Over the next few weeks, many preschoolers will meet their foundation teachers, spend some time in a classroom and hopefully make some new friends. from shutterstock.com The transition from preschool to school is a big deal for many children and parents. Over the next few weeks, many preschoolers will take part in […]
How can teachers bring common sense and compassion to education policy? The research is clear. Academic training in kindergarten has no long-term benefit. In fact, it has long-term harm. It does not reduce the education gap between rich and poor, which is the usual reason offered for such training. It slightly increases […]
When children write freely, they say they escape from everyday thinking. from shutterstock.com Ask a child why they write and you might receive a common response: the teacher told me to. Kids often lack confidence as writers and find it emotionally draining. The problem might be the classroom and its detachment from what writers […]
Nearly half of kids in a study were harmed by their peers. from shutterstock.com Many Australian students don’t know the difference between banter and bullying, with some saying they joke about wishing their friend would “drown” or “die in a car crash”. More than 800 Australian students aged 11-16 took […]
Play counters the tendency to dominate, in humans and in other mammals. By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn Anthropologists who have trekked to isolated regions of the world to observe hunter-gatherer societies—whether in Africa, Asia, South America or elsewhere—have consistently been impressed by the egalitarian nature of those societies […]
Hockey contributes a lot to activity levels compared to other sports. from shutterstock.com Teenagers who play organised sport only get seven minutes more physical activity per day, on average, than teenagers who don’t play any sport. Our research, published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, found organised sport […]
Guidelines advise children under two shouldn’t have any screen time, but most do anyway. Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash Most (80%) Australian parents worry children spend too much time with screens. But what children are doing on and off screen matters more than how much time they’re exposed to screen media. […]
Part two: overcoming the social isolation society has imposed on children. By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn Children are suffering today from too much adult structuring of their activities and not enough freedom to play and explore in their own chosen ways (for some of the evidence, see here, here, and here). […]
By Peter Gray, Ph.D. Part one: irrational societal fears can paralyze parents and harm children. Children are designed, by nature, to spend hours per day playing with other children, independently of adults. In such play they practice all sorts of physical and mental skills; discover and pursue their passions; and learn […]
Children can show clingy behaviour at any stage up to late primary school years. from shutterstock.com Many parents complain of difficulties in managing clingy children – whether it’s a baby who cries every time the parent is out of sight, a toddler who clings to their parent’s legs at social […]