Educating little ones ......

I think it is the parents who want the labels, not the teachers.

Joseanne

Don't tell me what any child is achieving at 6 years old; tell me at 16 and I'll be impressed.

What a lack of understanding you have about early years and how what is available affects a child's development.

As St Ignatius Loyola said "“Give me a child until he is 7, and I will give you the man.” So what do the Conservatives do? Destroy the very good Sure Start system and underpay those caring for the very young. They just don't care, do they? Not for you, not for me and certainly not for all our futures.

Well, sorry, DaisyAnne, I disagree with St. Ignoramus LaLa. In my opinion, no child should put in a compartment and effectively written off at age 6 or 7 years for whatever reason.
Anyway, I always understood it was the Greek philosopher Aristotle who said that not St. Ignatious Loyola?

None of my grandchildren enjoy school, I wouldn’t say they hate it, but they certainly don’t like it.
I find this really sad, as I enjoyed school, and so did our children.
As far as I can see there’s no catering to the individual child, it’s a one size fits all kind of set up, and for many children that won’t work.
Our youngest will start in September, if they can get her to sit still and stop talking for five minutes, I’ll be amazed, but I’ll hate to see that spirit tamed, I agree with others, give her another year before she’s expected to sit down and learn.

Joseanne

Well, sorry, DaisyAnne, I disagree with St. Ignoramus LaLa. In my opinion, no child should put in a compartment and effectively written off at age 6 or 7 years for whatever reason.
Anyway, I always understood it was the Greek philosopher Aristotle who said that not St. Ignatious Loyola?

Interesting to see how highly you rate your opinion. Which sector of the education world does not believe that early years education has the greatest influence on most people's lives? I would like to read their views.

DaisyAnne that’s why it’s so disappointing when children come to school without the conversational vocabulary that they used to acquire at home, without the social skills they used to acquire before school and without the experience of developing schema that give them building blocks which they can use and apply in new situations.
Early years are the most important, but now the experiences most children had 1-1 or in a small group before starting school are becoming a necessary part of EYFS and the staffing numbers make it difficult to provide the 1-1 or small group necessary. The children who come to school with those skills already developed want and deserve more.

I don't think we are even talking about early years in this thread. The OP and others have been discussing the prescriptive, over focused learning delivered at 6 years old and how this can stifle young children's enjoyment at school. Constant assessments and labels, along with rigid teaching, at that age, Year 1, are not an indication of how successful a child will be 10 years on, and certainly not later in life. I rate a good allround education, not just based on academic achievement, very highly at any age.

Luckygirl3

I think it is the parents who want the labels, not the teachers.

because they want their children to receive the best support. I don;t want to see children who can be educated in mainstream sent away to 'special schools' like when I was a child. I remember one of my friends being 'sent away' because he was hyperactive and would most probably be dx with adhd now. Luckily his parents could afford to privately educate him until he rejoined us all at high school.

I am not against special schools btw it;s just they are there for children who really cannot be educated successfully in mainstream.

Luckygirl3, I totally agree with you. After many years teaching, I despair at the damage our system does (along with the unrealistic expectations of pushy, competitive parents.) I'm amazed that so many kids manage to cope with it all.

Countries with informal learning through play, followed by a later start of formal education, do very well - so why do we persist with our 'traditional' ways? Of course, the 'school day' is a convenient means of babysitting!

(and - by the way) my third child didn't attend nursery or preschool, being perfectly content and happy at home. She started school at five (when required to do so) not needing to 'catch up' or develop her social skills at all, then went on to succeed at everything.

Luckygirl3
I think it is the parents who want the labels, not the teachers.

I see this a lot.
When I began teaching, the attitude I met was that children didn’t have problems until they reached KS2. Everything else was slow development and most children would eventually catch up. I thought it was crazy!
Early diagnosis is great, but some parents see a label, not only as a way to get their child more help, which may or may not be necessary, but as a magic wand which will cure what they see as a problem.
E.g. A parent whose child spent a period related to his justified ‘label’ at a PRU, was irate that his behaviour at home wasn’t magically transformed and loudly slated school and the PRU on FB.