The Evaluation Experience
by Sasha Patterson, YMCA of Southwestern Ontario
As we arrived in Moncton, New Brunswick to begin our site visit with the Lawson foundation I reflected on our visit to YMCA Moncton 7 months prior. The outdoor environment was in flux as spring was starting to make its appearance in New Brunswick and educators were just trained in the Playing to Learn Outdoor Pedagogy session. When I say “just” it is because they had a full day session on the topic only days before our visit. Naturally questions arose as to whether we would see any changes in the attitudes and dispositions of these early childhood educators and if any barriers to outdoor play would be obvious.
The day of the site tour arrived, and our visit was met with uncertainty and a bit of hesitation. These educators and senior leadership had not been a part of an evaluation process prior to this project and questioned what the process would entail. The Lawson foundation evaluators arrived with curiosity and wonderment. They got to hear from the senior leadership team about the evolution of their outdoor spaces, the reaction parents and caregivers have had and the coaching that has been put in place to support their early learning professionals.
Throughout the day we observed children and educators in the outdoor environment, took a tour of the site and pointed out some of the ways in which the child care centre is supporting families. Our question-and-answer period with the evaluators resulted in some great conversations with the CEO, board members and senior leadership around the importance of senior leadership buy-in, sustainability initiatives through funding and the challenges they have faced at relationship building with Indigenous knowledge keepers in the community.
The evaluation experience was a really great opportunity to speak directly to impact of the Lawson foundations funding and the natural progression of the Learning and Teaching Hub model. We spoke at length about the relationship between both the Lawson project as well as the Learning and Teaching hub project through an anonymous funder. The extension of the Lawson work in this new Learning and Teaching Hub model was of great interest to the evaluators as they are eager to see the centres with outdoor pedagogy buy-in advance in their practice and how the two projects may see a correlation in their findings over time.
Over the 12 hour visit and subsequent debriefing we feel confident that the Lawson evaluators got a sense of the passion and commitment our YMCA educators and senior leadership have for outdoor pedagogy. The Moncton YMCA were wonderful partners in showcasing the work we put into our training and created a welcoming environment for the Lawson evaluators to see, discover and wonder all there is to offer at our YMCA child care.
