By Shohana Khan

‘They’ve not enjoyed it; I’ve not enjoyed it, but we’ve done it: and one thing my children know how to do is answer test questions…They can do test questions – they just haven’t had time to do anything else.’

An Assistant Primary Headteacher penned the above as part of her resignation letter. Exasperated with the fact that preparing for tests became all her pupils could do, she decided this was no longer an ‘education’ in her eyes.

Feelings, as expressed above, are not isolated. In the UK, there has been an increasing focus on testing within the primary curriculum as officials seek to ascertain better measure and compare how children learn. As a result, the national tests at the age of seven and eleven have become more challenging, requiring much more drill-based preparation. This type of testing has led to similar experiences as related above, where teachers’ main focus during class is train children to master content without leeway – squeezing out, the real essence of education during the primary years.

Whether it is the toddler exploring their environment or a child hunched over a puzzle for an entire afternoon – educationalists like John Holt and Maria Montessori who spent significant time observing children, would agree that children from birth, inherently love to learn, apply themselves and solve problems.

Children intrinsically have a sincere desire to learn about what interests them. This genuine desire pushes children to focus, engage and develop the thirst to keep learning. However, when testing takes centre stage in early school life, learning to regurgitate content becomes a process the children must submit to; hardly leaving room for creative and authentic expression. Children may be interested in learning topics which are not part of the curriculum, but educationists’ inability to cater for such ‘diversion’ illustrates our mechanical approach to teaching.

‘Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make him learn things, but by the endeavour always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.’ ― Maria Montessori

As parents and educators, if we pay no regard to what Montessori refers to as ‘light’, we may harm the child’s ability to learn truly. Child Psychologist Peter Gray, claims that when children have minimal control of their education, they take less interest and is potentially devastating; shaping a lifelong apathetic attitude towards learning.

David Attenborough, the renowned naturalist, started his biological quest digging up fossils on the beach as a boy. Pioneering inventor Thomas Edison’s achievements did not start from school tests, as the school expelled him – but from a mother who left him to pursue all that fixated him and intrigued him, at home. Despite his natural inquisitiveness, Albert Einstein was unhappy in school. He was known to be unwilling to comply with the work required by his teachers. Rigid schooling, therefore, held him back, instead of nurturing him achieve his intellectual potential. At the heart of the achievements of these geniuses, were their personal impetus to want to learn more. The key for them was keeping alive their purpose through self-nurturing which the schooling system mundanely and carelessly tried to put out.

As well as what they learn, Chief Creative Officer Than Khai Meng wrote in the Guardian how testing shapes the way children learn in schools. She concluded that even in subjects supposedly creative, the way they are taught means all that is taught is ‘conformity’. Exams exacerbate this training, as children enter a relentless zone of telling their educators what they want to hear, instead of what they want to, or have, learnt.

Testing, therefore, might have an adverse effect greater than might be perceived. John Taylor Gatto believes the process of testing makes children think that they cannot be trusted to conclude the worth of their learning, and some unknown adult must do this for them. Such an approach may unlock a sense of detachment in the child, as control of their learning journey is removed.

As Muslim parents and educators, it is our desire for the next generation to soar through their schooling and pass with distinction.
However, it is vital to recognise that the future of a believer rests on the foundations laid by parents and educators alike during their childhood. Faulty foundations will leave adults stumbling later in life risking their ability to navigate the Dunya and more importantly setting the path towards their Akhirah.

So to build depth of character, perseverance in seeking knowledge and striving for excellence in all they do, whether, in Deen or Dunya, we must understand the importance of nurturing the child in their formative years – as opposed to putting them solely through a mechanical production line without thought of its impact.

The Prophet SAW said:

‘Verily Allah loves excellence in all things’ (Muslim)

Let us endeavour to cultivate the light of intelligence with which they were born. Moreover, through the Grace of the Almighty, to nurture them into illuminating beacons of inspiration for them and those who are to receive their light.

• _{Our guest author hails from the UK. Our sister completed a Postgrad Diploma in Local Government Management at the University of Warwick in 2008 and is a writer, blogger and full-time mother of three.}

_References:

_{[1] https://piclinegirl.com/2016/05/14/sorry-nicky-im-out}

_{[1] http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2016/may/18/born-creative-educated-out-of-us-school-business}