National curriculum for babies and toddlers?

[weesaidie]

here

Any views?

A women on breakfast news said they are only teaching what you would probably teach them yourself were you at home?

Or should they just be allowed to play?

Am leaning towards the latter I must say.

Assessment before starting school isn't a new thing - happened to me when I was four. My mother still burns with indignation because when the man asked 'how many fingers do you have' she could see me thinking about whether he was including thumbs or not. When I said 'eight' he marked me down and she was very teed off. I'm 36 now and the memory still rankles with her!

Surely there is enough fanatic emphasis on learning and curriculum goals in school age already... a curriculum for babies... madness indeed. let them play while they can... also, playing is a very important thing for babies isn't it? they learn so much through that alone... why is the government so obsessed with pushing children so much?

My eldest btw was walking at ten months, talking by one, amazing all the childminders.... and has Aspergers.

He would have passed everything in the curriculum though.

Caligula - I loved what you said about all the unnecessary writing that may be required. I've already had a good moan about it on the childminders thread, because this is exactly what it is going to entail. We won't have the luxury of uninterrupted "writing time" that I assume a nursery has.

To copy what I posted on it already - we've all got to do more planning, write down said plans, make observations of children, do more writing based on observations, so that we can do more planning for the next stage of development ... and on it goes. We've obviously got lots of time to do this. Ha ha. But don't worry, because I'm sure I'll be able to play with the children in my care all at the same time ...

My pre-school has introduced this from Sept 2005. I work with the under 3's and have so many observations to carry out now compared to last year which is time I could be spending interacting with the children. The problem is alot of child care workers are not necessarily confident with paperwork and some of my colleagues are really stressing. With poor pay and extra paperwork the job is becoming less rewarding.

One thing I was thinking about - Jimjams among others has (I think I remember this rightly) often said that the CHAT test should be routinely done at 18 months to pick up children who may be showing red flags for autism/apergers. My experience of the nursery curriculum/observation is not that they 'expect' a child to achieve something, but record what they do achieve, to give other care workers a more accurate picture. I'm sure this is a good thing - has helped the transition from nursery/playgroup to school with ds. His entry assessment into reception was pretty well spot on - one or two things he could do were missed, but generally really good observations.

If more observation/assessment means potential problems get picked up earlier then I'm all for it. A friend whose son has autism would have benefited so much from it being detected earlier - as it was, it was a real scramble to get a diagnosis and funding before starting school - needed the funding for a full time care assistant, and there is NO way he would have managed without, but she had less than 6 months to do it in, because the initial referral from HV came at age 3 instead of 18 months when something like the CHAT test could well have flagged him up. (I know not all children can be diagnosed at this age, but retrospectively he was showing classic autism traits, and had these been picked up I'm sure a diagnosis would have been quicker).

Tortoiseshell - as a childminder, I wouldn't want that sort of responsibility! No matter how many courses I've been on, I do not tout myself as an expert.

Oh, What a Busy Day!

Oh, what a busy day!
I've been playing with the playdough,
And with a little help,
On a card I've learned to sew.
I've helped my friend 'Nurse Sarah',
To perform an operation,
Then fixed the track together,
And built a little station.
I popped inside the home corner,
To make a cup of tea,
And stood beside the cooker,
Making lunch for 23.
I completed 3 whole jigsaws,
And played a brand new game,
And had a ride on all the bikes,
The slide and climbing frame.
I handed round the snack,
Right at morning snack time,
Then listened to a story,
And sang some Nursery Rhymes.
But now the day is over,
And the adults are all waiting,
I hope my carer doesn't say,
"I wish you'd done a painting!!!"

I work with 3-4 year olds at an International school and have a 2 and half year old. Previous to my current job as a nursery teacher, I worked at a British private school. My current school's philosophy is that social and communication skills are paramount before any academics as social skills really do lay down the foundation for learning. I definately would prefer this approach to my ds's education as without social and communication skills, academic learning suffers. In Sweden, where kids start formal education at 7, recent research shows that by the age of 11, Swedish kids overtake other European kids in all academics. That should ring a few bells.

Sadly, there is so much pressure on kids today to meet benchmarks for so many things. Young kids need purposeful play activities that stimulate their imagination; that awake their curiosity; that encourage their desire for purposeful learning. Sorry to rant. I think it's ridiculous.
Maybe in the future pregnant wowen will also have a womb curriculum that sonographers will test when scanning!!!!

shimmers you make complete sense. wish you were the education minister

Caligula - I have parents evening at my dds nursery next week. I wasn't looking forward to it but now I am really ot looking forward to it!

However at least there will be 'wine and nibbles.'

Ah ice-breakers. The least they can offer you is a fortifying glass of booze if they're going to exchange inanities with you for 10 minutes.

Yes, before the video of the 'children at play...' oh, the excitment!

Interesting post, shimmers. It's the sort of thing that makes me believe that parents and carers ar far better qualified to choose what is right for their child than the government.

I had never heard that about social skills setting the foundation for the rest. I'd be interested to know more.

Just read this on one of the other forum's I subscribe to:

Lack of play time stunting development

Children are being denied the chance to develop at school through imaginative play because they spend so much time learning to read and write, according to Government-funded research from the University of Plymouth. The study, published by the Economic and Social Research Council, said role play games, such as pretending to be doctors, police or astronauts, are edged out of infant classes in favour of formal education, despite being vital to help children learn how to make friends and develop their imagination.
Dr Ute Navidi, director of London Play, welcomed the report. She said: "This new research confirms what play workers already know - that we tend to put our very young children into quite strict environments far too early.

"Other countries such as Germany and Sweden will wait until they are six or seven years old before embarking on formal schooling, which requires children to sit down quietly and to have acquired some basic social skills."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, that should have read 'forums'!

I really don't think anywhere in the proposals are for children NOT to play - it's more about teaching them THROUGH play. WHich tbh is what we all do anyway I think.