VIEWS & OPINION
VIEWS & OPINION Time to give every /Y
I believe it is fair to say that the English education system is in turmoil. Every day, stories about the state it is in fill our newspapers, websites and TV screens. The teaching crisis, children’s poor mental health, parents taking children out of school on strike, forced academisation plans, the assessment fiasco with U-turns over baseline and the scrapping of test papers, and the depressing conclusion that our children are trailing behind their international peers all add to the sense of doom.When we peel all of this away, I firmly believe that the root of the problem is that our entire education system is based on the myth that if children are not succeeding, we need to raise expectations throu gh a narrow, regularly tested curricul um.
Too young for formal schooling? Too young for formal schooling?
In fact, only 12%of children in the world start formal schooling at aged 4 and English children are amongst these. If we look at the countries we are seen as trailing behind, for example Finland, we see that children there do not start formal schooling until the age of 7, receive no homework, have more time playing and spend less hours in school, but still they outperform our children who have been in school longer and been forced to “learn” more. Even our neighbours are addressing this issue. InWales there is an established foundation stage from 3 – 7. In Scotland, Sue Palmer is leading a campaign for Kindergarten from 3 – 7 called Upstart. Even in England, back in 2009 the Cambridge Primary Trust proposed scrapping KS1 in favour of an EYFS which extended to age 6.
Many years ago when I trained to be a nursery nurse, I remember being told that we would study development from birth to 8 years. Fast forward a few years and, while studying to be a teacher, I chose to specialise in Early Years, which was identified as the 3 -8- year-old age range. So my question is this: Why does our Early Years curriculum end for most children at aged 5, or even 4 for the youngest ones?Why do children find
themselves working under a totally different curriculum and approach, when anyone who knows child development recognises and accepts that the children haven’t suddenly
Promoting effective learningi I recently led a whol asked every teacher
changed to becom e different learners with different needs? Promot ng effective learning
from Year 1 to Year 6, what were th e school staff meeting on promoting
e essential attributes effective learning. I
they hoped for in a new class, in short I asked: “What matters?” Their ideas ry child the early
education they are e ntitled t o Comment by ELAINE BENNETT, EYFS/Yr1 Leader, EYs consultant and autho ,r
foundingmember of Keeping Early Years Unique
were written on pieces of paper, which I collected in and then matched to the statutory EYFS. Unsurprisingly every teacher identified aspects of personal, social and emotional development, communication and language and characteristics of effective learning as essential. Not one single person mentioned anything to do with the specific areas such as literacy or maths. Now of course I am not saying literacy, maths and specific areas don’t matter – they do. The government is right that our children must leave school literate and numerate. But their reading, writing and maths skills need to be secure, real and embedded. I believe the National
leading the way i curriculum” in th Curriculum, desc
ribed as a “world-leading
n all the wrong things: stress, e recent white paper, is
testing, abstract, irrelevant and totally developmentally inappropriate expectations. The statutory EYFS builds foundations for life, not just the next class or test, through
recognising how fundamental language and communication, personal social and emotional development, physical developm learning and those essential characteristics of ef children.
fective learning, are for al l ent, embedded specific
Campaigning for change Campaigning for chang e
So what amI proposing through my campaign to extend the EYFS to 7? I am proposing a developmentally appropriate curriculum through to age 7 which cements these foundations so that when learning becomes more formal, as it needs to, children flourish and thrive because they are ready. Characteristics of effective learning would be statutory until at least 7 and ideally throughout education. Children’s foundations would be strong, they’d love learning, would be creative, motivated, independent and confident learners who’d communicate effectively, have high levels of wellbeing and those essential solid building blocks in place that would enable school, but in life! A supporter of my campaign need the time to be free, to explore, to find the
ir own ways of doing things , recently wrote: “Children them to fly – not just in
to make their own decisions. They need the opportunity to learn in their own way and at their own pace!” Please stand with me to give every child the very best start in life.
https://petition.parliament.uk/ https://ww
22
www.education-today.co.uk.co.uk www k/petitions/121681
www.change.org/p/sam-gyimah-mp-extend-the-early-years- foundation-stage-from-birth-to-5-to-birth-to-7 Jun e 2016 2016
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