I have been reflecting on trends in the education sector and how these impact on trends in early childhood education in New Zealand. In 1996 we were world leaders in early childhood education with the introduction of a national curriculum for the sector. Not only is this curriculum holistic in nature but it is also bicultural. The key outcomes for children are based on increasing the depth and breadth of learning dispositions and the development of working theories. Over the last twenty years many other countries have followed our lead and adopted national early childhood curriculum. Australia obviously thought so highly of our curriculum that they adopted many aspects of it in the development of their curriculum. You would think that this would position us strongly as we move into the future and respond to ongoing changes in both society and education. Not so!
Whilst we focus on the children's interests and use these to build on and deepen children's learning, trends and government initiatives that influence the primary and secondary sectors, put pressure on our teachers to change their teaching approaches. Our teaching strategies are designed to build on children's natural enthusiasm for learning and assist them to be inquisitive problem solvers. As Bruce(2016) discusses, we are part of a small economy that should be educating our children to be innovative and flexible thinkers in a similar way to the Finnish system. An education system that is test driven is more likely to prepare children for compliant thinking. The introduction of national standards in the primary sector has begun to impact on the teaching in the early childhood sector. Parents are increasingly concerned with 'preparing children for school'. To parents this often means early reading and writing so that their child is meeting and exceeding the expectations of the tests that happen from new entrant level onwards. This type of pressure in the U.S. has led to rote learning and formal instruction being used in their preschools. A move away from a free play environment that has resulted in record numbers of children expelled from preschools (Klein, 2016). ERO officers, in recent reviews of early childhood centres have preferenced responding to parent aspirations and goals, a supporting evaluation question in the evaluation of curriculum delivery, in their evaluation of the effectiveness of the curriculum in providing positive learning outcomes for children (ERO, 2013). This has led in some cases to teachers only assessing aspects of children's learning that show a response to parents aspirations and goals. This is concerning when parents aspirations are influenced by the 'preparation for school' thinking that early reading and writing is required.
So our challenge, in a non-compulsory education sector, is to be forward thinking in our teaching and to work alongside parents to assist them to see the benefits of learning through play. To balance the more negative trends highlighted above with the positive trends that are identified in such publications as the CORE Education's Ten trends 2016 (CORE, 2016).
One of the top trends that will assist with this is networked communities. Through teachers participating in Communities of Learning, as they have been in the Learning Community Clusters that began in Christchurch after the 2011 earthquakes, we will be better informed on the current teaching practices in the primary sector and be able to share these with parents who often think that primary education is the same now as it was when they were at school. We will also be able to work in collaboration with primary teachers to support children's learning and parent engagement as children transition from one sector to the other. Digital fluency, one of the competencies required for 21st century learning, requires a good level of social competence and learning dispositions. In early childhood we can continue to focus on and strengthen these areas knowing that these skills will underpin future success for children. The trend towards design thinking is another one that relates well to early childhood education. As Ken Robinson noted, children in kindergarten are naturally divergent thinkers (The RSA, 2010). This type of thinking is essential for being creative, innovative and problem-solvers. As early childhood teachers we need to privilege teaching strategies that foster the continuation of these ways of thinking in children. This often means finding time for sustained engagement with children, encouraging children to try and try again, provide time and space for learning rather than interrupting investigation with pre-planned routines, and have a strong pedagogy of listening so that you are responding to what children are truly saying.
References:
Bruce, Bryan (2016) World Class Education? Inside New Zealand Education. Documentary on TV3. Source TV3 on demand.
CORE (2016) Ten trends 2016. Retrieved from: http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2015/05/early-childhood-education-10-trends-and-a-not-so-little-story-of-action.html on 5/06/16
Education Review Office (2013) He Pou Tātaki. How ERO reviews early childhood services. NZ government, Wellington NZ.
Klein, R. (2016) We're doing preschool all wrong, says a new book and it could harm an entire generation of kids. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/preschool-and-play-erika-christakis_us_56bcb83ae4b0b40245c58953
The RSA.(2010, Oct 14). RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
No comments:
Post a Comment