Susan Isaacs (1885-1948) is best known for her deep knowledge of child development and her detailed observations of young children. She was a strong advocate for children's play, particularly ‘open air’ play, and she believed that through this form of self-expression, children could safely release their feelings and work out how to deal with a range of emotions. This was revolutionary during the 1920s, in the buttoned-up society in which she lived. She founded Chelsea Open Air Nursery in 1928 and her philosophy lives on in the setting's ‘garden of imagination’, where children indulge in free-flow play and learning, indoors and out (see Case study).
Her father was a journalist and a lay preacher in the Methodist Church and her mother died when she was still a child. At the age of 15, she declared she was an atheist, and her father forced her to leave school, refusing to speak to her for a further two years.
In 1907, Isaacs enrolled to train as a teacher of five- to seven-year-olds at the University of Manchester, later transferring to a degree course and then receiving a scholarship to Cambridge University to study child psychology. She went on to train as a psychoanalyst, becoming a staunch follower of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein.
Isaacs developed her theories by observing children at The Malting House school, a progressive, experimental school in Cambridge, where she was head teacher between 1924 and 1927. She saw ‘warm human relationships’ and children's security as the essential starting point for education, and encouraged staff at the school to give children time, space and freedom to resolve their own conflicts. She believed that young children need ‘opportunity for self-assertion and independence’ and considered nursery ‘an extension of the function of the home, not a substitute’.
‘Her lifestyle was very much early 20th century bohemian and she brought that into her practice,’ explains Dr Pam Jarvis, childhood psychologist and co-author of Early Years Pioneers in Context (see Further information).
KEEN CAMPAIGNER
As well as advising parents how to observe and learn from children's play in her role as agony aunt for Nursery World from 1929 to 1936, under the pseudonym Ursula Wise, Isaacs was a leading member of The Nursery School Association. Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of its successor organisation, Early Education, says Isaacs came to conclusions ‘that are as modern and relevant today as they were when she wrote them’.
To mark its 90th anniversary, Early Education published an online version of Isaacs’ pamphlet, The Educational Value of the Nursery School, which was first printed in 1937. Merrick describes it as a ‘clarion call for child-centred provision’.
In it, Isaacs wrote, ‘If we were asked to mention one supreme psychological need of the young child, the answer would have to be “play” – the opportunity for free play in all its various forms. Play is the child's means of living and of understanding life.’
She continued, ‘Another aspect of his play is make-believe. He needs the opportunity for imaginative play, free and unhampered by adult limits or teachings, just as much as he needs the chance to run and jump and thread beads. It is in this regard that our understanding of the child's mind and the way in which he develops has deepened and broadened in recent years.’
TIMELESS LESSONS
The Malting House school, which catered for children aged two to eight years, was carefully planned to facilitate children's development.
Dr Jarvis adds, ‘There were reading and writing rooms, but most of the activity took place in a carpentry room/ laboratory, a kitchen and an art room. There was a large garden with a water tap, a summerhouse, a see-saw with movable weights, boards, ladders and a jungle gym. There were also many pet animals; mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, hens, chickens, snakes, salamanders, a wormery, an aquarium, two cats and a dog.’
The indoor space was richly resourced to stimulate learning through play. It included dressing-up clothes, art and craft materials, beads, blocks, a typewriter and other play equipment.
‘Each child had their own allotment in the garden and was allowed to freely experiment with it in order to discover how to best care for plants,’ Dr Jarvis says.
‘If plants were not watered, the children found out that they would die. The adults did not step in to prevent this. Susan also tried to ensure that the children's reading and writing emerged from “real life” applications such as lists and menus; there were no formal literacy lessons.’
GARDENING AND OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT
- The child-sized set of ten Gardening Tools Kit from TTS, £124.99, includes hand trowels and larger pieces of equipment, such as a leaf rake and garden brush. For added stability when transporting leaves and soil, the Twigz Two Wheeled Metal Wheelbarrow, £49.99, also from TTS, has two wheels. Use canes to support plants and connect them with the cane mates and caps in the TTS Gardening Canes Collection, £38.99.
- Cosy's Complete Gardening Kit, £235, contains a class kit of gardening gloves, hand trowels, forks, brushes, rakes, buckets and wheelbarrows. Its set of 4 Super Short Shovels, £28.99, are great for young children's digging activities, and children will love tidying up the outdoor area with Cosy's Litter Grabbers, £36.99.
- Early Excellence stocks a range of gardening resources, including the Set of Gardening Trugs, £17.97; a Set of Watering Cans, £22.95; and the child-sized wheelbarrow, £155.
- For outdoor den-making, try TTS's Forest School Outdoor Den Making Kit, £119.99, which comes in a handy backpack and includes insect aspirators and bug-spotting cards. Or Yellow Door's Camouflage Den-building Fabric Netting, £16.
- Muddy Faces sells a range of tools for Forest School. Try the Forest School Starter Set Muddy Faces, £109.99, which includes a bowsaw, perfect for cutting logs and branches; a hacksaw, great for more intricate cuts; loppers for clearing branches and brambles; and six sturdy peelers.
CASE STUDY: Chelsea Open Air Nursery School
Chelsea Open Air Nursery School was set up in 1928 by Dr Susan Isaacs and local American mother Natalie Davies. Ninety years on, her legacy to provide high-quality early education and outdoor learning experiences to children in and around the neighbouring streets in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea lives on.
Isaacs created an environment in which children could be thinkers, reasoners and discoverers and she could extend her narrative records and observations of children.
Today, the garden is still central to the philosophy, providing year-round free-flow access indoors and out to children from diverse backgrounds. It offers the same degree of risk, challenge and adventure that was offered in the 1930s – but minus the open well, which remained uncovered until the 1990s.
In the ‘garden of imagination’ there are plenty of nooks and crannies for children to play and hide in. There is also a sandpit with a pirate ship and harbour house, a vegetable patch, a muddy kitchen area and a pond; equipment for children to climb, balance, co-ordinate and swing, such as traditional slides and seesaws; and offcuts of trees that children use in their imaginary play.
Robinson explains, ‘We also have an on-site Forest School, where we light fires and use large-scale tools like bow saws to chop up wood. Off-site, we take eight children by bus to our designated wildlife area in Holland Park.
‘The children learn how to use tools, for example peelers to whittle elder to make minibeast houses, as well as saws to cut wood to make Forest School name badges. These activities are cross-curricular and provide children with the risk and challenge knowing they are in a safe, nurturing environment. The skills they obtain are immense, enabling them to become strong, resilient learners.
‘Chelsea Open Air Nursery School has evolved over the years, but Susan Isaacs’ philosophy has been influential in creating the school we are today.’
MORE INFORMATION
- Early Years Pioneers in Context: Their lives, lasting influence and impact on practice today by Dr Pam Jarvis, Louise Swiniarski and Wendy Holland (Routledge)