News from Pikler UK – Spring 2023

Welcome to our new news blog. Inside you’ll find news about what we’ve been up to over the past few months as well as information about what’s coming up for us soon. There are several ways you can get involved with our events and we’d love it if you did.

Pikler Training in London, UK

In October, and again in February, we had the great privilege of hosting two more Basic Level Pikler Trainings, taught as always by the highly experienced and knowledgeable team from the Pikler House, Budapest.

October’s course was held in Blackheath, near Greenwich, London, amidst the beautiful colours of autumn that are very much on display in this lovely part of the city. The topic was one often considered to be the most fundamental of the Pikler approach – Respectful Care and the Relationship with the Adult. Whilst we can’t really separate the various aspects of the approach from one another – they’re all so interlinked – it seems clear that many important questions regarding how we care for infants and toddlers come back to this all important relationship.

A group of 17 students – mostly caregivers from the UK and abroad – came together for this training and we were very happy to welcome many of them back again in February for the module on movement – Self-Initiated Motor Development.

This time we were in Kentish Town, London, hosted by the Camden local authority Early Years Team. The students spent almost as much time on the floor, experimenting with their movements and imitating those of the very young child, as they did at their note taking. Embodying the work by trying it out has long been a part of the Pikler training and it really helps us to embed it into our every day exchanges with the children and adults that we work with.

The next London Pikler training is due to be held in October 2023. We are planning on offering the play module – The Autonomous Play Activity – but we will confirm nearer the time.

Our training modules are always taught by Pikler House pedagogues. Each student receives a certificate from the Pikler House and is able to continue their training, either with us, for the remaining Basic Level modules, or in Budapest at the Pikler House itself.

If you’re interested in completing Pikler training, here’s a link that shows you the path to follow – https://www.pikler.hu/new-page

Pikler UK Annual Conference 2022 – Being, Moving and Doing from the Beginning

Our conference in November was a real highlight. It was the first in-person event for a very long time, which felt very special, and we also went hybrid to welcome those who couldn’t join us in person. Thank you so much for your support, if you were able to attend.

We were delighted to have three very complementary speakers.

Clare Caro – founder member of Pikler UK, creator of The Pikler Collection, Nature Play and Authentic Learning Environment – spoke in depth about her own experiences of bringing up her children guided by Piklerian principles, and the research and discoveries that this experience inspired. Clare’s presentation was a fitting start to the day and brought inspiration to all of us.

Professor Jan White is an active advocate for every child’s right to be outdoors in nature-filled environments for long periods of time every day, throughout their early years. She is honorary Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity St David, author of several books on outdoor provision and practice, co-founder/director of Early Childhood Outdoors and the specialist training company Outdoors Thinking. She also collaborated with Siren Films to make award-winning training resources on babies, toddlers and two-year-old outdoors.

Jan used video clips and questions to provoke delegates to deeper thinking about the importance and value of children spending time outdoors every day.

Dr Lala Manners – practitioner, researcher, educator, author and trainer in the field of Early Years physical development in the UK and internationally – created the Active Matters website as a learning hub to support young children’s physical development.

But for our conference, Lala helped us to explore the possibility of ‘threading and embedding’ free movement into our own lives – both as caregivers and for ourselves. Using music and movement, Lala led the delegates in reconnecting with the freedom that movement brings into our everyday lives if we remember to take care of ourselves.

Our next conference will be in the autumn of 2023.

Pikler UK Membership and its Benefits

Here at Pikler UK we are passionate about supporting individuals in their Piklerian journey towards pedagogue status. We offer Associate Membership to anyone who has begun that journey with at least one 5-day Basic Level course under their belt.

Membership – at only £4 per month – offers benefits, such as discounted rates for events and resources from our Online Shop. But one of our most important offerings is our regular Study Sessions. As caregivers and professionals interested in learning more about the Pikler approach to early childhood, we all need support and the opportunity to share our experiences, questions and knowledge.

Our Study Sessions are free to Members and are focused on a single topic each time, offering the participants time for discussion and a deepening of their learning. We aim to offer at least three of these sessions per year and the next one is coming up on the evening of Thursday 30th March.

Our membership is made up of Pikler students at various levels of attainment and, as such, is a rich and lively resource for us all. If you’ve completed at least one 5-day training you’re eligible and we’d love to welcome you.

We believe that it’s of utmost importance that we come together to explore how this rich and vital learning can be applied every day in our settings and homes in the UK. Students from anywhere in the world are welcome to join us too, with International Associate Membership. We really value the exchange between practitioners, academics, researchers and parents worldwide.

Constitutional Changes for Pikler UK

The Pikler UK Association was formed more than ten years ago by a core group of UK-based Pikler students and enthusiasts. Having realised that the Pikler approach could be of vital importance here in the UK, Dorothy Marlen from York organised the first UK training in 2011 and the seeds of the Association were planted.

Since then, we’ve gone from strength to strength, slowly but surely helping to build awareness of Dr Emmi Pikler’s work here in the UK.

Our current Management Committee have been talking for some time about the possibility of becoming an official charitable organisation so that we can further develop based on the attainment of grants and donations that could support our work. We would like to be able to fund research and outreach opportunities and for that we need our organisation to grow.

With that in mind, we are working hard behind the scenes and hope to bring you news of our new constitutional status before the end of 2023.

IPA Conference, Glasgow, 6-9 June 2023

The International Play Association’s purpose is to protect, preserve and promote the child's right to play as a fundamental human right. They hold an international conference every three years and this year the title is Play: Rights and Possibilities. Of course, we have to be there!

This will be our first time at an IPA conference and we’re very pleased to have had our abstract accepted. We’ll be presenting a workshop with examples of how the Pikler approach promotes infants’ and young children’s free, uninterrupted and autonomous exploratory play.

If you’re in Glasgow in June, it would be lovely to see you there!

What the team are up to…

Several of our committee members are visiting The Pikler House in Budapest this year to further their own training. Christine has already attended two courses this year – one in London and one in Budapest. Karolina, Julia and Rachel are all heading out to Budapest for various courses and observations in the coming months. We’ll be working on case studies and looking at the importance of the team and how they are supported.

In the meantime, we are all working on our own projects and lives in many areas and this breadth of experience helps to support and expand the work that the association is able to do. Over the coming period of change, we may reach out to you and others for specific skills and support. If you feel that you may be able to help us in achieving our aims and objectives, we’d love to hear from you. We welcome emails at hello@pikler.co.uk.

Dates for your diary

Members Only Study Session – Thursday 30th March – 19:00 – 21:00

Pikler UK at IPA Conference, Glasgow – 6th to 9th June

Pikler UK Association AGM – Thursday 22nd June – 16:00 – 18:00

Pikler Training in London – 23rd to 27th October – to be confirmed

Pikler UK Conference September / October 2023 – date to be confirmed