Do kids need a checklist?
Experts say it is better to develop their teachers, writes Claire Keeton
SHOULD children be taught a checklist of basic skills before they go to school, or is this counterproductive? The checklist, proposed in Britain recently, has sparked an outcry about whether such a move will interfere with their natural development.
Michael Wilshaw, a chief inspector in the UK who is lobbying for the national checklist, warned that children from low-income families were “getting an unsure start” and were likely to lag behind their peers.
“The poorest children are less likely to follow instructions, make themselves understood, manage their own basic hygiene or play cooperatively,” he said.
Children at Ikwezi preschool in Lawley, 50km south of Johannesburg, meet most of the 10 requirements on the list. This includes recognising their names, taking off jackets and toilet training.
The singing and stamping of the nearly 100 toddlers and young children cease promptly when their teacher tells them to stop midway through the song If You’re Happy and You Know It. They know how to obey the command.
“Stop” is identified as one of the 10 skills identified as necessary for being school-ready.
Teacher Wendy Mtembele and her husband started the daycare centre for destitute children, orphans and children living with HIV.
“Sometimes they were left unattend- ed or locked up at home when their parents went to find piece jobs,” she said.
Linda Biersteker, an early childhood development researcher for the Early Learning Resources Unit, said: “With the exception of reading a book, the basic self-help skills in this checklist are among those parents usually identify as needed for when children start school in the diverse urban and rural communities where I have worked.
“What is less recognised is the importance of positive self-esteem, a willingness to explore, learning to stay focused on a task, problem-solving ability and memory.”
The idea of shifting child-rearing patterns through a checklist was illogical, said Professor Ursula Hoadley, head of the University of Cape Town’s school of education.
“We should rather focus energy on improving the quality of early education. It is certainly important to develop the skills on the checklist, especially if not developed in the home. But it is equally important that in the first few years we try to inculcate a love of learning, the enjoyment of reading, a wonderment at the world and a fascination with numbers.
“We should concentrate on developing teachers who can do both the social and cognitive development, rather than giving parents checklists.”
Johannesburg preschool teacher Lucy Buhr said children needed early enrichment or faced being at a disadvantage. “They need tools from an early age to perform, and without stimulation they will lag behind in development,” said Buhr, who has run Honeybees for 16 years. “If children’s brains are 80% developed by the time they are five years old, then we need to get those synapse connections going.”
Psychologist Judith Ancer said many school-readiness skills were developed fairly spontaneously by engaged and thoughtful caregivers, parents and nursery school teachers.
But she added: “Children in the toddler ‘warehouses’, which are too often found in poorer communities, are disadvantaged by having unskilled, untrained caregivers and being understimulated . . . so there is some merit in not assuming that all caregivers, teachers and parents know what their children need to know in order to enter and cope with school successfully.”