How to listen to very young children: The mosaic approach

Abstract This paper will explore Mosaic, a particular framework for listening to very young children, under five years of age. This Mosaic approach was developed during an exploratory study of listening to young children, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The project contributed to a wider evaluation of Coram Community Campus which is a multi-agency network near Kings Cross, in London, composed of a range of services for families and children including an early childhood centre, parents' centre and projects for homeless families and children with disabilities. The title, ‘How to listen?’ means I will be discussing the mechanics of listening, but listening is more than a technique. It is a value-laden, context bound activity. So I will begin by discussing the principles of listening on which this framework is based, and having described the approach I will then turn to look at the outcomes of listening to see where listening to young children leads us.