Tectonic pressure...

From an interesting conversation:

We are experiencing downward pressure on early childhood education services to adapt more to the needs of compulsory education, IE, children are able to read and write before they begin school; children are able to sit quietly and listen to a teacher for long periods; children able sufficiently subservient to relinquish their power to teachers.

What's scary is that these ideas are acceptable to some ECE teachers despite the fact that they go against all theories of learning and set back notions of the empowered child living in the here and now as active learners by several decades: once again, children are empty vessels to be filled with 'our' knowledge and moulded as we see fit...

Let me talk you through this cascade of reality:

Parents are increasingly under economic stress ....   this translates into fear over their children's opportunities in life....  this feeds a perceived need for changing education providers so they focuses on 'academic' success as this is obviously the only option ....   this consumer demand prompts education providers to tinker with the curriculum and produce a more academic, teacher-controlled environment ....  this practice prompts right-wing education lobby groups like Child Forum to call for a review of the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki claiming that it is too vague in telling teachers just what to teach...

Dr Carol Mutch of Auckland University talks of how ECE teachers as a sector have little understanding of their collective power and do little to defend their sectors educational philosophies and theories. Shit happens to us and we let them.

The current climate of downward pressure to align more with primary schools is damaging the integrity of early childhood education. Teachers are willing to change fundamental learning practices because their own personal power // pedagogy is too weak. We need to collectively articulate to our communities just what is wrong about the teaching practices of compulsory schooling and that we must defend children's rights to learn as they intuitively do and not succumb to right-wing ideology masquerading as educational theory.

There you have it.

Oh, I do have loads of other interesting conversations at parties...