PRESCHOOLS: ACADEMICS V.S. PLAYFUL LEARNING

I am reposting my answer on one of the forums about contrasting well-aligned and poorly-aligned assessments.

The only example I can think of is, when I compare the previous place, I worked in versus the preschool I work in now. The ages of the children that I taught and teach now are the same (3- 4 years old).

In my previous preschool, we had a special phonics curriculum that just drilled the letters of the alphabet to the children EVERY SINGLE DAY - when we played games, our focus had to be about the letters. There were so many WORKSHEETS and they always focused on the letters of the alphabet. Circle time was all about the letters - we had songs with special actions that depicted the sounds of the letters. Working out the days of the week and the weather on the calendar, also had to do with letters. It was just crazy and very rigid. There weren’t even opportunities for me, as a teacher, to play the ukulele and do other activities because we had to stick with the rigid phonics curriculum.

Sure, it may be impressive for a outsiders and parents, if a young child can start reading three-letter words, but for me, there was SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN other than phonics. The children looked and sounded like parrots. Even art activities with the children had to be something to do with phonics. We then assessed each child based on how well they could recognize the letters and make the correct sounds. A tiny 10% of the assessment dealt with who the child really was as a person. I even argued with my manager often, because she was complaining about us going to the park every day with the children. I couldn’t take it and left. I believe that the children have their entire adult life sitting behind desks and doing paperwork - these children shouldn’t have been doing paperwork (worksheets) and should just be given opportunities to play and enjoy the little time that was left of their childhood.

That is why I cherish being in my current preschool - the emphasis is “Playful Learning”. We always work with our students so we can find out how can we best help them out, and do what they need to learn. Playing is not just a waste of time - play is an art. Play is the children’s art. Play is an expression of themselves, and how they see the world. Play is their way of understanding things around them. Our assessment is focused more on who the child really is and discovering his or her own potential. Our main focus is to nurture the child and do our best to prepare him or her for the next step.

Any thoughts on this? What is the educational climate of preschools in the Philippines these days?

As this was an answer I posted to the forum we had in my university, I was curious to know how it is in the Philippines these days, especially since we have been living overseas for more than a decade. I also want to present this question to the members of our community hailing from different parts of the world: What is the educational climate in your country? If you could, what are the things that you would want to change?

Written by Pauline Sulit (Petals Class Teacher)