Suzanne Axelsson

Interaction Imagination

The illusion of "fun"

Suzanne Axelsson

30 nov 2019
4 min.

The illusion of "fun"

Over the years I have engaged many times in dialogues about the fact the word "fun" being used as a key word in the preschool/kindergarten/early years context... that school/preschool should be fun. The thought being should this really be a key word? School and preschool (ages 0-6) is about learning (preschool is learning through play and exploration rather than the formal learning of school) not about having fun. The educators are not trained in how to entertain the children

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Malaguzzi Inspired...

Suzanne Axelsson

21 nov 2019
6 min.

Malaguzzi Inspired...

Just over three years ago I was invited to Toronto, Canada to participate in the Rhythm of Learning "The Rhythm of Learning in Nature is an opportunity offered by the York Region Nature Collaborative for like-minded educators to come together in place to experience nature, outdoor play, Reggio-inspiration and forest school practices. The week follows an emergent curriculum framework, as we will invite both facilitators and participants to decide the direction of the work and

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The here and now educator

Suzanne Axelsson

21 okt 2019
3 min.

The here and now educator

I feel that often as educators we are often looking into the future too much... planning the direction, needing to know where we are going, rather than focussing on where we are now... Sure, as educators we do need to know where we are going, so that we can prepare ourselves for the needs of the children... its like looking for the best route, or the weather forecast to be able to make the best decisions about what clothes to wear and what equipment is need to deal with the

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The Story of Communication, chapter 2

Suzanne Axelsson

31 mar 2019
9 min.

The Story of Communication, chapter 2

The first chapter of this communication story was about how we, as educators, communicate - this post will focus on how the room communicates... the learning environment... the third teacher. as an educator inspired by the pedagogy in the preschools of Reggio Emilia, I reflect a great deal about my colleague, the third teacher, and over the years I have written quite a lot of blogposts on the topic, as well as sharing images from settings I have visited... What I have alwa

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The joy of play and learning

Suzanne Axelsson

27 mar 2019
4 min.

The joy of play and learning

Often I feel that there is status in happiness. That success is measured in happiness - and that as parents and educators we should be striving towards making happy children... I have shifted from the word happy somewhat... mostly because how do you REALLY know if a child is happy... and that many children learn to fake to be happy for the sake of the adult... so I am not looking for happy children as a sign that my classroom/setting is of high quality instead -what I look f

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The Story of Communication

Suzanne Axelsson

20 mar 2019
6 min.

The Story of Communication

Before we can start with the children there is a need to start with ourselves... as educators. So this post will focus on that before moving onto the children and learning... How do WE communicate? To create a safe space... Knowledge... to explore ideas... learning... etc Do we speak in different ways depending on who we are talking to - age, gender etc... and why do we do this? Is it appropriate? When we communicate are we leaving enough space for others to communi

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Looking to the future

Suzanne Axelsson

17 mar 2019
10 min.

Looking to the future

The #FridaysForFuture movement is very much a part of my home-life now. Both my daughters are engaged in their different ways, one here on the east coast of Sweden in Stockholm, and the other on the west coast of Sweden in Lysekil. As a parent here in Sweden it is my job to make sure they go to school, it is the law that all children attend school (not get an education, but attend school - I guess the attendance means they get an education!!). As many of you who have followed

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Play in a Technological World

Suzanne Axelsson

14 mar 2019
7 min.

Play in a Technological World

I have been reflecting more and more about the fashion of learning... and that at the moment in my instagram feed and other social media I see that images of digital and technological play are being more and more widely shared... and more an more liked and given social approval... Although I also see there are cultural differences... here in Sweden I see a much bigger push for digital learning than I do in most of the other English (and non English speaking) countries that I

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Co-documenters

Suzanne Axelsson

12 mar 2019
8 min.

Co-documenters

We often talk about being co-researchers with the children, but I also think that we are co-documenters - especially in the sense of the Reggio Emilia approach sense of pedagogical documentation... I do not feel that we should be producing documentation FOR the children, but WITH the children. And if we are collecting data by documenting the children through photos, note-taking, filming, audio, collecting work etc together with the children and then analysing that with coll

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The Political Nature of the Reggio Emilia Approach

Suzanne Axelsson

8 mar 2019
15 min.

The Political Nature of the Reggio Emilia Approach

I am not a particularly political person... I have said this before... and this is not a post about politics - but this post does touch on the fact that education is a political entity. It is through education that values are taught. It is through education that history is taught... what is included, what is excluded, what bias, who is the narrator It is through education that children are being prepared for society... especially in standardised education where there are r

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Malaguzzi's Three Children

Suzanne Axelsson

28 feb 2019
9 min.

Malaguzzi's Three Children

The following text is taken from the book "Boken om pedagogerna" under redaktion av Anna Forsell (2008) (5th edition) (Finns på svenska after bilderna) (The Book of the Pedagogues, edited by Anna Forsell) Malaguzzi's three children. In his lectures Malaguzzi used to always take up his view of children and knowledge by presenting three simple images of the child and pitching them against each other (Loris Malaguzzi, lecture May 1992) 1. The sleeping and poor child - an empty

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The End of Play

Suzanne Axelsson

8 jan 2019
9 min.

The End of Play

(på svenska efter bilderna) Just before Christmas the news here in Sweden reported how children from the age of 6-7 were no longer interested in toys and were wanting other things... It made me reflect on how my own children suddenly stopped playing with toys shortly after starting school due to the peers they mixed with... it was like cold turkey. One day dolls, lego etc the next they were put in boxes as if they were ashamed of them... Their new friends at school were into

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Neuro-diversity in the world of Neuro-norm

Suzanne Axelsson

23 dec 2018
10 min.

Neuro-diversity in the world of Neuro-norm

The more I read and learn about neuro-diversity the more overwhelming it starts to feel. There are articles about it, and reactions to the articles... but what I feel the most is that there is an "us and them" approach of which I feel absolutely no connection to whatsoever... I simply don't get it... and that can be part of my neuro-diversity in the sense that all these "us and them" definitions have been strange for me to truly comprehend... class, gender, race etc etc bec

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A Democratic Preschool

Suzanne Axelsson

17 dec 2018
5 min.

A Democratic Preschool

Today in Sweden we celebrate 100 years of the right for the general public to vote - prior to that only 19% of the (wealthy) population had the right to vote. Of course this did not mean women... that decision was made 6 months later that they too had the right to vote. Sadly in Sweden this voting business has not gone so well for us this year... as we had elections in September and we are still without a government, because none of the political parties received enough votes

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Gender Dialogue