“There are no wrong answers.” Empowering children to be diverse thinkers, explorers, and experts of their own worlds

Crouch, K (2024) “There are no wrong answers.” Empowering children to be diverse thinkers, explorers, and experts of their own worlds. In: EECERA Annual Conference, 3 - 6 September 2024, Brighton, UK.

Abstract

What happens when we empower children’s thinking within early childhood? Is there an impact upon children’s thinking and ideas when we take away the potential to give a ‘wrong answer’, or even ‘fail’ an assessment? As an experienced teacher, consultant, researcher, and lecturer in Early Childhood I have worked with children who were free thinkers, problem solvers and creative artists. As a neurodiverse educator, I value the privilege of being invited to see a child’s world through their eyes and understanding. At times, I was statutorily required to test and assess learners (Department for Education 2019; 2023). Often, these young meaning-makers, would change, dramatically. They would gaze at my face for clues on how to ‘de-code’ potential clues on what answer they were expected to give, to guess what the right answer was. This presentation discusses an approach to assessment, in a way which involves children’s thinking and perceptions (Clark, 2011; Pascal and Bertram, 2009). Children’s interactions with phonemes and phonics, intrigue me as a neurodivergent learner, researcher, and educator. Standardised testing within the UK, judges children’s ability to de-code phonic relationships with a pass/fail outcome (Department for Education, 2017). Therefore, I carried out a study which explored individuals’ perceptions of phonics. Children were able to give me meaningful suggestions of how they build understanding through their experiences and observations rather than as a product of rote teaching. This approach is something which could be used to inform both the teaching and the assessment of phonics and early literacy.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Keywords:	assessment, neurodiversity, processing, free-thinking, phonics
Divisions:	School of Education
Date Deposited:	29 Jan 2025 17:59
Last Modified:	29 Jan 2025 17:59
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/16837

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