"Read this book," writes Tim Smit in the foreword. "It may save lives."
When the creator of the Eden Project is that impressed by an educational
tome, it must be worth a look, despite the rather chunky title.
Well, after a very good look, I’ll go further than Mr Smit. If you work
in nursery or primary education, buy this book, read it, enjoy it and
consult it daily until you’ve regained your professional identity. It’s
aimed at those working with children aged between three and eight, but there
are important issues for teachers of older children too. In a world where
tests, targets and curricular objectives have driven us all into a sort of
collective madness, it will at the very least remind you why you came into
the job in the first place, And if enough of us rally to the cause it
represents, it will save lives.
The authors, established authorities on early childhood education, remind
us of the elemental importance for young children of real experiences and
genuine human interaction. For children whose lives out of school are often
spent largely in front of screens, this essential stage in development is
too often neglected. When they come to school, our cock-eyed educational
system forces us to rush them straight into the manipulation of symbolic
information (reading, writing and numbers). God knows what long-term damage
has already been done by this clash between contemporary culture outside
school and our premature start to formal learning, but for the sake of
coming generations we must redress the educational balance. This book is a
wonderful starting point.
There’s an excellent introduction, explaining the theories that underpin
the approach (theory which is almost daily being affirmed by neuroscientific
research). I particularly liked the definition of the role of the educator
‘to provide the curricular food that will nourish and strengthen children’s
powers… to organise children’s enquiries and experiences so that they are
actively and emotionally engaged… and to value the learning that comes from
these activities, using it to plan children’s next steps.’
I’m sure the many thousands of teachers I meet every year would agree
this approach fits the needs of young children much better than the pursuit
of fixed objectives, an over- academicised curriculum and an inflexible
testing regime, which at present creates not only educational failure but
countless behavioural problems. It’s certainly the message from the
Effective Provision of Preschool Education project, which has found that
‘sustained shared thinking’ between children and informed early years
practitioners is the most significant contributor to later educational
success.
The main body of the book is an alphabet of powerful starting points for
practice, from A is for Apples (grow them, cook them, eat them, investigate
them, look at them in art, consider the "big ideas" they trigger; inner and
outer; parts and wholes; classification; naming; growth; transformation and
so on) to Z is for Zigzag, which sums up the book’s holistic – but
nevertheless highly structured- approach to early learning. It all looks
enormous fun. The alphabet pages are interspersed with "learning stories" –
case studies by practitioners who have trialled the ideas with children –
and the pleasure of reading them is considerably enhanced by their design;
inspired use of colour, typeface and layout, creating instant accessibility.
Altogether a remarkable achievement and I can’t recommend First Hand
Experience enough. However I do have one serious quibble. Nowhere does
the book tackle the vexed question of how, alongside this child –centred
approach, we deal with the teaching of literacy skills. There are many
recommendations for good children’s picture books to share alongside
investigations, but the teaching profession knows from bitter experience in
the 1980s and 90s that literacy skills do not emerge from children’s joyous
immersion in books and stories; they have to be carefully taught. In a TV
–dominated culture where many children are no longer tuned into language
through nursery rhymes and songs, the need for specific teaching of
phonological and phonemic awareness is increasingly necessary. And without
structured help in developing the physical skills that underpin handwriting,
then refining the ability to get letters and words down on paper, many
children (especially boys) are seriously disadvantaged.
Personally, I see no conflict between the authors’ holitic, interactive,
child-centred approach to learning in general, and a systematic, teacher
directed but child –friendly approach to the development of the skills
required for reading and writing. The two approaches can run in parallel, as
early years practitioners are well used to such balancing acts. There’s no
reason to inflict a damaging testing regime on the under-eights, as is
demonstrated in successful European countries such as Sweden, Finland and
Switzerland, where the foundation of literacy skills are carefully laid
during the early years. When formal literacy teaching begins in these
countries ( at seven years old) the vast majority of children learn to read
and write easily and painlessly by the time they’re eight.
This splendid alphabet of first-hand experience is essential if children
are to grow into balanced, creative adults, but our pupils also need to
learn how to use the alphabet themselves to decode and encode information
symbolically. Literacy skills must be taught carefully and systematically
during the first eight years. The fact that the book makes no reference to
this leaves it open to attack or – even worse – to contemptuous dismissal by
the powerful people who have locked us into our current, dangerously
unbalanced, system.
A serious quibble then, but it doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm. I believe
early years teachers are perfectly capable of sorting out the balancing act
themselves, and all primary teachers are now ready for a more creative
approach to their craft. Teachers just need the courage of their convictions
and the justification to get on with it. So please buy this book: it can
change your professional life.
Sue Palmer is an independent literacy consultant and co-author of The
Foundations of literacy (Network Press)
First Hand Experience is dedicated to Annabelle Dixon, who died last
month. (TES Primary Forum, June 10)