of the teacher´s positioning is of great importance for the pedagogical practice and its quality. I hope my experiences and perspectives in this article will contribute to local reflections on the way to organize your pedagogical practice. I have successfully implemented this reflexive, situational and proactive approach. For many teachers it’s probably recognizable that during the day in the day care that situations arise where a lack of coordination results in various challenges. When the coordination about the teacher's positioning is not present, it will affect the structured learning environment, and this affects the quality of the child's development. 

“The lack of organization and coordination contributes to cooperation problems and frustrations"

My experience is that the lack of organization and coordination contributes to cooperation problems and a frustration over not reaching the day's pedagogical tasks, a frustration over lack of time for implementation and presence and the feeling of losing overview and coherence, as the disruptions throughout the day are constant. Typically, a feeling of not being sufficient is achieved and this feeling can overwhelm even the most motivated teacher. My experience as a principal is that it is particularly important to clarify and organize the total teacher resources across the day care and throughout the day. 

“Where, What, Who and When?” 

With a simple structure and your professional profile, you can achieve a strengthened organization for the benefit of children and teachers. 

As a professional teacher, you need to consider:

• Your physical position (Location)
• Your pedagogical task (The academic and relational content)
• Which group of children are you responsible for (Child composition considerations) 

Advantage:

• Present and undisturbed in the activity with the planned group of children
• Overview of your own and colleagues' responsibilities, work tasks and location
• Strengthened cooperation and less wasted time
• Strong professional pedagogical culture that is developed on the basis of the daily reflection and situation analysis. 

Experiment 

This experiment shows the confusion that arises when we are not coordinated. In the experiment below, a group of teachers is followed over a shorter period of time during the day. Each teacher represents his own color (Blue, yellow, red, green, purple) As the picture below shows, it is clear that confusion arises when we are not coordinated.The different colors and patterns indicate the teachers' movements. In this experiment, teachers have doubts about their own position, role and task - At the same time, they are also in doubt about their colleagues' roles, tasks and location. Both children and adults are confused. This learning environment is inappropriate for everyone and contribute negative to a qualitative practice. (Chaos, reactive, and often noisy environment) 

“In an environment like this, it will be difficult for children to concentrate, to receive attention and the crucial relationship between the teacher and the child is exposed.” 

What boosts this disorganized positioning is that the teacher often has to break their work, as they may be in doubt about who, for example, solves the task with comfort and care, to a crying child in the room next door. 

Second experiment 

Based on the growing frustration at lack of coordination and organization in practice, we in the team (Management) agreed to try to distribute the teachers based on a positioning concept. In order not to complicate unnecessarily, we introduced three overall dynamic-reflexive considerations that are the starting point prior to the daily organization.

1: (The location) Must be able to be changeable and adapted to the learning goal and content. Reflexive-dynamic, and can be continuously coordinated, according to the desired environment.

2: (Educational task - Or focus point) Can be both adult-led or child-initiated. What is important, however, is that the teacher has made didactic considerations about what the overall learning goal is and how the learning environment can support it.

3: (Children groups) Can in selected situations be reduced to a smaller group where it is possible to support children in vulnerable positions. (As needed, two teachers can also position themselves in the same circle, so that there is a supportive opportunity to work with the inclusive learning environment. A situation analysis helps to take a starting point in the current.

With professional considerations and coordination, there is now a clear structure in the picture and this provides good conditions for the teacher to carry out the pedagogy in the learning environment. Both children and adults know where to be and the teacher is proactively prepared for significant circumstances. - This learning environment is appropriate for everyone. In an environment like this, the structure will give children and the teacher a predictability that creates space for interaction and presence. This provides better conditions for children to concentrate, to receive attention and the crucial relationship between the teacher and the child has good conditions. With this organization, the teacher group has the responsibility to coordinate the organization between each other and divide the room and the group of children from a child perspective, own experiences, reflections and a situation analysis. In this positioning, your location, your task and group of children are relevant considerations. 

“The important considerations can be reduced to: Where, What, Who and When?” 

In this reflection and decision, the positioning is coordinated among the teacher group. The situation where you know what your teacher colleagues' responsibilities are is present. Therefore, it is not necessary to break the activity, to help elsewhere. 

The frameworks and the content 

The organization of the teacher's positioning is not a quality in itself, but must be understood as essential and fundamental in promoting a qualitative practice. The organizational benchmarks, including the teacher's positioning, support significant factors and can be understood as a basic starting point and an important prerequisite in promoting the quality of the day care and also a prerequisite for the further pedagogical quality. 

“First, the structure must be established, the Organizational Benchmarks (The Frameworks), then the Pedagogical Benchmarks (The Content) are developed.” 

Working with positioning is an ongoing process that requires curiosity as well as a courageous organization that, with knowledge and skills, manages to ask questions and reflect on its own and others' practice and adjusts accordingly (Situational management) All to develop an educational practices that promote the child's development and well-being. 

The Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) highlights the following perspectives in the organization of the educational staff:

• Consider the distribution of available resources
• Consider whether your organization of staff is flexible to meet the needs of the children's group
• Consider the different interests and competencies of teachers.
• Consider the daily structure and include the teachers own perspectives. 

Interaction model 

This model contributes to yet another reflection on your position as a teacher. With simple reflections, you can qualify the interpersonal interaction between child and teacher. In the interaction with the child and in supporting the child's development, it is important that you as an educator are reflective in your approach and interaction with the child. Here are some perspectives that you may be aware of. Children are different and so is their zone of proximal development (ZPD) zone of proximal development (Vygotsky) To support the child in its immediate developmental zone, a reflective approach is necessary.

"Try to reflect on the position you enter in the interaction with the child" 

1. A position - in front of the child: When you as a teacher are the instructor, the one who leads and shows the way (This is adult guided learning)
2. A position - where you and the child are on an equal level: When you explore and investigative in the process with the child, curious on the child's curiosity approach. The teacher supports when needed (Adult-supported learning room)
3. A position - behind the child: When the teacher retreats into a more observant role and the child tries to explore on its own (Children's own play and self-initiated activities and interactions). (Inspiration Bernstein, 2001) 

I hereby encourage you to try 

For me, the pedagogical practice is about establishing a qualitative learning environment that promotes the child's well-being and development. With a focus on relationships, care, play and outdoor life. A qualitative approach is established on the basis of the reflections and experiences we constantly make. Including the inclusion of the child's voice (The children's perspective)

I hereby encourage you to try out the above models for a reflexive organization of your practice. (Later, I will offer suggestions on how qualitative benchmarks can be viewed and qualified.)

If you are interested in more perspectives on the Nordic Pedagogical Tradition, follow the LinkedIn platform "Social Pedagogical Approach"

Yours sincerely

Michael Hall Larsen (Principal, Denmark)

“Where, What, Who and When” By Principal, Michael Hall Larsen (October 25, 2020.)