Experts say preschoolers’ main environment tended to be restricted to the building. Photo: Jason Borg

Teachers and educators need to profit from Malta’s temperate climate and take preschoolers outdoors more often as opposed to keeping them indoors most of the time, experts advise.

Speaking at a conference titled ‘Kindergartens for children: drawing on educational and child development perspectives’, a number of experts highlighted the benefits of access to outdoor areas in kindergartens, where children could master emerging physical skills and develop their cognitive and social skills through play and other activities.

Unfortunately, the experts noted, preschoolers’ main environment tended to be restricted to the building, with outdoor activities sometimes amounting to 20 minutes.

Valerie Sollars, a professor at the University of Malta’s Faculty of Education, argued that this tendency stemmed from cultural differences. She illustrated how in Norway, for instance, children were still to be found outside on the porch when temperatures dipped to -12°C.

There were even ski schools catering for two-year-olds.

Remember that at that tender age, children would still be exploring the world around them

The conference was organised as part of post-graduate research carried out by architect Bernice Casha.

Ms Casha’s research focused on the influence of the physical environment in shaping the child’s experience at preschool and its degree of influence on his or her developmental progress. The physical environment is in fact sometimes considered to be “the third teacher”.

She explained how children needed to be autonomous, so it was important to have doors that could be easily opened by preschoolers.

“Children need constant stimulation. Studies show that children love looking outside windows. Remember that at that tender age, children would still be exploring the world around them. Many would not have experienced much apart from their own homes so even observing the movement of leaves would give them a fuller experience.

“Therefore, it is important to have windows adapted to the height of preschoolers.”

Ms Casha added that most of Malta’s kindergartens were in reality adapted spaces, which meant that additional costs would be involved to tailor the building specifically to preschoolers.

Educationalist Charmaine Agius Ferrante and psychologist Elena Tanto Burlò highlighted the importance of treating children as stakeholders and hearing their voices.

“Children should be seen as beings and not becomings. They are active agents in themselves and not mere recipients waiting for adults to fill them with information.”

Foreign studies demonstrated that children in effect demanded having “quiet spaces”, both in the classroom and in outdoor areas.

They also showed that having the nursery located as part of the primary school proved to be an advantage, as older and younger children could interact. Older children, for instance, enjoyed seeing their parents drop off their younger siblings.

“We wonder whether this would be allowed in Malta as the kindergarten is usually cut off from the main body”.

Architect Joe Falzon pointed out that there were instances where kindergarten children were herded up flights of steps because the classrooms on the ground floor were occupied by a teacher “who had spent the past 30 years teaching his students in the same class”.

The architecture should therefore keep the scale of the child in mind, be safe and secure, flexible and extendable, and clear and unencumbered.