Conventional wisdom tells us that it doesn’t quite matter how you begin a journey, as long as you end it well. But while it applies to most things in life, the one great exception to this wisdom is education. During the early years of an individual’s life, education serves not only as a first step in the journey towards learning about the world but is also a significant, life-defining phase.
“The most rapid development in a child’s life takes place during the first five years. It’s a crucial stage when they set lifelong habits, develop character and determine preferences that follow them throughout the rest of their lives”, says Suzanne Perkowsky, Co-Founder of New Nordic School and Head of Academics at Boundless Life.
“If children are not exposed to the right educational experience at this time, their mindset and personalities can take a completely different path.”
Through her decades of experience teaching in and leading education systems around the world, Suzanne has gained astute insights into the world of early education pedagogy. And what she has found, across the board, is that young children benefit far more from an emphasis on developing skills such as self-confidence and independence rather than prescribed lessons on reading and writing.
“Education is often viewed as the pouring down of knowledge into the brains of children. But in those early years, what young children really need is not instruction, but forms of expression. They need to become independent and self-assured as individuals. And that can only happen if children are allowed to express emotions, ask questions, and indulge in their curiosities within the classroom”, she states.
“Education is often viewed as the pouring down of knowledge into the brains of children. But in those early years, what young children really need is not instruction, but forms of expression.”
According to Suzanne, when it comes to self-expression in the classroom, an inviting learning environment can often make all the difference. “We adults often forget that just as our moods and preferences change regularly, so do the children’s! One day, they might want to work with numbers while on another, they might wish to read or play dress-up. A nurturing classroom is one that allows young children to have an input in their own education and offers them plenty of opportunities for a unique, personalized learning experience”, she says.
But, as Suzanne acknowledges, not all early education classrooms are created alike. She shares an instance of having once walked into a classroom to find that the drawings of tigers, hung on one of the walls and supposedly made by the young kids, were all nearly identical.
“I remember thinking, there is no way that all of these drawings were not made by an adult. The idea that these 3-year-olds were not even allowed the freedom to draw “imperfect” stripes on a tiger, was heartbreaking to me.”
Issues such as these often boil down to deficiencies in not only educational practices but the very foundation of the education systems themselves.
In Suzanne’s words, “In the Finnish education system, children are not expected to know how to read and write by the time they start formal schooling. Instead, the focus is on first building trust, self-confidence, and social skills within the child. But in various countries, it is not only an expectation but also a cause for anxiety because a child’s admission into ‘a good school’ depends on it. The entire system is flawed because it places priority on the wrong factors and forces children to undergo immense pressure at such an early age.”
“In the Finnish education system, children are not expected to know how to read and write by the time they start formal schooling. Instead, the focus is on first building trust, self-confidence, and social skills within the child.”
Suzanne acknowledges that not all countries around the world enjoy the same privileges. But she also believes that there are certain core principles that can greatly contribute to making early education an empowering and exciting experience for young children.
“We need to move away from a standardized model of early education that measures student progress on the basis of milestones and checklists set by adults”, she says. “The truth is that only about 40-60% of children meet such milestones in the first place - the rest are left to flounder.”
Referring to the key philosophies of ‘Personalized Education’ and ‘Learning Through Play’ advocated by NNS, Suzanne says “at Boundless Life we have these considerations embedded in our curriculum and are now focusing on tools that can bring them alive in the classrooms and account for students to learn differently and at different paces. Every child has their own unique path towards learning. But to help them find it, we must first allow kids to truly be kids.”
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