Boys will be boys

I was in Chorley last Friday at the Woodlands Centre talking to literacy co-ordinators about embedding ICT in their plans. While I was there I got to talking to a number of teachers who were there at a conference on Early Years education. During the lunch break I happened to pick up a copy of The Telegraph and there it was ... an article that really said the ... 'boys will be boys' and for heavens sake let them.

The gist of the article was that boys were 'lagging behind' ... well there's new news for you !! But further down there was some real sense:

Sue Palmer, a writer and former headteacher, warned that the gap was evidence many young boys were being failed.

It wasn't that boys were failing it was that they were being failed!

She goes on to say:

This gap is the product of nature, nurture and culture," she said. "The boys are developmentally slightly behind from the beginning. If they don't get the opportunities they need for active engagement in the early years they are going to fall further back. This is precisely what is happening."

She added: "Boys are a little behind from the moment they are born. They need much more play and outdoor activities to develop their physical control and naturally learn by themselves how to sit still. If you have a system, like ours, which starts imposing formal work at such an early age they are going to find it hard.

"Children have to meet these goals, such as learning to write, by the time they are five, which means people will try to get them to hold a pencil and start writing at the age of three or four, which is far too young.

I know that this is not new stuff but it is heartening that it is being aired again. If the 'powers-that-be' were just to take a look at the systems adopted in Scandinavia and think for a minute then children's lives and their education could be so much better.

Things to like and dislike ...

First the 'like' ...

Some 15 odd years ago, when holidaying in the Lake District, we bought a book called 'Rocky Rambler'. The idea of the book was to put navigation in the hands of the young walker and it showed the terrain and the key points from a child's perspective. Using the book children would lead adults around adventurous walks. (A new website is about to be launched based on the book ... exciting!)

Reported in the Times yesterday a continuation of the highly successful idea 'We are what we do' ... this time its 'Teach your Granny to text'.


This idea has a similar theme ... what happens if you ask children and then follow up what they say. Could children really have a guiding part in making the world they are going to live in better?


The whole idea is just wonderful and is the result of a project that could be fabulously extended particularly as the book to go with the idea will be published on October 2nd and will be given to every school in England by the Dcsf(sorry rest of the UK ... you miss out again ... but it will be on sale ... the first print run of 100,000 has already been pre-sold ... possibly to the Dcsf?)

There are some wonderful ideas in the book as well as 'teaching granny to text': 'Walk you dad' is an awesome concept and there is an excellent message to be found in 'Stand up and be counted'.

What with this following in the wake of the 'Real Meals' initiative for Y7 it looks like someone somewhere is giving something some thought ! Hope its joined up!

...and now the dislike ...

News from Manchester (with little detail yet) tells me that Mr Brown will: continue the fightback with the promise of free nursery places for every two-year-old. But I understand that it will take 10 years to implement this and that, at current rates, it will cost £1 billion/year. I have no information as to whether this is a UK or an 'English' thing ... I suspect the latter. I am just concerned that the institutionalisation seems to get younger and younger. And, if it is going to take 10 years to put in place isn't that at least two elections? This, of course come on the back of the information that many child minders are giving up because of the increased interference and bureaucracy conjured up by the implementation of the EYFS agenda. It all might be a difficult circle to square.

Was this really necessary?

Today in England (I always knew that I wanted to be Celtic)the new welfare guidelines including 69 "learning goals" for the under-fives have come into force.

Was it really necessary?

In an educational world where leading countries begin to formalise learning at 7 years why does England feel that it is necessary to stipulate 69 things that the very young.

Reported on the BBC Education site:

In Scotland, what and how children learn in pre-school nurseries is set out in the Curriculum for Excellence which is currently being rolled out. It does not apply to childminders.

In Wales, a new Scandinavian-style Learn through Play nursery and infant curriculum is being introduced for three to seven-year-olsd, which moves away from the more formal classroom based lessons.

It is worth reading this alongside the post about the decline in the number of registered childminders and the comments of some of our leading children's authors.