Crisis in the Kindergarten
Why children need to Play in SchoolThe US Alliance for Childhood is an American nonprofit partnership of educators, health professionals, and other advocates for children who are concerned about the decline in children's health and well-being and who share a sense that childhood itself is endangered. Read the full report here
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Assessment overload exhausts early-years staff
TES 20th March
David Hanson, chief executive of
the Independent Association of Prep Schools, said: "As a parent, you can
determine what is in the interests of your child (at all times) except for one
period of life from ages three to five, when any setting they attend is obliged
to follow the EYFS. That is an extraordinary position we've got into."
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Focus on Fact is stifling schools, warns top head
Dr Seldon, master of Wellington College and biographer of former prime
minister Tony Blair, claims that we are forgetting the very purpose
of education.
'The well-being of students needs to be taken "far more seriously", and school sizes should be cut.'
"Dickens's
message is as timely and urgent for us in 2009 as it was in 1854,"
Seldon will argue. "It is that soulless, loveless, desiccated education
damages children for a lifetime. Education should be an opening of the
heart and mind. That is what education means; it is this, or it is
nothing."
Read the full article here
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When's their
number up?
TES article on the school starting age by Nick Morrison, 20th March
'A TES survey of 600 heads and
classroom teachers just over two years ago found fewer than one in five were in
favour of children starting school at four or younger, while 40 per cent wanted
formal education to be delayed until six.'
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Childcare Today
new book by Penelope Leach
Child care is the 21st century's biggest unsolved conundrum: children's
needs have not changed, but in a world that puts a premium on paid
employment and personal fulfilment, who should, who can, and who wants
to meet them?
In this book Penelope
Leach offers an
honest evaluation of these complex issues. For Leach, what
matters most is recognising that children's care is not just the
responsibility of parents, often struggling to be in two places at
once, but is intrinsic to the well-being of the whole of society. Child
care is a problem not just for families, but for nations.
Order the book here
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Educare Small School
The Educare Small School in Kingston held a very successful 'De-Toxing Childhood' evening with invited OpenEYE speakers. Educare runs an innovative curriculum that has pioneered Sue Merry's work on using The Alexander Technique with young children. Read more about the school here |
OpenEYE launched its Campaign film 'Too Much too Soon' in July 2008. You can see the film on Youtube
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Send in your stories!
OpenEYE works because it is in touch not only with early years experts, but with people at the grass roots who really know what is going on. If you have stories that you think we should know about please email us | |
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March 2009
March has seen the drastic drop in Childminder numbers coming to public attention along with increasing concerns about how nursery providers can absorb the costs of more highly qualified staff.
It also sees the launch of the Children's Radio Partnership as Susan Stranks and Baroness Warnock seek to
establish a children's radio network that will include what they
describe as a 'nursery of the airwaves' to coordinate and promote the
best practice care and early learning through play, words and music.
We are receiving some very disturbing reports about how provider funding is becoming linked to EYFS outcomes and how graduate students wishing to study with alternative providers are being told that they may not get funding support. The most recent report produced by Colin Taylor for The Institute of Directors clearly concludes that diversity of provision is highly beneficial. Why is it then that the government persists in its implementation of centralised and highly prescriptive frameworks? And what is so threatening about parental choice and curricular innovation? OpenEYE thinks that parents and children in England deserve better.
An independent school in Gloucestershire, that Ofsted rated 'outstanding' in many areas in its recent report, is the first in the UK to apply for exemption from parts of the EYFS and we will be following their progress.
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Early Years Providers concerned about the future
article by Ross Watson -Children and Young People Now, 11th March
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In a survey by The Federation of Small Businesses more than one in five
early years providers expect to be out of business by 2015.
The FSB received responses from 188 early years managers from the private,
voluntary and independent sector. Just over one in five (21 per cent)
answered "no" when asked if they thought they would still be running
their business by 2015.
More than four out of five of providers expressed concern at the prospect
of qualifying all staff to A-level standard by 2015, while just over three
quarters were equally concerned about including graduates in every setting in
the same timescale.
read the full article here
OpenEYE supports
increasing the quality of practitioners in early years settings, but is
concerned about the financial impact on struggling providers. How does the government propose to handle the transition period without compromising available provision? |
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Childminder numbers fall dramatically
Martin Beckford, Daily Telegraph Social Affairs Correspondent, 18th March
Official figures show the
number of registered childminders in England fell from 102,600 in 1996
to just 63,600 last summer.
Since the Early Years
Foundation Stage came into force in September, however, a further 1,671 have
given up their jobs, forcing parents to find new childcare arrangements for
their toddlers
OpenEYE Comment
The Government argues that increasing professionalism has to be in the best interests of children. There is growing concern, however, that parents are being denied the ability to choose childminders for their 'mothering' qualities rather than their ability to fill in forms. As soon as we ask childminders to focus on observations, forms and tick-boxes, rather than simply and fully being with the children, things change. And such changes send all sorts of subtle messages to children about the perceived value of their activities. Of course we all want quality care, but should quality result in acceptable targets and outcomes or confident, happy children?
OpenEYE believes that parents should have the right to choose the childminder that is right for their child. And that we need to be careful not to equate professionalism only with paperwork.
Read Martin Beckford's full article
Listen to the Mothers Hour Discussion Tues 31st March
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Graduates in Early Education
 It is wonderful to see finally recognition that working with young children is an extremely important and inspirational job. The Government's 'Teach-First' scheme is an interesting approach to bringing graduates into the profession, but we need to be careful that 'teaching' is recognised as something that needs to be balanced with allowing children to develop naturally and at their own pace. Early Years practitioners need very special skills, particularly those attuned to the extraordinary sensitivities of the early learner. There is always a danger that overly intellectual approaches may put the achievement of outcomes, targets and profiles above the simple wellbeing of the child. So much of what makes a good early years practitioner is down to social and emotional maturity, together with a true and joyful affinity with children, and these qualities are difficult to effectively teach. Alternative providers, such as Steiner and Montessori, have specialised approaches that many parents find right for their children particularly because they look at the 'whole' child. Their training demands of students that they see children as empowered learners and that they resist interfering with the children's natural learning processes. The Reggio approach also assumes that children have extraordinary abilities that need to be highly sensitively supported. Perhaps the time has come to take a good hard look at the intended content of English degree courses in order to ensure that they reflect the rich diversity of understanding and practice that exists around the world. |
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The Danger Signs
It
has come to OpenEYE's attention that the DCSF are considering suggesting to
local authorities that the principles and practicalities of funding for free
nursery entitlement may be linked more closely to the contributions providers
make to children's development outcomes. If applied, this could see the DCSF
putting pressure on LAs, who might then put pressure on providers, with all the dangers of downward pressures then being experienced by the children.
The
following sets this proposal out more fully in an exchange in the House of
Commons between Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Children,
Schools & Families and Beverley Hughes.
Annette
Brooke: "To ask the
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to link
the allocation of the Nursery Education Grant to outcomes achieved through the
early years foundation scheme; and if he will make a statement,"
Beverley Hughes: "In the Government's recent document, Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare published in January we committed
to exploring with local authorities the principles and practicalities of linking
funding for the free early education entitlement more closely to the
contributions providers make to children's development outcomes."
Current
nursery education grant funding is provided per child, and not per provider. So
providers should not be being held accountable for the amount of funding they
receive, nor have to link the amount of funding to outcomes.
Open EYE sees
this as a very worrying proposal which, if applied to the early years, will be
the first time providers, including Reception Class teachers, could be being
pressurised to put funding before children's well-being.
Is
this the tip of a dangerous iceberg?
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The Big Picture: exploring educational diversity
In the latest Institute of Directors Quarterly publication 'Big Picture', Colin Taylor has examined the correlation between state education spending and performance in international tests. It is clear that an enormous investment has been made in England over the last decade. He concludes, however, that the extra money has not resulted to a commensurate improvement in standards.
In looking at the model presented by Swedish education reforms over the past 15 years he points to the fact that they have resulted in clear and measurable benefits, including very positive inter-ethnic mixing. 'A Radical government, adopting the Swedish reforms, could create more than half a million school places in the independent sector...The freedom to innovate, to pay good teachers more, and to set their own curriculum and discipline standards, is the best way for schools to improve. It sounds like common sense, but has so far proved elusive in the UK'.
Prior to 1991, the Swedish education system was both highly centralised and highly prescriptive, with parents only able to exercise choice of schools through their choice of where to live. The 1991 Act on Freedom of Choice and Independent Schools, which came into force in 1992, compelled local authorities to allow parental choices between government-operated schools, and to give state funding to licensed independent schools.
The results of this cultivation of diversity have been, he says, 'quite remarkable'. After just 15 years, there are now 585 independent schools - 12% of the total - covering 60% of Sweden's municipalities and educating 74,000 pupils...If the Swedish experience was replicated in schools in England, the results would be outstanding, with potentially half a million more children educated in independent schools by 2020'.
The Swedish system actively encourages independent and alternative approaches and both Steiner and Montessori schools have strong participation.
'The positive experience in Sweden contrasts strongly with the experience of parents in the Uk , where genuine school choice is limited only to those who have the money and the ability to move into the catchment area of a good school'
He concludes with the very powerful statement:
'Ultimately education should not be determined by politicians picking ideal types of schools, an ideal curriculum or ideal teaching methods, but by politicians trusting schools and parents to make the right decisions about children's learning'.
OpenEYE believes that parents should have the opportunity to choose the school and curriculum that is right for their child and that diversity has enormous and powerful benefits that far outweigh the rigidity and predictability of 'sameness'.
Read the Full Report
Read Sam Freedman's Policy Exchange article:
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Re-wiring our brains?
Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield, an eminent neuroscientist and Director of the Royal Institution, has sounded a cautionary note
about the screen culture of the computer age that she says may be
changing our brains in ways that could have a serious impact on
personality and behaviour. As a pioneering scientist she heads a
multi-disciplinary Oxford University team investigating
neuro-degenerative disorders and also the Oxford Centre for the Science
of the Mind, exploring the physical basis of consciousness.
Her concerns are echoed by the researcher Dr Aric Sigman, a member of the Institute of Biology, associate fellow
of the British Psychological Society and fellow of the Royal Society of
Medicine. His publication 'Does Not Compute - Screen Technology in Early Years Education' can be read here
Read Patrick Wintour's Guardian article
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New Children's Radio Partnership
Following the controversial axing of children's
radio from its mainstream networks, the BBC has been invited to partner a new
national service for young listeners. Experienced children's radio presenter Susan Stranks has joined forces with Baroness Warnock and a prominent group of child-care experts to promote the project. The 'Sound
Start' scheme will evaluate radio's potential in children's leisure and development
and is structured to complement the government's £52 million Action Plan
leading up to a National Year of Speech, Language & Communication [SLCN] in
2011-12.
There is considerable concern about the decline in young children's communicative skills. 'A survey of headteachers by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) showed that 75% were concerned about the decline of communication skills over the past five years, while 89% of nursery workers said they were dealing with many more children with communication problems than ever before.' (see Nick Thurthwaite article below).
Radio and The Early Years by Nick Smurthwaite - teaching expertise online Children's Programmes to Vanish from mainstream BBC Radio, Neil Midgley, TV & Radio Editor - The Daily Telegraph, 18th March
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Gloucestershire School First to Opt Out
An independent school in Gloucestershire, which
Ofsted found 'Outstanding' in many areas when it was inspected just over a
month ago, has become the first in England to apply for exemption from parts of
the EYFS. The Acorn School in Nailsworth, which is registered for 120 pupils aged
three to 19, has applied for exemption from the reading, writing and assessment
aspects of the EYFS around literacy, numeracy and the use of computers.
Graeme Whiting, the headteacher and founder of the school in 1991, explained,
"I've applied for exemption to the literacy and numeracy and the 13 stages of
assessment because I don't think that they fit at all with what I'm doing."
Although the school's Kindergarten and lower school are run along principles established by the philosopher and scientist Rudolph Steiner, it is not a Steiner school.
Mr Whiting explained the thinking behind the school's educational
philosophy, which is based on Steiner's threefold concept of education and
children's development, and does not recognise state
curricula or state examinations until university
degree level.
"From nought to seven children have what we
call a Kindergarten experience, which is developing the will.
"From seven to 14 our feeling, artistic and
musical elements develop, so it's an artistic, musical, feeling education from
age seven to 14.
"Only at 14 are the thinking processes
coming in to the human being, so there we have a more academic and intellectual
education here," he said.
Acorn School received a glowing report from Ofsted in
January. In its report the education
inspectorate said, "Acorn
School is outstandingly
successful in fulfilling its stated aims, because the passionate inspiration of
the headteacher engenders an ethos in which all pupils feel valued and
nurtured...In this family climate, pupils' personal development and their
spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are outstanding...The quality of education provided is good with outstanding
provision for extra-curricular activities, residential opportunities and
outdoor adventurous pursuits. The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.'
Mr Whiting said, "I have children from Kindergarten at four years of
age, who go right the way through the process of education here without any
intervention from the state at all on any level.
"There are no state exams, no SATs, and no state testing. I have
managed to achieve what no other school has achieved in this country, and that
is a 100 per cent success rate for students who have moved from the school to university."
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A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence by
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff & Laura E Berk
Three eminent early years experts examine the reality that we
are robbing young children of play time at home and school in an effort
to give them a head start on academic skills like reading and
mathematics. Yet the scientific evidence suggests that eliminating play
from the lives of children is taking preschool education in the wrong
direction.
This brief but compelling book provides a strong
counter-argument to the rising tide of didactic instruction on preschool
classrooms.
The authors present scientific evidence in support of three
points:
1) children need both unstructured free time and playful
learning under the gentle guidance of adults to best prepare for
entrance into formal school
2) academic and social development are
inextricably intertwined, so academic learning must not trump attention
to social development; and
3) learning and play are not incompatible.
Rather, playful learning captivates children's minds in ways that
support better academic and social outcomes as well as strategies for
lifelong learning.
Written in clear and expressive language, this book
offers a comprehensive review of research supporting playful learning
along with succinct policy and practice recommendations that derive
from this research.
Order a copy of the book here
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With warm wishes from
The OpenEYE Team
We hope that we have fairly and accurately reported the items in this newsletter. Please contact us if you notice any errors.
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