Urban planning policies and children: an assessment of the outdoor environment suitability of kindergartens in East Jerusalem

ABSTRACT

This article undertakes a physical assessment of the outdoor environment of Israeli-administered kindergartens in East Jerusalem. It investigates their suitability to accommodate the proper development and growth of the Palestinian children who use them. Due to Israeli-imposed policies and laws and the lack of proper urban planning, scope for Palestinian growth and expansion in East Jerusalem is limited. This has resulted in a shortage of spaces, poor living conditions, and a lack of adequate facilities, including kindergartens. This assessment of 47 kindergartens’ outdoor environments, along with interviews with 9 teachers, shows that the spaces allocated for children in kindergarten playgrounds are small and do not meet the standards required to allow free play. Although the kindergartens studied are administered and licensed by Israeli laws and standards, the results show that the conditions in them do not provide safety, privacy, diverse types of play equipment, and the natural surroundings important for an outdoor play environment conducive to children’s development and learning.

KEYWORDS:

• East Jerusalem
• kindergartens
• outdoor environment
• children well-being
• suitability‌

Acknowledgment

The authors are very grateful for the generous funding provided by the Arab Council for the Social Sciences, which fully supported this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The list is updated continuously and may change. The web site can be accessed on the link: <https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/ar/residents/education/kindergardens-registration/>, which was accessed by the authors on 5 June 2019.

2 All teachers were female according to the municipality list.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yara Saifi

Yara Saifi is an Associate Professor of architecture at the Department of Architecture at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, where she has been the department head since 2015. She was the Dean of Hind Al Husseini-Faculty of Arts at Al-Quds University. Her research interests are architectural aesthetics, design and conflict studies. Saifi is a member of various committees related to urban planning, restoration and conservation of historic buildings and the MA programme in Jerusalem Studies at AQU. She was also a local juror to the 2018 RIBA Awards for International Excellence in Palestine.

Buad Khales

Buad Khales is an Associate Professor in the Department of Primary Education and Kindergarten, and the Director of the Child Institute at Al-Quds University, Palestine. Khales is an educational counsellor in early childhood programmes (training and training kit) to various organisations including the Ministry of Education in Palestine, Al-Rowad company in Saudi Arabia, Al-Eman Childhood Centre and the Bawaker Society. She has published widely on child-centred teaching, reflective teaching, portfolios, inquiry, and new teaching methods in early childhood education. She also leads the team to study the quality and access of early childhood education with a focus on preschool institutions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, along with Save the Children. Khales has also supervised several graduate theses in early childhood studies.