Make children’s transition to primary school better

I refer to the letters “Ease transition to primary education in Pri 1, not kindergarten” (April 7) and “Pre-school education should develop children holistically” (April 16).

First, I agree that developmental outcomes during early childhood are important, to give children the foundation required for future learning, and not only to prepare them for Primary 1.

We must ensure that children are equipped with positive, lifelong learning dispositions, to develop their intrinsic motivation and curiosity to learn, solve problems, persevere at tasks and ask peers or adults when in doubt or need of help.

When children achieve these milestones and discover their love for learning, they will benefit in the long term and set the foundation for later schooling years.

Second, the transition from pre-school to primary school is significant, in terms of the learning and living environment and teaching approach.

So, how can we make this a better transition experience? Does the responsibility fall only on pre-schools or can primary schools do much more to get children ready?

A study by SEED Institute in 2012, on Transition Experiences Of Primary 1 Children In Singapore, asked pupils about their experience. What struck them was that “primary school is about doing routine tasks, following school rules and doing academic work”.

When they were asked how to make school fun, they preferred to learn with friends, and not alone or to “sit at the desk to do work”.

Children, having their own sense of fairness, understand the importance of studies, but they ask for a balance between play and work.

Parents as well as pre-school and primary school teachers also suggested that children should be given time to settle down in Pri 1 with more hands-on activities and fewer academic tasks.

These views could open our minds to rethink how we expect children to learn and how to make schooling a pleasant experience to motivate their love for learning.

NTUC’s My First Skool centres partner schools within the community to take our pre-schoolers on organised visits to experience the different set-ups at primary schools. These visits have benefited many of our children as they progressed to primary school.

This, however, can happen only if schools are supportive. There can even be frequent exchanges between pre-schools and primary schools, whereby teachers can understand how teaching and learning occurs in each environment to customise lessons that cater for children’s learning needs.

This will also help to ensure continuity of learning for the children.

In striving to provide more positive transition experiences for children, we look forward to stronger collaboration between pre-schools and primary schools in this shared responsibility to develop children holistically.