I have come back to this blog after a long break. And I looked  at the header image for this blog.  This detailed drawing  with nothing to accompany it. No story. It’s intriguing! I loved it as an image drawn from a child’s thinking and learning.

But I just took it.  I took it and used it  with no credit given to the child as artist.

Where is the right of the child to be honoured for their learning? And does it have value if nobody “owns” it? if we can’t document a child’s thinking and learning around it?

But it does have traces of a child’s learning – we can recognise that a thoughtful child created this. It took time to do such careful, detailed drawings. That it “might be” including insects, ant or other creatures. That there are some caring “big” people holding out their arms to – do what? welcome? nurture? collect?

I still come back to my lack of respect for the voice of the child-artist. I am not the teacher I was when I chose to use this image. I am learning.

And I will share this with the current children and offer it as an invitation – for them to honour the artist and develop their own thinking.