Background
Precious Playdays (https://www.preciousplaydays.co.uk) is a 34-place preschool offering part-time and some full-time education and care places for children aged 10 months to four years old. For most children, places are free, using the UK government’s so-called ‘funded hours’. A few parents pay fees to have extended hours. The service is open during school terms only. It is located in the back of a church hall in Watford, Hertfordshire. There is a small outdoor space along the side of the building, a baby room, two activity rooms and a hall/congregational space. It was rated ‘outstanding’ by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills in 2024. The owner/manager and manager/teacher have bachelor and master’s degree-level qualifications, including specialist qualifications in early years education and the owner/manager is studying for a UCL professional doctorate.
Children attending come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Nearly all children are working in more than one language. One-third have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or their needs are under investigation. When they leave to go to school most children have a good English-language vocabulary.
How this case study was written
Social pedagogy is a developing professional and academic discipline in the UK. With origins in continental Europe, it spans care, education and upbringing, underpinned by ethical relationships between professionals and service users, and governed by overarching principles of social justice. Social pedagogy thus works at the individual and societal level, seeking to improve the quality of experience in all encounters with professional practice. In 2016, the UK-based Social Pedagogy Professional Association (SPPA) collaboratively developed a charter of values and aspirations for members (available at https://sppa-uk.org/governance/social-pedagogy-charter/). This outlines 13 principles designed to guide practice in the field. The owner of Precious Playdays began professional doctorate study under the supervision of Claire Cameron (CC), at the UCL Institute of Education, and the overlaps between social pedagogy and the Precious approach at the level of values and principles became evident through discussion.
To explore links, overlaps and alignment of the two approaches, CC visited Precious Playdays and interviewed the owner/manager (LM) and manager/teacher (PO). We reviewed the philosophy and practice of Precious Playdays alongside point-by-point consideration of the SPPA Charter. This case study is a product of that conversation using many of PO and LM’s words (indicated in the text with inverted commas). In many countries preschools are considered part of the field of social pedagogy and employ staff with a social pedagogic qualification, but this is less common in the UK. By drawing attention to the alignment of Precious Playdays and social pedagogy we hope to raise awareness of both as part of growing the field of social pedagogy in the UK. The project has ethical approval from UCL IOE Ethics Committee (ref. REC2010).
Theory and practice
The guiding theory in the Precious approach is embodied learning. Embodied learning starts with the premise that physical action-orientated activity leads to language competence. It does not in the first instance rely on instructional language but recognises the interconnectedness of the body’s senses in shaping cognitive understandings, and stresses active participation in the learning process. Participation might be in movement, hands-on, sensory or outdoor learning activities. The Precious approach nurtures relationships among children and between children and staff, especially when they are pupils with SEND or are learning English alongside another home language.
A key concept for the Precious approach is understanding learning as mapping activities onto three forms of intersubjectivity: primary – or mirroring activity; secondary – or sharing activity with an adult; and tertiary – or the emergence of values jointly with others. At Precious, primary intersubjectivity might be represented through ‘face-to-face games like “peekaboo” or “round and round the garden”, until they realise we are in their world and we get a spark in their eye’. For secondary intersubjectivity, ‘we use trays of objects and action to help build vocabulary and fine and gross motor skills. When an object is in our hands, we explain it, and when it’s in their hands we name it. We use trays with objects and do activities such as pouring and scooping, or cutting or pasting, and so combine action and language’.
The third form of intersubjectivity ‘is community plus adult plus object, around the table, with adult-led activities [see Figure 1]. If a child is eating and they get up and walk around, we will say to them “we sit and we eat” over and over again until they eventually sit and eat’.
This is a new thing for many children; they are not used to sitting down to eat food. Here they learn it’s different from home and they are going to eat [by] themselves and feed themselves. Sometimes it takes a while, but where there is a community sitting around a table and all the children are eating, then whether it’s the mirror neurons in their brain that activate because they see other children eating or whether it’s a social thing they do tend to beat to the same drum eventually, they realise this is what we are supposed to do and they start to eat.
Another key principle is that we see schools as enculturated (Adolph and Hoch, 2019): ‘We are building a unique culture here that integrates everyone so it’s an intercultural environment. Sitting down at the table as a community is important.’
We share cultural knowledge, whether it is teapots, washing up, rolling dough or pegging clothes on a line. Children are really ready to learn. They start by standing on the periphery and watching what is going on and by the end of term they are at the centre of what is happening. When they realise that not having language is not a barrier to action, and that the teacher can still understand them, it brings them in. There is little resistance. If they have special [educational] needs it might take longer and we give them longer. Once they realise that mum comes back, they don’t live here, they start to anticipate the routine and enjoy it. It’s at their pace. We see more progress when we take it at their pace rather than constantly thinking about the next step. We are helping them build a foundation by creating small opportunities for participation. We don’t think about the long-term goal, but where have they come from and what is in the here and now. We give them confidence. They leave with full sentences and great English vocabulary.
The Precious approach has developed over time; ‘now we feel the curriculum and approach – the trays, plus intersubjectivity plus the step-by-step activities – equips children for school’.
Example activities at Precious Playdays preschool
Social Pedagogy Charter: overlaps and synergies
We now turn to a review of the SPPA Charter’s statements of values and aspirations, mapping these against Precious practice and principles.
Principle 1. Ethics and social justice as the foundation of practice
Precious adopts a holistic and inclusive approach as an ethical position:
In early years work, there is often an expectation that someone else will help children with SEND. What we have realised is that we are the people to give children that support. Our ethical approach is that no child should be removed from an activity they are enjoying to do an intervention. Removal makes them feel different and disturbs their equilibrium. Often this will lead to them crying. Removing them also gives the impression that we know better than them. We don’t. Everything we’ve done has come from the children. We break down the barriers to participation with other children by setting activities at the level that any child can take part in and then we change it for children who can do more, introduce more language, research facts with them. So everyone is enjoying their baseline and some children are getting a bit extra and we haven’t looked at it in terms of disadvantage. The key thing for special educational needs is that we are the help, there is no magic from an outside person, and everything is suitable for everyone and adapted as we need to.
Principle 2. Engaging with others in the world in which we are a part in ways that are congruent with our values and beliefs and informed by theory
We are constantly discussing the differences and similarities between us, as Irish and Ghanaian, and the children do too. They just do things in different ways. I think that brings the outside world in. Everything we’ve created has at some point come from the ground up and we’ve applied theory too. We love to read and research ideas.
Principle 3. We value the capacity of all to foster compassion, community, love, care and empathy
We value this capacity, but some children do not have the language to deal with conflict by themselves and need an adult to mediate. We don’t take a side. We don’t use the word share as you can’t physically share one object. We’re teaching them language and it’s really important for them to understand what language is and what it means to have a share of something. You can either take turns or you can play together but you can’t share an object. So, we will bring children together and say, ‘do you have anything you’d like to say to the other person’ [as a means of resolving conflict over an object].
Professional love is a contentious subject in early years. There are myths out there about using the word love, that it will be frowned upon, or invoke safeguarding procedures. There is no evidence that you should never use the word love in preschool. But you are put off saying it because of these myths. When a child says I love you then here we would say I love you too. We give cuddles. We have children sitting on our knees, but we do gradually get them to sit beside us, because with a child on a staff knee you are closed off to the rest of the community. But when they first begin, or if they’re upset, or not well, they get more cuddles. Eventually you get them to sit on the seat to make it more inclusive, so they’re not just bonded to you.
Principle 4. We believe in walking alongside others, recognising their uniqueness and with them co-creating meaning and purpose
That’s exactly what we do. Everything that we do is that statement.
Principle 5. We understand the value of our participation and everyday activities as a basis for creating human connection, enhancing a person’s sense of well-being and quality of life
When we recruit new members of staff we get them to understand they are here to play, not to feel that getting through tasks and paperwork is most important. We tell them to make yourself busy, make sure your hands are busy, using the trays, building things with children and using relevant language not random conversations. Children are learning multiple languages, so we need to make sure they are understanding the names of things they are playing with.
Principle 6. We endeavour to develop authentic and reliable relationships
[No-one here leaves] without a friend. We’re always making sure that those children on the periphery, even the ones that tend to be in their own world, are brought into the mix. There’s never a difference between the children. There’s always some action for them to get involved with, in different corners of the room. They don’t need to stick with one person, they can move around. Everything starts with embodiment and then everything else is interconnected. We always focus on the body first because when they can’t speak the same language, they can use the same gestures. But then we find that language flourishes. We used to have children never speaking a word and slowly over time we realised that we needed more action, being more hands on, and they start talking.
When I saw a Portuguese girl and a Polish girl, who each had a different home language and were elective mutes, playing intensively for over 20 minutes I realised that language is secondary to action in learning. In the home corner, they were exchanging gestures in their expression, their body language, they knew exactly what they were doing. They were taking turns without using a human language, or vocalising at all, they were just mute and actively playing. I realised that language doesn’t matter. Why have we placed so much emphasis on language? That was a profound moment for me. The next day they saw each other and saw a spark in each other’s face and gravitated back to the home corner, doing the same thing. That is a relationship.
Principle 7. We believe in relationship-centred practice that recognises and engages with the whole person and the network systems and communities that create an impact
We’re very enculturated. We constantly have conversations about different cultures and as staff members have come together from different cultures. The staff here represent the communities our children come from. A parent might come in and say, ‘go to Auntie’, and I say, ‘it’s different here, you can use my first name’. But ‘Auntie’ is a culturally familiar thing for the children. Likewise, eye contact in some communities is culturally frowned on whereas in others teachers will say, ‘look at me when I’m talking to you’.
We work in partnership with the family centre and the speech and language therapists that use the other half of the building.
Principle 8. We value creative and playful approaches to lifelong learning that are theoretically informed, risk sensible and draw on people’s potential
We think that play is the most important thing, and [that] play is an umbrella term for action. We are always investigating theories and their applications. We adopt a risk-sensible approach. We think risky play is important for learning. We’ve got a big climbing frame and taking risks is just part of our normal environment. We’re always supervising the children but it’s very important that they take those risks. We use knives that they cut with, we have scissors, beaters, graters.
Principle 9. We value professional curiosity in our work with every individual group and family. Principle 10. We use theory, critical reflection and self-awareness to inform our practice
We are constantly investigating our practice. We use critical reflection and develop our self-awareness as a staff group. We talk all the time. The staff have full ownership over the rooms. For example, the new baby room has had very little input from me [as manager]. The staff know the theory and they’re constantly changing things, and they’ll come to me and say, ‘we thought about this’, and it’s very reflexive. They’ll do it there and then, it’s not like we have to wait until a staff meeting to decide what went wrong and how we could do better. The staff are very good at telling us what’s working and what’s not working. And that professional curiosity is what has made us progress so much. They don’t wait for a staff meeting because in the intervening time there might be chaos.
We record the children’s progress by using photographs. That is the most powerful way to see exactly what the child is doing. We have flags for my pedagogical method and so when a child is captured doing something, we flag it in a photo. It is a powerful way of conveying learning and looks really lovely. It also helps parents who can’t read long sentences.
Principle 11. We value teamwork, mutual aid and collaboration with others
Staff here have creative freedom. All staff are hands on. The leader is often coming up with new ideas and showing staff, not just telling staff, how to do something for the group or a particular child. For staff who are visual learners this is very helpful. We often try something, negotiate and decide whether to keep it. New ideas help when staff get fatigued. The leader no longer sets up all the activities and staff no longer expect her to; now the leader responds to ideas the staff have, with discussion around safety, individual needs, implications for the group. In this way collaboration is at the heart of practice. It’s taken a long while to get them to use their creativity rather than just mimicking the leader.
Principle 12. We strive to bring about positive change for individuals, groups and families and communities. Building an understanding that practice is affected by political, social and cultural contexts, as well as individual differences
The political context is important. Having the funded hours available is fantastic for us because we offer an Ofsted-rated outstanding service and we prioritise children from low-income families. So, families with ordinary jobs are able to send their children to an outstanding preschool and are taught by exceptional professionals without having to pay a huge amount of money. We have considered moving out of this building to somewhere more beautiful but then we would not have these children. And it’s these children that we enjoy teaching and that we found a way to teach.
Principle 13. We believe in the social and political agency of individuals and groups to make significant choices about their lives and to contribute to their community
We are here to support the children. We’re known in the community. Parents come back when they’ve got problems, and we help them. There is institutionalised racism in the forms that they must fill out to get the 30 hours and to get the 15 hours [funding]; most parents who speak English as an additional language cannot fill out those forms, so they come to us, and we help them. We sit down at the computer with them and help them create a government gateway account. We have to fill out the entire form with them and even if they don’t send their child here, we will fill that out with them because that is just part of our community spirit. We give parents as much help as we can. We are head, heart, hands.
Concluding thoughts
Precious Playdays has a well-developed, theoretically informed pedagogy that is holistic and community-orientated, being committed to serving the linguistically and culturally diverse child population in their neighbourhood. These characteristics and their deep professional curiosity about practice and outcomes are aligned with social pedagogy. There are other examples of social pedagogically informed early childhood education in the UK, such as nurseries run by the London Early Years Foundation (O’Sullivan, 2018), that may interpret social pedagogy in different ways. Precious was a good example of systematically drawing out theoretical and practical alignment as a way to grow UK social pedagogy.
Declarations and conflicts of interest
Research ethics statement
The authors declare that research ethics approval for this article was provided by UCL IOE Ethics Committee.
Consent for publication statement
The authors declare that research participants’ informed consent to publication of findings – including photos, videos and any personal or identifiable information – was secured prior to publication.
Conflicts of interest statement
The corresponding author is a current editor-in-chief for this journal. All efforts to sufficiently blind the authors during peer review of this article have been made. The authors declare no further conflicts with this article.
References
Adolph,K E; Hoch,J E. (2019). Motor development: Embodied, embedded, enculturated, and enabling. Annual Review of Psychology 70 :141–164, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-102836 30256718 [pmcid:PMC6320716]
O’Sullivan,J. (2018). Miller,L, Cameron,C;Cand Dalli,C;C, Barbour,NN(ed s .), A childcare social enterprise: The London Early Years Foundation Model. The sage handbook of early childhood policy. Sage, pp.323–337.