Firstly, children are permitted time to play, explore and discover (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003, P.2), and a great amount of time. This is the first and most obvious difference I observed. Play is permitted and included in the curriculum. There are different corners with different purposes. During the class hour, students are free to play and explore those materials without adults’ supervision and assignment. Compared to traditional classrooms where play is considered as what children engage in between classes and activities. Besides playing in the classroom, students also spend time in a playground which has divergent types of toys than in a classroom. At the same time, it provides opportunities to interact with students from other classes and other age groups.    

Secondly, I am impressed by how they arouse children’s curiosity, then allow children to explore and discover. The materials in the classroom are well-organized and accessible allowing children to use them independently in many categories as I mentioned above. Take the book “Ciencia a Brincar” for instance. In this book, there are all interesting and simply scientific games and activities, which allows children to experiment. At the same time, they discover the scientific principles behind it.  

Thirdly, the interaction in the school is great. There is a lot of interaction happening in this society, from within the classroom to the family participation and community. In the classroom, every morning every child has the right to decide whether they want to share something or not; after one event, questions, comments, feedback are welcomed as well. There is always an opportunity to partake in and it is also children’s choice. Interaction between classes takes place frequently as well. Sometimes students present their findings or tell a story in front of classmates, sometimes to several classes, including younger or older students. Moreover, parents proactively participate in children’s learning by sharing their family activities, creating posters and portfolios together, and joining extracurricular events. Furthermore, children’s learning is not limited within a classroom nor in school. When students are curious, teachers encourage them to find out more by themselves, which might take place in the classroom, the market, the park, so that students are able to interact with the community around them. 

Fourthly, the democratic attitude. In the class, all children have the opportunity to share their opinions, then discuss together. Compared to traditional education where most activities, learning, and decisions are made by the teacher or school administration, here children have the right to express their voice. What impressed me most is that in the Friday meeting, children discuss about something or some behaviors “we like” or “we do not like”. From this list, when children share something they do not like, then they try to resolve the problem together, or reach an agreement, instead of asking adults to provide a solution. For instance, children in my class didn’t like that some students pulled their hair. After discussion, they agreed that if someone pulls your hair, you have to tell him to stop, then he should stop. This might not be the best solution, however it is important for children to learn how to cooperate and interact with people around them.    

Fifthly, flexibility is essential in the MEM approach. In my personal experience, there must be a fixed goal for learning or teaching, most of the time it refers to academic performance. As a teacher, I must teach students something I planned, and students are required to reach a certain level. However, here in Colegio Piloto Diese, I found that it is not necessary for teachers to design or lead all activities, children should be the leader in their own learning. For instance, when deciding their project, children are free to research what they are interested in. What is more important is that it is fine if we want to change the topic or we are not interested in this anymore.    

In the end, in the class, I also had a lot of conversations with Susana, the homeroom teacher. I feel very lucky to observe in her class, she is a professional  practitioner and loving educator. From time to time I ask her some questions about the MEM approach, her teaching experience, as well as some classroom emergency management. I found that she is passionate, patient and experienced. The most important and inspiring idea for me is that she truly believes in the cruciality of play in childhood and children are capable. These are the two cornerstones in early childhood education, under such a premise, children develop depending on their own interest and curiosity. 

   A: There is a significant difference that students who receive MEM approach are more autonomous. In school, they learn to express themselves freely, and at the same time, they learn to respect others. Children are free to choose what they want to do, what they want to play, and what they want to learn, so that they learn to manage their time and study. Compared to traditional education, most of the school time is adult/ teacher-led activities, students have no time to develop their own opinion.   

2. What is the process of material preparation?

     A: All the materials in the classroom are carefully chosen and arranged. Before the semester, teachers gather together to decide what books, toys, materials we need in the classroom, following the categories in the MEM approach. Also, during the semester, children are welcomed to bring anything from home, meanwhile, depending on young learners’ interests, we add some new materials from the internet or real life, these are all crucial for us.   

3. What is the reason that makes you devote yourself to the MEM educational approach?

    A: I see that students really enjoy “studying”, or I should say “playing”. For me, play is the best strategy for kids to learn about the world. Through play, they explore, they share, they learn from each other. And all these processes depend on them, instead of teachers or parents, this is the vital element to arouse and boost their motivation. 

Firstly, the MEM approach reminds and convinces me that children are capable. In the research of Folque & Siraj-Blatchford (2011) mentioned that “children’s involvement in planning and evaluation promotes meta-learning and empowers students as self-reliant learners” (p.3). Sometimes, from the perspective of an adult or a teacher, we perceive children as deficient or incapable. We believe that children need help and protection from adults. However, childhood is a period of time in our lives, during this period, children learn from the environment, from the experience, and they are capable to learn and do many things by themselves. From my observation, students in this school learn to manage their time, find out what they want to learn, and they are autonomous, responsible to their choice.

Secondly, learning from play is possible. Play in my society has always not been considered vital or serious in school curriculum. As Sutton-Smith (2009) mentions that the rhetoric of play as frivolous, what is usually applied to the activities of the idle or the foolish. In usual school days, the schedule is filled up with all subjects, students are only permitted to play between classes. After school, students still go to cram schools to reinforce their academic performance. As a result, there is no time left for children to play freely, to be creative, to express and relate themselves to others. 

Last but not the least, the role of an adult as an assist or booster. Traditionally, teachers or adults play the role of leader in the classroom, they design what to learn, how to learn and how to assess learning outcomes for students. The MEM approach is child centered, students are welcome to express and plan their learning, at the same time, the role of the teacher is  planning the environment and activities, monitoring children's work and evaluation (Folque, 1998). As teachers, our role is boosting their learning. This is a great lesson and reminder for me to see things from a child's point of view. From here, we can construct education based on students’ needs and create democracy in our education and the whole society. 

Folque, M., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2003, September). Children and pedagogues learning together in the early years: The Collaborative Process of the Portuguese MEM Pedagogy. In European Early Childhood Educational Research Association Conference (pp. 3-6).

Folque, M. A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2011). Fostering communities of learning in two Portuguese pre-school classrooms applying the Movimento da Escola Moderna (MEM) pedagogy. International Journal of Early Childhood, 43(3), 227-244.

Sutton-Smith, B. (2009). The ambiguity of play. Harvard University Press.

One thing worth mentioning is that most of these visits are proposed by the children. Curiosity is children’s nature, they desire to explore the world. The best way of illustrating is simply showing them the real world. In the MEM approach, the dynamic is quite flexible, students have the right to decide what they want to know, where they want to go. On the contrary, in many traditional educational settings, the teacher might be able to show students the world by mult-imedia, such as pictures, videos, and sounds, which are second-hand materials.  

Learning is viewed as an empowering process that equips autonomous and responsible people with the tools they need to effectively participate and act in the world. Schools are locations where children learn how to learn and how to behave in a democratic society in this sense. In terms of children's learning, there are several forms of knowledge: content knowledge, knowledge acquisition process, knowledge regulation, and, most crucially, the formation of cooperative attitudes, moral and ethical ideals.

Group life and curriculum are managed cooperatively. The fundamental institutionalized ritual for decision-making is frequent Council meetings. Planning and assessing children's progress are formative activities that help them comprehend their own learning. Simultaneously assessing their own (and others') goods or activities allows them to reflect on and gain a deeper grasp of learning processes. The piloting tools are part of the group organization and assist children in integrating their individual experiences into the group as a whole. The MEM groups are made up of people of various ages, with the elder ones explaining the procedures to the younger ones. The adult must know the child and work in her ZPD for the MEM process to take place. providing the essential support (scaffolding) for children to move forward.