Category Archives: Contemporary issues

Upstart Campaign- Introducing Kindergarten to Scotland

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upstart logo

During last semester a few different lecturers mentioned that of the Nordic school model where children start school later (around 7) and catch up very quickly and even overtake those who started school earlier by the time they reach eleven or so. This was something I wanted to look into further but never got round to doing.

Last night I attended the Upstart Scotland Campaign debate organised by Brenda Keatch in the Dalhousie Building at the University of Dundee. There was fantastic turn out with a host of different people from different professions there including student teachers, lecturers, health visitors, child minders and parents. Brenda said that she had originally anticipated around 40 people attending yet there were over three hundred tickets requested so the event location had to be changed three times! This did just show how interested people are in hearing more and supporting this campaign.

So what is Upstart Scotland?

“Upstart Scotland is campaigning to have the principles of our Curriculum for Excellence transformed into practice by introducing a kindergarten stage for three-to-seven year-olds based on the Nordic model. This is influenced by research that indicates there is no educational advantage to an early start to formal education and that this may in fact causes social, emotional and mental health problems for many children. The emphasis of a kindergarten stage is to provide children with opportunities to play (with a strong emphasis on outdoor play)”.

I really value the power and significance of play as it stimulates qualities such as social, cognitive and personal qualities including communication, problem solving and self-regulation. All of these especially self-regulation make the difference for teachers dealing with behaviour issues. It makes sense to think that a 4 or 5 year old who does not have the ability to “learn” how to read or write will be unable to self-regulate their emotions which will have a knock on effect to confidence, self-esteem etc.

However, a friend and I had the discussion that what everyone else who has started school at the age of 4 or 5 who are all successful curious adults? … Technology. Technology has transformed everyone’s lives enormously and especially in play. This was a huge talking point in last night’s debate and unfortunately, play for some children mostly includes sedentary TV screens and tablets. Children are not getting the chance to experience play in the way that once was. The rate at which technology is developing is not going to slow or change but the fact is that humans are not developing at the same unprecedented rate is a problem.

The evidence is so clear and I agree that the Nordic model is better than ours. Finland is the near highest achieving country in both education and childhood well-being. The statistics (which unfortunately I don’t have where they are from as I just noted them down) are of school starting ages around the world:

  • 4/5 year olds – 12%
  • 6 year old – 66%
  • 7 year olds – 22%

Delaying children starting to school would cause outrage for some people. Key speaker from last night, Dr Suzanne Zeedyk said that people are suspicious of play and think children are not learning from playing – that they are having fun. They could not be more wrong. They are building on the foundations for the future such as friendships, being inquisitive, imaginative and finding a sense of self.

There was also an emphasis of trying to slow down children’s childhoods. Life expectancy is getting longer and yet childhood is getting shorter. The word “tween” has been added to the dictionary to describe a child aged between 9-12 who is “no longer a little child, but not quite a teenager”. This has already been done and it won’t change so therefore I feel attitudes need to change to play.

I don’t believe the school age is something that will be raised any time soon in Scotland but creating awareness of the importance of play and outdoor play and the qualities that children learn through this is completely necessary for them to be able to learn effectively in school. Effective learning is what is most important and is what will ultimately bridge the attainment gap.

I realise I do sound like a walking, talking (blogging) advert for Upstart but I really feel quite passionate about it. There will be plenty scepticism about Upstart but as was discussed last night, once upon a time not all children went to school, females didn’t go to university, there were physical punishments as a norm in school so hopefully one day starting school at a later age will be a norm too. Upstart is a vision and a national movement and its purpose is to change the ethos of education.

I would urge you to have a look at the website and associated articles and please give me your thoughts.  I look forward to hearing more about just how Upstart hope to bring about this change.

Upstart – The best start for Scotland’s Children

 

Professional Attributes

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Integrity and conscience I think are the most important and have shared meaning. Professional integrity means having strong moral principles in the job you do and you want to do the best you can for yourself and for your students. Not only do we need to meet the standards within the GTCS, we need to maintain them through continued professional development in our careers.

Compassion, empathy, kindness, justice, fairness, patience, self-control and moral courage I feel all come under the same category as they all have similar meaning. All of the terms are subjective and can be hard to define by different people e.g. pupils, parents and colleagues. For example, teachers need to be open-minded and patient to allow equal opportunities for students to speak. We need to be concerned about all of our students and be empathetic to their emotions or feelings and also morally courageous to act on something if we feel that child is at risk. A just attitude, a fairness in rewards and punishments are just as important; we have all been through school before and know how unfair things can be. A “that’s just life” approach is not acceptable in the classroom.

All qualities are essential because we as educators need to adapt to the ever changing daily environment. I believe integrity is the most important as it comes in to question if we are not passionate and proactively striving to improve ourselves professionally – we can’t rely on experience alone.

Balancing personal and professional presence on social media

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What challenges/opportunities may you be faced with when marrying the personal vs professional presence on social media?

The main challenge is finding a balance on social media presence between my personal and professional life. I have been debating whether I should use separate accounts for social media. The platforms that I use frequently, I rarely post comments or information and use it more as a photo sharing tool. I confess that I am more of a social media ‘ghost’ who floats around observing what people are doing but not acknowledging what they are doing! I actually think that is called Facebook stalking! All of my settings are private so that only my friends can see what I post and I will not be tagged in something until I accept it. This allows me to monitor what I do and don’t want the outside world to see. The more you share the more vulnerable you are. Someone, no matter what you say, what you do, what picture you post, will scrutinise you. We need to be careful how we present ourselves to the outside world. So based on this I don’t see fit to separate my personal and professional social media accounts.

The GTCS has specific guidelines regarding appropriate use of social media. Social media is a valuable tool but as perspective teachers, we should never use it to put ourselves at a disadvantage. Timing on social media is everything. Posting something without considerable thought can lead to massive implications that are very easily preventable. As prospective teachers, not only are we representing ourselves but all teachers. How many times have you stereotyped a profession based on one person? Once a teacher has compromised their professional integrity, their reputation, as well as the school they work in, may forever be remembered.

How are the challenges/opportunities afforded by social media framed? How will you frame things – positive of deficit viewpoint?

I will frame social media in a positive way in my classroom. The story Derek shared with us about his daughter was a real eye opener. The innocence of children unfortunately is getting shorter and shorter and I am troubled that children are exposed to things at such a young age. However, the sites and resources that are available for teachers are brilliant and I think we need to utilise and embrace them. The GTCS website encourages social media as a way to deliver the curriculum in innovative and exciting ways. In order to do with we first need to use websites such as NCPCC and Share Aware to demonstrate safety in the online world; proactively teaching children how to use it positively and safely.

Social Mobility

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Polly Toynbee’s Guardian article discussing social mobility brings a lot of debate. We are meant to live in an open and meritocratic society so in theory anyone should be able to change their social standing. We have an education system that is fair to all but there are hidden barriers to stop people becoming part of some classes.

Polly suggests an upward surge, post war change of social class from working class to middle class jobs. However, previous to this and over the last 100 years, mass deindustrialisation has changed class structure greatly. During deindustrialisation, popularised money lending allowed working and middle classes a means to owning their own homes where as previously only the upper classes were wealthy enough to own properties etc.

Class has changed so much and modernised objective measurements of class, defined through occupation and income are measured through NS-SEC and the Great British Class Survey. Resulting from the lateral test, I am from the ’emergent service workers’. Reasoning given for this is that I am young, enjoy a cultured social life and rent my home. I don’t believe that social class is or isn’t fading as Polly suggests but that for some, social class is too subjective and people’s perceptions are ever changing. I know (and hope) that in 5 years time if I take the Great British Class survey again I would be categorised to a different class due to changes in my life.