Really?!

[Guest]

I just woke up and am having a cup of tea in front of the tv, and BBC news.

 

What do I hear??

 

OFSTED moaning about early years!

More emphasis on structured learning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another OFSTED shake up??

 

Nurseries and childminders are not getting children ready for school?

They are not equipped enough to learn?

Especially maths and language skills?????

 

I have a very big urge to start screaming and wake the whole of the street up!!!

[finleysmaid]

I just woke up and am having a cup of tea in front of the tv, and BBC news.

 

What do I hear??

 

OFSTED moaning about early years!

More emphasis on structured learning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another OFSTED shake up??

 

Nurseries and childminders are not getting children ready for school?

They are not equipped enough to learn?

Especially maths and language skills?????

 

I have a very big urge to start screaming and wake the whole of the street up!!!

OMG ......i'll come and scream with you!

[Jeany]

I can not begin to describe how angry this makes me :angry: , although I will probably try later.

[thumperrabbit]

Yes, Im watching it too :angry:

 

When the 'powers that be' talk about Early Years do they mean school readiness by the end of Reception??

I do wonder if the media jump on it and automatically visit day nurseries and talk about 2 year olds being tested - when actually they mean when they are 5

Or do I have my head in the clouds - which isn't unusual

[Guest]

I'm screaming and crying at the same time! Our poor poor children. If I had young children now, I think I would move heaven and earth to make sure I could be at home with them rather than send them to the type of setting the government and Ofsted seem to want.

[Fredbear]

I know, after going to the Childcare Expo and listening to a speech on Ofsted expectations and criteria for Inspections it certainly emphasises the need for the dreaded sentence" school ready".

For me "school ready" "yuck" should be about having self esteem, language and communication skills and the physical skills needed to embrace a school day.

These are very young children with a sense of wonder, curiosity and a love of can I say it " play" , please please please don't take their childhood away.

[SueJ]

With a sinking heart I too watched this on the TV this morning. For those of us with long enough teeth this is all so depressingly familiar and sounds so very similar to when the DLOs (Desirable Outcomes for Children's Learning) came in oh soooooo many years ago. These coincided with the first Ofsted inspections and I am still scarred from my very first inspection - this resulted in the inspector giving us an improvement target of encouraging children to add and subtract and record double digit sums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have some sympathy for the sentiments that a significant number of children are beginning school with poor language skills as again over the years it has been impossible to miss the decline in children's language learning but there are so many contributing factors outside the early years that have perhaps made this so including prams and buggies that face away from the person pushing them reducing adult child interactions, the rise of the "on the phone" adult too busy on their phones to talk to their little ones, the increasing use of electronic babysitters (ipads, apps, TV etc.) - at one time I considered doing my thesis on the introduction of the shopping mall and the impact on children's language as a significant number of children seem to spend their early lives being pushed around these places whilst their adults engage in shopping frenzies again with no interaction with their little ones

I am beginning to rant and sound like the old fogie my advancing years tell me that I am but I am getting so fed up with the powers that be laying all that is not right with very young children at the doors of early years workers who, despite their poor pay and working conditions, are doing their very best to support the young children that they care for :angry:

And ... it's no good my sitting here ranting - time to go and change the world

[mundia]

I dont think there were any surprises were there, nothing that we haven't heard before, and certainly much of what we said when they upped the ante for maths in the EYFSP. I think Im in danger of becoming immune to that big stick.

I presume this is all around the annual report, referred to in another thread that I now cant find) which I believe is due out today (or out already), lets wait and see what it actually says. And make sure we are sitting down with a cuppa when we do!

[twinthinguk]

i have had a rant on Facebook........all the things she mentioned we all do every day in our practice......and then at the end she mentions the rich vs poor idea.......sigh......we make dam sure our disadvantaged children are given just as much if not more than all our children, but lets face it, they are only with us for 3 hours a day during term time....what goes on at home is out of our control.

[eyfs1966]

Well, i'd love to see where Ofsted think these children could go to school here in central London when all our primaries are already packed to bursting point.

I also fail to see why schools might want 2 year olds given the funding issues....certainly they too will struggle to manage a gradulate led approach on funding for 1;4 ratios...or is this just a back door way of suggesting MS Truss and her ratio rants are being accepted by Ofsted??

[flowlow]

maybe I am a conspiracy theorist but I just wonder sometimes if the real problem is that we are helping our little ones to grow up with a mind of their own and an ability to question. After all if thinking children grow into thinking adults would that not be a little inconvenient for the government. A nation of developing young minds that wouldn't just blindly follow 'orders' but actually question decisions and policy??

Children that are burnt out and demoralised, disaffected with learning and used to the person in authority 'telling' them what to do, say and think...! well when they become adults that will just mean they are easier to 'control'. Or like I said am I just suspicious?

I wont be changing in my setting, if Ofsted don't like it then I guess will have to have that conversation then but I just don't think I have it in me to work in and early years setting like that silly woman and Ofsted seem to think is wonderful. I will go down fighting if I have to but I think all of us in early years believe passionately in what we do otherwise we really wouldn't work in the sector when respect, pay and working conditions are often all against us. Why would any of us want to compromise that passion and belief when faced with moronic policy and opinion. (sorry but I feel it is bordering on the moronic )

I look at the light in the eyes of every child in my setting, the sense of wonder and laughter and fun I see every day. That is precious and to think they want to extinguish that just makes me furious.

At the risk of having a Freud like moment maybe we should sit good old Liz down and ask her about her own childhood because I can only imagine it involved no play and she is scarred or something!!! as for Ofsted well just don't get me started I still finding it so interesting that countries that do not have them and who run their education system around all the concepts that Ofsted reject are outstripping our children when it comes to those positive outcomes they like to bandy around. Yet do the mention this? no of course not they mention France who actually if my memory serves also showed early years educators that were as disaffected with the system as the children, claimed it boring and uninspiring and desperately wanted what we had!!!

You know I do want to say to the government please don't take their childhood away, but I also think well they need us to do it. If as educators and parents, aunts and uncles we stick together and band together it can't happen because we wont let it!

Edited April 3, 2014 by Johanna1

[Guest Spiral]

Lesson one, month one of gestation...learn the three times table, and a few phonics so you can prove to OFSTED that education before birth is now necessary too!!!

 

Lesson one, month one for practitioners.....respond to OFSTED accordingly or change careers because its so painful to see their expectations of practice being raised without financial/training/emotional support!

[eyfs1966]

Looks like the nursery world spoof for April 1st was not to far from the truth!!

[mundia]

Well here it is folks, said report. Its quite a lengthy read, so I skipped to pages 30/31 for the recommendations first.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/earlyyearsannualreport1213

 

Happy reading/debating!

[Jeany]

i have had a rant on Facebook........all the things she mentioned we all do every day in our practice......and then at the end she mentions the rich vs poor idea.......sigh......we make dam sure our disadvantaged children are given just as much if not more than all our children, but lets face it, they are only with us for 3 hours a day during term time....what goes on at home is out of our contro

Exacty what we have been saying. Whatever we do for 3 hours a day 38 weeks of the year will never be enough for some of our children.

[sunnyday]

Drip.......drip......drip ...... until everyone begins to believe that the highly qualified, dedicated, experienced PVI workforce are unable to deliver the best of pre-school experience......

Drip......drip......drip......light-bulb moment - oh of course the place for all children to be is at school from the age of two....

[Melba]

It says in the document Mundia has linked that 78% of early years settings are good or outstanding.

I would be interested to know what the statistics are for schools because the two close to us are both needs improvement.

That makes it a bit tricky for me to see us an inferior choice for 2 year olds.

[sunnyday]

Early Years Annual Report 1213 - Unsure start - HMCI speech.doc

I rest my case.........

(Did he really say 'chattering classes')

[mundia]

Ok I have now read a little more, but a couple of the recommendations are quite worrying, to me anyway. However, they are recommendations!

This one:

There should be a direct read across from the forthcoming integrated two-year-old check to the new baseline assessment so that it is obvious at the age of two if a child is or is not on track to be ready for school.
(think we were expecting something of that nature)

This one

The school inspection framework should take account of the quality of education from age two in the first instance, extending this to birth at the earliest opportunity and thereby eliminating the
requirement for separate registration, regulation and inspection for this younger age group.

I really did have to read it to check it actually said from birth...

 

There are others, that may make other members jump up and down more, do share the ones you are most concerned about!

 

[trekker]

Yes mad me mad too - completely agree with the issue of parents simply not talking and singing to children because of obsessions with phones, ipads etc...seen it over and over again - there's even an advert on TV with a baby on fathers lap while dad checks facebook and no one bats an eye - just so sad!

They don't take into account I suppose the fact that many 2 yr olds (especially the more vulnerable ones) are only in nursery or preschool a couple days a week or even half days...they are with parents for the majority of the time (unless full time at nursery of course)....so why all the blame on us!!!!

When they go to school they are in school for more of their waking hours than at home - so is this what they want? - implying that parents aren't up to scratch either and they want to, in effect, take twos away from their parents to start school ever earlier so the 'proffessionals' can do the job of raising them.

This will just lead to even less talking with their children of course - bring them home, do homework (no doubt!) then put them to bed!

[finleysmaid]

if you really want to scream you might like to read this (but remember journalists don't always tell the truth!)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26853447

[MegaMum]

OK....so when are we going to say enough? We all just sit by and take every change, adapt to every hoop they make us jump through, accept the poor pay and all the extra hours we work for nothing. So who are the mugs?

Perhaps we should have a few strikes too along with the teachers?? Anyone dare?

[sunnyday]

 

Perhaps we should have a few strikes too along with the teachers?? Anyone dare?

She who dares wins?! :1b

[Guest]

I quote from Sir Michael Wilshaw's speech today:

’although the new pupil premium funding for three- and four-year-olds is welcome, I urge the government to direct this funding to school-led provision.’

‘I believe that the best way of ensuring that the most disadvantaged children are ready for school is to put schools in the driving seat'.

His main reason for wanting schools to be 'in the driving seat' seems to be that parents in disadvantaged areas know where the school is!

 

I am reassured though to find that the rumoured 2 year old tests refer to the integrated health checks but am off to find the blood pressure tablets!

[green hippo]

I am in a school Nursery but very much support Pre-schools and think you all do just as good a job as we do in schools. I wouldn't welcome having 2 years olds in my setting as we simply wouldn't be able to provide for them effectively without a lot of changes to the provision which I know we wouldn't get the money to do. I wish it was less of a competition between Pre-schools and School Nurseries - in the end of the day we are all working from the same document!

I think that the government should be putting more into supporting parents and teaching parenting not like said above - taking children off the bad parents for 3 hours a day to 'solve' all our problems.

There has been a lot of research about how children do better with more parent support right from EYFS to KS4 and beyond - Nurseries, Pre-schools and Schools can do lots to help but we cannot be the children's parents.

Let's all try to do what we believe in and what is right for the children that we teach and care for.

I have 2 young children (3.5. and 7) and worry about their journey through school. They have both had great starts in the Early Years but I'm not sure what their future will hold. They go to a lovely school with great teachers but every school will eventually have to comply with the big O.

Green Hippo x

[Guest]

Thank you Green Hippo for your comments about pre-schools. I see pre-schools and schools in my work and have found excellent practice in nearly all whichever sector - and the few I don't consider to be good are spread over both too.

[Stargrower]

The whole thing just makes me feel undervalued, fed up, sad and tired. When will this 'nursery bashing' ever end? We work so hard and just get told over and over we're not good enough and even that we're damaging children's chances in life. At the moment, I really can't remember why I choose to do this job.

[Guest]

I quote from Sir Michael Wilshaw's speech today:

’although the new pupil premium funding for three- and four-year-olds is welcome, I urge the government to direct this funding to school-led provision.’

‘I believe that the best way of ensuring that the most disadvantaged children are ready for school is to put schools in the driving seat'.

His main reason for wanting schools to be 'in the driving seat' seems to be that parents in disadvantaged areas know where the school is!

 

I am reassured though to find that the rumoured 2 year old tests refer to the integrated health checks but am off to find the blood pressure tablets!

 

This is the part that makes me the angriest. It's the whole idea that pre schools and daycare settings don't prepare them for school, so they should all be pushed into school from an early age to ensure they're ready.

 

Wilshire is a class A plank.

[Rea]

Firstly, saying children are leaving nursery unprepared for school, seems to miss the point that reception isn't officially school! Early years are blamed but they're in school more hours than preschools usually.

Secondly, our committee today stated quite firmly that our setting is no place for a 2year old when they would be mixing with nearly 5 year olds. They were horrified at the thought.

[finleysmaid]

Secondly, our committee today stated quite firmly that our setting is no place for a 2year old when they would be mixing with nearly 5 year olds. They were horrified at the thought.

interesting...do none of them have 2 and 5 year olds at home then?

sorry being a bit inflammatory there! I don't really have an issue with mixing age groups but the provision HAS to be right for the child. The emphasis is on learning....but what about care?

If we are to put our children in school settings at such a young age there needs to be a huge shift of culture (and that's difficult to plan for!)

School classrooms need to start looking like homes....they need soft lighting/carpeted floors/calm atmospheres/somewhere quiet to sleep and LOTS of loving caring people who are going to give cuddles when they are needed/talk softly and embrace these little ones for who and what they are. The emphasis should be on the care of these little people and their parents not the education of them. Education will not happen until they are settled and happy and comfortable (and i mean children AND parents)

would i as a mother of two been happy to send them in to a school with 300 others...would i feel happy to have left them for three hours in a classroom ....would i have been happy with them having to do things at the same time as all the rest of the class....no thanks!

is this the solution to the governments problem?

They want under achieving families (and i object to the assumption that poor families are stupid quite frankly) to achieve and thrive because it will cost them money to support them through benefits and pensions...taking their 2 year olds away from them for 3 hours a day is not going to achieve this goal...so why plough in a huge amount of money in to a system that can only fail our needy families when it could be put to much more targeted and effective use?