Useful Tools and Techniques: Working With Schools
One of the primary goals for Le'Lum'uy'l Daycare in Duncan, British Columbia, is to make school life more of a success for First Nations children.
"We have a high drop out rate," says Al Lawrence. "Our hope is that if we can make the transition into the first few years of school more successful that will translate all the way through to the end."
"We work on a partnership system," explains Lawrence. "We make partnerships with schools, other daycares, parents and, most important of all, with our children."
The First Nations community is also working closely with the whole school system, he adds. "We are starting to open our preschool programs in the schools so they can build bridges with the parents as well."
The schools are also trying to build partnerships, but they face some challenges, says Lawrence. "One of these is class size. If each teacher has 31 new students every year, that is an awful lot of partnerships to build and maintain."
There is also a difference in approaches to evaluation. "The schools give parents a card that says your child got a B in this subject for these reasons. In early childhood education we use a different system that is based on success. We say to the child and parent, here is what you can do and do well and here is how you can build on it."
There is plenty of goodwill to make the connections, notes Lawrence, and he believes the efforts being made are having an effect. "One of the many benefits to the Creative Curriculum is that when we take our children to school, we can take this very useful file with them. The teachers that care, and there are many of them, are beginning to take notice."