The Wrinkle People

Liz Chesworth

7th October 2022

'The Wrinkle People' is a fascinating book about a curriculum project that was co-created by a group of 3-5 year old children and their teachers. In the introduction to the book, teachers and authors Maeve Birdsall and Jasmine Priestley explain that the project ‘was sparked by our children’s interest in the elderly within the community’. This interest was built upon children’s participation in everyday family and community activities, and their relationships with grandparents and other older people. These experiences and relationships enabled the children to build funds of knowledge that informed their deep interests, concerns and insights about elderly people and their well-being.

The book documents how the project unfolded as the children and teachers participated in curriculum making experiences that built upon the initial interest. Children were involved in a range of first hand experiences, including a visit to a care home for elderly people. They had opportunities to express, make sense of and build their working theories through talking, drawing, constructing, painting, making music and engaging in reflective dialogues. The book also explains how the initial interest led to a series of mini-projects in which children’s other interests and ideas merged and intermingled with the project to create new opportunities for learning.

This is a great example of curriculum making that is built on deep respect for the knowledge and understanding that young children bring into schools and early years settings. The project includes numerous examples that demonstrate how educators planned experiences that aligned with the requirements of the Areas of Learning that are set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage. But it also shows how shifting our understanding of ‘interest’ beyond activity level interpretations can enable educators to recognise, value and build upon the big questions and serious concerns that children have about their world. And as a result, children and adults were able to co-construct deeper understandings of how people grow older and how younger members of society can interact with elderly citizens and respect their well-being, dignity and wisdom.

This approach to curriculum making enables children to learn knowledge and skills relating to school-based curriculum in contexts that have meaning and relevance for their lives. Yet beyond this, the children also engaged in critical dialogue that enabled them to consider big societal questions and what it means to participate in a multigenerational society. It seems to me that this interweaving of school- and community-oriented learning is of fundamental importance for contemporary curriculum making.

You can find out about Maeve's and Jasmine’s work on Twitter:

@BirdsallMaeve and @Japriestley1

Page updated

Report abuse