Be warned......I'm preparing for a rant. Step away now....it might get ugly.
I have just spent the last two hours writing up reports, backing up with photographic evidence, for six children. These children are not preparing for GCSE's or A-Levels. That, I could perhaps accept more readily. No. The eldest amongst them is just 4 years old, the youngest 2.5 years old.
Two hours of my life, spent amongst my most loathed paperwork, that I'll never make back. And that doesn't even touch on the last 4 weeks of uploading data, and photos, onto a new whizz-bang-wallop computer programme, destined to callibrate every waking minute of the little poppets' lives, into categories such as "Expressive Art & Design" or "Communication & Language". Is it just me, or do they sound like course titles in an Adult Education Evening School brochure?
Please don't misunderstand me. I adore working with children. I love the children in my care. I enjoy the relationship I have with parents. I like and value my colleagues. I JUST DETEST THE PAPERWORK!
I absolutely understand the need to ensure that children are nutured, to grow with their enquiring minds, to feed their natural appetites to learn and experience life. I understand that it helps if notes are made and kept, so that you can support the child as he steps forward on his journey. I just completely disagree that we pigeon hole these precious little ones, pushing and pulling them to fit boxes and tick sheets. And believe me, that's precisely where our pre-school education is leading us.
What happened with getting down alongside the child and simply enjoying shared time together? What happened to allowing the child to lead, while you followed quietly in her footsteps? Perhaps a few Important People in Education Policy Making in Whitehall (who haven't been near an infant in the last 20 years) would do well to read some of Maria Montessori's work....Children haven't changed....Only the way we try and mould them.
There. I think that's pretty much me done now. Sorry! (Sort of!!)
Bet you're glad you popped by!! xx
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