To the third-rate efficiency-obsessed childcare worker who laments that 'it's faster when adults decide.' Professionals intentionally create 'troublesome classes.'
“When I let the children discuss it, they never reach a decision and it takes forever.” “In the end, it goes much smoother if I just quickly decide the roles for them.”
If you are running your childcare by prioritizing “efficiency” and “smoothness” like this, please discard that time-performance supremacy immediately. Let me be clear. That “smooth childcare” where adults decide everything quickly is nothing more than “conveyor-belt work” that ruthlessly strips children of the opportunity to think for themselves and make adjustments.
A smooth class is one where the children's “agency” is dead
Of course, I understand the harsh realities of the field all too well. Who does what, how to proceed—it is overwhelmingly faster when adults set the rules and give the instructions. No trouble occurs, and the class stays quiet and neatly organized.
However, are the children actually growing within that “neatly arranged scene”? They are merely walking on the tracks laid by adults, making sure not to derail. There is not a millimeter of “co-agency (the agency to create together)” there. You are simply sacrificing the children's agency to protect the adult's convenience (the schedule).
A co-agency class is intensely “troublesome”
When you seriously decide to steer toward fostering co-agency, there is something you must be prepared for. It is that the class will become a little (or rather, quite) “troublesome state”that is.
In a co-agency class, it takes an enormous amount of time to decide even one thing. Opinions clash head-on: “I want to do this!” “I absolutely think this way is better!” Even after a rule is decided, it happens over and over again that they say, “It didn't work out after all!” Activities suddenly stop midway, everyone gathers for a heated discussion, and then they scatter again.
From the outside, or from the perspective of adults with old-fashioned values, you might be criticized, saying, “What an unsettled class,” or “Isn't the teacher bad at managing them?”
Because adults don't “tidy up,” children “tidy up”
However, professional childcare workers must love and take pride in that “troublesomeness.” This is because it is precisely within that messy time, which looks chaotic at first glance, that the children's “earnest thinking” and “joint adjustment with others” are packed tight.
Because childcare workers do not “tidy up” everything too neatly, children can have the experience of “tidying up” the world with their own hands.
If adults act as traffic controllers and say, “Do this,” children will never learn the painful process of reconciling opinions with others (democracy). Troublesome discussions. Troublesome retries. Troublesome reconciliations. Thoroughly guaranteeing this “troublesomeness” is the highest quality educational environment we can provide.
Discard “efficiency” and return time to “growth”
Today's society demands too much “cost-performance” and “time-performance” where answers are found immediately. However, there are no “shortcut keys” for human growth.
Co-agency childcare is not efficient childcare. It is “childcare that returns time to growth,” reclaiming the time that was stolen for the convenience of adults.
It is okay if activities don't finish on schedule. It is okay if a good-looking project isn't completed. If today, opinions clashed, tears were shed, and yet they looked up and said, “Then let's think about it together again tomorrow,” that is a highly successful childcare experience.
Please do not run away from the “troublesome.” When adults close their planners and commit to joining the children in their messy drama, the class evolves into a team that is stronger and more precious than anything else.
[Postscript]
Were you able to stick with the children's “troublesome interactions” until the end today without cutting them off?
If you have a great episode where you disregarded efficiency and 'left room in the schedule'—like 'we talked for 30 minutes and didn't reach a conclusion, but the children had expressions of relief as if they had thought it through to the end'—please share it in the comments.
I also provide consulting and training on 'work-style reform' and 'organizational development' in childcare settings. If you are a manager or director with the resolve to 'shift the entire nursery's childcare philosophy from efficiency to process-oriented' or 'stop doing flashy events and start sharing the daily 'troublesome growth' with parents,' please feel free to contact me via the link in my profile. The greatest learning is hidden within the 'time that doesn't go smoothly.'