When I Think of Child Development

THANK YOU EDUC 6160 colleagues

Testing for Intelligence?

          I understand that the holistic approach to child development training and assessing covers all domains viz physical, emotional, relational, intellectual, and academic aspects of a child’s life. A holistic approach looks at the overall development of children.

          In most parts of the world, children are assessed traditionally. The assessment looks to what kids know and what they don’t know academically, it is not assessed how the kids will use this information in real life. The assessment covers cognitive and academic skills only. In Pakistan also, we look to the assessment of academic skills only. I will quote some of the educational milestone set forth for students at the end of Grade 1 in Pakistan: 

For Local Language Urdu: Students should have the ability to read and understand basic sentences.

For Mathematics: Students should be able to work with numbers up to 100, add and subtract two-digit numbers, work with abstract concepts such as currency, time and date, and learn to identify basic shapes and patterns.

For English Reading Skill: Students should have the ability to read a short story (comprising of a few sentences) that the student is familiar with.

          There is no assessment for judging the emotional, relational, and intellectual aspects of a child’s life. Even in the US, I do not see a holistic approach to teaching and assessment. I was going through the Report Card of my granddaughter, who is a student of Grade 6 here in the US.  In this Report Card, I found an assessment of her academic skills and physical education but nothing else. When I look at my Pre-K class of Maryland, I find its curriculum and assessment more holistic than of Elementary and Middle School.

          A holistic approach is necessary for all children.  In today’s world, it is not just a textbook education that works. In real life, a child will need communication and collaboration skills. Are we assessing these domains? We must remember that an assessment is only valuable if the 'quality of feedback it provides' improves the quality and equity in teaching and learning. Assessing should cover the full breadth of learning and also the skills we expect out of children in their workplace, such as collaboration, creativity, initiative, ambition, perseverance, and confidence. These skills are as essential as mathematics, physics, and other sciences. We need to teach our children emotional intelligence, collaboration, and how to coexist. I think these are life skills which students require to live in this new age.

          UNESCO has developed a guideline for holistic teaching. This guideline has seven domains of teaching and learning. UNESCO recommends that all children and youth develop competencies across seven domains of learning. Education systems around the world should focus on these competencies starting from early childhood through lower secondary school. UNESCO recommends this Global Framework of Learning Domains to all settings where intentional learning takes place, including but not limited to formal schooling, community education systems, and nonformal education programs. These learning domains give a holistic approach where educators do not just look at academics; they look at the talents that children have and what else they can learn to fit in the society, the global village, and the world.

References

ASER-Pakistan Report. (2018). Retrieved from http://aserpakistan.org/report

UNESCO Recommendations for Universal Learning.(2013),Retrieved from

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000225158