Image credit: MAD Creative Studio
Celebrating their 50th anniversary last year, Dr Harry Little Preschool in Bendigo hosted the Our Place Our World exhibition and play space, to highlight a project connecting children with their environment through arts-based pedagogy.
For many years, the preschool has embraced neighbourhood walks as an important part of their learning approach. Building on this process, they engaged in a project, guided by early childhood education scholars Kelly Boucher and Dr Angela Molloy Murphy, to support children’s connection with their local places.
The project offered regular walks around local streets, observations of a nearby construction site and visits to Bendigo Art Gallery. Children mapped their journeys, sketched what they saw and crafted stories that captured their experiences.
These encounters were then curated into a vibrant exhibition and play space at Dudley House in Bendigo.
Small steps, big ideas
Angela Dance, an early childhood teacher who supported the project, said it was a ‘rich learning experience’ for both the children and teachers.
‘It was very enjoyable to see the children identifying aspects of their environment and making meaning of where they were in proximity to the kindergarten’, she said.
‘They noticed how the change in seasons affects the environment and watched the progression of local construction works.
‘They blew us away with their comments and what they were observing. It gave us [the teachers] a deeper connection with the children and their interests.’
The project supported teachers to deepen their pedagogy and reflect on their processes and practices.
‘It challenged us by putting us in a space that we weren’t always comfortable with, but we recognised the benefits of the children teaching us,’ Angela said.
‘It was great for our planning; it informed our next steps to build on what the children had learned. It was a different way of teaching.’
A long-term collaborative journey
Our Place Our World reflects Dr Harry Little Preschool’s ongoing commitment to place-based learning and evolving its philosophy, which emphasises children as capable, active contributors to their learning and culture.
Using its kindergarten funding, the preschool has accessed Kelly Boucher’s expertise as a Pedagogical Leadership Coach and Early Childhood Arts Specialist to support the preschool’s learning over the past few years to rethink its philosophy and enhance its staff practices.
This focused learning and reflection offered a unique opportunity for Kelly, Angela and the team at the preschool to collaborate on this project, and to help bring the new philosophy to life alongside children, place and materials.
‘The process was exciting because it was emergent, we had a basic idea and a framework of what we wanted to achieve, but it was courageous pedagogy to not necessarily have a systematic logic plan of action,’ Kelly said.
Sharing on a global stage
The impact of the project has extended well beyond the local community. In October 2024, the children’s artistic explorations were showcased to postgraduate early childhood education students at Harvard University.
Kelly and Dr Molloy Murphy also presented at an International Early Childhood Education conference in Chicago, collaborating with academics from Harvard University, Thompson Rivers University, and the University of Western Ontario.
In 2025, Our Place Our World will continue to gain recognition. Kelly will present at the 10th Biennial Arts in Early Childhood Conference in Wollongong, New South Wales and the 38th World Congress of the International Society for Education through Art in the Czech Republic in July.
Share stories of your team
If you have a story that you’d like to share about an early childhood educator or teacher at your service, please let us know. We would love to talk to them about what drives them in their work and explore the impact they have.
You can contact the department’s communications team by email: ec.portfolio.communications@education.vic.gov.au
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