Two new beliefs:-
Retaining every child's self-belief as a learner is infinitely more important than teaching them to read at 5.
A learning through play environment better prepares learners for their future in the 21st Century.
2019 was my first year of immersion in a learning through play environment. I have always used project based learning, experiential learning and language experience approaches with young children. I have always valued learning experiences outside the classroom over those within the four walls.
Working collaboratively with a team on creating a learning environment which can support all our different Äkonga with all their different backgrounds, needs and interests has been an absolute pleasure for me. Never have I worked in a school which is so adaptive to individual and group needs. Our teachers take so much notice of what is happening for our students, and our approach to collaboration allows us to be really responsive and adaptable.
The way that schools are traditionally organised - where one teacher works most of the time in one place with the same group of students (a class) - is simply not able to match a collaborative team in it's ability to cater for more diversity, more skills and more interests.
Again and again I return to the thought that handing over agency for learning to the student is the most powerful action we can take as teachers and leaders in schools. Let the children steer their own course. Accept them as they are, support them, help them to understand themselves, and to communicate with others. Believe in them and work hard to support them in their learning.
Which brings me to reading - the 'holy grail' of teaching (but not of learning). When we teach reading too early, we rob children of their agency and power. If they are good at reading, they come to depend on this method of gathering information, which in reality slows many learners down.
If the child does not enjoy, does not take to, does not 'get' reading straight away; well, there are murmurings. Children understand these murmurings. They are subtle messages telling them that they are not quite as clever as they thought they were, not quite as good at communicating. That they can't be that intelligent because they are not quick to decode text.
What a strange belief for a group of educators.
What I notice is that more and more, our children are gathering information from visual sources and auditory sources. Sources which deliver the information far faster than written text can be deciphered.
I can think of loads of examples of children for whom too much of a teacher led focus on reading and writing has been detrimental to their self-belief and enthusiasm for learning.
Last year I watched and waited for children to show an interest in written literacy. Some did and some didn't. I'm no longer worried about that. I have no doubt that waiting is the right thing to do. It is obvious to me that children flourish when they are allowed to develop at their own pace in a supportive and creative learning environment.
Encouraging true student agency is a guaranteed path to real engagement with learning - the kind of engagement with learning that will mean that our children maintain their self-belief; keep their enthusiasm for learning as well as their interest in their own self-improvement. The kind of engagement with learning that will sustain learners over time as they grow to be the fulfilled 'life long learners' that we are aiming to grow.