Are You Ready For Us? Here We Are

Are You Ready For Us ?
Here We Are - Ready or Not!!!!!

By Pam Whitty

The quantity and rate of learning in the first few years of life are nothing short of spectacular. The fact that by three or four years of age , most children can understand and use the language of those around them is just one example of learning that takes place long before children begin school.

Lilian Katz, "Readiness: Children and Schools"

Introduction

As child care providers and educators, you know first hand about the "spectacular learning " that children can experience prior to school entry. In your daily life you play a significant role in a young child's education though direct interactions and programming with and for children, and in your capacity as partners with parents in the early care and education of children. You may also work with other early years service and educational agencies and/or with advocacy groups striving to improve living conditions for young children and their parents. In your life children matter in the present moment, and the care you take with them now benefits them throughout their lives.

A Mother's Question

As I began thinking about this paper, I recalled a school memory directly related to "readiness". In my years teaching first grade I too often had the disturbing task of telling a parent, usually a mother, that her child would not be going on to the second grade. I distinctly remember one mother's response when I told her that her daughter "would need another year in grade one." Not fooled by my avoidance of the word failure - she simply asked, "How can my child fail - she is only six years old?"

As I reflect on this mother's question, it does seem incomprehensible that, I as a teacher or, we as an education system could lay school failure in the hands, heart and mind of a six year old. I had observed and documented this child's growth over the course of a year. Certainly she had not failed to learn. Rather, as I have come to realize, the failure was ours. As an educational system, and as a society, we failed the readiness test, we "failed to be ready" for her and her family. And the key to a child's readiness for school and 'readiness to learn' is our personal, professional and cultural readiness to support young children and their families.

School Readiness: The Economic Justification

Sharon Kagan tells us that " school readiness" as a concept has existed and been debated for a least a century. School readiness is about how the present conditions of a child's life impact on the future of that individual and the broader society. Gillian Doherty of the Applied Research and Development Branch of Human Resources Canda has prepared a monograph entitled Zero to Six: The Basis for School Readiness. In this publication she provides a detailed look at the factors influencing a child's school success.

Doherty begins with an economic justification for readiness and examines the literature on the relationship between school readiness and school leaving. She tells us that "the path to leaving school prior to graduation starts early in a child's school career." She then identifies two predictors of early school leaving i) "failure to master the academic basics as a result of deficient language or cognitive skills at school entry" and ii) "peer rejections associated with disruptive, uncooperative and aggressive tendencies towards peers." (p2-3) Thus, the cognitive, language and social skills and dispositions that children bring with them to school has the potential to affect their entire school career and their ability, desire and capacity to stay in school .

Doherty outlines the economic costs to the individual and to society at large when a person doesn't graduate from high school. These costs include lost government revenue, increased government expenditures, decreased ability to compete in the global market and decreased ability to provide essential functions for society as a whole. The loss to the individual, is often involuntary unemployment - a situation that does not bode well for that individual's own self-worth and sense of competence, nor for their children. Doherty makes a strong economic case for all levels of government and various community organizations to "invest" in the early years.

The developmental determinants of school readiness, as presented by Doherty are the physical, emotional, social, linguistic, and cognitive domains She draws upon a range of research to support the developmental case for school readiness. And although some of the brain research she quotes has been challenged by brain specialist-scholar John Breur, the summary she provides is the crux of developmental milestones which have been laid out by many educators and researchers over the course of several decades. The one specific area I would add to her developmental case is the need to support the aesthetic growth of the child. Doherty's categories parallel those tracked by by the National Longitudinal Study on Children and Youth, and aesthetic growth of the child is largely absent from these measures.

In her final chapter, "Resources Available to Children in the Late 1990's," Doherty steps back from the individual child and examines the bigger societal picture. In this part of her analysis, she outlines how societal decisions, federal and provincial policies, community resources and family income impact on families in terms of the time they have available to their children, the level of parental stress and their own parenting practices. Her diagram provides a succinct visual on the "factors external to the child" that affect school readiness.(p. 79), one that might add another dimension to your own work if you are in the position of arguing the case for quality care programmes and educational initiatives for staff.

Broadening the Scope

Social and Intellectual Learning

Typically, school readiness has meant that a child be able to recite the alphabet, count to ten, recognize letters and name colours upon school entry. (Powell, 1995) Although this knowledge matters, and no one would deny that children need to learn their letters and numbers, short term gains in apparent school readiness skills, those such as number and letter recognition are often off set by poorer academic functioning in later elementary years and higher rates of school leaving. (Doherty, 1997, Maxwell & Eller, 1994) So knowing your letters and numbers barely scratches the so-called readiness surface.

The phrase " readiness to learn" has begun to replace the term school readiness, in both Canada and the United States. In part, this change in language is an effort to recognize that responsibility for "readiness" is broader than academics and is much more than a family matter, the case the Doherty presents in her monograph.

Early childhood educator Lilian Katz speaking directly to the concept of "readiness to learn" suggests there are two broad categories of learning essential for children's school success. - the social and the intellectual. Socially, preschool children need to experience "satisfying interactions with a group of peers" so they might "... acquire social skills such as taking turns, making compromises and approaching unfamiliar children."(p.2) Intellectually, in the years prior to school children need opportunities for "conversation, discussion, and coop-erative work and play with peers who are likely to start school with them."(Katz, p2.) Children who have had opportunities to engage with same-age peers prior to school entry , and can enter school with their friends make a smoother transition to kindergarten (Maxwell & Eller, 1994).

Children and Parents: Here & Now

As early childhood caregivers and educators, it is helpful to be familiar with economic, social and developmental justifications for early years spending. And it is encouraging that the federal government and the media are paying close attention to the importance of the quality of care and parenting in the first years of life.. As childcare professionals in a vocation that has been undervalued and devalued, it is gratifying to be taken so seriously by so many.

However it is important to remind ourselves that good early childhood care and education, is much more than a school readiness program . And most of the children in your care are quite ready to learn when you first meet them. Your daily joy and challenge is the quality of learning experience you can create for the child and the parent in this present moment.

What does this present moment mean for you, the person connecting home and school through your personal and professional relationships with children and parents, and in your capacity as curriculum developer. Keller Maxwell and Susan Eller in their review of the research stress three areas where we can support children and their parents in the years prior to school.:i) children's social growth and related school experience, ii) parental influence and involvement, and iii) classroom and curricular characteristics.

Social Growth

Because we need to get along with others in our lives, all of our lives, social skills and empathetic dispositions are important ones to cultivate. Children need opportunities to play cooperatively, - the time to make and sustain friendships, to work together on mutual tasks and projects, to begin to understand the persecpetive of another. In their action research project with preschool children and their parents Pam Nason and Anne Hunt uncover and detail the social importance of the language of negotiation, power and transformation and how this language can be recognized by parents and educators ad nurtured in children.(1999a)

Parental Influence

As the child's first educators, parents have tremendous influence over the opportunties available to children in they preschool years. In his chapter 'Families and Early School Success," Powell reviews the reserch on parental influence in the early years and summarizes the following constellation of parental beliefs and practices. (p41) Supportive conditions for the child include: parental views on human development as a constructivist process, parental teaching strategies that encourage a child to think and engage actively is a task, parental reading habits and television regulation, the degree of warmth and responsiveness of the parent to the child, and a mother's accurate understanding of her child's abilities.

As it turns out maternal education weighs in as a more important influence than maternal participation in the work force.(pp.46).

Classroom practice

In terms of classroom and curricular characteristics, Maxwell and Eller stress the importance of developmentally appropriate experiences for children. Their research review indicates that children in developmentally appropriate classrooms demonstrated fewer stress behaviours than did children in more formal classrooms and these children also had better social interaction skills. Thus, if is we as care givers and educators strive for implementation of developmentally appropriate practices(DAP) in both the preschool and early school years, children will experience a continuity in programming that eases their transition to school entry.

In relation to DAP, Carol Anne Wien, an early childhood professor, now at York University in Toronto, conducted a remarkably detailed qualitative study in child care settings in Atlantic Canada. Her book Developmentally Appropriate Practices in 'Real Life" give a compassionate, and thoughtful perspective into the challenges of implementing these practices in child care settings. Wien's insights, gained from child care staff in the field,might prove helpful to many of you in your daily and long term planning.

Another instructive text, recently published is by educator Sue Fraser. Authentic Childhood documents the philosophy and practices of the Italian Reggio approach to preschool care and education as it is being played out in selected child care centres on the West Coast of Canada. Particularly informative are her chapters on the image of the child, the role of the teacher and the environment as third teacher. She gives an entire chapter to documentation as a means to display children's learning and communicate teacher insights with parents.

In addition to developmentally appropriate practices, many educators, researchers, and policy makers have made us cognizant of the need for cultural and linguistic sensitivities in our work with young children. (Derman-Sparkes 1991, Owens 1988).

As well, increased advocacy efforts with and for young children and their families remind us of the need for social justice to permeate our work with young children. (Cannell1a 1997, Hurtig 1999.)

We work with and for children in the here and now knowing that we affect the quality of their lives throughout their lives. It is in part why many of us are here. At some deep level we know that it does take a whole village to raise a child - and we take on the inherent joys and challenges - each villager doing their bit and convincing others to do likewise - for today and the future!

Pam Whitty
Early Childhood Professor
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick

References

Breur, John.(1999) The Myth of the First Three Years: A New Understanding of Early Brain Development and Lifelong Learning . The Free Press: Simon and Schuster, New York.

Browne, Gina et all. (1998) When the Bough Breaks: Provider-Initiated Comprehensive Care .System-Linked Research Unit, McMaster University: Hamilton, Ontario

Cannella, Gaile Sloan. (1997). Deconstructing Early Childood Education: Social Justice and Revolution. Peter Lang Publiciations: New York:

Cronin, Mary (1995). Program Assessment and Development of the Central Regina Early Learning Centre: Final Report. Saskatchewan and Instructional Development Research Unit, University of Saskatchewan: Regina, Saskatchewan

Doherty, Gillian (1997)Zero to Six: the Basis for School Readiness. Applied Research Branch, Strategic Policy: Human Resources Development Canada: Hull, P.Q.

Fraser, Susan. (2000) Authentic Childhood: Experiencing Reggio Emilai in the Classroom Nelson: Toronto

Human Reources Development Canada(1996) National Longitundinal Survey of Children and Youth: Overview Report Evaluation and Data Development Stategic Policy, Human Resources Canada: Hull:PQ

Hurtig, Mel (1999) Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids: The Tradegy and Disgrace of Poverty in Canada.McClelland ad Stweart: Toronto.

Kagan, Sharon (1990). "Readiness 2000: Rethinking Rhetoric and Responsibility," .Phi Deltas Kappan (Decmber 1990:)pp.272-279

Katz, Lilian G. (1991). "Readiness: Children and Schools" ERIC/EECE University of Illinois: Iowa. http:/ericps.ed.uiuc/readyweb/s4c/katz91.html

Kostelnik, Marjorie,Soderman Anne, & Anne Whiren (1999) Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum.Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.

Lecanuet, Jean-Pierre.(1996) "Prenatal Auditory Experience," in Musical Beginnings: Origins and Development of Musical Competence Oxford Unviersity Press pp.3-34.

Maxwell, Kelly l. & Eller, Susan K.(1994). Research in Review; Children's Transition to Kindergarten, Young Children 49 (6): 56-63

Nason, Pamela & Anne Hunt.(1999a) Cultivating Language and Literate Play; Transforming the Self, Transforming the World. Early Childhood Centre , University of Fredericton, N.B.

Nason, Pamela & Anne Hunt.(1999b) Honouring Domestic Literacies: Texts of Caring, Cooking and other Household Work, Early Childhood Centre , University of Fredericton, N.B

Owens, Richard, President. (1988).Right From the Start: National Association of State Boards of Education: Washington, D.C

Powell, Douglas. (1995) Enabling Young Children to Succeed in School American Educational Reserach: Washington, D.C.

Schweinhart, Lawrence,Barmes, Helen & Weikart, David. (1993) Significant Benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27. High Scope Press: Michigan

Sparkes, Louise Derman.(1991) Anti-Bias Curriculum : Tools for Empowering Young Children. National Association for Education of Young Children: Washington, D.C.

Whitty, Pam with Molly Fry.(1999) Connecting Home, School and Community Based Programs: People, Place, Program & Purpose. Early Childhood Centre: Fredericton, NB

Wien, Carol Anne Wien(1995) Developmentally Appropriate Practice in "Real Life.": Stories of Teacher Practical Knowledge.Teachers' College Press: Columbia University, NY.