Worksheets, why they cast a shadow on Early Years?
At The Curiosity Approach, we are transforming Early years practice & pushing back on the Academics & testing of young children.
Worksheets ARE a test. A record of their achievement to see how well they did or didn’t perform.
Our children don’t need this pressurised approach to learning!
Childhoods are being squashed & squeezed. Pushed from above & the satisfaction of an adult agenda, Academics & governmental targets, tests, league tables & will my child write sooner?
These have over time transformed & dominated Early Years, slowly eradicated time to play.
We need children to be FREE from constraints, free to explore & be curious. To investigate this wondrous world they find themselves in!
24 months - 40 months & older, whatever the age?
Let’s together find a new alternative, a new direction.
Shine a light on the importance of PLAY & let Curiosity be the guide 💫⭐️
“It is as true now as it was then that no matter what tests show, very little of what is taught in school is learned, very little of what is learned is remembered, and very little of what is remembered is used.
The things we learn, remember and use, are the things we seek out or meet in the daily, serious, non-school part of our lives.”
― John Holt
Here we provide an alternative to worksheets, where children have the opportunity to be curious and investigate,
To be inquisitive about the natural world, phenomena such as light, shadow, cause and effect!
These are the skills our children require, the intrinsic desire to learn more and quench the thirst for discovery and learning.
Through play, these children are using their whole bodies, developing fine and gross motor skills, worksheets can not compete with that achieved from this play-based opportunity.
The joy enthusiasm and excitement experienced. Collaboration with friends, negotiating ideas and plans. Discussing the outcomes and sharing in the experience. Tell me the last time you witnessed a 'worksheet' achieve such results?
Let us step from beneath the traditional shadows of education and Early Years. The workbooks full of worksheets to complete and gain a star or sticker! Sadly the child's reward is achieved through a well done or gold star. They come to expect a prize for completing a task.
Let us remember a child receives personal satisfaction and reward from empowerment. The experience of doing! An active experience of head HEART and hands.
As Loris Malaguzzi so elequently put it, We must be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children than to the results they achieve. We
must also be fully aware of pressure placed on children and ensuring learning outcomes fit within a learner’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978),
meaning that as professionals we provide tasks that are challenging yet, fun and through quality support, are achievable.
"Creativity becomes more visible when adults try to be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children than to the results they achieve in various
fields of doing and understanding."
Loris Malaguzzi
Sadly ‘WORK’ sheets & WORKbooks serve as a set of instructions. These may include copying, tracing, matching, word searches, circling answers,
colouring, dot to dots!
It’s a selection of questions or activities which children have to ‘WORK’ upon.
However, these are not appropriate for our Early Year's children!
I get why some FEEL, these printed off sheets are beneficial!
Worksheets provide ADULTS with tangible evidence of what children know! A result!
Evidence! WE can see what a child has achieved, its OUR visual record!
But that’s all they are, a SCORE & evidence of what a child knows at that POINT in time
It's time to rethink the use of worksheets, it's all in the name-
‘WORK’ means to toil or labour, a productive or operative activity!
Our Early Years children deserve to spend their time engaged in a process of discovery & learning. Intrinsic motivation to learn for the love of learning.
SAVE paper,
Save adults TIME, printing off reams of this stuff!
Let’s SAVE CHILDHOODS
Let’s get back to deep meaningful PLAY opportunities for our youngest children, where they follow their own learning styles & develop skills at their own pace. JOY, happiness, curiosity, discovery & following own interests. The intrinsic desire to learn.
To LOVE learning,
Let’s not turn them off education before they’ve even begun!
Shine a light of PLAY and stop worksheets casting a shadow over our desire to think, learn and be CURIOUS.
What to learn more about The Curiosity Approach? We share a wealth of inspiration and resources on our
web page www.thecuriosityapproach.com
Are you curious to see how well you are implementing The Curiosity Approach?
Take the quiz here
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