Great, young management team, very supportive, helpful and keen to engage with my research.
I was allocated a chaperone for whenever I am on-site. I did not initially know whether I liked it or not, but it ended up being absolutely ok, as I could turn to her when I needed information and just went about 'my business' the rest of the time. I feel very secure in my practice so it made no difference to me being shadowed, in effect.
1st ‘play day’ (5.8.16) was spent getting to know the children and staff, and carry out a couple of interviews during the children's nap-time. The weather was great so I spent a large part of the morning outside, where most of the children were.
The setting strongly promotes children’s independence, choice and genuine free flow play and as such address several Articles of the UNCRC implicitly.
The children’s wellbeing level was very high as they went about playing all morning.
On the second 'play day' (10.8.16) I begun to worry about the logistic of filming the two-year-olds as they played in with all the other older children in this large setting, inside and outside. I ended up following 4 children and it turned out to be easy enough to edit out the odd child who suddenly came into view in a scene.
After playing with the camera for half an hour, on my film day (17.8.16) I begun to wonder if I should hold the camera or place the camera on a tripod in the corner of the room, as I felt holding the camera was inhibiting my interactions with the children who were seeking my company and wanted to play with me. Two factors ended up influencing my decision. Firstly, my role in the setting was that of a researcher and not as a practicing member of staff; and
as I was standing by the wall in the book corner filming a couple of children at play, one child who had been a bit reserved with me entered the room. She looked at me, looked at the camera, hesitated a little and walked away. If I had left the camera in the corner of the room, she may not have known to make that informed decision that she did not wish to be filmed. Such young children may very possibly forget the camera is rolling if left somewhere, which I don’t think is right, especially taking this young child's reaction into consideration. She very consciously walked away with a concerned expression on her face that I read to mean she did not want to be filmed. This was a deciding moment for me where I decided that I feel it is more ethical to hold on to the camera, so the children are aware that I am filming.
Other ethical issues arose that I have built into in my EECERA presentation.
Editing the film for my follow up visit (19.8.16) ended up being very, very stressful as I had never done any edited before and I had to learn to use iMovie in just a couple of days. The end result was quite good though, so worth the stress. I have a new string to my bow now. The parents lowed seeing the condensed 20 minute clip of their children during the Focus Group interview on the 23.8.16.
The Focus Group Interview (23.8.16.) took much longer than planned (2 hours) but most parents seemed happy enough to stay till the end. They were given the opportunity to leave at a couple of points throughout the session, which one Mum took up. Good experience for the future with important points emerging.
All in all it was an extremely positive experience, carrying out the pilot, learning a lot in the process.
