Annual Lecture: Block by Block

Block by Block: Building confidence, resilience and a sense of responsibility in young children

The Froebel Trust’s Autumn Lecture this year explores how we can nurture children’s creativity and autonomous learning with practice examples from New York. We’ll hear about the impact this approach to early education has on young children, their educators and the potential it holds for future democracy.

We will be joined by Jane Clarke, a progressive educator with over 40 years’ experience of specialising in early childhood teaching, teacher mentoring and curriculum development. Jane has worked with young children and educators in London, Los Angeles and New York City.

Jane’s presentation will explore the legacy of City and Country School in New York and its founder, Caroline Pratt. Founded in 1914 and still going strong in 2025, the lecture will highlight the open-ended materials Pratt invented, the Unit Block system and outdoor building materials.

We’ll explore where Pratt’s ideas, which were considered revolutionary at the time, originated from and how they have become central to the Lower School curriculum at City and Country School.

Attendees will learn about recent examples of the way in which young children are encouraged to explore their ideas, understandings and wonderings in creative ways through play, using these materials. It will also highlight how teachers are equipped to encourage these explorations, respecting and interpreting the learning that is central to the experiences the children are engaging in, both alone and together.

As children build their confidence, resilience and sense of personal and collective responsibility through these early experiences, the presentation will conclude with a look to the future and their potential to actively participate in a democratic society.

There will also be time for questions from the audience following Jane’s presentation.

About the speaker:

Jane Clarke is a passionate, progressive educator specializing in Early Childhood teaching, teacher mentoring and curriculum development for more than 40 years in London, Los Angeles and New York City. Through working in both public and independent schools, her experience has compounded a belief that young children deserve to be at the center of their learning as they gain confidence in their own abilities and imaginings.

Jane upholds a belief that as educators, connecting with the natural curiosity and creativity that lies within all children is essential. Through the consistent invitation to explore the world and to express that exploration, discovery and understanding through play and the consistent use of natural and open-ended materials (unit blocks, paint, clay, water and basic collage, drawing and writing materials) children will find and develop themselves in powerful and profound ways.

Believing that the responsibility of teachers of young children is to empower children as their identity as social beings begins to emerge, Jane upholds the vision that teachers are there to “catch the moment”, trusting in children to show us the direction they wish to follow as we guide them in that journey and map out a path of learning that empowers their belief in themselves and in each other along the way.

-An update with the full list of respondents will be included soon!-