The influences on today's childcare practice by the work of a pioneering European educator are explained by Mary Evans.

When families attend parenting classes in the UK it is common practice for the children to be left in a creche. But the babies would be central in any course run according to the methods of Magda Gerber.

She argued that parents' first learning came from their babies and no-one else. So her method of running a parenting class would be to show parents to really look out for the non-verbal language of their babies.

The Hungarian-born early childhood specialist was heavily influenced by her friend Emmi Pikler (see box) but after the 1956 uprising she fled to America, where she developed her Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) approach.

The pair kept in touch throughout the rest of their lives, sharing ideas and information despite being separated by working in different continents and cultures - Pikler running an orphanage in communist Hungary and Gerber working with parents and carers in capitalist California. They shared a common belief that respect for the child is paramount and that the adult should follow the child's lead.

'What strikes me about the approach, is that it puts so much faith in the child's urge to explore in a stimulating environment and make choices,' says Julian Grenier, early years adviser to Tower Hamlets Council. 'I think that much of Elinor Goldschmeid's approach, in treasure basket and heuristic play, is inspired by Gerber and developed from her principles.

'It is a valuable antidote to the tendency to interfere with young children's play, talking to them so much that they get distracted and overwhelmed, and preventing them from becoming deeply involved.

'Equally, her approach to the environment - very carefully structured, with high-quality equipment, all flexible and open to many different styles of play - makes a refreshing change from what you see in most equipment catalogues and nurseries.'

CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS

Although Gerber was hugely influential, her work is not widely known in the UK. According to Sue Owen of the National Children's Bureau and Dr Stephanie Petrie, senior lecturer in the school of law and social justice at Liverpool University, who have written a book about RIE (see below), this is because she focused on teaching.

Dr Petrie says, 'Magda Gerber is from that middle-European post-war tradition of building close relationships with children and listening to children. Reggio Emilia was influenced by Pikler. It is about tuning in to children.'

Gerber died in 2007, but there is now a move to spread her message wider. Gerber's long-term colleague Polly Elam has run courses in New Zealand and Europe which she hopes to deliver in the UK.

Dr Petrie says, 'At parenting classes in this country, what tends to happen is we put the children in a creche while the parents attend a talk about parenting a generic baby.

'The way the RIE parenting-infant classes are run is that they start from when the babies are very young - just a couple of months - and the babies are on a circular mat. The parents sit near their baby and the RIE trainer will draw parents' attention to the little movements and changes in facial expression that baby is making to get the parents attuned and understanding their baby's non-verbal language.'

The RIE method is to leave children to develop unfettered gross motor development and not prop them up in baby seats. Ms Owen says children who are given this freedom 'from being tiny, are hugely confident in terms of balance. Everybody gasps when I show a video of an 18-month-old balancing at the top of a slide.'

CASE STUDY

The high chair, bouncy chair and baby seat that are standard in most baby rooms in early years settings across the country have been thrown out at the Seasons Private Day Nursery in Stroud. Instead of propping an infant up at mealtimes, a child who cannot get to the table independently is fed on the lap of their keyperson in an armchair.

'The philosophy behind this is called emotional refuelling,' says Kate Elliott-Cannon, manager and owner of Seasons. 'Where children have that one-to-one connection with you, it promotes self-esteem and confidence. When they leave you, they can go and play independently for long periods.

'The staff have noticed that the children now are more independent in their play and less needy. As practitioners we create unnecessary dependencies, without meaning to.'

She introduced the change in approach after attending a ten-day intensive course last summer in Seattle led by Magda Gerber's long-term colleague and RIE Associate, Polly Elam.

Mrs Elliott-Cannon, who wants her setting to become the first RIE-influenced nursery in England, says, 'When I was talking to the staff and said this is the philosophy and this is what we are going to work towards, I explained that we would take as long as we need.'

She adopted one of Magda Gerber's dictats: if you are trying to get staff to change and follow the approach, you need to give to them what you want them to give to the babies. That is, you have to listen to your staff.

'We talked through all our concerns. We have six infants in the baby room. People worried that if only two could eat at the table, what happened about the others. I said, "You know your children and you know who will wait."

'We realised that sometimes we would in the past have got them all ready for lunch even if some of them were in the middle of playing. Now, it happens very naturally. They just take it in turns to have their lunch.

'I think that as adults we do a lot of things for our convenience, so we decide to sit children up. Once infants are in a sitting position, they see things and are less inclined to do what comes naturally as they would do if left on their backs or on their tummies.

'When they own positions independently, it does not just teach them to be independent, it teaches them about themselves.

'In a highchair they are separated, isolated, restricted. Being fed on someone's lap, they are close and warm with their key person. This bonding is an extension of bottle feeding.

'I have noticed that the staff have slow down and spend a lot of time being rather than doing. There is a great deal of communication in terms of body language and eye contact.'

EMMI PIKLER

Emmi Pikler (1902-1984) was a distinguished Hungarian paediatrician who transformed thinking about the care of young children while demonstrating how her approach worked in practice.

Based on her observations working with families in Budapest, she believed that children from birth are not helpless bundles but full human beings with individual skills and personalities.

She saw a baby as active, competent and able to take initiatives, and above all, someone to be taken seriously.

She recognised the need to offer an environment where children are respected and nurtured to become emotionally and socially mature individuals, able to adjust to the needs of others and of society.

The Pikler Institute (nicknamed Loczy, from the street where it is located), was established in 1946 when she was asked by the city authorities in Budapest to set up an orphanage for infants and young children.

She and her carefully selected team of carers sought to give the very young children in their care an experience of life which would allow them to develop naturally and avoid the psychological traumas associated with living in an institution.

They achieved this by giving each child exclusive one-to-one attention at times of care such as feeding, bathing and nappy changing. At other times, the children were given the freedom to develop their gross motor skills at their own pace, rather then when adults dictated.

The guiding principle of the Pikler philosopher is respect: the competence of the infant should be recognised and respected. In practice, this means that parents and carers should observe their babies to learn from them what they know, what they like and who they are.

Further information

  • Authentic Relationships in Group Care for Infants and Toddlers: Resources for Infant Educators (RIE) Principles into Practice by Stephanie Petrie and Sue Owen, published 2005 by Jessica Kingsley
  • Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect by Magda Gerber, published by Infant Resources Educarers
  • Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) was founded in 1978 by Magda Gerber and pediatric neurologist Tom Forrest MD. See www.rie.org