Kindergartners falling short
Some cite lack of preschool curriculum as reason many not meeting basic requirements
Meagan Leonard
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Children entering kindergarten do not have the skills necessary to succeed, according to a recent GNWT study, and some suggest the lack of a territory-wide curriculum may be to blame.
Testing revealed the territory's five-year-olds continue to fall short in areas of communication and gross motor skills - including larger movements such as gesturing - along with basic reading, writing and numeracy.
Some preschool institutions such as Montessori have developed sophisticated programs that have children as young as four learning the decimal system and names of planets; however, licensed daycare facilities in the NWT are not required under current legislation to meet specific learning guidelines.
Caroline Johnson, executive director at the Centre for Northern Families, says when she stepped into the role two years ago, the facility's daycare had no structure or programming. She said children were allowed free rein, while staff were on their cellphones.
"There were no standards around quality of care," she said. "So I spent the last year and a half working within that program developing a curriculum for the daycare here."
The government guidelines mostly focus on the safety and physical structure of centres, Johnson explained, saying she has worked to incorporate a variety of activities for the children designed to develop cognitive and motor skills.
"There are ... things children need to learn and there's tools to teach them that," she said. "That's what I'm talking about, having a curriculum that looks at socialization, hygiene, nutrition and all of those things so they're ready to succeed in life."
She says today's economic reality means most families cannot afford to have one parent stay home, so once maternity leave has been used, children require care in some form or another. With many institutions like Montessori costing between $7,000 and $10,000 per year, this leaves some parents with limited options.
"Lower income families struggle to find daycare, period ... is it the parents' responsibility ... to make sure the daycare is quality or is it the government's responsibility?" said Johnson. "Are you comfortable putting your child in a daycare that has no curriculum?"
Marine Voskanyan, executive director of the Yellowknife Daycare Association - a non-profit organization that provides care for 60 children - said the association has developed a program that covers basic math, language and practical skills. She says although it would be nice to have a government framework to go on, she feels their children are prepared for kindergarten.
"It would be nice to have something in place we could follow but it certainly hasn't become a problem for us to create our own," she said. "I think kids are ready to go to school. They know their basic numbers, basic information that they need to go to kindergarten."
Yet learning inconsistencies appear in the testing results of a Department of Education, Culture and Employment study conducted by kindergarten teachers from 2012 to 2014 using an Early Development Instrument (EDI). The standardized checklist examined childrens' readiness for Grade 1 in areas of physical health, emotional maturity, communication skills, general knowledge, social competence, language and cognitive development. Twenty-nine per cent of kindergarten students in the city scored in the bottom 10 per cent in one or more areas, with 15 per cent labeled "vulnerable" in two or more areas. Outside the city the figures were even higher, with 53 per cent of children scoring in the bottom percentile in one or more areas.
Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro brought the results of the EDI to the legislature in February, calling out the government on the minimal education requirements for day-care staff and failure to implement a curriculum to ensure children succeed.
"We need to consciously say (the zero to 3 age group) is important and we're going to put a huge focus on that and we haven't got there yet," said Bisaro. She added implementing junior kindergarten - a free, optional program for four-year-olds in the process of being implemented across the territory - will not necessarily alleviate the problem.
"The data indicates we have an awful lot of students that are arriving in kindergarten at a deficit and putting JK in place will help to a certain extent, but they're just going to be the same kids arriving with a deficit in junior kindergarten instead of kindergarten," she said.
When it comes to early childhood education across the country, there is very little consistency with provinces such as Alberta and Ontario having a detailed curriculum in place and others like the Yukon having suggested guidelines. ECE director of childhood development Angela James says once junior kindergarten is rolled out the department will focus on developing a territory-wide curriculum for children aged zero to four, which she said could come out as early as next year.
"We do have a specific action plan ... a zero-to-four curriculum is in the works," she said. "We'll be talking very strong steps in this upcoming year to develop one."
John Stewart is the director of instructional school services and has been developing educational curricula for the last 20 years. He says the learning needs of small children should not be confused with their older counterparts.
"All the research suggests as young people learn to play and we give them space to do that, they are in fact ready to learn some of the other things that schools are about," he explained. "When we talk about ... why we don't have a curriculum, there is a de facto curriculum, there's lots of things happening. I hope it doesn't end up (with) little kids sitting in desks."
