Creating Early Childhood Education Environments | 167
many pedagogical perspectives, research-based innovations, and mainstream international evidence on creating and maintaining quality learning environments (Cleveland 2018; OECD 2017b; UIS 2012). Overall safety is the first key principle, highlighting the minimum protective conditions that must be in place before any type of educational provision can begin. Once settings meet an appropriate level of safety, the next attribute is the pedagogical organization of ECE learning environments, meaning that every part of the physical learning environment should be thoughtfully planned and intended to motivate specific teaching and learning opportunities. The third principle is spatial flexibility: the chapter illustrates how quality ECE environments should move from rigid teacher-centered arrangements to multifunctional and open spaces with various learning centers and adaptable zones for children’s exploration and collaborative group learning. Empowerment and authorship, the fourth principle, highlights the importance of providing opportunities for children, teachers, and families to be able to personalize early learning spaces throughout the teaching-learning process. Finally, the fifth principle focuses on child-centered design in learning environments, including child-adult ratios, child group sizes, child accessibility, and access to learning opportunities. Together, these five principles provide the foundations for quality ECE environments. The chapter explores the ideas behind the five principles and how they are put into practice. It also looks at how political, economic, social, and regional differences shape a quality environment. The discussion then turns to how to translate these principles into policy and practice.
PRINCIPLES OF QUALITY EARLY LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN ECE Overall Safety: Minimal Protective Conditions for Learning Safety must come first. Ensuring children’s overall safety should always be the top priority. A secure and protective space must minimize possible risks and dangers (UIS 2012). Teachers and children must feel safe (Cleveland et al. 2018). Safe physical learning environments not only p rotect children, teachers, and communities, but also have explicit protocols and codes of conduct that promote a sense of care within the community and an awareness of safety among teachers, families, and learners. Overall safety depends on engaging the whole community, on parental involvement, and on participatory decision-making with teachers and children. In Rwanda, school safety conditions are managed by parents’ committees and teachers. Families help build adobe walls around a school’s compound to stop outsiders and goats from wandering around. Parents and
