Programming for older children in School Age Care: Adult and child engagement with developmental pedagogies

Abstract

How to work with older children has been ongoing question in Australian School Age Care (SAC) for over 30 years. Children aged 10–12 years are often spoken of as a problematic Other whose pose a risk to the younger children who attend SAC in higher proportions. This article aims to address the gap in research about what practices might work with this age group. It draws on a qualitative study conducted with SAC practitioners and older children who attend SAC. In semi-structured interviews, practitioners were asked about what strategies they employed with older children. These strategies are then viewed in relation to the perspectives of older children who were consulted via participatory methods and ethnography about what good SAC might look like. The research explores two approaches that draw on developmental knowledges, the use of separate spaces and resources, and a role called apprentice educator. Whilst older children appear to value strategies like age-segregated spaces and resources, they are less likely to take up adult-like, apprentice educator roles curated for them by practitioners. Older children’s responses to these strategies can be understood as powerful acts around developmental discourses that construct and reconstruct the category of older child in SAC.