Readiness To Learn Curriculum Coordinator Meeting. 17 June 2010

What is the current state of play in our schools?

 What is prized in our Australian school / social community?

Our Vision:  ….young people are enabled to build lives that are fully human.

Creating A Future of Hope.  Priority 2.  GOAL:  To provide high quality teaching and learning within a 21 century environment that is truly Catholic.

 Historically, what has been the key indicator of readiness to learn?

Paradox: MORE structure vs LESS structure

Typical indicators of readiness:  Social competence  Physical health  Emotional adjustment  Language development  Cognitive development  General knowledge/ skills  Awareness of rules

Guess What???

STUDY INVESTIGATES THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL STARTING AGE ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 28 MARCH 2009 A study has suggested that students who start school later are more likely to lack motivation and to have lower academic performance when they reach secondary school. The study of 3,684 secondary school students was undertaken at the University of Sydney and was published in the Journal of Educational Psychology. It claimed that the academic benefits to children of starting school at a later age, which had been identified in previous studies, did not continue into secondary school. Instead, the study argued that student performance on literacy and numeracy benchmark tests and student motivation were higher for children who started Prep when they were between four and a half and five and a half years of age, compared to students who started school later or who were held back a year at school. The researcher, Associate Professor Andrew Martin, argued that ‘school is a much longer haul than the first two or three years. Even though there may be an advantage at the start of school, towards the end, when the stakes are high, there can be some negative effects from being markedly older in your year.’ He also argued that any decision to delay a student’s entry into schooling should be based on formal assessment by an appropriate medical practitioner, ‘and not on the say-so of a neighbour or preschool teacher’.

S H I F T………..  From individual readiness to the social readiness of the school community.

A good start means:  High quality teaching  Parent programs/ partnership  Early intervention  Networking allied agencies  Linking Early Childhood Education to the Australian Curriculum

Use it or lose it.

Readiness to learn… … is a social and ethical shift from individual readiness to social readiness as a school community

How do we support our ES1 teachers?  Reading Review Recommendations  Early Childhood Screener  AEDI  Network feeder preschools  Professional readings/ discussions  Support adjustments to pedagogy and personalised learning