Room for improvement

Every day, stories are read to the children, and they brush their teeth after every meal. The programme on offer is diverse, and the three- to six-year-olds pick what interests them. There is even a children’s parliament with elected members who debate common rules. This day-care facility systematically acquaints the children with the city and the society they are growing up in.

What applies to nursery schools is also true of primary schools: What is taught must make sense to the children concerned. Any curriculum that does not do so, results in senseless and stultifying drills, suppressing young persons’ innate eagerness to learn. Learning by rote does not lead to great achievements.

All children benefit from attentive teaching. But those from disadvantaged families depend on good public facilities if their parents do not teach them how exciting books are, what kind of cultural attractions their hometown offers or how people can resolve conflicts by discussing matters reasonably. Any good educational institution will always harness children’s natural curiosity. All youngsters want to understand their surroundings. Playful methods promise the most success because they’re fun rather than intimidating.

Sensible and attentive schooling boosts the self-confidence of all children. They get to see new things with their own eyes, they belong to a community and they learn to express their needs and wishes in a semi-public setting. Whether or not they use completely correct grammar does not matter, at least not initially. But the likelihood that they will one day be in command of the language of the society they live in increases substantially.

In the rich nations of Western Europe or North America, the education sectors have been applying such knowledge for decades. In many developing countries, however, teachers still use textbooks once supplied by colonial masters. Excursions to interesting places rarely occur, and all too often children are not even allowed to use their mother tongue.

An UNESCO study (see Bourdon and Michaelowa on page 291 in this edition) shows that poverty is the single biggest factor that prevents children from learning. Rural isolation comes in second place. Poverty and isolation often go hand in hand; inclusive and motivating concepts are the correct way to teach children despite serious challenges.

That said, poor countries are not the only ones with scope for improvement. In Germany, for instance, we know that all three- to six-year-olds should get the kind of attention my sons enjoy at their nursery school. International studies have shown that long-term educational success of immigrant children depends on them being integrated into the education sector early ­– before first grade begins, in any case. But Germany has fallen behind other rich nations in this field. There are too few day-care centres, not enough educators, and their pay is bad. Moreover, staff are normally less well-trained than their colleagues in Scandinavia, for example. Development and modernisation, this sad German reality shows, is a never ending task for all nations.