What to look for in an excellent early years school

How do you know that your child is attending an excellent school? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and most of us will agree that a thought-provoking image can be extremely powerful.

You can gain a wealth of information about what your child's school values and believes about the role of the learner, through the displays and classroom setup.

The following may serve as a guide to understanding what the students are learning about and how their thinking, theories and knowledge are made visual.

Whose work is on display? An excellent school will display a child's work in all its developmental splendor. Displaying children's work shows them that we value their learning, and provides positive feedback and feelings of success.

Each piece should look as unique as the child who created it, because children come with diverse experiences, skills and knowledge. Since the child is the learner, the display will show what they have explored and discovered. The teacher's hand should be almost invisible, except as the facilitator of the display.

What does a display tell me about a child's development? An excellent school will ensure that its displays document the process that children go through.

Over the last 20 years, educators have come to the realization that the process (the stages that students take in learning about an idea) is much more important than the final product.

The product is like the tip of the iceberg. It is the bit we see, but, like the iceberg, the biggest part of the learning has traditionally been the things we don't see. Documentation may include video footage, photos, typed conversations, models and samples of work collected at different stages in the process.

How is the classroom set up so that it caters for students' talents? Not all children experience learning identically; children are creative in diverse ways. For example, they may be artistic, scientific or mathematical thinkers. An excellent school provides opportunities for working on various tasks at different centers in the classroom. For instance, one child is working in the music center on a song about the people in his family, while another child is at the art center building a model of her house and family. Each center allows the child to use their talents and strengths to produce work that voices their theories.

How does the program cater for differences in ability? Children develop at their own pace and teachers ask reflective questions that prompt children to consider why they have come to a certain conclusion.

Experiences, natural aptitude and personality affect how and when children learn. In an excellent school, the program will be individualized as much as possible, so that students achieve these developmental stages when they are ready, be that earlier or later or right on target for their age group.

In the long run, it does not matter whether one learned to read at age four or seven. What does matter is that learning to read is an enjoyable experience that becomes a life-long habit.

Who is involved in the planning process? As they work, children discuss their ideas and build understanding. Listening to this talk informs the teacher, and determines which tasks and challenges need to be provided next, in order to continue with relevant learning. An excellent school will provide an opportunity for students to engage with each other and discuss the previous day's work.

Feedback is valuable and necessary for success and promotes the next part of the learning process for a child. A shared agenda nearby is a valuable tool for students and teachers on which to add ideas as they happen.

In an excellent school, there is evidence everywhere that your child is being engaged in purposeful work, and is valued as a learner and individual. The displays and classrooms are engaging, informative and child-centered.

In this environment, children learn to think for themselves, develop their own ideas and then test them. This produces a creative, independent, life-long learner who is less reliant upon others for "the answer". If you see the above happening, then your child is in a great early years school and their potential is being reached every day.

The writers are on the early childhood faculty team at Jakarta World Academy