Is it the right time? – School Readiness Explained

By Parimal Pandit

How do I know my child is ready for formal schooling?

Many a times there is a confusion regarding school enrolment and school readiness. The question of what is the right age for enrolment in school, is very different from school readiness.

School Readiness is defined as – An educational milestone in the development of a child, experienced when he or she is independent and mature enough to listen, work, and play in a structured learning environment. Physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development are all essential ingredients of school readiness.

Early enrolment and excessive academic learning, without appropriate preparation can hinder  the development of the physical and mental health of the individual.

Why is it important to discuss this? It can cause impediments  in both,  the child’s quality of learning   and the psychological wellbeing. Rise in learning difficulties, school fatigue, increased pressures resulting in suicides and self-harm makes it imperative to look at this aspect.

 At what age do we say that these capacities  develop? Is school readiness defined by age?

School readiness is definitely not defined by the age of the child.

The Grey Matter

Common misconceptions are that, we humans use only 10% of our brain capacity and the development of body and brain have no connection or interdependence.

Let’s try and see what does the Neuro- physiology of brain say! We are born with more neurons than what we use as the unused neurons are pruned away.  However the synapses (the connection between the neurons) are the key players in the process of development. As the child grows from infancy to adolescence, different areas of the brain continue to develop at different pace and time. The process is helped by the opportunity it meets in the environment. The myelination of the nerves in the nervous system starts from Cerebellum which is the  lower center at the base of the brain and continues through the higher centers of the cortex .This cerebellum controls the equilibrium, balance, voluntary movement and control of the muscles. The last one to develop is prefrontal cortex related to planning, estimation, etc.

This development is the significant  milestone for the  child to have an  ability to form connections, concepts and language skills required for learning in later life. During middle childhood frontal lobe, parietal lobe and corpus callosum develop. That means the children are able to achieve more control and perform more complex visuo-spatial, motor and cognitive activities.

What has all of this got to do with School Readiness?

Everything !!

If you go back to the definition of the School Readiness, you will see the kind of preparation is assumed and how it’s connected to the  development of brain and the other factors.

Given below are some of the guidelines by the Educational Systems for School readiness

• The child can run, jump, climb, and does other activities that involve gross and fine motor skills like using pencils, crayons, brush or scissors.
• The child can wait, sit or hold oneself for 10-15 mins for an activity.
• Follows simple rules and routines, expresses needs, is free in exploration, curious and interested in environment, is ready to be away from parents and familiar environment, be with other children.
• Language wise is able to use sentences with 5/6 words, sings simple songs, relates some common objects and its functions.
• Is familiar with different geometrical shapes in drawing.
• Has idea of day and night and other seasonal rhythms to indicate the space in time (yesterday, today , tomorrow).

There are other physiological indications which denote the underlying growth from head to limbs.

In olden times, one used to check if the child is able  to reach up over his head and touch his opposite ear without leaning or bending his head to the side. That indicates the head to torso ratio which is a big sign of the brain achieving an appropriate size in development.  Spine develops the S shaped curve (Readiness for complex motor activities).

Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian Educationist and Spiritual Scientist (Founder of Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy) espouses that a life force which is involved in the formation of the body is released around 6/7yrs of age when the first milk teeth fall. This life force which helps the child later to hold independent memory and thinking needs to be allowed to complete its task over the physical body. As the child achieves balance and verticality a force of levity enters into movement.

Nancy Blanning, an educational expert  says in her article about school readiness, “ The above-mentioned transformation of etheric/life forces, when taken seriously, puts a new slant on the prevention of health issues. Starting school at the right time, that is, being able to cope with the challenges one is exposed to, can contribute future health in the broadest sense.” This all corresponds to the cognitive stages of development which French Developmental Psychologist Jean Piaget proposed in his theory of child development.  

All of this is possible if the child has had plenty of opportunity in the early childhood to move, use his/or her body for various physical tasks, played enough (without learning about the various shapes) by simple sorting activities, has heard enough songs (nursery rhymes or local children songs), & has been allowed to discover things than presented as concepts. The play of all kinds is extremely important, from physical to imaginary to interactive to games. All of this is creating a fertile land for the sound learning to take roots and makes the process of the myelination easy.

Emotionally and socially,  the child needs to be  given  freedom to explore meeting other children, people outside of family and the  opportunity to visit parks. That means that the child is not leading a sedentary life in front of TV or ipad or in classrooms learning concepts.

What  the parents and educationist need to observe to deduce the school readiness of a child?

How comfortable the child is, in  meeting with the world? Is he or she anxious, insecure or excited and joyful when you take him or her to the park or to the playground or with the neighbourhood children?

Does the child’s development seem age-appropriate and give an impression of wholeness? Do you see a seamless weaving of different develomental aspects to form the whole picture? How is the child drawing? Is there groundedness in the drawing of his picture of house, tree, person and sun?

Over all to conclude the child needs to look like a whole being who can now enter this beautiful world of science, math, history, geography, languages and social science seamlessly. The above indications can guide us to create the right kind of education in keeping with the developmental needs of the child.

I would like to end the article by this beautiful verse given  by Dr. Rudolf Steiner for grade one…

There will my body be trained
to rightful activity.

There will my soul be guided
To rightful life-strength.

There will my spirit be wakened
To rightful humanity.