Brain basics | Learning readiness vs. School readiness
A child’s level of school readiness is often confused with their level of learning readiness. No doubt these two concepts are related but they are by no means identical.
A child may pass a school readiness test but not be learning ready. Some children may do well academically but because they lack learning readiness they have to use more energy than necessary to cope with the learning and behavioural demands of school and society.
Signs that a child is not learning ready might show immediately or only become apparent after some years. This might lead to the child being labelled in which case the symptoms will be treated rather than the underlying problem. These labels are misleading as they seldom explain the cause of a child’s problem.
For children to be able to sit still and listen, manipulate a pencil, make friends and show cognitive- and perceptual skills, the foundation on which these skills rely needs to be concrete.
According to the authors of A moving child is a Learning Child all learning begins with the body, “For children the body is the brain’s first teacher and movement is the lesson plan.” This means that every movement that a child makes from grasping objects like your fingers or toys, the mechanisms of crawling, standing, walking and jumping, all leads to learning.
Physical development will also take place during movement, but so do sensory perceptions and critical pathways in the brain. These pathways are formed through neurons which are interconnected. It has been estimated that there are about 200 billion neurons in the brain. Only a small amount of these neurons are connected at birth to enable you to enter the world and survive. The rest of the connections must still be formed. Movement facilitates this process of wiring the brain and experts believe that 90 per cent of the neural connections are in place at the age of five making the pre-school years crucial for lifelong neurological capabilities.
Researchers believe that neurons hold specific pieces of information and when connected with other neurons form thought or memory. Very simply put, neurons store information and pass information along. Information travels through millions of neurons in a fraction of a second and as it travels it contributes to the brain’s understanding, judgment and logging of information. Therefore two people can experience the same event and have completely different understandings and memories.
The brain can only do one conscious thinking task at a time and therefor automation is a crucial aspect of early childhood development. Automation refers to repetitive functions that are automated and no longer need conscious thought. Like writing for example. When children learn to write they are not thinking about what they are writing but how they are writing. Try writing with your non-dominant hand. Not only do you find it feels strange but you are also thinking how to form the letters. During this process the brain is prioritising between movement (your hand) and cognitive processes (what you want to write) and in this case movement wins.
Movement dominates all early childhood development. Therefore it is very important to automate movement in the early years so that the brain can move on to develop higher thinking and reasoning tasks.
How we develop automation
The brain and body are aligned through repetition which creates muscle memory and automates movement. In this sense, repetition doesn’t mean drills. When a child wants to do something over and over, it means that the brain is memorising the steps of the activity. The child receives positive feelings from the brain, so they want to continue. When the brain had enough the child moves on to something else. The best thing we can do is to facilitate this process again and again … and again!
Learning is a guided and encouraged process and it begins at birth and not when children start with school. When a child reaches a school-going age or if they pass a school-readiness test all intellectual, social, motor and emotional components should be taken into account. Learning readiness is affected by learning experiences children receive.
Early learning has a direct impact on children’s success in school. It is crucial to remember that no child becomes ready for school on their own.
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