Nursery World - Quality, not performance

By Frank Blackwell, former senior advisor to the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation of America The word 'improvement' regularly occurs in official publications on education. It gives an impression that the official mind starts from a deficit viewpoint. It is also difficult to pinpoint exactly what is meant by improvement, and as the concept has been in documents for a significant number of years it raises the point that improvement is not continuous and linear.

The word 'improvement' regularly occurs in official publications on education. It gives an impression that the official mind starts from a deficit viewpoint. It is also difficult to pinpoint exactly what is meant by improvement, and as the concept has been in documents for a significant number of years it raises the point that improvement is not continuous and linear.

Educational settings' improvement is uneven. Some factors influencing performance are within the setting's control, but other equally powerful factors are not. In making judgements on improvement there is an over- emphasis on performance.

In the early years it is the quality of learning that counts most, not quantity or content. Content has a place as an enabling influence, but an over-emphasis on performance can have a negative impact on the curriculum and on the children.

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