Showing posts with label Save Childhood Movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Save Childhood Movement. Show all posts

Tuesday 29 September 2015

'Are the kids alright?' Green Party Conference hears an emphatic 'NO!'

The current crisis in education, and in the nature of childhood itself, has been a recurrent themes at recent Green Party conferences. The Green Party education policy has won plaudits from many involved in challenging the Conservative's neoliberal agenda and the GERM (Global Education Reform Movement).

Greens challenge 'factory schooling', with its emphasis on high stakes testing and the grading of both children and their teachers, along with the associated narrowing of the curriculum and the undermining of teachers' professionalism.

In this we make common cause with teacher associations including the NUT and ATL, the Save Childhood Movement, the Too Much Too Soon campaign and the Anti academies Alliance and many others.  

The NUT-ATL fringe this year focused on the impact on children, especially early labelling as failures, stress and mental illness.

In my intervention I praisedthe many  teachers who despite all the pressures from the DfE, Ofsted and sometimes their own senior management, and the resulting heavy workload and exhaustion, still do their best to give children an enriching school experience with a broad and creative curriculum that fosters curiosity about the world and the joy of learning. I suggested parents and governors should go out of their way to encourage such teachers by praising the work that they do.

These are extracts from the three main presentations:

 


 

 

Monday 31 March 2014

'Putting Children First' Manifesto is welcome antidote to current early years proposals

There was consternation over the weekend amongsts early years specialists and parents following the announcement of tests for two year olds.  The tests would be the logical extension of the neoliberal obsession with the grading and rating of children and their teachers as education becomes increasingly linked to purely economic goals. A base for future measurements is established at a lower and lower age as the government seeks to establish data on which to judge provision. The obsessions with data and measurement is at the expense of holistic child-centred early years education.

Formative assessment of a child should be linked to long term goals of health and happiness rather than aimed at predicting future narrow academic performance.

This was announced alongside government proposals on making the emotional abuse of children an offence. I have little quarrel with that but it comes at a time when children are subject to social and economic abuse by the government as their families suffer from benefit cuts and the disruption caused by the bedroom tax.

The Green Party's Education Policy LINK opposes testing of young children and instead advocates an approach that takes into account differing rates of child development and the  important role of play.

The 'Putting Children First' Manifesto issued today by the Save Childhood Movement brings together those concerns in a very powerful document that I welcome as providing the basis for building a consensus against the current proposals. It is certainly a manifesto that the Green Party should support.

This is what the Save Childhood Movement says: 

Across the political spectrum there is now consensus that early years provision is important for children's development and for helping parents - especially mums - into work. As identified by the IPPR the question of 'what is best' for young children is, however, a point of huge contention among researchers, policymakers, commentators and politicians - not to mention parents. Some argue against public involvement in the care of young children in principle, while others assert the importance of parents (usually mothers) being able to stay at home to look after their children (1)

In its manifesto 'Putting Children First' the Save Childhood Movement argues that governments must put the best interests of the child at the heart of all early years policymaking and expresses its concern that this is not currently the case. It calls for a much stronger focus on relationships and the importance of family life, highlights the importance of developmental readiness and confirms the dangers of pushing through universal childcare without the appropriate evidence base and significant investment in improving the current quality of provision.

As stated by the OECD "Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or the long-term productivity benefits for society. Furthermore, research has shown that if quality is low, it can have long-lasting detrimental effects on child development, instead of bringing positive effects." (2)

Putting Children First - The 3 Key Elements
1 an integrated, holistic and appropriately financed system built upon
2 an evidence-based understanding of the child as
3 a citizen with developmental rights and freedoms

Developed by the members of the movement's expert Early Years Advisory Group, and with the backing of the larger sector, the manifesto sets out the three key elements and 11 key policy points that should to be taken into account for the development of an appropriate Early Childhood Education and Care System (ECEC). With the 2015 election in mind the movement is calling for all political parties to incorporate the identified elements in their own manifestos and to acknowledge the urgent need for a better balance between economic aspirations and child and family wellbeing.    
The development of a fully integrated system should:

1 respect and support the rights and freedoms of children to be provided with environments that allow them to develop all their natural dispositions and capacities to the fullest potential. This must include regular and open access to the natural world
2 re-instate the importance of early relationships and better support the health and wellbeing of parents and families
3 address inequalities and ensure that every child can develop to his or her full potential
4 ensure that the values we are modelling for children are those that we want to see in a 21st century world
5 ensure that developmentally appropriate play-based care and education governs children’s experiences until at least age 6
6 be evidence-led and have the best interests of the child at its heart. This should not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution but should be responsive to the diversity of parental and local community needs
7 reverse the existing funding curve so that we prioritise the vital importance of the early years
8 underpin all ECEC services and provision with the latest scientific evidence and global examples of best practice
9 review, consolidate and evaluate all policies and evidence through a new National Council on the Science of Human Learning and Development
10 provide formative assessment and screening of children’s development from birth and ensure that we are measuring what matters for children’s long-term health and wellbeing
11 ensure that the adults working with young children are highly trained, emotionally mature and appropriately valued and remunerated 

Wendy Ellyatt, Chief Executive, Save Childhood Movement says: 

"We are currently very concerned that universal childcare provision is being pushed through in England without due attention to the vital quality of care that includes developmentally appropriate environments, greatly improved parental support and engagement and the training and empowerment of a skilled workforce. One of the key aims of any ECEC system is to allow every child to flourish and to achieve his or her full potential and we feel there is a real danger that without the necessary quality controls English children will be greatly disadvantaged.

With this manifesto we are arguing that the best needs of the child should be at the heart of all future policymaking, that we need to acknowledge and better support the vital importance of family and community life and that there needs to be a national debate about the values that we wish to see nurtured in larger society." 

Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green Children's Commissioner for England, 2005-2010: 

"Children are our nation's most precious resource, and as Neil Postman has said in his book 'The Disappearance of Childhood', 'They are the living messages to a time we will not see.' We ignore their importance at our peril, yet this Manifesto for the Early Years' from the Save Childhood Movement comes at a time of unprecedented financial and political turbulence leading to austerity and cuts to state spending accompanied by zealous reform of education policy. What is in danger of being lost from the debate are the best interests of the child.

'Putting Children First' is an outstanding evidence-based document that should be read by every Parliamentarian and Government Minister as well as those formulating policy, alongside professionals directly involved in the care of young children in partnership with parents and carers."
 

Liz Bayram, Chief Executive, Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY):

"We wholeheartedly support the 11 policy points raised by the Save Childhood Movement. They offer a timely reminder to all political parties that a high quality early years experience in its broadest sense supports all children to reach their full potential and that childcare is about far more than just supporting parents to work and children to do well in school."

Neil Leitch, Chief Executive, Preschool Play Association:

"In an environment of continuous change and growing uncertainty, the early years sector is in absolute agreement that one priority never changes, its commitment to giving every child the best experience of care and learning.

As early years policy is increasingly directed at getting parents back to work and competing in the global economy, we need to ensure that our children are not viewed as numbers on a Government spreadsheet or figures in an economic model.  The 'Manifesto for the Early Years - Putting Children First', gives the sector a shared voice and focuses on what's really important - the interests of the child."    

Beatrice Merrick, Chief Executive, Early Education:

'We welcome the Manifesto for the Early Years, which captures what really matters in its title "Putting Children First".  Early years policy must be evidence-based, and the evidence shows us that positive home learning environments and high quality early childhood education are the best ways of giving children a good start in life.  Politicians must not rush to expand the quantity of early years education and childcare without first ensuring that the quality is right' 


1. Double Dutch: The case against deregulation and demand-led funding in childcare, Institute
    for Public Policy Research, 2012   
2.  Starting Strong III - A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care, OECD, 2012


The full Manifesto is HERE

Wednesday 15 May 2013

National Children's Day celebrated amidst the stress of SATs


It is perhaps appropriate that the first National Children's Day UK is being celebrated this week as 7 and 11 year olds are in the midst of their SATs, with the 11 year olds now having just sat the controversial SPAG test.

Many of those teachers and teaching assistants supervising the tests, despite their best efforts to keep things in perspective, are finding that children are stressed by them. I spoke to one Year 6 child last week who told me about waking up from a nightmare where she had been given a W (Working towards) grade rather than her expected Level 5.

National Children's Day is an initiative of the Save Childhood Movement and supported by a diverse group of organisations including  the National Trust, Play England, Play Scotland, Forestry Commission, Community Playthings, Project Wild Things and Leave Our Kids Alone.

Their website states:

  Celebrating the Rights and Freedoms of Children

Picture    "There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace." 
                                                                              -Kofi Annan

We are launching National Children's Day UK on the 15th of May and everyone is invited to get involved. This is our first year - and it will be only two weeks after the launch of the movement - so help us spread the word! You can access our banner and posters here. We then hope to make it a much bigger affair next year.

Many other countries celebrate the rights of children on the 20th of November  - the United Nations nominated day. However, we think that it is really important that British children should be able to get outside on Children's Day, into their neighbourhoods and nature, so we have chosen to hold it at the beginning of the summer.

Childhood is precious. It creates the values, mindsets and dispositions that determine our interaction with the world around us for the rest of our lives. Children, therefore, have one very special right - and that is the ability to be able to develop, naturally and happily, to their full potential. National Children's Day UK is dedicated to helping ensure that this can happen.
The picture on play is mixed in Brent. There are fewer Easter and Summer playschemes and the private ones that exist are often too expensive for low income families. Afterschool clubs find it hard to survive and schools are increasingly providing their own with teacher volunteers.  At the same time the number of holiday, weekend and lunchtime SAT preparation classes have increased and a significant and growing number of children attend after school sessions with private tutors. In such circumstances attempts to put the SATs tests into perspective and reduce stress are doomed to failure.

Under the influence of academies and free schools, Michael Gove is pushing for longer school days and shorter school holidays.

However, on the other hand, some schools are broadening their curriculum and encouraging more outdoor activities such as cycling. The new Chalkhill Park and the planned BMX track nearby are signs that play is valued by some in the council. Brent's Gordon Brown (no relation) Outdoor Education Centre in Hampshire continues to provide residential activites for primary pupils and the Stonebridge Adventure Playground has survived funding crises.

It is not the best of summer days today but I hope Brent kids will be out and about after school today having fun engaged in play activities

Monday 29 April 2013

Survey reveals gap between teachers' beliefs and government diktat


A newly released survey of early years and primary professionals, released at the launch summit of the Save Childhood Movement on the 27th and 28th of April and prepared in partnership with the Barrett Values Centre, has revealed an enormous disparity between the values that teachers feel are important for the education system and what is actually going on.
- While 67% of those surveyed thought that education should be child-centred as a matter of priority, only 2% thought the current system fulfilled that.

- While 60% of respondents thought creativity should be prioritised, less than 2% thought the current system supported it.

- And while 50% believed that early education should emphasise the importance of play, only 2% thought the current system did that.

- Only 2% of respondents thought that the current system cultivated a passion for learning, and 0% believed that it fostered empowerment.
When asked which words best described the current state of British education as they experienced it, the most common words were: 
focus on targets, bureaucracy, results focus, top-down pressure and adult agenda.
In contrast, when asked which words they believed should characterise education the words most commonly chosen were:
child-centred, creativity, importance of play, passion for learning and empowerment.

The gap between the values held by the practitioners themselves and those of the education system as a whole revealed a level of 'Cultural Entropy' (meaning the degree of dysfunctional or fear-driven behaviour) that the Barrett Values Centre terms "a critical situation requiring leadership changes to avoid organisational
 failure'.

The survey examined the values of 177 early years professionals including childminders, nursery and primary school teachers and headteachers, school governors, lecturers and academics and was conducted between the 10th and the 17 of April, 2013.

Wendy Ellyatt, Founding Director and CEO of the movement, shared her own deep concern about the current situation -

" It is simply unacceptable that there should be such a disparity between the values that teachers themselves hold and the systems that we are then asking them to work within. How we can expect them to be the creative, spontaneous, passionate and empowered adults that we really need around children when they are empowerment, constantly ground down by the demands of the system? We need something better and the movement is determined to help fight for this."

The movement hopes to soon extend this survey to include a much more significant percentage of the teaching profession.