Too Soon For School

The Indian Express     8th September 2020     Save    

Context:  Introduction of assessment tools like school readiness and foundational literacy and numeracy in the New Education Policy (NEP) could lead to schoolification.

NEP-2020 and Early Childhood Care and Education

  • Focus on foundational literacy and numeracy with the government’s plan to start a national mission to achieve it by 2025.
  • 5+3+3+4 model: i.e. foundational stage /first five years/(3-8 years) will help in intensifying the relationship between school and early care education settings. 
  • Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) will lead to the undervaluing of elements of early-years pedagogy
    • It would shorten early childhood education and will lead to schoolification.
  • The idea of large-scale educational surveys to measure foundational literacy and numeracy will guide the value and priorities of ECCE.
  • Assessment culture would encourage children to think of themselves as quantifiable data and self-managing subjects.

Concerns:

  • Bias against certain subjects: Focus of assessment on certain pedagogic actions generates primacy for certain subjects like maths and languages overdrawing, music, drama and play.
    • Dehumanising and Homogenization: This assessment culture would encourage children to think of themselves as quantifiable data and self-managing subjects.
  • Schoolification of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) will lead to the undervaluing of elements of early-years pedagogy
  • Worsening of culture of measurement: started by school readiness approach by the emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy.
    • NEP does not define “quality” education for the early years.

Concept of School Readiness: 

  • Three aspects of School Readiness:
    • It is seen as the capability of an individual child.
    • It is viewed largely in terms of cognitive development and
    • It is informed by normative developmental goals, which leads to a one-size-fits-all approach. 
    • It argues for accelerated early years instruction focusing on certain school readiness standards.
  • Significance:
    • School readiness standards would lead to shortening the period of early childhood care.
    • It can be seen as a tool for complexity reduction, which is being used to shove out children’s subjectivities and cultural diversity. 

    Way Forward

    • Identify multiple meanings of readiness and them not being tied to an individual child. 
    • Reverse the hegemonic approach where schools force their culture, knowledge and practices to the children’s home environment. 
    • Prepare schools to be ready to engage with children’s complexities and their socioeconomic and cultural diversities.
      • Instead of preparing children for standardized school readiness tests.
    • Children’s stories, imagination are also contexts for learning science concepts, design tools and the idea of democracy, power and citizenship.

    Conclusion: NEP 2020, with its emphasis on schoolification and datafication of early childhood would marginalize values of childhood and children’s care in education.