Readiness for learning – what is it and can we improve it?

1. Readiness for learning – what is it and can we improve it? Dr Christine Stephen Stirling Institute of Education christine.stephen@stir.ac.uk

2. Children are already learning

3. Children are already learning • Young children come to early years settings as active, experienced learners with a natural curiosity. (Curriculum framework for children 3-5, 1999) • Most children enter primary school as enthusiastic and independent learners . . . bring a range of skills . . . eager for new learning. (CfE Building the Curriculum 2, 2007) • [They have an] appetite and zest for learning . . . Love of challenge and practical activities. (Rose Report, 2009) • Children are very competent and capable learners – given the right linguistic and social environment. (Cambridge Primary Review, 2009)

5. But circumstances make a difference • Inequalities in intellectual and personal development as young as 22 months – and the gap gets bigger by 10 years of age. Low SES children are less likely to have high early scores and even if they do they are more likely to lose this early advantage. (Feinstein, 2003) • Children from more disadvantaged backgrounds: have lower ability scores at 22 months & experience a smaller range of activities. The range and extent of activities that children experience is associated with cognitive ability levels when socio-demographic factors are controlled for. (Growing Up In Scotland, 2009)

6. Conceptualising readiness to learn • Need to disentangle or challenge • Questions about what children are learning and where they learn • Expectations about what it is most useful to learn • What is measured as learning • Ways of supporting valued learning • Ideas about ‘critical periods’ and ‘critical experiences’

7. Readiness for School – disputed idea • From research in USA • No two states define and test for readiness in same way • Readiness testing has very limited predictive validity • No consistent results about benefits of deferring entry • Readiness limited by risk factors e.g. poverty, parents’ educational level, children’s health, neighbourhood circumstances

8. What does a ready child look like?

9. A ready school? • Expects diversity • In cognitive development, literacy and numeracy skills • In social development &maturity in relationships • In home cultures and expectations about school • Aims to start where children are • Builds on existing ‘funds of knowledge’ • Clusters and differentiates • Adopts pedagogical approaches that meet individual needs

10. Active learning offers . . . • Children will be busy – no-one sitting stuck or dejected • It is easier to get [the children] to engage because they aren’t doing tasks they can’t manage. • This morning Robert - the ‘poorest’ child in the class with erratic attendance and no support with reading at home - surprised me when we were talking about strategies to help with reading by remembering that we can use rhyme to help. • Jamie did not go to the school nursery. I had concluded that he was just not ready for the discipline of school (sitting and listening don’t suit him) – he was one of the younger ones to start school. But on ‘no desk day’ (when we do everything on the floor or through games) for the first time not once did I have to say to him ‘eyes on me’, or ‘listen’ because that was his style of learning. It suited him to a T! (Stephen, Ellis & Martlew, 2009)

11. Preschool makes a difference • Cumulating evidence in USA that well-designed preschool programmes produce long-term success in higher attainment at school, less grade repetition &, in some cases, reduced delinquency and crime. (E.g. Barnett, 2008) • In England – ‘preschool can play an important part in combating social exclusion . . . By offering disadvantaged children, in particular, a better start to primary school.’ • Attending higher quality preschool is related to better intellectual and social-behavioural development at the beginning of primary school and the effects continue to be seen in children’s maths & reading scores at age 10. • Attending preschool reduces children’s risk of developing learning difficulties • Attending a good quality preschool reduces rather than removes the effect of early social disadvantage (EPPE team publications 2004 onwards)

12. Preschool supports readiness to learn - through more than ‘just playing’ . . . • Mixing with other children and adults seems to foster language development • Developing phonological skills supports reading • Increasing vocabulary supports reading • Developing narrative skills gives a tool for thinking • Supported exposure to cognitive challenge, exploration & problem-solving deepens understanding and develops generalised logico-mathematical or scientific thinking • Help to develop self-regulation and understanding of rules, along with awareness of feelings enhances social development and successful interactions with others.

13. Home Matters • What parents do with their children in the early years matters more than their educational qualifications or type of employment • activities such as reading, teaching songs & rhymes, playing with and teaching about letters and numbers, going to the library, going on trips and opportunities to play with other children are related to higher cognitive and social development at the beginning of preschool and still make a difference (though less strongly) at the beginning of primary school. • at age 10 mother’s educational qualifications has a stronger effect, particularly on reading; father’s qualification has stronger effect on mathematics attainment. (EPPE team publications 2004 onwards)

14. Help for learning at home • Attending an early intervention programme aimed at parents of young children can • Enhance parent-child interactions/relationships • Improve the quality of the care-giving environment • Enhance progress on measures of vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter identification, understanding books and print – all of which are associated with reading readiness • Be more influential from birth to 3 years old rather than 3-5 years . (Evangelou, Brooks & Smith, 2007) • The more regular the family routines the more likely parents were to engage in literacy enhancing activities and the better children’s print knowledge & interest in reading. (Weigel, Martin & Bennett, 2010) • Home-based interventions most strongly associated with success in improving school readiness – but research methods may not be sensitive enough and limit ability to generalise. (Manz et al, 2010)

15. Children’s Perspectives • Distinct, individual preferences • Expectations about what is ‘normal’ • Easy! Because he can do it . . . At his age he is able to do that (Kenneth, referring to remote control car) • Evaluate their own competencies • I die on that one, its rubbish, too hard (Freddie referring to a Toy Story game – he went on to say that he was good at the Pokemon game which he can do himself) • See parents as an important source of help • [He] could pick it up quickly with [his] mum’s help . . . showing him how to switch it on, click on his name on the icon then click on the Internet (Angus, referring to computer use) • Have ideas about how to make schools more ready for children • They should try to find out what the children like and try to form a lesson around that . . If you get to be part of what you are learning you will understand more (S1 Girl) • Think they learn in and out of school • I think you are supposed to learn more in school but you dinae really’ (S1 Boy)

16. Child, families, neighbourhoods – multilevel needs • Getting Eric ready to learn • His neighbourhood • His family • Eric

17. What do you need to get the most out of educational settings? • Specific knowledge & skills • For instance, vocabulary and phonetic skills associated with reading success • Developed social and emotional skills and understanding • For instance, co-operating with others, self-regulation, sensitivity to social expectations • Personal well-being and positive learning dispositions • For instance, confidence, positive learner identity, persistence, independence • Inclusive educational settings and practitioners and preschools and schools ready for you