SAVE CHILDHOOD PRESENTATION - MARCH 2015

A
World
ﬁt
for
Children

Pu#ng
Children
First
-‐
Societal
Wellbeing
and
the

Challenges
of
Modern
Childhood

© Save Childhood Movement 2015
www.savechildhood.net
Wendy Ellyatt

Save Childhood Movement 2015
Young children are citizens with
developmental rights
Adults have a duty of responsibility
to protect these
All governments must put the best
interests of the child first

Launched in April 2013
Not-for-profit voluntary organisation
In process of converting to become a charity
Multi-disciplinary team of 40 expert advisors
Too Much Too Soon Campaign launched Sept 2013
Putting Children First Manifesto published March 2014
National Children’s Day UK launched May 2014
Very active Facebook and Twitter pages
(141,000 people viewed recent post within 48 hours)
500 people in the new members network
7000 people on the newsletter list

SAVE CHILDHOOD MOVEMENT
‘

Objects
of
the
charity

v  To
advance
the
educa5on
of
the
public
in
general,
together
with
key

decision-‐makers,
on
the
evidence
suppor5ng
the
concept
of
the
child
as

a
ci2zen
with
natural
developmental
rights
and
freedoms
that
need
to

be
protected,
this
especially
in
rela5on
to
the
UN
Conven5on
on
the

Rights
of
the
Child
(UNCRC).

v  To
demonstrate
that
the
early
years
(the
period
pre-‐birth
to
8
years)
is
a

vitally
important
period
of
life
requiring
special
focus
and
a<en2on
for

the
subsequent
underpinning
of
healthy,
sustainable
socie5es.

v  To
explore
the
nature
of
personal
and
societal
wellbeing
and
to

encourage
the
promo5on
of
systems
that
seek
to
1)
raise
awareness
in

this
area
and
2)
ini2ate
posi2ve
change


HUMAN FLOURISHING
The movement is interested in what helps people to flourish
And we know that human wellbeing is underpinned
by our values and mindsets

CHILDREN, PARENTS, TEACHERS AND COMMUNITY
AS ONE CONNECTED SYSTEM
We’re interested in children’s learning journeys and what nurtures and
maintains each child’s innate curiosity, creativity and love of learning
And also in the journeys of parents and teachers and what best supports their own health
and wellbeing as the really important adults in children’s lives
Children and families are embedded in communities so the health
and wellbeing of local communities matters too
Putting Children First
Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological Theory
of Development

Ten characteristics
underpin flourishing
security
positive relationships/self expression
mastery/achievement
self belief/esteem
purpose and meaning-making
engagement and flow
positive emotion and resilience
empathy and co-operation
belonging and contribution
learning and growth

‘The
founda5ons
of
virtually
every

aspect
of
human
development
–

physical,
intellectual
and
emo5onal

–
are
laid
in
early
childhood.
What

happens
in
these
early
years

(star5ng
in
the
womb)
has
lifelong

eﬀects
on
many
aspects
of
health

and
wellbeing.’

Marmot
Report:
2010

FLOURISHING STARTS IN THE EARLY YEARS

Flourishing relies upon balancing external
achievement with internal fulfillment

We
know
that
the
most
signiﬁcant
factor
for
ﬂourishing
is
the

cul5va5on
of
posi5ve
intrinsic
values
and
mo5va5on

who
am
I,
how
do
I
belong,
and
what
am

I
interested
in/
makes
my
heart
sing?

(intrinsic
valuing)

rather
than
that
of
limi5ng
extrinsic
values
and
mo5va5ons

what
are
they
looking
for?,
am
I
good
enough?

how
do
I
compare
with
others
and
what
reward
will
I
get?

(external
valuing)


A key indicator of intrinsic motivation and values is deep
engagement or ‘Flow’
Flow Theory Csikszentmihalyi

Flow happens when our internal developmental needs
are being met by the external environment
It is essential for sustained learning

Flow is frequently seen in early childhood
And later in creative adults

It is in the early years that we develop either positive or limiting beliefs
and value systems about ourselves and the world – that then impact on
our motivations towards learning

Carol Dweck
Fixed (limiting) or
Growth (positive)
Mindsets

“The quality of a child’s early environment and the availability of appropriate
experiences at the right stages of development are crucial in determining the
strength or weakness of the brain’s architecture, which, in turn, determines
how well he or she will be able to think and to regulate emotions
…building more advanced cognitive, social, and emotional skills on a weak
initial foundation of brain architecture is far more difficult and less
effective than getting things right from the beginning.”
Harvard Centre for the Developing Child
The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences combine to Shape Brain
Architecture, Working Paper 5, 2007

Emotions matter
All children are born with hearts and minds that are ready
for feeling and learning
You can’t separate one from the other
Our feelings about ourselves and our worlds shape how effectively we learn
Our early relationships (with parents, care-givers and teachers)
shape how we feel about ourselves

Children learn from the environment
- which includes the adults in their worlds-
Save
Childhood
Movement

Adults can consciously change their environments
Children have to live in the worlds that adults have created

Using
brain
scans

scien5sts
have
learned

more
in
the
past
two

decades
about
how

children
process

informa5on
and
develop

healthy
neural

connec5ons
that
in
the

whole
of
previous

history…

http://www.icare4autism.org/
We
now
know
that
both
nature
and
nurture
maUer
for
the

shaping
of
healthy
developmental
pathways

Nature:
the
biological
systems
that
underpin
life
and
learning

Nurture:
the
unique
environmental
experiences
that
shape

our
understanding
and
emo5onal
responses


www.talkabouttwins.org

Our
early
experiences
literally
shape
our
brains
and

deﬁne
who
we
will
grow
up
to
be


Developmental maturity/readiness is essential for successful learning

“The years of optimum right hemisphere development (4 – 7 years) are the time when
learning is naturally linked to sensory-motor activity, when “perception, action and
reasoning develop in parallel, and not in simple progression from sensation to higher
cognition”
Developmental maturity takes time
you can’t rush it

So what is currently happening
to childhood?

one in ten children in the UK has a diagnosed mental health disorder
one in three is clinically obese
one in twelve adolescents deliberately self-harms
nearly 80,000 children and young people currently suffer
from severe depression.. including 8,000 children aged under 10 years old
admissions for psychiatric conditions, eating disorders and self-harm among
young people are soaring (Sunday Times Mental Health Campaign, 2015)

Disadvantage is not just about income inequality..
it’s about emotional stress and deprivation
Sunday Times, 15th March, 2015

What are the pressures
on childhood?
Breakdown of families and communities
Mothers having to work
Inconsistent/poor quality childcare
Impact of screen technology
Lack of contact with nature
Commercialisation
Sexualisation
Schoolifiication
Medicalisation
Academic Expectations
ê
Erosion of natural developmental rights

Breakdown of families and communities

Impact of Screen Technology

Lack of contact with Nature

Commercialisation
Consuming Kids: The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood

Sexualisation
Daily Mail, 2011

Schoolification

Medicalisation
Data compiled from answers to Parliamentary questions reported in Hansard including a question
asked by Baroness Greenfield. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm

Why are we not joining up
the dots between over-
early developmental
pressures and later child
wellbeing?

What can we do?

Celebrate what’s great and powerful
about childhood
Share the most up-to-date
knowledge and understanding
Collaborate to tackle the current pressures

Bring more people together
advisory board, advisory groups, membership network, new
alliances, social media
Identify the most urgent issues
Develop campaigns
Too Much Too Soon Campaign
Raise awareness
articles, publications, social media
National Children’s Day UK, Festival of Childhood
Provoke ongoing debate
Influence the key systems

Being planned for 2017
Festival of Childhood

‘Best interests of the child?’

There
is
a
recognised
and
urgent
need
for
systems
that

acknowledge
the
extraordinary
diversity
of
human
ability

and
poten5al
and
that
nurture
the
unique
skills,
abili5es

and
crea5ve
expression
of
both
teachers
and
children.

There
is
a
par5cular
urgency
to
stop
damage

occurring
in
the
early
years.


The coalition government has steadily shifted educational
priorities from wellbeing to achievement
There is no longer a Secretary of State of Children, Schools and Families
the Department was quickly renamed the Department of Education
The five outcomes that were outlined by the Every Child Matters Green Paper
in 2008 were: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive
contribution and achieve economic well-being.”
Now replaced with ‘help children achieve more’
The promotion of children’s spiritual, social and emotional wellbeing
are no longer areas that are being graded by Ofsted

First campaign launched by the Early Years
Education Group in September 2013

12th Sept Open Letter to the Telegraph
Signed by 127 eminent supporters and early years experts including:
Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, former first Children's Commissioner for England
and Professor Emeritus of Child Health University College London
Professor Lord Richard Layard, Director, Well-Being Programme, Centre for
Economic Performance, London School of Economics
Professor Guy Claxton, Co-Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning and
Professor of the Learning Sciences at the University of Winchester
15 other professors, numerous PhD academics, the leaders of most of our major
early years organisations, senior practitioners, well-known writers, early years
campaigners and the heads of the major teaching unions.

School
Star5ng
Age

90% of countries have a formal education starting age of 6 and over
which allows time for developmental maturation
Age 7 start: 44 countries
“There would appear to be no compelling educational rationale for a statutory school age of
five or for the practice of admitting four-year-olds to school reception classes."
CAROLINE SHARP, School Starting Age: European Policy and Recent Research,
2002

As their brain architecture is less developed summerborn children are
particularly disadvantaged by the current system and we now know
that pre-term infants may also be at risk
This disadvantage is clearly identifiable at Key Stage 1 and
(according to a 2013 report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies) is still
visible when children take their GCSEs

CORE AIM
to see the introduction of developmentally
appropriate and evidence-based policymaking
for the early years
OBJECTIVES
to re-establish the early years as a unique stage
in its own right and not merely a preparation for
school
to protect young children's natural
developmental rights and freedoms
to prevent baseline testing
to reinstate the vital role of play
an English informal, play-based and
developmentally appropriate Foundation Stage
until the end of Key Stage 1

Longer-term objectives
To call for
a national debate on the purpose of education
and the definition of success
(i.e what values create a good society and is the current
education system a reflection of the ones we want to see?)
the establishment of a new
National Institute on the Science of Human Learning and Development
to guide and inform all future educational policy-making
the development of
Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments
for all new civic policies
(as per article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)

In the UK (and particularly England)
We live in a culture that has primarily focused on what children learn i.e a
core body of knowledge
(the content/results)
Rather than how and why children learn
i.e. their motivations, values and dispositions
(the context/processes)

And from an assumption of their needs and fragilities
i.e. a deficit-based approach
They need constant adult supervision and direction
Rather than an acknowledgement of their power,
competencies, rights and potentialities
i.e. an asset-based approach
They are powerful natural learners in their own right

The
UK,
France
and
USA
are
cri5cised
for
con5nuing
to
see

educa5on
as
‘learning
development’
and
as
‘u5litarian’

i.e
we need education so that we can enter the workforce
In
the
Nordic
countries,
Russia,
Japan
and
Asia
it
is
instead
seen
as
a

means
of
‘self-‐development’
within
the
context
of
the
larger

community,
and
as
having
intrinsic
value
in
its
own
right

i.e we study in order to belong
and to understand and perfect ourselves


“It is not whether a child is ready to learn, but what a child is
ready to learn ...
The model of ‘readiness for school’ is attractive to governments as it
seemingly delivers children into primary school ready to conform to
classroom procedures and even able to perform basic reading and
writing skills.
However, from a pedagogical perspective this approach fuels an
increasingly dominant notion of education as ‘transmission and
reproduction’, and of early childhood as preparation for school rather
than for ‘life’.
Whitebread and Bingham

England
“The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge
they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought
and said, and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement…
The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers
can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’
knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum”.
Finland
“The underlying values of basic education are human rights, equality, democracy, natural
diversity, preservation of environmental viability and the endorsement of multiculturalism.
Basic education promotes responsibility, a sense of community, and a respect for the
rights and freedoms of the individual.”

A very revealing – but little publicised - comparison between the quality
and style of provision for 6 year-olds in two of the Nordic countries and in
England was made in a Report published by Ofsted in 2003.
Its authors noted that the Nordic teachers were more confident than their
English counterparts and that they focused on the development of
positive attitudes to learning and social development rather than –
as was the case with the English teachers – on knowledge and skills.
Furthermore, the Nordic teachers stressed the importance of cooperation
and sought to keep the class together in their development whilst the
emphasis of the English teachers was on differentiation

DEMOCRACY?
BASELINE TESTING
Of 1,063 responses to the DfE’s question, in its July “consultation” as to whether the principles
of that paper were right, 57 per cent said no, with only 18 per cent in favour. Yet the thrust of
the proposals are unchanged.
Some 51 per cent replied that there should not be a baseline check at the start of reception,
against 34 per cent in favour, with the detailed concerns of expert groups not even mentioned.
Yet it is happening.
Similarly, 73 per cent of consultees came out against allowing schools to choose from
commercially available baseline assessments, compared to 12 per cent in favour. Again, it is
happening.
And 68 per cent said that if the baseline assessments were to happen, they should not be
made optional, against 19 per cent who said they should. They are being made optional
Julian Grenier talking about the Primary Assessment
and accountability consultation

Year One Phonics Test

Michael Wilshaw
“every child must be ready for school, and
high-quality, early education will make sure
that they are.”
What is expected of two year olds

an integrated, holistic and appropriately financed
system built upon
an evidence-based understanding
of the child
as a citizen with developmental
rights and freedoms
March 2014

Save
Childhood
Movement


1 respect and support the rights and freedoms of children to be provided with
environments that allow them to develop all their natural dispositions and capacities to
the fullest potential. This must include regular and open access to the natural world
2 re-instate the importance of early relationships and better support the health and
wellbeing of parents and families
3 address inequalities and ensure that every child can develop to his or her full potential
4 ensure that the values we are modelling for children are those that we want to see in a
21st century world
5 ensure that developmentally appropriate play-based care and education governs
children’s experiences until at least age 6
The development of a fully integrated system that should:
Putting Children First - Eleven Policy Points

6 be evidence-led and have the best interests of the child at its heart. This should not be a ‘one-
size-fits-all’ solution but should be responsive to the diversity of parental and local community
needs
7 reverse the existing funding curve so that we prioritise the vital importance of the early years
8 underpin all ECEC services and provision with the latest scientific evidence and global
examples of best practice
9 review, consolidate and evaluate all policies and evidence through a new National Council on
the Science of Human Learning and Development
10 provide formative assessment and screening of children’s development from birth and ensure
that we are measuring what matters for children’s long-term health and wellbeing
11 ensure that the adults working with young children are highly trained, emotionally mature and
appropriately valued and remunerated
Putting Children First - Eleven Policy Points

The discourse of educational policy must change, and radically
“As recent events have shown, policymakers tend to be interested only in evidence
that fits their ideology or prejudice, and they may ignore or even abuse those who
provide evidence that doesn't fit the political bill.
Deep and lasting improvements in our education system will be achieved only
when policymakers are even-handed rather than selective in their use of evidence
and when they speak about education in a way that exemplifies the educated mind
rather than demeans it.”
Robin Alexander
Inaugural Event of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust, Oct, 2013

Save
Childhood
Movement


“Should
we
force
the
bud
apart
and
destroy
it

or
help
it
to
ﬂourish
by
nourishing
it
while
it
grows
naturally?"

Dr
Pam
Jarvis


www.savechildhood.net
www.toomuchtoosoon.org
www.nationalchildrensdayuk.com
contact@savechildhood.net
“There can be no
keener revelation of a
society’s soul than the
way in which it treats its
children”
Nelson Mandela
© Save Childhood Movement 2015

SAVE CHILDHOOD PRESENTATION - MARCH 2015

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

En vedette

En vedette (15)

Similaire à SAVE CHILDHOOD PRESENTATION - MARCH 2015

Similaire à SAVE CHILDHOOD PRESENTATION - MARCH 2015 (17)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

SAVE CHILDHOOD PRESENTATION - MARCH 2015