19th February 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The government has announced plans to open up school places to two year olds in a bid to help parents with the childcare squeeze. This is a controversial decision, not least because it raises the question of what kind of activities will be available to them at school, and whether they will be age-appropriate. Child advocacy groups are questioning whether school is the appropriate environment, and express concerns that children will be hot-housed. As a private tutor, it got me thinking about how to teach 2 year olds, and how does one distinguish between tutoring and babysitting at that age?
The first thing that tutors do when they begin with a new student is to assess their needs and plan what and how to teach. With ‘students’ as young as two, this is extremely difficult to do beyond a general level. Two year olds require constant attention, activities which stimulate cognitive development, and plenty of rest. Appropriate activities would include reading to them, listening to music and playing with educational toys. Is this the job of a private tutor? It could be. But sadly, when parents choose to hire a private tutor for their two year old children instead of a babysitter, they are usually after something different.
Private tuition is usually far more expensive than hiring a babysitter and this doesn’t change much even if the student is very young. Parents expect something more, often fuelled by the introduction of formal tests for pre-schoolers such as common entrance for primary school and the standardised tests the government is planning to bring in for all new school children. Sometimes they want to ensure that their child is ahead of the curve, starting them learning languages, classics or music at a very young age. If the government does start sending children to school at two, it will be vital to ensure that the attention and activities they are given is age-appropriate. The same goes for tutoring – if parents want the best for their toddlers they should hire a good babysitter rather than a tutor. It’s cheaper and will give their children all the head start they need.