by Willie French, Chair of Upstart Scotland
My entire working life has been spent in education. As a primary teacher, an assistant head teacher and (for twenty-seven years) a head teacher. In small and large schools; in independent, local authority and third-sector voluntary schools; in rural and urban schools; in areas of affluence and areas of severe socio-economic deprivation. I feel both privileged and lucky to have worked in a profession that served children and their families and would never want to change a minute of that working experience.
A few regrets
Photo: Volodymyr Hryshchenko (Unsplash)
Having now been ‘retired’ for nearly two years – two academic sessions – my passion and desire for change has never been so rampant. When the pressure of the day-to-day business of being a head teacher is lifted, providing time for genuine reflection and self-evaluation, everything becomes quite clear. Head teachers and teachers would be much more effective practitioners if a sabbatical were built into their contracts.
Around ten years ago, my friend Sue Palmer (whose book Toxic Childhood should be mandatory reading for all education professionals) published Upstart: the case for raising the school starting age and providing what the under-sevens really need and told me she hoped to create a group to campaign for a Nordic-style kindergarten stage for Scottish children.
I’d long been concerned that children are expected to begin formal learning when some haven’t celebrated their fifth birthday. Four-year-olds are subject to assessments, lessons at desks with whiteboards, introductions to literacy and numeracy lessons, no movement, little or no outdoors activity and little or no play. Based on my experience, Sue’s ‘Upstart’ suggestions made perfect sense.
Upstart Scotland and beyond
Ten years on, our campaign is making good progress, if a little slow. Eighteen months ago, I took over from Sue as Chair of the Board of Trustees, and realise what a challenge it is to convince those in positions of influence to listen to our arguments. But small successes are now evident with many schools using play in the early years, more outdoor nurseries and the use of the document ‘Realising the Ambition’.
Photo: Getty Images (Unsplash)
My hope is to live to see Upstart’s aspirations come to fruition and to be a part of this change to our education provision. However, despite my focus being on change for early years, I cannot drop my concern for primary education in general. No policy-maker, organisation, or review or think tank has ever taken the bold step of really addressing our outdated and tired educational provision. Hence my message of ‘No Time for Waiting’, because I believe we’ve reached the critical point when we can’t delay significant change any longer. In my next two blogs I’ll look at what, apart from a kindergarten stage, some of these changes should be.