Schooling and Early Childhood Education : Notes from a Conference

In February 2009 I attended a Pan Canadian Conference in Montreal on Early Learning and Schools

Comments:

• There is strong science and economic knowledge to invest in early learning and child development. Only good early development can overcome many vulnerabilities in children.
• Kids who start off school below their peers remain below their peers: they improve but do not catch up. Hamilton’s (Early Development Index) EDI scores have 26% of children who are vulnerable and scores are stable from one testing to another. Work with children has to begin sooner.
• The Nordic model is the strongest and one hopefully that will be adopted in the proposed all-day early learning programs for 4 and 5 year olds. The Nordic emphasis is on play and experiential learning. Working conditions for all staff regardless of their  training are largely equal.
• A successful pathway for change is to have : an inspiring and inclusive vision; public engagement; investment of resources including the  community’s investment; students as partners in the change; high quality teacher; build from bottom: steer from top and develop community and families; lively learning communities; and responsibility matters more than accountability.

What HWDSB might consider:

·    A framework or policy which outlines HWDSB’s commitment to early childhood learning and development looking to best practices identified in the OECD report.

·    Early learning integrated into our Strategic plan.

·    Plan for expected changes using the fourth reform path

Notes

Research

Kids who come in behind others at start of schooling stay behind (New Zealand). The

Early Developmental Index (EDI) has measures for social competencies, emotional maturity, language, cognitive and physical competencies and is completed in kindergarten. Children with larger number of vulnerabilities in kindergarten have larger percent failure in grade 4 (Clyde Hertzman B.C.). 

Number EDI vulnerabilities	% not passing grade 4 Math
0	12.3
1	22.2
2-3	33.8
4-5	55.6

However there are vulnerable kids who pass, and are non-vulnerable who do not pass.

Clyde Hertzman can predict 50% of school results based on SES catchment and EDI results.

Early Child Development program in Cuba begins in the first month of life. By grade 3, language scores are 2 standard deviations ahead of rest of South America

The brain is subjected to a lifetime of experiences. But the first years of life are most important for brain development. Experiences there have different effects on different stages of life.

Environment effects gene development: epigenetics. This has big implications as stimulation is necessary to get genes to work, and is most important in the first three years.

A Population’s health and literacy are linked. Cannot separate stimulation from nutrition: Jamaican study: those who were adequately fed and stimulated thrived. A feeding program was not sufficient.

In Romania, orphans reared with little nurturing: 50 children to one adult. Those babies adopted into nurturing families at 8 months of age or older still had significant emotional, cognitive and social problems in later years. Those babies adopted before they were eight months old had normal development.

James Heckman, famous economist, has shown that there is an eight times return on investment in early child development and care services.

John Bennett: Visiting Fellow Thomas Coram Institute University of London UK

Worked on an OECD study 1998-2004 regarding early childhood education and care in 20 countries.

For successful programs there should be intense, strong and equal partnerships between ECE and Education sectors. Partnerships work well in integrated systems such as Finland, New Zealand and U.K. where there is

• Organised child-care system
• Early childhood pedagogy is recognised
• More or less parity between professional staff with respect to qualifications, pay and working conditions.

In split systems, partnerships are weak and ECE and schools are separate. The good will of individual centres and educators is needed as there are no systems.

A strong and equal partnership between ECE and Education sectors is demanding. The following are required:

•  Re conceptualizing the early childhood sector.
• Qualifying people, decent pay, promotion, prospects , good working conditions
• Transitions and curriculum issues have been resolved

Transitions: Different transitions

• 0 to 3 s from home to the child-care system
• Transition from child-care to KG
• Transition 3 -6 years from home to school
• Daily transitions between school and child-care where there is not an integrated system

Transitions Pre-school to school

• Most countries have no policy at all
• Or merge pre-school into school: at 5 years in Canada,  2.5 years in Belgium, 3 years in most of Europe. Some schoolifying of early learning services. In France all early childhood educators are now trained as primary school teachers.
• Or there is an integrated system 1 to 6 years with a continuity of environment and methods e.g. Hungary and Nordic countries.

Curriculum

 Sometimes the continuity of curriculum is achieved by making early years a primary school.

Generally primary school curriculum merges into the early childhood field.

In other countries: is an experiential approach, bringing the early childhood goals into primary education: the Nordic method.

The different approaches taken by countries involve interplay among the following elements:theory of child rearing and pedagogy;  history of ECEs in a country whether                                                              Froebelian (play based) or instruction based; approach to early child education; existing institutional arrangements;  and interests of professional bodies and of social groups.

Infant schools (U.K.)

·         Prepare children for school, especially second language children

·         Features are a child care approach --- keep the children safe

·         In early education strong links with primary school

·         Parent and community dimensions are underplayed

Nordic Countries

• Child rearing is seen as a shared responsibility between family and the state
• Early childhood centre is a service to all families with elements of social and gender equity, elimination of poverty, parental leaves usually a component, advanced training and reasonable salaries for child care staff.
• Is an educational service and the pre-school respects natural environmental interests. In Finland children are outdoors a third of the time in winter and two-thirds in summer.
• Features the development of the whole child and a focus on quality programming.
• Little desire to measure individual child’s outcomes
• Strong parental and community outreach
• Short core curriculum. Sweden’s is 16 pages long. Local interpretation is expected.

Many exceptions to these patterns of child care and school relationships, depending on the age of the child, the child staff ratios, and training and conditions in which staff work.

Those programs that are successful are those where child care is organised, early childhood pedagogy is developed, and more or less parity of conditions between different staff groups in the two sectors.

Note strong relationship between Sweden’s child care programs and their success at having the most children literate in theWestern world.

 Andy Hargreaves: the Fourth way of leadership and Change

‘There is no debt without memory ‘(Atwood)

3 ways of educational change and a new fourth one being developed

1          Teachers joined profession because were passionate for the young and wanted to make a difference in the world, or were passionate about a subject. The latter often taught in small schools, had small classes with no diversity and no disability. Innovation is present but there is not a coherent pattern of expectations.

2                    Markets and Standardisation approach: goals, performance targets, top down government as in the Harris government. There is a focus but at a cost to other elements.

3                    Public/private approach: Bill Clinton Tony Blair.

Top down government with goals and performance targets, public engagement, support and resources, and lateral peer, and pre-school learning.

But the ends look like second approach: the results are schools analysing data, hit squads coming out to schools to pressure change in literacy.

4. Change approach suggested by study of organisations that achieve above expectations in health, education, business and sport. Found that have

·         Powerful compelling mission

·         Culture of the organisation that allows for mistakes

·         Unusual collaboration and competition amongst staff, or to friendly rivalry. So  FIAT competes with the external competition and education with other countries, not factory against factory.

·         Use of data: it doesn’t drive the organisation. Work with agreed values, the value of customers. Ask if data is right data? Standardized tests results do not reflect the whole child.

·         Example of Finland

o       High quality teachers

o       Inspiring mission developed when had 19% unemployment on 1992

o       Business and university work together

o       Professionals collaborate together, schools work together, members from one school will support other schools where there are difficulties

·         Example of Tower hamlets

o       Director met with principals and set targets together : know your own people

o       Know the schools: SOs are in schools

o       Data followed the knowledge

o       Strong schools help the weak

o       Community development ; half the staff are support staff recruited from the community so half stay in the community after school is over each day influence local opinion, support parents . Schools know their neighbourhoods

For Education the Fourth way of change includes

·         An inspiring and inclusive vision

·         Public engagement

·         Investment of resources: needs community’s investment

·         Work with best business

·         Students as partners in the change

·         High quality teachers,

·         Lively learning communities

·         Leadership is sustained

·         A net with no nanny “ have to let go” it is the weak who hang on tight

·         Responsibility matters more than accountability: e.g. samples of students r       rather than tests for all : a waste of resources

·         Build from bottom: steer from top

Develop community and families.