The Importance of Being in Pre-school

In Berlin, babies go to the Krippe and toddlers go to Kindergarten. Ever since Fröbel and Pestalozzi discovered the importance of playing for the development of young children's motoric and academic skills, the Germans take this part of the pre-school curriculum very seriously. Extremely seriously. Playing in Kindergarten is a must. My children went to a solid Evangelische Kindergarten, where they walked around butt naked in the hot summer months. They built huts in the garden and fed the rabbits. They played football and tag, went on trips to the municipal pool and the adventure playground. They sang songs and slept and did tons of handicraft projects, called 'basteln'. They played until they were blue in the face. Learning the alphabet and counting were not included in the Kindergarten routine; that was for school. When they went to school, the teacher complained about some kids' lack of basic number and letter skills. Those children got homework, so their parents could get them up to speed. My oldest son just did his work experience project at a Kindergarten, which was divided into many different rooms. They had a relaxing room, a craft room, a building room, an eating room, a school room. In his written report my son described those rooms. His comment about the school room was; 'I haven't had the chance to see this room, as it was always closed.' This seems to be the way to do it in Berlin. Let them play until they go to school - until reality hits. Why this gap? Why can't there be a more playful entry into school life? This is what they do in the Netherlands; toddlers go to school when they are four years old - school life still involves lots of playing, but there is an active exposure to letters and numbers. Senator Sandra Scheeres: please re-introduce pre-school - and let educators know that it is ok to mix business with pleasure.

Berlin is hip, the school system is not

According to tourists and newly arrived expats, Berlin is hip. As soon as those same expats send their children to a Berlin school, the word 'hip' is quickly replaced by antiquated, backwards and bureaucratic - depending on personal experiences. Berlin schools are run by the Senat. The Senat employs two kinds of teachers; civil servants and employees. And then there is a third category; the international teachers; fully qualified in their own countries, with skills needed for their jobs in one of the European or International schools of Berlin, but merely paid between 50 and 80% of what their German counterparts make. Why? Because they haven't done their training in Berlin. 
Don't even try to make sense of it.

This is decided by the Berlin Senat, the same one that abandoned pre-school at a time when all other sane countries decided to lower the age for school-goers to 4. The Senat got rid of preschool, and started to send children to school when they were five years old. Do the Kindergartens prepare their pupils for this early 'Einschulung'? No, as Kindergarten educators are not trained to do so. They do have a lot more paperwork to fill out, having to keep a record of the toddlers' language acquisition progress. Is there remedial support in case the child doesn't speak proper German after 5 years? No, but at least it is registered. Are then at least teachers trained to deal with younger children who often still pee in their pants and can't tie their own shoe laces? No, but the Senat thought it would be a good idea to introduce FLEX, a flexible school entry phase, where grades 1 and 2learn together - that way the little ones can learn from the older children - neatly solving the problem of the teacher who has no idea how to deal with those younger kids.

Five years after the introduction of this system, the Senat decided that schools are allowed themselves to decide whether they want Flex or not. More than half of the schools immediately stopped this experiment, some saying they had never really put it in place anyway. Yes, something like this is possible in Berlin, as the school inspection only visits schools once every 6 years or so. It is also quite well known in advance when they visit, so there is plenty of time to polish the hallways, replace ancient art projects and to dust off the interactive whiteboards.

Interactive Whiteboards - progress after all? Well, after being confronted with another round of terrible PISA results, the Berlin Senat had another wonderful idea and decided to make 'Berlin Kreidefrei'. No more chalk in Berlin classrooms - as chalk is obviously really old-fashioned. Deals with Smart and Promethean were struck and the schools were filled with whiteboard after whiteboard.

This is what a lot of teachers thought when those whiteboards were introduced: why should you use an interactive whiteboard if the blackboard works perfectly well? What is wrong with a piece of chalk and a talking head in front of the classroom? Frontal teaching is what we teachers have been doing for centuries, and it seems to have worked. Politicians, bankers, and not in the least WE, have all been educated without technology - and see how far it got us.

For German-speakers I'd like to share a typical text from a site called Teacher News, in which one of the editors is fulminating against the use of interactive whiteboards:

"Aber sehen wir es einmal „ressourcenorientiert“: Wenn wir statt „Tafel“ künftig „Blackboard“ sagen würden, vielleicht ließe sich der unaufhaltsame Siegeszug der Smart- und Whiteboards wenigstens verlangsamen. Ist denn noch niemandem aufgefallen, dass ein Smartboard den Lernprozessbegleiter schnell zum antiquierten Frontalunterricht zurückführt, statt die Kompetenzen der noch nicht so starken Schülerinnen und Schüler im Gruppenpuzzle auszubilden? Wenn das Geld für die teure Wartung der teuren Smartboards demnächst fehlt, dann schlägt vielleicht wieder die Stunde der guten alten Tafel – Verzeihung, des „Blackboards“. "

True, for teacher training and technical support was no money, so the whiteboards were mostly used as chalk-free blackboards. 'Kreidefrei' - the name alone implies a frontal tool, something to write on in front of the classroom. As long as German publishers are keeping their interactive resources to a minimum, Berlin teachers choose paper books over interactive learning environments.

I can't wait for the next move of the Senat - it can only get better.