PREP isn’t the time for assessment, that’s not what it is about. It’s about preparing children for school.
“Dear Miss Hind,
As you know, because my fine motor skills and pencil grip are not quite tippity-top yet, although thanks to you I am well on my way, my mum is writing this to you to tell you what you have done for me this year.
You have made me curious – I will never be afraid to ask when I don’t know.
You have made me try harder – where I once gave up, you have taught me to push on.
You have made me stronger – I trust my body to take me where it needs to go.
You have made me braver – when my heart is thudding you have made it sing.
But most of all you have made me happy, and I (and my mum) love you for that.”
THIS is a copy of the end-of-year Christmas card my son gave his Prep teacher, Fran Hind, last year.
She kept it, because that’s what teachers like her do, they keep all the keepsakes from the children they have taught over the years, in spite of overflowing cupboards and families who tell them to “get rid of this junk”.
I have reproduced it here today, with Fran’s permission – and with much scrounging about her cupboard to find it – because I felt it was timely to share what it said about Prep, or more importantly, what it didn’t say.
It didn’t say “thanks for improving my grade point spelling average”.
It didn’t say “thanks for helping me get an A in numeracy”.
It didn’t mention any sort of assessment at all. Because that’s not what Prep is about.
It’s about preparing children for school, about getting them used to the idea of spending the next 12 or so years of their young lives within its walls.
It’s about teaching them where the tuckshop is, how to get to the toilet, who to ask if you’re in trouble, how to share, how to sit in a seat quietly even though your whole body feels like a jumping bean.
Prep teachers like Fran Hind – and there are many – help kids who don’t know how to ask “can I play?”, they quietly tell them “I know you can do it” when they think they can’t, and when school, the bells, the kids, the noise, and the fact that someone else got to the Leggo box before them becomes all too much, they say “how about we go and choose a book from reading corner together?”
Along the way, the children are learning all sorts of things, drinking in knowledge, almost as if by osmosis.
They didn’t need structured lessons to do it and they certainly didn’t need to be assessed on their ability to do so.
The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is currently drafting its national curriculum, to be delivered in all schools across Australia. One of its proposals is that “achievement standards will be introduced to the Prep Year”.
How utterly unnecessary.
A child of four or five can undergo transformations in the space of a few weeks of which a caterpillar turning into a butterfly would be proud.
One mother I know is thrilled – and just a little shocked – at her daughter, Marnie, who is reading Year 3 books in her Year 1 classroom.
At Prep, the little girl had trouble reading her own name.
I wonder what would have happened if Marnie had been given a D for reading back in Prep?
Would her Year 1 teacher have seen that mark, slotted her into the bottom reading group and never stretched her wings?
ACARA says some Queensland parents want the grading system introduced here, as it already has been in Victoria.
Well, maybe Victoria should come in line with Queensland.
Maybe someone from the Victorian Education Department should come up here and have a look at our Prep classrooms and see all our little caterpillars who are about to turn into butterflies.
from http://www.couriermail.com.au
Very thought-provoking, and full of good sense, and true kindness towards children. Allowing children to blossom in their won time and in their own way is vital.
Wonderful! Having seen all my three kids through the school system, I know how important those early years are for playing and socialising and getting to know yous. There is no place for academic pressure.
All three of my kids went at their own speed. If they’d been pushed and assessed and therefore streamed, heaven knows what would have happened to them, especially the boys.
On my way to work, I drive past a private business that proclaims itself The S — Early Learning Centre, and it makes me see red. Parents would be better letting their littlies play than forcing the poor little sods to do geometry and read Voltaire.
Ah, the memory of the argument I had when I pointed out that I didn’t think my infant school age child needed to know how to spell “restaurant”. LOL
Thank you, as always, for your all too rare common sense.
What?!
You mean you Banana Benders don’t make your babies chant their times tables and compete in spelling bee comps before the age of 12 months?!
Ridiculous!
Next you’ll tell the Victorian Ed Dept that kids should be happy, comfortable and enjoy the whole learning experience.
Preposterous!
*All of the above was said with tongue firmly lodged in cheek*
You know this is a huge soap box issue for me! My mother has become increasingly disappointed that prep and Kindergarteners here are not allowed to do the things that are essential to building a good foundation for later learning: measuring, free play, sand and water tables, painting, etc. Too much time is spent drilling, memorizing etc.
As the parent of a son who struggled to read early, but is now not one, but TWO grade levels ahead in reading, I know that the developmental gap at that age is too broad for assessment. A couple of months difference in birthdays means huge differences in abilities at a younger age. As our pediatrician told us when we decided to do half-day prep for the boy instead of full day, “He will be in school for the next decade and a half, ease him into it.”
I read that in the paper on the weekend and thought…hooray…someone is actually saying what I’m thinking! I’m so sick of reading the self-righteous, assessment-driven dribble that appears in our newspapers and out of the mouths of our politicians who DO NOT work at the coal face and have very very little idea of what the day-to-day runnings of a classroom involves! There is certainly a place for good assessment when it informs planning and guides us to help children. When it becomes the main tool used to make comparisons between schools and scare little children into being driven to perform rather than enjoying learning and being kids…..well, I just shake my head and wonder what ‘the system’ is coming to!
(Getting off my soapbox now!!!) :)
You took the words right out of my mouth… something bigger is going on here. And our kids (MY prep kid to be specific) is being pushed too soon. We are lucky to have a teacher with some common sense… not everyone is able to push the boundaries though. I feel for teachers who feel they have to meet ludicrous guidelines set by people behind desks a long, long way from the classroom. (Seems I have a soapbox too!)
:-)
BB
Bravo! I think assessment is overated.
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So true!
Funny, I chose not to have my kids participate in Montessorri here for this very reason. As much as I have resisted academicizing the younger years, I suspect I’ll be introducing Kumon to my K in Gr 2 to supplement mathematical learning. She’ll be starting into fractions soon & it is actually more about disciplining myself to help her learn her math than about her. (Frankly, this is also about school-proofing my kid ~ where there’s so much attention to other stuff than learning the 3Rs.) I’d be curious about your reaction to my comments to provide another hemisphere’s perspective!
Does prep= kindy.. ?
Being multi-state educated, I keep forgetting which is which – I thought you were the same as NSW, which means the words are all mixed? I think you switch prep with kindy and vice-versa.
?
Brava Rhu.