Too many ‘mummy duties’ for nursery school teachers

THE Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the education system has found that nursery school teachers are burdened with extraneous ‘mummy duties’ as a result of unprepared and untrained children heading into the nursery level.
Members of the Commission have thus recommended that the government either revise the age of entry for nursery school children, or hire nursing assistants so as to take the burden off teachers and make them more efficient.

According to the preliminary report which was handed over to the education ministry by COI Chairman, Mr Ed Caesar, consideration should be given to reviewing the entry age of three years, nine months as, “Many teachers complained that children are ill-prepared when they enter school at the early age.”

The report said that should the nursery level entry age remain as is, then consideration should be given to the employment of teaching assistants to help with the non-academic issues the teachers must address.
In the past, teachers have complained about having to perform ‘mummy duties’, where children not potty trained or lacking of certain behavioural skills require the teachers’ non-academic attention. Some privately-ran nursery schools refused such students.

The COI said, however that, “Evidence was provided to show that a teacher may sometimes spend 15 minutes attending to an early entrant, while the class remained unsupervised.”
A further look into the system’s nursery level revealed that teachers must be managed in such a way that the number of charges per class does not exceed 15. The COI felt, too, that consideration should be given to ensuring that there is an active collaboration with the Ministry and Department of Health to facilitate eye, ears, and dental examination and a psychological assessment of each child in first-year nursery to facilitate early detection of learning barriers and difficulties.

On the academic front, the COI found that the nursery programme should focus mainly on numeracy, literacy, skills development and moral values, and that elements relating to social studies and science could also be taught. Arrangements should be made to ensure that the text books and student work books are made available from the beginning of the new school year since, many of the schools, it was revealed, only received books in 2017 for the academic term commencing September 2016. Up to four months ago, schools were yet to receive these books.

The COI recommended consideration for the review of nursery books to ensure better sequencing in lining both numeracy and literacy with the calendar of events the child may encounter. Outside of this, the production of standardised teaching aids and child-friendly classroom aids, should be considered. “Such could be centrally designed, produced and packaged. This will reduce the burden of teachers having to pay for materials out of their pockets.” This method will also ensure consistent delivery of the curriculum throughout the country, the report opined.

Where the nursery level feeding program is concerned, the education COI recommended a review of the standard biscuit and juice offered, since it is rejected by students. Poor storage also adds to the situation. “Many schools do not have adequate, secure and hygienic storage spaces and as such biscuits are given to children in bulk to overcome this challenge. It was reported that such action by head teachers is condemned by Education Officers who do not offer a viable solution,” the COI related. Some teachers have recommended a breakfast programme that include sandwiches.

The education COI also recommended early child involvement in extracurricular activities. “Consideration should be given for “Pee Wee” leagues for various sports to be set up to facilitate sport development from an early age,” to improve child development. The COI said that based on their investigations at least five regions need immediate assistance in reviewing its nursery programme.