If you go down in the woods today...

... you will find love and happiness in the woodland kindergarten.

As part of a working visit, I recently visited Haddo Woodland Kindergarten in Aberdeenshire. My colleagues and I had organised with the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People's office for Bruce Adamson to visit the nursery to celebrate World Children's day.

I think they knew they were coming somewhere special but I am not sure they quite expected just how special it was. 

For many years I have defended the rights of our youngest children. Their views and opinions have often gone unheard because of the simple fact that they are not yet at a stage where they are able to articulate vocally their understanding of their rights. Yet, following my master's degree research project I have worked in the ELC sector to demonstrate how the voices of these children can be heard. 

I was very pleased that as a result of the unanimous passing of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill by the Scottish Parliament on 16 March 2021, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to put together a toolkit to support our members to implement this new legislation into practice, as and when it gains Royal Assent. Initially, we were focusing on the administrative part of evidencing children's rights in practice, however as we progressed we realised there was a gap in knowledge as to how to gather the voices of the youngest children who are not yet able to use language to voice their views. 

My colleague Hannah led the development of the Listen to Me: Children's Views on Children's Rights publication for our members. This was shared with the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People prior to the visit. They were blown away with the publication and the toolkit saying that it was a real eye-opener for them to see how to work with children so young. 

On the day of the visit we met with Bruce and his team and they joined in the play. The children at Haddo could not have been a more magnificent example of children knowing about their rights at a young age. 

When Bruce arrived he was met at the gate (it is an outdoor nursery) by a very confident girl who asked who he was. When Bruce said who he was and asked if he could come in the girl turned to the nursery manager and said "this is Bruce, can he come in?". When told he could she politely returned to Bruce and said "yes you can come in, welcome to Haddo Kindy come on I will show you where we play". This is a wonderful example of the child having confidence in herself, knowing that she had to check with the person she trusts and then having the confidence to welcome Bruce and his team and show them around.

We worked with Bruce and his team to show them how to listen to the children through observation and play. Guiding them to really listen while they played with the children and not to lead the conversation they quickly were emersed in conversation with the children about the rights in a way that worked for children under the age of five. 

Another perfect example was one child who was making Bruce some soup (a pan, on the wooden outdoor kitchen, with wood chippings from the path in it). He asked her if the soup was ready and she said "no because I have not finished painting it yet" (she was painting the chips in different colours to represent carrots, peas and other vegetables. Her chit chat demonstrated that she understood what made up a healthy meal and that she had to cook it to make it hot. What followed was a wonderful interaction where Bruce became emersed in the play with this child. He came away from the interaction saying that she had shown him that she really understood her rights in a number of ways. 

Practitioners in ELC are already experts in observing children's development and progress. This form of observation is just a slightly different way of thinking. The intention is not to observe development and progress as a way of evidencing that progress but simply to be the voice of the child. Where a child is too young to articulate their awareness of rights, they will be able to demonstrate this through actions if they have been emersed in a rights-based environment. This is what the practitioner must observe and record. 

It was an amazing day, one which brought all my years in practice to a wonderful moment. Finally, I have someone who believes that babies and infants can understand their rights and can show us. It is just us who have to listen more effectively.