Building an Idea: The Material Construction of an Ideal Childhood Author(s): Peter Kraftl Source: Transactions of the Institute of British

Geographers, New Series, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 488-504 Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4639991 . Accessed: 04/12/2013 10:30
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Building
of
an

an

idea:

the

material

construction

ideal

childhood
Peter Kraftl
This paper explores how ideas and ideals are constructed. More specifically, it follows how ideas and ideals of 'childhood' are constructed. Still more specifically, it attends to the ways in which idea(l)s of childhood are literally and materially constructed, in, through and as part of practices such as the building and maintenance of architectural forms. I argue that most studies of childhood largely ignore the importance of local, banal, ephemeral, mundane, material practices - often involved in the very constitution and performance of spaces - which are hugely significant to the construction of idea(l)s like childhood. By adopting a 'critical geographical' approach to the daily life of an alternative school in Pembrokeshire, in the United Kingdom, I demonstrate how particular arrays of usually un-noticed practices are involved in the construction, constitution and evocation of idea(l)s like childhood. key words childhood criticalgeographies of architecture literal constructionof ideas

Centre for Children and Youth, University of Northampton, Northampton NN2 7AL email: Peter.Kraftl@northampton.ac.uk revised manuscript received 21 June 2006

Introduction
Childhood is a contested concept. Numerous authors have discussed the differential treatment and conceptualization of children, following the complex social, cultural, economic, political and legal discursive frameworks through which common notions of childhood are produced - often at a national or even international scale. This article examines in a much more detailed sense exactly how ideas about childhood - and by extension, children's lives - are contested, constructed and articulated, and how they come to matter through site-specific practices, at and with built forms. It argues that, to date, detailed, localized, banal and material constructions of childhood (i.e. materialized, localized 'geographies of childhood') - largely by adults - have on the whole been ignored by children's sociologists, anthropologists and geographers (but for exceptions see Holloway 1998;Jones 2000; Valentine 2000; Horton and Kraftl 2006). With particularemphasis upon the local spatialities of childhood, it explores the literal and metaphoric construction of an ideal notion of childhood as

part of one particular, 'alternative' school's teaching practices. It demonstrates how the materials and practices involved in constructing a new school building in West Wales were and are crucialelements in the notion of childhood (and education) that pervades there. By adopting this approach, it illustrates how larger-scale, ideological contestations and constructions of childhood (in this case, from Rudolf Steiner's educational principles) are also entangled with and, crucially, produced by many more versions, which are practisedin a more-thandiscursive sense, at more locally-specific scales. Whilst it is primarily concerned with the literal construction of childhood, this article has another aim. It will demonstrate - through very specific explorations of 'childhood' - that the construction of ideas and ideals (such as 'childhood') is far more complex, contingent and banal than is often appreciated. The paper attends to the contingentenactment, materialization, evocation, negotiation and experience of ideas and ideals. It follows those idea(l)s at, as part of, and as constitutions of, particular places, at particular times. It highlights the importance of banal, small-scale, seemingly ephemeral events

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construction Thematerial of an idealchildhood and practices both in and of themselves, and as significant (yet commonly-ignored) elements of seemingly larger, more generalized, more 'pertinent', and politicized ideas - in the case of this paper, an educational philosophy and associated curriculum. In other words, by following the multifarious ways in which Nant-y-Cwm School's spaces were (and are) constructed and lived-out, the paper simultaneously depicts the varied manners in which the idea and ideal of childhood is at least partly entailed in life there. By starting with the banal, the paper mobilizes an essentially ethical point: why and how does childhood really come to matter,in practice,in and as place? I begin by reviewing the problematic notion of childhood and attendant constructions thereof. Then, I discuss how recent 'critical' geographies of architecture and their attendant geographies of practice allow us to re-think in one direction the roles of architectural geographies in relation to ideals and concepts such as childhood. Subsequently, after introducing Steiner education and Nant-y-Cwm Steiner School, I follow how different 'moments' in the construction of the school were inflected through the school's ideals. By playing on the various academic and lay meanings of the word 'construction', I show how activities such as plastering, cleaning and baking could further our understanding of how relatively consensual (but never consistent) idea(1)s such as childhood are produced.

489

than a fixed category. Commonly-cited achievements include the micro- and macro-scale relationships between different generations (Mayall 2002; Tucker 2003); and laws, morals and assumptions which seek to protect, educate or punish children (Scratton 1997; Wyness 2000; James and James 2004: on education, see Steinberg and Kincheloe 1997; Scratton 1997; Wyness 2000). The second theme concerns the absence of a unitary 'child' in either abstract or concrete terms (James and James 2004, 14). Not only is 'childhood' a spatio-temporally contingent idea, ideal and normative category; 'children's' lives are, in practice, also cross-cut by other variables than age (such as gender, race, ability and class). This attention to difference and diversity emerged during a period characterized by intense interrogation of crosscutting social categorizations - followed indeed by early attempts to forge a space for children's geographies (Sibley 1991). Third, then, as a result of such uniqueness, and as part of a general turn to studies of 'minority groups', geographers have begun to study children's own experiences, spaces and voices as themselves worthy of attention (Sibley 1991; Matthews 1992; Katz 1993; Skelton and Valentine 1998; Holloway and Valentine 2000; Valentine 2000; Aitken 2001; Mayall 2002; Philo 2003). Herein, children are treated as social actors with real interests, needs and concerns: a good deal of empirical and conceptual work from within human geography may be characterized as working in this vein, falling into the category of 'children's geographies'. Constructing and contesting childhood However, far less geographical research has been concerned explicitlywith (often adult) constructions Exponents of children's studies from various disciplines agree that we must follow how the of childhood, and particularly constructions that concept of childhood is constructed in a number of are localized, banal, material and practical (in other senses (James and Prout 1990). The justifications words, 'geographies of childhood'). Nevertheless, there and methodologies for doing children's studies are are some notable exceptions. For instance, both set into specific theoretical assumptions that follow Holloway's (1998) exploration of 'local childcare from exploring and contesting how childhood is con- cultures', and Jones' (2000) interrogation of the rural structed, through which have developed so-called idyll through adults' and children's negotiations 'new' sociological theorizations and studies of of village spaces, present significant theoretical childhood (James and Prout 1990; James and James and empirical interventions that attend to more localized and practical 'geographies of childhood' 2004). Three broad themes or assumptions broadly (also Valentine 2000). In the rest of this paper, I underpin a range of inter-disciplinary childhood attend more singularly to the construction (and studies. The first, and perhaps most important geography) of childhood - which leads perhaps as a can seen is be for this paper, that childhood inevitably (but far from exclusively) to a focus on adults. construction social (Aribs 1996; historically specific Cox 1996; Matthews and Limb 1999). This renders Despite their many valuable insights, I would argue childhood as an achievementor construction, rather that accounts such as James and James' (2004) do
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490

Peter Kraftl

not attend fully to the diverse ways in which the construction of an idea of, or ideal, childhood whether enduring or ephemeral - is a significant achievement. Their weighty arguments are illustrated with a variety of case studies, drawing on policy documents, media reports and brief examples of children's own agency to rightly draw attention to the contingency of such achievements. However, these arguments miss - or at least gloss over - three key considerations,which this paper seeks to address. First, many seminal accounts of childhood do not provide a vigorous, detailed sense of how constructions of childhood are achieved, in practice (Horton and Kraftl 2005). Although they cite a range of examples to back up a broader argument, a persistent engagement with the many and various contingent practices of creating the conditions for childhood is lacking. The reader is awareof the contingency of policymaking, or educational practices - but has no sense of what is actually going on the perhaps banal, practical, 'behind-the-scenes' details of how childhood is constructed. Second, then, there is a need to focus on more detailed studies of particularpractices, from which generalizations such as those above may or may not be possible (or desirable). Very little research has focused on just one practice, institution or building, to really explore what is going on there.Third, there is little specific sense of how materials, spaces and material spaces come to matter in the construction of childhood (cf. Murdoch 1997; Pels et al. 2002; Latour 2002), even in a simplistic sense. It is not yet clear how buildings, windows, door-handles, paintbrushes, blackboards and chairs, take part in the achievements of learning, and by extension the construction of idea(1)s like childhood. The next section of the paper outlines in detail one approach through which we might attend to such constructions.

A 'critical geography' of architecture

Given my focus in the rest of the paper on built forms, in this section I explore a 'critical' approach to undertaking research at buildings (following Lees 2001). This approach combines various pertinent themes in geography and the social sciences more generally, some of which have been, and all of which could be, significant to constructions of childhood. To date, most geographies of architecture have focused on the symbolic meanings that could be 'read' from the built environment (Cosgrove 1989,

133). These 'reading' methods culminated in synthetic 'iconographic approaches', which drew on humanist, Marxist and deconstructivist literatures (Cosgrove and Daniels 1988; Goss 1988; Cosgrove 1998; Matless 1998). With respect to childhood, research on material cultures (Miller 1998; Attfield 2000) and children's material cultures (Calvert 1998; Sloane 2002) has also, despite a welcome emphasis on materiality,been largely concernedwith the symbolic, representational nature of children's spaces and artefacts.Hence, children's bedrooms (Jacobson1997; Mitchell and Reid-Walsh 2002), toys (Kline 1993), girls' fashion shops (Russell and Tyler 2002) and children's medical homes (Sloane 2002) become 'cultural texts' or 'material representations' which can be read for clues as to the conceptualization and treatment of children who might use them. In general, such iconographic approaches to both architecture and childhood remain immensely useful to geographers for understanding the critical meaning of built spaces; therefore no opposition between symbolism and materiality should be inferred. Nevertheless, geographers have criticized such symbolic approaches in which 'landscapes are read for the cultural politics of their symbolic meaning', in a manner which 'has tended to see buildings as signs or symptoms of something else - be it class, culture, capitalism, or resistance to them' (Lees 2001, 54, 55). There is a sense that such work evades the lived vitality and far 'messier' (hence un-readable) political meanings that constitute buildings. A number of criticisms have been levelled at such symbolic approaches: neither these specific criticisms, nor a related interest in nonrepresentational (or 'more-than-representational') theory, need to be fully rehearsed here (for more, see Lees 2001; Llewellyn 2003; see also Thrift 2000; Lorimer 2005). I want, then, to highlight four reasons for adopting one version of a more-than-symbolic approach to constructions of idea(l)s such as childhood. First, and quite simply, many studies of children's material cultures explore historical, rather than contemporary spaces. Although some excellent work has focused on the materialization and embodiment of nationalized childhoods through built forms (for instance, Gagen 2000 2004), it is essential that we address constructions of childhood that occur in the present or recent past, where ethnographic research becomes possible. Second, to repeat an earlier point, I would argue that purely 'reading off' symbolism does not attend to the tremendous

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Thematerial construction of an idealchildhood amount of work that is necessary to create or perpetuate those symbols, or to understand that the more affective, tactile, sensual effects that buildings may have are also politicized (see Lees 2001). The curious effect of this is that often, quite ironically, the physicalconstructionof childhood goes unquestioned. Third, one can identify in human geography and the social sciences a burgeoning interestin 'embodied' practices - or more precisely, in the multiple styles in which spaces are lived-out (Bingham 1996; Thrift 2000; Thrift and Dewsbury 2000; Dewsbury et al. 2002; Law 2002; Gieryn 2002). Rather than fully exemplifying a 'nonrepresentational' approach, for Lees (2001, 56), and for this paper, the crucial consideration is that 'much of the world is not discursive': our lives-and-architectures are not merely concerned with the production of symbolic meaning. This has specific implications for geographies of architecture which attempt to explore the multifarious, banal, material ways in which idea(l)s such as childhood are invoked, asking geographers to engage with the inhabitationof architecturalspaces as much as its signification ... practically and actively with the situated and everyday practices through whichbuiltenvironments are used. (Lees2001,56) This would require a form of politically-informed, reflexive ethnography,wherein an attentionto multiple styles of meaning-making(textual,material,performative) allows us to more critically interrogate the varied ways in which architectural spaces are constructed, consumed, used, experienced and inhabited. Hence attending to everyday, 'banal' practices through ethnographic methods, yet retaining a sense of the critical politics of symbolic meaningmaking is crucial to a critical-geographical approach to architecture (Lees 2001). Fourth, there exist very few examples of especially contemporary studies of schoolswhich engage with the more tactile, affective elements of school buildings and educational practices (for an historical example, see Ploszajska 1996). Some authors are concerned largely with kindergarten design, from a purer architectural perspective (for instance, Dudek 1996).Othersdo adopt a more ethnographicapproach, interrogating the ways in which ideal images of childhood are manifested in kindergarten design and, particularly, teaching practices (for instance, Valentine 2000; Fielding 2000; Gullov 2003; Gallacher 2005). However,there is still a need to 'focus' more pointedly on more specific practices and individual institutions (Lees 2001), in order to gain a more

491 sustained insight into the details of how architectural materials and practices are worked into identifiable ideas and ideals of childhood. Methodology This paper is concerned with a 'critical' geography of the material and practical details of how Nant-yCwm Steiner School was and is achieved, as a place for childhood. I built an understanding of school life using an in-depth, 'ethnographic' methodology whose goal was to understand the work involved in creating symbolic-material-performative notions of childhood, and to explore how the school's buildings mattered in this respect. All of the design and material building had taken place at least ten years prior to my research, therefore I needed to access accounts of the details of the school's construction that had happened recently, but before my research. In order to do this, I undertook 27 in-depth interviews with the school's architect, founding parents, former teachers, current parents and teachers, and ex-pupils. These histories provided the only available articulation of the importanceof material, banal and affective approaches to and for constructing childhood at the school. Nevertheless, in addition, I spent 2-3 days per week at the school, between April and July 2003, working with the oldest class (12-14-year-olds), and assisting in the kindergarten with the youngest children (4-7-yearolds). During this period, I was able to experience first-hand the many practices that structure and produce the unique style of education - and childhood - that the school attempts to construct. Following Lees (2001), along with interview quotations, I present some 'vignettes' from my time in the kindergarten, in order to exemplify how some of the banal, material considerations that infected the school's construction were followed through.

Steiner education, Steiner Schools and Nant-y-Cwm Steiner School

Before discussing Nant-y-Cwm in any detail, I contextualize the particular tenets that structure many of its educational idea(l)s, and introduce Nant-yCwm itself via a brief discussion of Steiner Schooling in the UK. Steiner education Rudolf Steiner's educational philosophies provide perhaps the most important key to the construction of childhood at Nant-y-Cwm. Steiner was born in

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Peter Kraftl

1861. After studying in Vienna, he edited various publications of Goethe's writings. This stimulated a lifelong engagement with Goethe's work and with spirituality. After leaving Vienna, Steiner struggled to reconcile his burgeoning interest in the supersensible (spiritual) world with that of everyday life (Rudel 1998). This interest led to his publication of various texts on the evolution of Christian theology (Steiner 1970). In line with his spiritual inclinations, Steiner became connected with the German branch of the Theosophical Society. The Society was (and is) somewhat optimistically dedicated to the alleviation of global religious antagonisms through the searchfor fundamentalconsistenciesin the world's religions. Outside of the Theosophical Society, however, Steiner found in Weimar Germany little congruence between his spiritual research and the wider academic world. During the 1900s, Steiner began to distance himself from the Theosophical Society. He invented the term 'anthroposophy' to describe his emergent individual theoretical position: a combination of Christian teaching, Goethe's writings, paganism and various early twentieth-century psychological literatures. Steiner'squasi-phenomenological theories designated how a person's inwardly strengthened and practised consciousness was related to their citizenship of a spiritual world (Rudel 1998). Hence, Steiner's was a theorization of human consciousness which sought to conflate the practical, psychological and spiritual. At the core of his philosophy was a conviction that this relationship could be developed by 'inner training', and that his holistic theoretical system could be applied in practice. Indeed, during the 1910s and 1920s, Steiner was asked to develop systems for farming, medicine (homoeopathy) and child education: my focus here is child education. Through his research, Steiner argued that a growing child passes through three (set) developmental stages, which equated to their learning needs: imitation, authority and discipline (see Steiner 1919). The three stages are outlined in Paul's quotation, below. Relatively similar stages have been described by various other observers of child behaviour, most notably Piaget and Gesell (Avison 1998), although it should be noted that all such early developmental models have been repeatedly critiqued for their determinism (James and Prout 1990). Despite such determination, Steiner's attention to spirituality stipulates that education is a process of nurturing a child's progress throughthese stages, rather than following them rigidly. This would facilitate the

release of a young person's creative individuality, conceived as 'a future state within [their] hidden depths' (Steiner 19091).Once again, this position is problematic for contemporary childhood theorists who argue that any such position renders children as mere 'future adults' who should morally contain, and be nurtured towards, a future state (Matthews and Limb 1999). Yet models and theories such as Steiner's and Piaget's have gained increasing attention from geographers. In fact, Steiner Schooling can be located amongst contemporaneous practices as diverse as embodied, tactile teaching methods in Victorian and early twentieth-century Britain (Ploszajska 1994 1996), the education of 'nationalisms' in the early twentieth century through bodily practices (Gagen 2000) and the performative, rhythmic musical educational styles of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (McCormack 2005). Like these other educational theorists, Steiner argued that his schooling method be more-or-less generalizable across all Steiner Schools, regardless of their local context. Similarly, in a combinative sense, the whole school experience (buildings, activities, play materials, teachers' comportment) was critical to the achievement of a nurturing, educational atmosphere. Yet the essential feature of Steiner's notion of nurturing is that this sense of combination is ongoing, contingent upon the local abilities of the children, teachers, parents and materials that are involved in learning, in very specific ways. First, Steiner argued that although his 'stages' were essential, these should be contextualized by the capabilities of teachers and children, and be sensitive to the ecological and cultural characteristics of the surrounding geographical area. Second, most academic subjects are taught through art- and movement-based teaching methods. Children are encouraged to regard education as a holistic creative, aesthetic-and-performative process, and the importance of developing such more-than-visual, morethan-representational skills is constantly stressed. This demands that teachers (and children) should construct the right, creative 'atmosphere'for learning as much as attend to specific skills or facts. Third, certain practices and, by extension, atmospheres, are seen to be suitable for different age groups. This encourages a local, specific interpretation of Steiner's three stages which were mentioned above, which a teacher at the school outlined:
You have kindergarten, middle School, upper School. And, there is a key word for each. And the key word for the kindergarten is - imitation ... the child would

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The materialconstruction of an ideal childhood

493 ) a

learnthroughimitation,ratherthan throughthe head. person,for the childrento imitate.Whena child is first born,it's totally a sense organ,it doesn'tjust perceive the outside world throughits eyes and ears and nose, it perceivesit throughits whole being. It's at one with the kindergarten its environment, so, the environment, of school, the Middle School, this terrible word of authority... it's like in the same sense of the word author.And, the teacheris the author of knowledge.
The children ( ... ) learn from the teacher. And, the is very, very, special. . ... That includes the people in the environment, everything ( ... ). The second phase As a kindergarten teacher, you would be ( ...

other word there [for the Upper School]is discipline,

which is ... a horrible word, but, take the word

and discipleout of that,and you've got author-disciple, that'sthe relationship, it's one basedon a greatwarmth betweenthe teacherand the child.(Paul,teacher)2 These three stages may seem unfamiliar to many readers, as they differ somewhat from the educational philosophies that inhere in mainstream schooling (at least in the UK). Yet the point is not merely that these three stages differ in a discursive, ideological sense: for, at the same time, numerous materials and practices are enrolled in attempting to nurture (and, if one is critical, to 'achieve') these stages. For example, at the kindergarten, children do not learn to read or write until they are 7 years old - when Steiner argues they are psychologically and physiologically 'ready' to do so. Similarly, they must use certaincolours when painting (and notblack). As Paul notes, the young child is conceptualized as a 'sense organ', soaking up all that surrounds them. Children - young children in particular are hence in need of protection, stimulation and a 'proper' home-like place: what Paul terms a 'special' environment. Therefore, this specific state of childhood, and proper material environments and atmospheres, require constant control, negotiation and performing, especially by teachers, as they work through these stages in the combinativestyle that I indicated above.

SteinerSchoolingand Nant-y-Cwm School

There are 550 Steiner Schools in Europe, 31 of which operate under the auspices of the UK and Ireland Steiner Schools network.3The precise format of Steiner Schools in the UK varies, although schools tend to provide education for 4-18-year-old children. At present, all Steiner Schools in the UK operate as self-funded, ostensibly 'private' schools, where parents and benefactorsfinance their operation.Hence practically and ideologically, they exist outside the

'mainstream' National Curriculum (governmentrun) school sector in the UK. All Steiner Schools including Nant-y-Cwm - are self-governing; there are no head teachers and the schools are run by a cooperative team of the most experienced teachers, parents and an administrator (but not usually any children). Although Steiner Schools operate outside the mainstream education sector in the UK, there have been recent attempts to integrate Steiner Schooling with National Curriculum schools via the UK government's 'Diversity Agenda'.4 The Diversity Agenda aims to encourage uniqueness and difference between schools, and to foster collaboration between schools with different learning styles and ideologies. Therefore, the Steiner Schools network is currently engaged in conversation with the UK government about the role of Steiner Schools in a potentially more diverse and inclusive UK educational landscape. In particular,recent trends towards the adoption of more holistic, spiritually-informed and kinaesthetic (visual and movement-based) styles of learning5 in mainstream primary schools point to emergent congruences between Steiner education and mainstream education in the UK. Similarly, in architectural terms, the design of schools in the UK has been lavished far greater attention of late: high-profile examples of questionable success have emerged from the UK government's recent 'Academy School'-building scheme.6 Although there is not space to discuss these learning styles and school architectures fully here, it is worth highlighting that the constructions of childhood, and attendant materialized practices (and atmospheres), that I explore at Nant-y-Cwm in this paper have potentially far wider relevance as mainstream schooling in the UK moves in these new and varied directions. Nant-y-Cwm itself is situated in a hidden, wooded valley alongside the Eastern Cleddau river, in rural Northern Pembrokeshire, in South-West Wales. It was founded in 1979, by a group of parents who wanted a non-mainstream form of education in Pembrokeshire. Some parents were disenchanted with mainstream education, others interested in alternative styles of learning. Moreover, a small group of parents had held an interest in Steiner's anthroposophic thought before founding the school; hence it was decided that the school would follow a Steiner curriculum. Many parents were and are in fact English and not local; many le(a)d alternative lifestyles, defining themselves as hippies, druids or

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Peter Kraftl

ecologists, and some had been attractedby the area's well-known connections with pre-Christian and pagan beliefs, and alternative lifestyles (Osmond and Graham 1984). The alterity of the families at the school has become related to the school's relative isolation in the (predominantly Welsh-speaking) surrounding area. The group of parents who founded Nanty-Cwm sought an alternative education that was nevertheless widely available to all local families. As such, initially, some lessons were taught in Welsh, and serious attempts were made to engage 'non-Steiner'families from surrounding villages and towns. However, the intentions of the founders have been disappointed for a number of reasons. First, the school's inability to find a Welsh-speaking teacher has led to the school's increasing isolation from the wider community, and - to a far lesser degree - a certain amount of antagonism. Second, the alternative lifestyles of some of the parents have provoked a characterization of the school as a place for 'hippies' and drug-taking. Third, as a result of these two forces, very few people in the surrounding community are actually aware that Nant-y-Cwm exists at all. At the time of the research, those who had heard of the school lived in the nearest village, and were in fact pleased that what had once been the village school had been renovated and was once more in use. Therefore, the school exists in reluctant isolation and practical anonymity from the large majority of people living in surrounding communities. In terms of the school's physical construction, very little external financial aid was available for its building. Therefore, out of necessity, the school was designed and built by Christopher Day (the school's architect and a founding parent) and other founding parents, almost entirely with their own funds and the group's volunteer labour. The first building to be completed (a converted Victorian schoolhouse) was the main school (for children aged 7-14). The interior was re-designed in line with Steiner's educational and architectural principles. In essence, this meant rounding off corners, creating undulating surfaces and small cubby holes, and using a special style of layered painting ('lazure painting') to colour each classroom in accordance with the physiological and psychological 'stages' of different age groups. The kindergarten building - for 4-7-year-olds was constructed in 1990, again designed by Christopher Day. Similarly, it was largely built

Plate 1 The interiorof a classroomat the kindergarten Source: Author'sphotograph

using parents' labour. The kindergarten is a 'purer' example of the sculptural qualities of Steiner educational-architecture and its specific treatment of children, and is hence afforded more space in this paper. The building has wavy, orange-pink walls, made from local stone with natural plaster, and conical grass roofs. The interior is designed to be warm, enclosing and 'womb-like', as well as 'homely', to nurture and protect young children conceived at the imitative, 'sense organ' stage (Plate 1). The two classrooms are entered from a labyrinthine corridor, are circular in shape, with no straight lines, painted a deep pink, with cubby holes and bulbous hide-aways, a little kitchen, and cupboards behind solid doors of local hardwood. Before considering the specific production of such childhood, learning-orientated atmospheres at Nant-y-Cwm, I shall explore the earliest period of the school's (idealized) design and then con-

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The materialconstruction of an ideal childhood

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struction, focusing largely on the kindergarten. It is both unusual to find a building which was designed and constructed by its present inhabitants, and to find research which focuses on the material practices of building. It is more unusual still to relate these to the construction of idea(1)s such as childhood, and the ongoing geographies of their construction in the present. Moreover, in light of emergent lines of thought and practice in contemporary schooling in the UK discussed above, an exploration of these multiply-mediated constructions of childhood (and other socially pervasive idea(ls) more generally) seems particularly warranted.

These excerpts outline many of the ideals flowing into the kindergarten's design. The emphasis on gesturing, although generic, is more-than-symbolic, based on an intimate, seemingly eternal relationship between architectural and human bodies. However, the kindergarten's sculptural interior should evoke specific types of such generic gestures (such as welcome and privacy), all of which are underscored by the 'state of being' of a young child, conceived through the three stages of a Steiner educational lens. Already, then, the design and building of the school were geared towards the creation of proper atmospheres not only for learning, but for the needs of a young child: to be protected in a harmonious, nurturing, gentle, magic grove, described by Day
(1998) as a 'Haven for Childhood'.

Yet to repeat, this 'need' for a haven for young children is of course not necessarily universal or monolithic: almost all work from children's studies has been at pains to highlight that very few needs are so essentialized. For now, though, it is important to understand that these needs were constructed, discursively in the first instance, by Steiner, and are specific to the styles of teaching I discuss later. Moreover, that construction - even at the level of an ideal design - requires additional work, for An ideal buildingfor childhood: the aims of those ideas and ideals to perpetuate (and mutate) the kindergarten in forms found 80 years after, and 1000 miles away design The school's design exemplifies the importance from, the context in which Steiner was writing. One of a building as a material edifice-and-symbol for a simple example of such work is the local, contextucertain (ostensibly universalizing) type of childhood. alized design of a building itself. In fact, interviewees identified various 'ideal' ways in However, if we are to further explore and critique which the buildings were designed to 'do' particular the material construction of childhood at the things for children. School architect Christopher school, and as the building is so important to that Day, drawing heavily on Steiner's writings, suggests childhood, it is important to extend our discussion that in a general sense, architectural forms them- to the practices that 'enacted' (for want of a better selves hold gestural, performative qualities. They word) the school's conjoined architectural and educational ideals: to consider how the school can, moreover, be local, concrete manifestations of the dictates of Steiner education, and its con- was built. Therein, I demonstrate how an attention to the banal contingency of material practices ceptualization of a child: and questions our extant A buildingneeds formsand shapes ... which relateto extends, compliments of awareness the discursive, contingent broadly the surroundings. Thesecreatethe appropriate gestures: of welcome, of privacy, of activity, of repose. (Day constructions of childhood. The process of building the school was conceived in a very similar way 1990a,109) to that of its education, and the buildings' forms, The startingpoint of the kindergarten design was to themselves: look at the state of being of childrenbetweenfour and six anda halfyearsold andat how Steiner education and The buildingis, as it were, a thought-form incarnating the whole school day relate to this ... an underlying into matter.But it is a thought-form which is alive, is born of the idealisedneeds and real situation.It is not requirement for any small children is that it is harmonious and gentle ... placedalong the road edge, at an somethingit is possible to rigidly circumscribe it shields the 'child-world' magic grove from occasional earlystageby a fixed design- this does not leave room for life. (Day 1990b,137) passingtraffic. (Day2003,6) The design and physical construction of Nant-yCwm School are fundamental to its constructions of childhood. It has to be indicated at the outset that, perhaps ironically (and not unproblematically), almost all of the construction work at the school was undertaken by adults, for children, in the overt construction of a 'geography of childhood'.
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Designing and building a Steiner School

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There is hence a sense of continuity, of liveliness, of holism, in the ways that the school buildings are employed as part of a non-proscribed, creative building process. This involved the use of very loose architectural sketches, merely used to stimulate ideas amongst the whole group of volunteer parents. In practice, the kindergarten building evolved from its ideal design (above) as bricks were laid, and plaster was applied, such that it was imbued with a kind of contingent,sculptural,performativedynamism - part-deliberatelyreflecting the school's curriculum. The whole process was sensual and processual as much as representational - a continuous 'coming together' of materials, skills and intentions until, as Day (1990b) states, a building 'condenses' or 'arises' out of a situation. Two very different quotations evoked the importance of such a living, practising, community of building materials and people, to the school and its construction of childhood: I remember going in and saying,I'm not very good at flat plastering.[Christopher Day] said, oh good,that's what we want. And so, we learnedto work the render, using the heel of your hand, to createthe shapes.And it was very tactile and enjoyable.( ... ) Parentssaw their children'sreactionswhen the water first came down to the pond and thingslike that.So, it did help a great deal in building an identityof the childrenand parentsof the Schooltogether. (Vicky,foundingparent) Fromhavingwatchedthis schoolgrow,usinggift-labour,
using it as a way of also bonding the community ( ... )

school-as-place emerged, in practice - rather than regarding 'it' as something pre-given. Vicky's use of metaphor is stronger - the very material work that she describes was active in 'building an identity ... of the school'. Therein, we see how the creation of 'community', or 'education', at the school, are linked into the educational ideals discussed earlier. The buildings, and that material work, provide examples for children of a community working towards a goal, and indicate directly how that hard work and communality are 'good' things, educationally, for children. Third, Peter's attention to door-handles and window frames demonstrates more than a case for a merely 'everyday' sense of architectural symbolism. For Peter and various parents, the school's materialgeographies also embody the work that created them. The educational and generational relationships that the school now strives to promote (in particular of protection, imitation and creativity) are significantly concretized and perpetuated whereby a child may run their hands over the same door-handle that one of their parents had carved ten years earlier. involved The literalconstructionof the kindergarten a physical, performative notion of childhood which incorporated but also extended beyond Steiner's curriculum, and Day's somewhat idealized community of builders: We'd done workshopswith Chris(Day).Whenwe first started to think about working on developing the we literallygot down on school, and the Kindergarten, our hands and knees to see everythingfrom a child's and the school, we perspective.In the Kindergarten
have got things like low sinks and things, which ( ... )

when I'm in the classroom, all the things in the school, the window-frames, the beautifully-carved door-handles, invariably, you would have a child saying,my Dad did
that ( ... ). As a result the children look at the school

in a totally differentway. I just think it's a fantastic (Peter, parent) example,educationally. Vicky's experience of building was somewhat
different - and more personalized - than Day's

have almostcrippledmy back.(David,teacher)

more idealized depiction. However, both Vicky's and Peter's quotations illustrate three things. First, that the actual building work done at the school even the sensual, tactile specifics of render-working - was and is important, in and for itself. Vicky highlights the personal fulfilment she gained from her role in the building community. Second, both speakers argue that the building of the school was a crucial part in the construction of its ideals. As Peter suggests, physical work on the buildings materially 'bonded' the community, such that it became an 'educational' community, with the buildings. This is an attractive spatial metaphor, but also draws attention to the ways in which the

A kindergartenteacher,from the very first Waldorf had writtena very small book. And she kindergarten, needed had explainedthe reasonswhy a kindergarten certainthings. Like a cooking area, a dolls' area, the little cubby hole up high, to put a child in, to remove them out of a situationon the ground,so that, when you could let themdown they felt more,in themselves, again;to wrap them up in a blue cloth if possible,so that they would feel, you know, protected and a heavenly situation. While we were building, I was was standing in the room [where the kindergarten being built].Therewas this circular feeling.And Chris [Day] said, about how much room would we need? And I rememberputting my arms out wide, and,
thinking of all the children, all around. We thought

about having fourteenor sixteen children,all around, with a bit of space around[them].So it was done in a foundingparent) very organicway. (Anthea,

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Thematerial construction of an idealchildhood Both quotations illustrate the explicit importance of bodily movement, measurement and sheer presence in designing Nant-y-Cwm. Moreover, both speakers
- specifically, Anthea - demonstrate how this

497 impression of what protection is and how it is achieved. In particular, much of the work that goes into creating an educational, protective 'atmosphere' in the kindergarten is geared around a gentle, cosy and natural 'homeliness'. Day's notion of the school-as-haven enrols the kindergarten building, with its curvaceous, soft interior spaces, into the construction of such a homely, idealized childhood. The point is, though, that this construction of childhood is contingent, and requires a tremendous amount of more-than-symbolic material work. Here, I wish to explore two ways in which a 'homely' style of protection is achieved: first, through 'naturetables' and 'natural' festivals; second, through learning practices such as cooking and reading.

was tied into previous Steiner designs through Day's workshops and a kindergarten book. They highlight different ways in which builders' bodily work evoked a sense of childhood. In David's case, the very direct crouching to a child's physical level7 meant a form of 'measuring', with the body, how the buildings should be suitable for 4-7-year-old children (as 'sense organs'). Anthea extends this to account for how the buildings were to be used: the organicism of the design is linked to more specific needs which signal one way in which Steiner schools treat children who should be 'removed' from the classroom. The familiar theme of 'protection' arises again here, yet we are privy to its localized construction and enactment in practices (cubby holes) different from common, litigious notions of child protection - of what a 'Steiner' conception of protection means in practice. The literal construction of the school, and the details of the design, were connected to ethicaland-emotional depictions of the construction of childhood at Nant-y-Cwm. However, as the last point suggests, a critical geography of the school needs - if it is to create a more enduring sense of childhood at the school - to consider more contemporary, what we might term 'ongoing', material practices and moments of construction (also Lees 2001).

Creatingnature tablesand holdingfestivals

Nant-y-Cwm's two kindergarten teachers agreed that achieving an atmosphere of homeliness was something that was a constant process, which included both 'natural' materials and seasonal celebrations. For instance, the so-called 'nature table' (Plate 2) is perpetually updated by teachers and children as seasonal plants, toys and foods are collected there. As one small element of life at Nant-y-Cwm, it is used to combine a symbolic attention to seasonal change, and a reminder of the nurturing prowess of 'Mother Nature' (the impact of Steiner's pre-Christian leanings), with a more material, tactile engagement with 'natural' objects. The process of continually updating the table, finding materials for it, taking the children out for woodland walks, is equally important as, and actually creates, the specific symbolism of the table's contents. I helped children in 'carding' (combing) wool to make dolls that would 'accompany' them to their next stage in the school after kindergarten: such dolls also appear on the nature table, but are also an important skill that late-kindergarten children must learn. I accompanied children and teachers on walks into the forest where fir cones, twigs and flowers were carefully chosen to adorn the nature table. A furtherway of achieving such a nurturing,natural and homely environment was in the celebration of seasonal festivals. I took part in a midsummer festival, which I recorded in my notebook: We set out some plastic chairs in a circle. Anna teacher](...) lights a small fire made of [kindergarten twigs and small branches.Then Anna starts to sing a
song I have never heard ( ... ) I pretend to join in but

Creating nature tables, cooking and reading, and toilet-cleaning: still constructing childhood?
Teaching and maintenance work at the school is practised with, and in light of, the buildings to construct very particular senses of community and protection, which feed into Nant-y-Cwm's specific interpretation of Steiner's conception of childhood. To be clear: not all of life at the school is about constructing 'childhood'. However, as we shall see, certain activities and materials become implicitly and explicitly involved therein, extending familiar notions of 'protection'. One of the most important elements of life at Nant-y-Cwm is the idea that (especially young) children should be protected. This is in many ways a familiar theme for childhood researchers. But at Nant-y-Cwm we can gain a far more specific

the children know the words and sing quietly with

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PeterKraftl

Plate 2 The 'nature table', adorned with various seasonal plants and objects Source:Author's photograph

Anna. The song is something to do with fire and Midsummer but I'm not sure what. I eye up the soya milk and roughly-cut pieces of cake that await us. After they have finished singing, the children line up about twenty metres from the fire. One by one, they run towards the fire, Anna and I catch hold of one hand each, and lift them over the fire - they scream and shout as they run on after jumping over the fire, some of them want another go. .... Then we eat and go back inside, where Anna has transformed the classroom into a stage for a puppet show about Midsummer. The children sit in a circle, quietly, occasionally joining in with the show when prompted. Young children are conceived to be relatively determined by the school's environments and the material, affective situations that teachers construct for them. Conceptualized as 'sense organs', they are exposed to a somehow more truthful, 'fundamental' experience through, for example, the nurturing of Mother Nature, the celebration of Midsummer in a rudimentary ritual celebration and puppet shows. However, their part in the collection of natural materials and other activities is both important to

their own education and the construction of childlike atmospheres in the kindergarten - without their knowledge of the songs, or when and how to react to the puppet show, the whole atmosphere of the Midsummer celebration would have been evoked via shattered. Finally, the homeliness such festivals is specific to Nant-y-Cwm - part of the 'alternative' teaching methods that it espouses, and (an interpretation of) Steiner's particular conception of child development, protection and education.

Cooking and reading

There is more to the kindergarten's nurturing homeThe following liness than natural symbolism. quotations indicate how specific learning practices construct a composite idea of a homely, protected fundamental experience. Linking with excerpts in the rest of the paper, what follows is a strong ethical, almost normative position of what should be a 'true', natural childhood. Yet this can only fully be conceived through practical, banal, material work in the kindergarten:

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The material construction of an ideal childhood It's meant to be dreamy and sleepy and, in their imaginations, in their little cubby-hole areas. Playing with dolls, playing kitchen, playing space rockets with upturned chairs on tables, which become shops later on! Going off to imagine. And, a lot of what they've experienced at that age is just like being in the home. So they want them to feel, I suppose what a Steiner home might feel like. There was a little kitchen in each classroom, they do baking, they make apple crumble, they grate the carrots and cheese for Millet Bake. Because I suppose proper Mums would do baking. (Madeline, former pupil) At least the school's clean, it might present an alternative, but the whole thing's essentially something soft and quite cuddly. And I haven't got much sympathy with people who don't think children deserve to be cuddled. (Susanne, parent) Art and movement are considered to be the realms in which a young child lives ( ... ). Ideally, in a Steiner School, a lot of subjects are taught, using movement. And, the rhythm of the school day is structured such that a child won't have to sit still at their desk, when we get up ( ... ) then we do some more, heavy, work again, writing or whatever, and then again there'd be physical activity. So, children learning the letters of the alphabet ( ... ) they might spend part of the morning playing different games with straight lines in them, and then you're running in curves. And out of that come letters of the alphabet. Then we'd have stories about the letter b and the friendly letter b who's a big brown bear, they would live the whole day with the letter b. So there are as many approaches as you can get, to a fundamental experience ... (Beatrice, teacher of five years; emphasis added) In addition to the demands of the Steiner Curriculum, we obtain a kind of composite sense of what many parents at the school conceive to be 'right' for childhood, and how this is done. It would be unfair to suggest that parents and teachers argue that is the only good way to 'do' Nant-y-Cwm's childhood. However, the preceding three quotations are indicative of certain normative ethics that pervade there. I discuss this normative ethics in a moment, but first want to highlight how these (already detailed) expositions of life at the kindergarten were played out in events that I recorded in my notebook: Anna [teacher] has set out some large, featureless and old-looking wooden blocks, with some simple wooden farmyard animals. One of the boys wants to make the farmyard into a castle. The other one wants to keep it as a farm. An argument about a horse is starting, but Anna leaves the room before noticing, so I am left

499 playing with the farmyard-cum-castle. Suddenly the two boys are rolling around on top of each other, fighting over the horse. I am helpless, not sure what I am supposed to do. I try to get them to play by saying that they can have a castle and a farm, but they don't listen until Anna comes back. She doesn't directly address them, but instead talks to the other children in the room in a low, soft voice which seems to calm even the two boys. I am genuinely surprised when they stop fighting, and one of the boys takes himself off into an alcove, and shuts the curtain. He sits there quietly for over ten minutes, eventually emerging to help tidy up. I am sitting at the table, my knees bumping the table, on the child-sized seats. Some of the children are carefully grating carrots. Others are mixing cheese with millet and flour. A smell of oven heat wafts through the room. Anna [teacher] calmly ushers instructions to the children, who calmly respond and do the tasks they are set. The millet bake [carrots, cheese, flour, butter] is put together in a dish. We wash up whilst it cooks, the smell of fresh cooking now filling the room. Then, we sit back around the table, very quietly, a candle is lit in the centre of the room and the lights turned off. Anna whispers a prayer and we eat. Although they are varied, these extracts, and the quotations that precede them, draw our attention to an ethical sense of what a 'good' childhood should be, in at least three ways. First, Madeline depicts a variety of activities that are 'home-like', many of which regularly fill the kindergarten with smells of apple crumble and children's laughter. Yet these are done because a particular (Steiner) home-like experience is important to a protected and idyllic, normative notion of childhood. The idea of protection is hereby imbued with a more specific, ethical, Steiner-styled edge: children should not merely be protected, but nurtured, in a Steinerhome-like environment where baking, cooking and carding are commonplace. The notebook extracts point to specific ways in which teachers and children enter into relationships, activities and atmospheres which evoke specific 'homely' practices. However, second, Susanne's overall view of the kindergarten is more definitively normative than Madeline's slight reticence. For her, the building, its decor, its teaching practices, are 'soft and cuddly'. This is translated into a symbolic sense that in addition to protection, all children 'deserve to be cuddled'. Despite a normative position which many would interpret as essentializing and reactionary, Susanne's emphasis on 'cuddling' captures the way in which the kindergarten building is viewed, and used, to create a particular version (and vision) of childhood

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500

Peter Kraftl

which is negotiated and internalized (albeit nonverbally) to some extent by teachers, parents and children. I was completely bewildered when a child
decided - without instruction - to use a cubby-

Parents' activities were very different from those in the classrooms. For Jemma, however, the mundane maintenance work that parents do at the school, caring for its very fabric, also necessitates their simple presence there. Similar to the example set by observing their parents literally building the school, even recent children and parents are still linked by a focus on generational and communityfocused example-setting, done through material work and sheer presence. Nina reminds us that this work is a constant, ongoing effort, but one wherein specific, mundane tasks are linked to a relatively broad, but deeply felt commentary as to the nature of contemporary childhood (and generational interaction) outside the school. This is then juxtaposed with Nant-y-Cwm's place as an institution of care, Toilet-cleaning The notion of community - a community of parents, protection, and rootedness and underlines how, as buildings, teachers and buildings - surrounding Madeline and Beatrice noted above, Nant-y-Cwm the children was a significant factor in the school's has become idealized as a 'proper' or 'fundamental initial construction. Yet this notion is also constantly experience' for children. called upon as part of the ongoing construction of Nina's extract also highlights one final, yet hugely childhood at Nant-y-Cwm. The role of parents is significant building block in the construction of especially important, with respect to the very specific childhood at Nant-y-Cwm. With any ideal such as tasks that they undertake on the schools' buildings: Nant-y-Cwm's, however altruistic, there is a nagging question of exactly who that ideal is for. Ultimately, Theparentsare always in the school,they know what's adults have been the focus for attention in this going on. They hear everything,and they hear the paper. This has been quite deliberate in that much lessons from the outside,when they'recleaningtoilets, of the material construction of the school (its 'geofixing doors, or whatever.So, the parents are in the of childhood') was and is largely undertaken graphy school ideally, the childrenfeel that the communityof adults, although children do negotiate and take parents is around them, carrying the fabric of the by in the activities and atmospheres created for school.... So that'sone, fundamental aspectthat keeps part them. More importantly, however, adults' constructhe school going, that the parentsare there,caringfor the physical, everyday, ongoingness of the school. tion work can be interpreted as much for themselves as their children - hence the implicit adult-ism of (Jemma, parentof five years)
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hole to 'remove themselves from a situation' in the manner which Anthea discussed above. Third, Beatrice's focus on teaching and learning practices is perhaps less protective in tone, but equally concerned with a 'fundamental', normative and universal conception of how children should learn - and what they should experience. For her, Steiner's insight that art and movement are the 'realms' of young children is as important as the many ways that the different, specific rhythms and activities of the day are carried out. This 'fundamental experience' is extended to the use of particular types of toys in the classroom and the active stimulation of children's imagination - as the boys with their animals perhaps problematically exemplify. Although the quotationsdescribedifferentactivities, and the notebook extracts evoke singular events, one important point stands out: a composite, seemingly coherent notion of a fundamental, protected, homely childhood is emerging through practices that go on at Nant-y-Cwm, which by far exceeds the comparatively simple demands of Steiner's Curriculum. That notion of childhood seems coherent - a normative ethics of childhood is appearing: yet this only emerges, is given flesh, is negotiated, in and through material practices, and is hence always subject to re-vision(ing) and inconsistency.

N: It's always, this community-building 'round the School.It's an ongoing effort,a process.How can you help each other,how can you keep in touchwith each other, how can you support each other, parentsand children? PK:So, the School'snot just there for the children, it's therefor the parentsas well? N: That'swhatI've alwaysfelt! PK:It is quitea havenaway fromeverything else. N: Yes, that'sright.But,also for the children's sake.So many young people, they are looking, they have lost their roots.It belongs to our time. But it also createsa lot of loneliness, and hardship, and suffering. Especially when relationships break down. It's all so disruptive and difficult.And the School is the place that'sthere, for the child. It carriesthem through.(Nina,founder, teacher, ex-Kindergarten speakingto author)

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Thematerial construction of an idealchildhood much of the enterprise, which Nina identifies. Not only do they gain fulfilment from the completion of a vision for their children, or the tactility of building; more, they are producing a kind of childhood for themselves.Many parents expressed desires to 'shrink back' to childhood, to be able to experience this place 'properly'. The origin of this notion of childhood was not clear, although it seems to relate to both Steiner's 'protected' version as well as rose-tinted, nostalgic, ruralized and idyll-ized ideas of childhood that pervade British popular culture (Matthews et al. 2000). Therefore the school has become imbued with a sense of a previous or lost childhood, with an almost cathartic effect for the adults who visit it, beset with unanswerable questions: is this childhood betterthan was mine; have I lost, and can I replace, the facility to experience a childhood so 'magical' as Nant-yCwm's? There was almost a sense that parents' material work at the school, and their children's attendance, might allow some sort of living-out of a lost (or new) childhood. This reaction was not universal amongst parents or teachers. Nevertheless, this was as much a reaction to the workthat adults do at the school in creating various atmospheres as to the school's (textual-symbolic) meaning. Hence, many of the very specific, banal practices discussed in this paper were implicated in literal constructions of childhood whose effects were felt widely and differentially across the school community. This affective condition, or characterization, of Nant-y-Cwm, was shared between certain parents and certain (sometimes named) features of the school.8 They therefore evoke certain ethical considerations which cause us to reflect more critically on the geographies of the school's construction, as they throw into question all of the preceding details about how and why the school was and is constructed as it is. It is impossible to gain a sense of these ethics and geographies without acknowledging the work through which they emerge, and through which idea(1)s such as 'childhood' are constructed.

501 that more local constructions of childhood are not merely about the signification of such ideas by material objects, and has demonstrated that constructions of childhood (and, by extension, many pervasive idea(1)s) can be very literal - with respect forms. to building, using and maintainingarchitectural In essence, the construction of childhood is done in so many more ways than so far acknowledged: this paper has outlined several of these, but by no means exhausted them. It has focused on 'adult' constructions, with a sense of the ethical-emotive implications of constructing-for: of constructing for children and childhood. Children were and are by no means silent or inactive agents in this process, and much work remains to be done to explore the ways in which children's localized, banal, material practices are constitutive of the styles in which childhoods are constructed. Yet in focusing on adults' literal constructions of a place for childhood, the paper has opened debate as to the multifarious ways in which childhood can be designed and constructed. It has also engendered discussion as to the specific ethical considerations that those adults' particular idea(1)s might have - from 'who' the construction of childhood is for, to the knowingbut-contingent creationof a 'fundamental' childhood experience. The over-riding importance of seemingly banal and relatively simple material practices to the respondents in my research is perhaps surprising: these practices are clearly important of themselves, and are enrolled in very specific, sometimes disjointed evocations of childhood, again significant of themselves. However, as I have demonstrated, these activities and objects - such as plastering, toilet-cleaning, nature tables, learning letters of the alphabet, and door-handles - are enrolled in, and constitutive of, more pervasive, more-or-less coherent notions of childhood at Nant-y-Cwm. These notions ranged from children as 'sense organs' to 'natural, homely, spiritual' protectionist constructions of childhood. Importantly, the sheer number of ways in which constructions of childhood emerge(d) at the school, indicates the relevance of more local, critical, ethnographic geographies in exploring how and why specific material practices come to be so significant in themselves, and in exploring how and why any seemingly more important, pervasive, enduring ideals and (social) constructions, such as childhood, are done, in practice. In addition to highlighting the importance of attentiveness to small-scale everyday practices

Conclusion
This paper has followed in detail the construction of childhood at one school. It has stressed throughout that constructions of childhood are more than national or regional phenomena (with only passing reference to specific practices). It has demonstrated

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502

and materialities, the example of Nant-y-Cwm demonstrates how such attentiveness can extend our understandings of both childhood and schooling. Nant-y-Cwm does indeed reinforce certain familiar philosophical, social and psychological precepts that we hold about children. Yet it does so in a mannerradically different from other contexts, with an attention to different practices, different materials, and a curriculum alternative to that with which many readers may be familiar. In particular, the spiritual, natural elements of Nant-y-Cwm's brand of Steiner education expand our conceptualizations of how young children should be nurtured, and how indeed children respond to this by internalizing these concepts into their own actions. Furthermore, though, the linkages between Steiner education and various spiritual and kinaesthetic turns in mainstream UK education (including a greater focus on architectural design) signal the increasingimportanceof new variationson traditional constructions of childhood. Indeed, if constructions of childhood persist in becoming thoroughly materialized, spiritualized and affective, and if the links between Steiner schooling and other schooling styles are cemented, it is important to continue more critical geographical studies of how, why and for whom these constructions emerge.

Peter Kraftl Source: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/academies/ what_areacademies/?version=l. Accessed 8 March2006. 7 There is an obvious glossing over of differencesbetween children in this very simple, physical act. However, the point is that an ideal (which was designed to be more sensitive to individual children) childhood was (and is) being constructed through an awareness of materiality and bodily movement. 8 Examples included the kindergarten's grass roof, doorhandles, cubby holes, the school's general 'scruffiness', and the facility for 'free', imaginative play.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank John Horton and Faith Tucker for comments on earlier versions of this paper. I would also like to express gratitude to the three anonymous reviewers for their detailed, generous and critical comments.

cultureand CosgroveD 1989Geographyis everywhere: symbolism in human landscapesin Gregory D and

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Notes
1 Taken from Internet version of Steiner, 1909, no pagination.
2

3 4 5

All interview quotations from parents, teachers and ex-pupils are anonymized. The gender of the respondent and their 'status' with regard to the school are indicated in brackets following each excerpt. Source: http://www.steinerwaldorf.org.uk. Accessed 7 March 2006. Source: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schooldiversity. Dewsbury J D, HarrisonP and Rose M 2002 Enacting Accessed 7 March 2006. 33 437-40 geographies: introduction Geoforum An example of spiritual education is 'Godly Play', where Dudek M 1996 Kindergarten architecture Spon Press, London children are encouraged to appreciate and question Fielding S 2000 Walk on the left! Children's geographies and the primaryschool in Holloway S L and Valentine G religious stories through rudimentary wooden toys. See http://www.godlyplay.org.uk for more details eds Children's geographies: playing, living, learning (accessed 7 March 2006). Routledge, London 251-65

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