The Voice of Early Childhood15 Apr 2024

Life skills over academic achievement

Do we focus too much on academic success over life skills? This is certainly the case in many prep schools. Zanna Clarke, Principal of Miss Daisy's Nursery Schools, and Carmela Garcia Manas, Headmistress of Miss Daisy's Chelsea and PhD researcher at University of Dundee, discuss the challenges they navigate around societal and parental expectations when working in the more privileged areas of London.

To read Carmela's and Zanna's article visit: https://www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

If you enjoyed this epside you might also like to listen to Matt Bawler's episode on 'Growth mindset in early childhood' - https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/growth-mindset-in-early-childhood/

Episode break down:

00:00 - Miss Daisy's Nursery Schools
03:00 - A privileged area of London
04:50 - Prep schools have quite a formal assessment process
06:50 - Life skills should be the focus over academic achievement
09:50 - Early childhood pioneers focused on play based life skills
11:10 - The ability to adapt requires the development of life skills
12:00 - We don't know future jobs that might exist
15:00 - Seeing children as citizens and individuals in their own right
19:00 - Adults and children as co-constructors of knowledge
20:50 - A process of mutual transformation
21:40 - Children need to understand why they are asked to do things
24:00 - Learning life skills through day to day routines
26:55 - Involving children in their local community
31:00 - Blending home and school/nursery
32:50 - Focusing on the local more than the wider community
33:45 - Navigating challenges around parent expectations
36:30 - Knowing where every child needs to be challenged

For more episodes visit The Voice of Early Childhood website: https://www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

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