Stacey Bellows

Early Childhood Teacher and ECE Advocate teaching in public schools, standing up for play-based learning, and mom to two amazing young men. she/her

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@potterhockey Do it! How fun for summer! Having two separate pieces, she can mix and match with other skirts, pants, and tops.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@MrPat3l @AaronTeamEC Playdough, hand held hole punches, picking things up with tongs, crayons before markers, pulling things apart or “freeing” animals from tape wrap, Lego blocks… Crossing the midline movement, Simon says, rhythm instruments, move like a (snake, frog, etc)…PLAY!!

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

I was talking to a grandmother last week about schooling. ‘I can see the difference’ she said. ‘When my children were young, primary school was relaxed. If the weather was good, they went outside and ran around. If they were sick, they stayed at home. Now with my grandchildren they are seated in desks for more of the day and if they are ill, they are worried that they’ll lose their 100% attendance for the term. The pressure is on to pass their phonics test when they are six and then to learn their times tables at speed by the time they are nine. They feel it and their parents feel it too’.

There’s lots of talk about SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) at the moment, and how increasing numbers of children are being identified as SEND. It’s less common to ask questions about what SEND really means, and whether the education system creates more children ‘with SEND’ as it becomes more pressured and rigid.

For what SEND really means is that a child cannot learn in the way which mainstream education expects. They cannot keep up with expectations, either for academic work or for behaviour. SEND is something which happens in the interaction between a child and the education system. In a system where no 6-year-old is expected to sit still and learn to write their name, then a 6-year-old who just wants to run around outside isn't a problem. In a system where everyone is meant to be able to read by age 6, then they are.

We know from research that if a child is young in their year, they are more likely to be identified as ‘having SEND’. We know that summer born boys are far more likely to be identified as ‘having SEND’ than autumn born girls. We know that the impact of this immaturity resonates through the years, with the youngest in the year doing less well at GCSE. We know that the number of children ‘with SEND’ is going up year on year.

It's not really plausible that more children each year have difficulties in learning, nor that being born in August makes you more likely to have learning problems than if you are born a few weeks later in September.

It’s far more likely that in the push to ‘drive up standards’ the education system is becomes less, not more, suited to how children develop and learn. It’s more likely that the system is penalising immaturity – and children are inherently immature. That isn’t a lack or a defect, it’s a defining part of childhood.

As the education system becomes more rigid and pressured, we’d expect more children not to be able to manage without adaptations. This is exactly what we see. Those children are holding up the flag for all the others, saying that this system is not child-friendly and doesn’t take account of developmental needs and differences.

What if, instead of having higher expectations of the children, we had higher expectations of the education system? What if those expectations were of flexibility, reducing pressure and prioritising lifelong learning and wellbeing instead of short-term testing?

What if we saw the increasing number of children ‘with SEND’ as a sign that the system isn’t working for the many ways in which children develop, rather than a sign that more and more children have learning difficulties? We’ll never sort the ‘SEND crisis’ until we start looking at SEND as an interaction between children and the education system. The more rigid the system is, the more children it will fail.

Illustration by @_MissingTheMark from the book A Different Way to Learn.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@socialstudiestx My Jetta is named Dolly bc she had to have some front end cosmetic repair after an accident. My partner has a Chevy Spark that has hail damage so she is named Dotty. 😊

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@whatMsKsaid Early Childhood sessions

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@whatMsKsaid No subs provided but majority of sessions are offered during school hours.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@doriecp YES!! Developmentally, ages 0-8 are in early childhood & need play to build a strong foundation for long term learning & success.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@whatMsKsaid Hey, let’s have a super spreader event one week before school starts! The shuttle bus from Davis has 3 adults per seat. What could go wrong?? 😷

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@DrJaimeFriedman Basic set of tools—more helpful than you may think. Condoms—I told my son I never wanted him or a friend be in a situation where they didn’t have appropriate protection. At 2am the health service is not open. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@gojirama @Randall87454048 I have 4-5 yr olds. Lack of stamina for outdoor play, inability to go deeper into play and art, SEL and EF esp working memory were lacking, more “colds” or “allergies”, deep sleepers at nap time. Very different & I’ve never jumped on the kids changed boat until now.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@Randall87454048 Yes! PreK 25+yrs & last year was my most difficult. Most apparent was working memory for basic things like don’t know where the paper towels are in April, learn/remember peer name, 2 step directions hard for 30% of class, play/art didn’t progress.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@acweyand @MNunited @GovTimWalz

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@NancyEBailey1 Exactly! And teachers, too.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@NancyEBailey1 It’s exhausting. For me, I do the work of making sure children are impacted as little as possible but some teachers pull kids to do skill assessment. It doesn’t make sense. I’m happy to share my experience and make people aware.

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@NancyEBailey1 I like authentic assessment more than standardized like IGDIs but the amount of time and button clicking is ridiculous. I haven’t tracked how long it takes to complete bc I’ll just cry. 3x per year. It’s all too much. Now we have SoR and LTRS training….sigh. 4/4

[Stacey Bellows @staceybellows]

@NancyEBailey1 So that’s 144 data points for each child, 20 children in class, 2,880 data points. Yes, there is overlap in observations, multiple skills and children within one observation but each data point needs to be given an individual level rating. Oh, and then a final rating for each.3/x