The Förskola Way
Pedagogy
The flowers and fields, woods and waters, the animals, insects, and mud—this natural context is the garden of a child’s imagination. The active learning processes cultivated through self-directed play, language-rich relationships with educators and peers, and deep friendships support a broad range of school-readiness goals and nurture the inborn curiosity to be compassionate, creative & generative, and most importantly, independent.
Drawing from Scandinavian pedagogical norms and a host of other best educational practices at the early childhood developmental stage, the Förskola Way believes in play as the rightful work of the child, situated in the integrative context of a weather-worn and moss-capped environment, and bounded by the thoughtful practices of cultures and institutions who’ve enshrined childhood not as a race to adulthood, but as an ecstatic, engaging, and often challenging invitation: to practice the traditional art of attention and endow children with what Swedish parents call, according to Linda Åkeson McGurk, “freedom with responsibility.”
Our pedagogy represents a broad sampling of the “high water marks” of various cultures, institutions, and similar geographies. The pre-academic skills that have been trickling down from kindergarten curricula in recent decades are not stressed at Foxtail Förskola given the raft of current research and expert opinion pointing in a different direction:
“The national curriculum for the Swedish preschool…features the word ‘play’ thirteen times, ‘language’ twelve times, ‘nature’ six times, and ‘math’ five times. But there is not a single mention of ‘literacy’ or ‘writing.’”
Forest School Model
Self-directed, outdoor school that helps instill critical cognitive, socioemotional, and developmental motor skills, ubiquitous across Sweden.
Emergent Learning
Affords the freedom and flexibility to investigate contingencies that fit children’s interests and the particularities of geography.
Free Play
Self-chosen and self-directed, “free play” is an essential structure to healthy social development and negotiating complex relations to the world.
Scandinavian National Curricula
Aspects of well-being, empathy, values of equity & equality, and the development of agency, independence, and personal responsibility cuts across these countries’ foci.
Loose Parts Theory
Open-ended materials that can be used and manipulated in many ways. Increased manipulation of objects helps spur inventiveness and creativity.
Friluftsliv
Norwegian concept meaning “the open-air life” in which outdoor immersion enhances the spiritual and physical well-being of its adherents.
Sense of Place
Through regular interaction with and use of a familiar landscape, an ethic of stewardship and responsible use can emerge.
Early Childhood Best Practices
We try to incorporate the latest in ECEC research e.g. providing a “cognitive sequence” to follow in novel situations: “observe, question, explore, reflect.” (Christakis)
A forest bird never wants a cage.
Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright & poet
The Basics
Age
Ages 3 - 6
Daily Schedule
Full Day / Forest K:
8:45am - 3:15pm
Student : Educator Ratio
6 students : 1 Educator
*maximum 12 students each class
Pedagogical Snapshot
child-driven, educator-facilitated, free-play dominant
instill an affection for place, its wonders, and the subsequent need for its stewardship
learn to explore, nurture curiosity, & foster independent self-regulation
embrace the myriad benefits of learning to manage risk
well-being through interdependence
re-frame emotionally-laden associations to those of growth, confidence, & empathy
In short, play is how children learn to take control of their lives.
Peter Gray
