Prep-Alert.org

Mr Welford and Mr Beattie please take Anna Bligh with you to spend a full day in one of your 2006 “phase-in” prep classes, away from the filtered air conditioning and into the tin and plywood reduced size latest demountable prep room. See how you manage in a converted primary classroom great distances away from toilets and non-existent playgrounds, non-fenced school grounds, without outdoor patio area or sandpits and see how you manage a group of 25 littlies without another adult to assist you fix nose bleeds, soiled pants, vomit on the carpet and behaviour management problems. Don’t look to your poor overloaded principals who have no skills or knowledge about this age group and the people who have the skills and knowledge are and have been ignored.

WHY are the politicians not able to share the truth with us and tell us all the issues teachers and teacher aides have with the prep year? Why are they gagged? Is it simply a cost-cutting exercise, free child care bringing in prep to replace the quality preschool program? Why did the department have to audit resources of one preschool centre to spread over up to four prep classes? Why did Mr Beattie break his promise from his last election TV campaign February 2004 when he said he was bringing in a fulltime preschool year? Isn’t there a law against false and misleading advertising? Prep can be nothing like preschool because of the resourcing yet it was sold to us this way a play-based programme?

The politicians must have forgotten when they recently said “there were no problems in the prep trials with the aide time”, forgotten that they were told by their advisors, the public at forums since 2002, the Minister’s reference group association members, data collectors, researchers and their own education staff that a “play-based” prep year is not successful without a full time teacher aide, the larger classroom space and sufficient resources for this age group.

Anne-Marie Boyle at a parent forum said she was amazed and surprised how well teachers were coping and managing without a aideand that they can still do their jobs better and properly. Does she mean that teachers haven’t been doing their job properly previously with a full time aide? Where is the data to show this to the public? Why didn’t they just give half day aide time to Year 1 teachers instead of mucking up a preschool programme that worked so well to prepare children for school?
Does the govt think teachers will do their best with only two days training in how to be a prep teacher? Are teacher aides trained or given the choice, tested for suitability to work with this age group? Are children from 2007 somehow smaller or different from those of the past 30 years and can cope without two adults to interact with them in a smaller classroom and with no playground?

Anna Bligh said “They’ll cope, we think the kids are up to it?” let’s see how resilient 4 year olds are in a school culture and unsupervised playgroun. She negotiated with the union and schools for additional hours to be taken from other classes in schools for the prep children and money from other projects within the system. That simply isn’t fair or good enough!
Why when the evidence is clear do the politicians not comply with the recommendations from the evaluation report that a full time aide is required? The QUT evaluation report http://education.qld.gov.au/etrf/pubs.html - Preparing for School: Report of the Queensland Preparing for School Trials 2003/04 states:-

“Given that the degree of satisfaction reported by principals…was lowest for teacher-aides time.” Why doesn’t the Department let the 98 or more state school prep teachers speak up and say how they are coping, compared to only 30 from the evaluation group? I think we all know what their answer would be!

Issues noted in the trial evaluation report:-
•substantial dissatisfaction with the facilities
•level of human resource support (teacher aides) to the program, and its application, impacts on children’s daily experience.
•professional development to teachers inadequate
•Principals stated: “Children get exhausted physically and mentally; fatigue and coping can be difficult….limited aide time is a major challenge (page 127)
•teachers make the difference (teachers highly experienced and trained in early childhood who are expected to give more, it’s their “good will” that makes things work, doing more with so much less. Will they keep up the same pace long term or they will burn out?
•children said: “Sometimes people bully us in the playground” (page 115) highlighting the importance of staff awareness of children’s safety and security at school entry.
•fewer than half the preparatory year teachers in the 39 trial schools trialed considered their aide time sufficient (page 131)
•support had to be gained from volunteers, teacher and teacher aide student trainees, parents
•the significant association between the Human and Material Resource Index….human resource, and the reduction of reported problems and progress in literacy attainment underscore the importance of teaching staff…higher levels of adult interactions…makes a difference.
•Page 85 onward shows the incidents and accidents that teachers had to cope with on their own at only three of the trial schools let alone the rest
•only the preschool teachers in the report stated that aide time was adequate to provide the curriculum and safety (Page 81)

Why did the trial and phase in teachers continue to struggle until 2007 with only 15 hours or less aide time a week even though the politicians were told it isn’t enough or working and were given the data to prove it?

Why hasn’t the teacher’s union fought for the full 30 hours required? Why hasn’t the parents and citizens group spoken up or the early chilhood teacher associations if teachers will be sacked for speaking up for the rights and needs of young children?

The Beattie govt will be known in history for ruining the best preschool system in Australia and remembered for bringing in a cheap prep program that has long term consequences for behaviour managment, stress and resilience skills in later schooling and adult life. I’d rather see a water tank for every building before a prep class in every school!

Hi … all i can say at present is that I gave my pricipal an email saying that the 15 hours was for face to face interaction.. her response was… I dont thinkso.. I am using some for playground duty. In actual fact I will get possible 11 hours of prep aide time… have fun with that one!!! I will regularly moniotr here and please feel free to email.

I have some serious concerns about the future health of my daughter, my family, the school and the wider community following our experiences at Prep yesterday.

While the classroom teacher was giving parents a run-down of how Prep would operate, my five-year-old daughter went to the nearby toilets. She came back calling out that there was no soap. I asked the teacher if we could place the pump soap which was in the Prep kitchen in the toilet area and she agreed. When we tried to turn on the tap over the handbasin, it instantly snapped back — such an effective water saving device that it is impossible to get any water out of the tap unless you hold it with one hand and wash the other. This will be an acquired skill for four-year-olds and is hardly a satisfactory situation. But wait…there’s more.

Shortly, the acting deputy principal arrived and told me I had no business taking the soap from the Prep room as “workplace health and safety” (does ‘health” come into this??) guidelines forbid children to wash their hands with soap because someone could slip on it. I don’t know about other parents, but I would rather risk a slip than the inevitable and spectacular vomiting/diarrhoea bug (or worse!) that will occur because children aren’t able to wash their hands after going to the toilet.

When I pointed out the potential for sickness to be spread through the classroom, and indeed the school and the wider community, our Deputy, an — an educated person by all accounts — told me that there was too much made of handwashing and that studies have found people are better off with a few germs as it builds their immunity. Perhaps, but do they have to get gastroenteritis? As far as I am concerned, washing hands after using the toilet is non negotiable. The Deputy went on to tell me that I shouldn’t have a problem with the less than ideal facilities as the children would be washing their hands before eating lunch! I pointed out they could spread (and ingest) a lot of germs between going to the toilet, going back to the classroom where everything is shared — including eColi — and waiting to wash their hands before eating lunch.

I have just spent three years drumming into my daughter that after going to the tpoilet she has to wash her hands under running water with soap, and now the Deputy Principal, who should know better, says it’s really not that important. The Acting Principal, who at least listened to what I had to say, said the toilets were a standard issue across the State. Great! Should we be looking forward to a statewide outbreak of disease because Prep children (who probably more than anyone need to take care to wash hands) can’t access soap and proper running water to wash their hands after going to the toilet? Dare I hope that the teachers who are so dismissive of my concerns catch the inevitable ‘bug’ when the rest of us do? This issue has the potential to affect (or should that be infect?) a lot of people.

I wonder if anyone from Queensland Health would be remotely interested in my concerns.

So exciting to have money pumped into the eary childhood sector- unfortunate however that the funds have been used inappropriately to build less than adeqaute classrooms and play spaces, and particularly to not allocate funds for full time teacher aides in each prep class. Human resources are the most important learning resource for children- to provide only 15 hours of aide time means teachers are stressed and children inadequately supervised for half of the day.
In my prep class we have a ‘runner’- a child who continually tries to leave the classroom. Luckily the aide has been able to track this child continually. It will be a different story when the aide leaves at lunchtime- how is the teacher going to stop this ‘runner’ on her own when taking a group time or ferrying children to the toilet each afternoon. When the teacher is running up the road after this child, who will be with the other 24 children? What a sad prediciament to place young children in who clearly still require more not less adult support.

week 1 of prep. My aide and I have spent most of our time toileting children rather than teaching. Activities are frequently interrupted for an excursion to the toilet.
This becomes an even greater problem when the aide leaves, because the whole class then has to come to the toilet as well.
I’m still trying to figure out when I have time to discuss and plan with my aide - she is there for such a short period and this is children’s time.

My daughter is repeating to do prep, and is in a dual prep placement with a speacial school. I am worried that she will go backwards, I am worried that my husband and I have made a terrible mistake. This year all prep children are in the younger age bracket, a full time teacher aide is a must, or a least for the first 6 months. Next year the teachers will have children older and they won’t be so drained.

I too have just survived my first week and a half of prep. I am lucky in one way in that I am in an old ed qld preschool building so I still have the veranda and the toilets! But I do hear your concerns. My biggest problem has been the lack of aide time and the copius amount of work now placed on teachers. I currently get to school at 7.00am and don’t leave till 4.45 at the earliest! I do this as I need to set up all my indoor space, then take all the art gear and cups etc and set them up on the veranda. Then I have to set up the swings, rake the sandpit and place out suitable toys and thats all before I even begin to set up the obstacle course!

Not only that but throughout the day transitions are sooooo long without someone there to help. I also have a little boy who runs out of the room. When my aide isn’t there I have no way of following him or ensuring his safety. Toileting accidents are also impossible. How do you watch and entertain 23 children while helping one with toileting! And somewhere in all this we are supposed to educate these kids!

The afternoon session is hell! Getting 25 pairs of shoes and socks on and packing up all the equipment before parent pick up is also a challenge when your by yourself with 25 4 year olds.

It’s such a shame the ed qld always seems to short change children. Prep has the potential of being fantastic for our little ones, but it’s not going to reach it if we are given facilities and resources that don’t make the grade!

Firstly, thank-you to all for leaving your comments and anecdotes about prep. We thought we would bring you up to date with other Information that we have had come through on our prep-alert hotmail address and via phone conversations. Let me assure you, that your experiences are not unique.
There are children running out of prep rooms everywhere. When aide are not there, the teacher has the terrible choice of chasing and leaving the other 24 or so alone or delaying the chase whilst waiting for help to arrive.
Toileting is a huge issue, taking up so much of the day and interrupting active learning. Let alone the increase in toileting accidents that are occurring because the toilets are too far away, or children are being asked to “hold On” whilst a buddy is found and toilet cards are issued, or all the others that need to go are rounded up for the aide to take (when an aide is there) or the teacher takes the whole class, when the aide isn’t there.
In the last two days we have had more reports of Principals holding on to some hours of allocated prep aide time for use elsewhere other than prep.
We have been told of schools that have only 1 teacher supervising large numbers of children (50-100) in the playground at lunchtime. A lot of times the number contains older grades as well as preps, and the teacher is not known by the children. How can this possibly be called adequate supervision for such young children?
How can one adult facilitate children’s interaction, assist them to develop their social skills and prevent bullying with such a large group. This isn’t preparing children for school - this is throwing 4 year olds into a playground situation that Grade 1 children often can’t cope with.
In most cases, this lunchtime rabble is being labeled as the outdoor play component of the curriculum!
We have spoken to one upset parent whose prep child (in a P / 1 composite class) is sitting at a desk for the majority of the day and is already bringing home worksheets.
P /1 classes receive even less aide time because they have less prep children in them eg. 10 or less preps in a class of 25 will be allocated only 5 hours of aide time/ week.

Many parents are unaware of what is actually happening from 9-3. Please ask your child’s teacher about the routines of the day and the amount of aide time the class is receiving, and what happens at break times.

Our 4 year olds have never been put into such an inadequate enviroment before.
Anything less than full time teacher aides in prep is putting the safety and well-being of our children at risk.

I was prep trained for the advent of the year and was looking forward to the new challenge however, things were not quite as Qld Education said!
I am involved with a prep/yr1 group, things were bedlum from day one. The teacher is run off her feet, putting in long hours trying to everything. I’m only there for 4 hrs( soon to be cut) 4 days a week and when I reluctantly leave the teaching just stops as she is alone to manage toilet issues, sobbing preps and yr1’s, plus then after they go she must clean up & put everything away. The only time some learning is achieved, is when we separate the prep/yr1 class. We are both putting in many extra hours to get class activities ready. Our breaks are usually filled with putting on shoes, finding hats getting ready for their lunch breaks. When the bell goes hoping all the children will return for class. Many at time we have to go and find absentees.The quality of care and teaching plus class discipline is really suffering.

(I have run my Preschool program for the last 2 years using the curriculum - and it was exciting and fantasitic!).
I loved the idea of Prep - and the curriculum side of it - but the support, safety, quality and practice seems to be far from this.
I feel very disillusioned with it all.
I feel as though I am not there for the children anymore (which is why I started my career in teaching 16 years ago)…it all seems to be politically driven now!
Mr Beattie - in your smart state - where has the quality in education gone, the care factor for our young children (our future!!) some of them are still only 4 years old and desperately need that support to successfully adjust to ‘life’ at school. The quality without teacher aide support is just not there anymore. During a ‘play’ situation where great learning is taking place… the teacher aide has to get up and leave… the learing journey does a nose dive… is that your idea of quality Mr Beattie…. and the need to establish sound social skills of ’some’ standard just can’t be followed through with one teacher on duty with fifty or more children… where is this going to lead in the future - society is getting bad now - what is it going to be like in the future with this happening to our young children now - no social skill support at the early stages of schooling - Mr Beattie - have you thought of that!
… and also the safety side of Prep… try running a ’smart’ early years program on your own, with children going out of the classroom off to the toilet, a child running out of the room in tears, others holding onto you sobbing and behaviour issues to deal with all at once - and on your own - give it a go Mr Beattie - I would love to see how you cope!!
don’t forget all the great stuff that happened in our Preschools - why was it great - because the support was there and the environment was condusive to learning in the early years and catered for children at this developmental level - just what lifelong learning is all about - but now—– are we setting our children up for lifelong failure.
and so much for the quality partnerships encouraged in the curriculum - how do you establish a partnership with someone you never see???
I have never felt so dissillusioned and stressed in all of my years of teaching - from day one I have felt like resigning!

I’d like to say..
that I’m very happy to see that I’m not the only person that can see what my mother has to go through for Prep…and at the end of the day the result is nothing, apart from a glass of wine and the thoughts of a great nights sleep could do, which, of course never happens!
How can you change the name of a class and think it will work out for the best, when there’s no funding, no support and all the preparation for the classes is done in the teacher’s own time, away from work.
I don’t see what was wrong with “preschool”. How many children went through it? Your parents, your parent’s parents, and blah blah blah. Why change now? Is it just something that the department thought they could F**K around with like they do with every thing else.
Now because of lack of children at the school, Year 1 has now been shovelled onto my mother’s plate! What does that say about the department and their caring attitude towards their hard working staff? REALLY??????
I feel as if I’ve been cut out with my time with my mother since Prep has started. Hard working days and hard working nights and weekends is too much. Something needs to be done, and done now. It’s the first term and it’s not looking to good boys.
Get out of your glass towers and come down and see what reality is all about. Come out to my Mum’s school and deal with the tantrums, pooey pants, vomitting, crying … not to mention the runaway …. BY YOURSELF! Who is accountable?
Hope that’s not my mother???
There are a lot of people who feel the same way. It is not just our community. It is across Queensland.
What is the State Government going to do to rectify this mistake that THEY have made?
Would like to think the department cares enough to read these comments and actually do something about them!!
There’s a lot more to come.

I have taught in the early childhood area for 28yrs, & have never felt so disgusted and ashamed of how we are trying to do “more with less!,” in our so called “smart” state.It should be about kids, but alas, it’s all about politics & money!
Some things that have happened so far:- other primary teachers who do playground duty in the prep playground being horrified by such unsafe conditions(some who have prep-age children next yr, vowing never to send them to a state school prep); teacher-aides who have never worked with young children, & have actually stated they don’t want to, being made to work with us, as we try in vain to deliver a quality, play-based curriculum, while other teacher-aides who have a proven track record in the early childhood field, have been overlooked, when the so-called “maximisation” of hours occurred; & my experience of prep each day so far, is nothing like the rosy picture painted in the prep trial results! Each day is just a case of “survival” at the moment….so much for enjoying my last few years of my teaching career! I fear for the future of young children in Queensland!

My child’s teacher and part-time aide are stressed trying to do everything with practically nothing. They both have been absent (stress? sickness? No doubt from being overworked and in extremely taxing situations) leaving the class with non-prep trained or experienced staff members. There have also been issues of inadequate supervision at lunch time - who will stop predators from waltzing in and taking or harming any children when the child’s absence is not even noticed after 20 or so minutes? I know a number of parents are simply keeping their kids home. I know I have been tempted to but I don’t have the ability to do so as my own livelihood would be affected. The lack of proper supervision is an absolute disgrace and I fear an abduction will occur before the Beattie government provides appropriate supervision.

Hello All
My name is Kate and I am the Grnadmother who talked to Madonna King on the radio.
I have written what has happened below.

My Grandson is starting to get bored now.
Regards
Kate

A summary of my story

1. My Grandson who has just turned 5 this month can only attend his prep class for two hours a day 8 30 to 10
30. We were told this because
1 The teachers aide is only there for three hours a day and as my
grandson’s “behaviour” is not what the school accepts hence the two hour
limit

2 We were told to take him home, get him to stay in his uniform and when his
behaviour improves he can come back for increased hours. If he doesn’t
improve they can suspend him. Actually the principal said to me We are not
babysitters and you have to sort out his behaviour

3 He learns nothing at home. He does work writing etc but he is not learning
to be “good” at school. He is not socialising. Yesterday he said to me “Why cant I stay at school I
have been good”. I had to say to him in a nice way yes you have been but you
have to try harder! He thinks he is trying hard as he can !

4 His mother is a single parent who has now given up her full time job so
she will now be on welfare

5 His hours have increased to 8 30 to 11. 15. He comes home and now after
about 10 days we are seeing he’s starting to get bored so we take him to the
Museum and the library !

6 I have written to the State Member for Springwood Barbara Stone and
awaiting to hear from her

It was with some relief, but also horror when I read all the comments on Prep Alert. After some 4 weeks of teaching Prep, I was so extremely stressed, that I could neither eat or sleep!

I was so excited about Prep, but after the first few days I started to realize that without a full time aide it was not gloing to work!!

The group of Prep students includes 5 children with special needs and extreme behavioural problems. I have a student with special needs who has a facination with water and runs away as soon as we go outdoors - he goes looking for taps and turns them on. Without an aide it is very difficult! There are 2 children with many behavioural challenges - they are aggressive, disruptive, they often sqeal, and generally are non-compliant and they require explicit support to interact appropriately with their peers. Again, it’s very difficult to be consistant with behaviour management strategies when the aide is not there!! These 2 students frequently run away - do I leave the whole group or chase after them?? (The prep area is not fenced and they can unlock the doors.)
Another student frequently wets her pants and requires assistance to clean up. Yet another student has a disability and requires much support and scaffolding with all learning areas.

There is an aide for only 15 hours a week, and the mostly 4 year olds desperately require more support. I feel so very sorry for the children who are trying so hard but are not getting the attention they deserve!

Then of course we have to make sure we are taking lots of digitial photos of the children’s learning and play episodes so we have material and observations to put in the student’s portfolios!! I have taught Preschool for 10 years and enjoyed it emmensely even though there were some challenges along the way - but I have never been so stressed. I too am disallusioned with the lack of support - and some of us are going to burn out. Most importantly, I also fear for the future of young children in Queensland!!

I am saddened to read so many of the contributions to this site. My eldest will be ready for Prep in 2008, but I’m not convinced that it’s the best option for her (or any other 4 or 5 year olds). Who is going to vouch for her safety, let alone any learning outcomes? I have no doubt that the existing staff are doing their very best with the resources that they have, but I’m angry that the government has so little regard for our youngsters. How many of our MPs have children who will be participating in Prep now or in the forseeable future?

We keep hearing about how much money the government has, but there is never enough to spend on the essentials. Or is it all a strategy to get families to choose non-government schools?

Thank you for the establishment of this site - it’s an invaluable resource for parents. Keep the pressure on - it’s the only way to achieve change.

After reading the problems prep year children are currently facing I am almost positive that without proper facilities such as child appropriate play area, fencing, proper toilet facilities,etc might be in breach of workplace health and safety regulations. The chances also of a breach of duty of care is high in some of these circumstances. Has anyone looked into OHS laws to see if the schools comply? Are your kids actually safe at these schools designed for older students? cms.

I was listening to 612am this afternoon and heard Kelly Higgins-Devine interview Maddona Sharp (Prep-Alert) about the bullying culture that exists in the leadership levels in EQ schools. She was referring to an email sent by Pat Henan (Executive Director of Schools) asking principals to ‘manage’ the P&C’s in relation to ‘agitation around prep’.

I am so glad that there has finally been some media coverage regarding the way that EQ is trying to cover up the real picture about what is going on in our prep classes. TEacher and principals seem to be silenced about their concerns.

I was however dismayed as I continued to listen to the program only to hear a year one teacher that rang up complaining that they only get 2 and half hours a week and why should prep be any different.

Firstly Prep is very different. The mandated curriculum for Prep children is a developmentally appropriate ‘play based curriculum’, which is very different to the more formalised learning in Year One. For this style of ‘play based’ curriculum to be successfully implemented it requires a lot of child-adult interaction and negotiation. This cannot happen when there is a ratio of one adult to 25+ children. Hence the need for full-time aides to decrease this ratio to 1:15 and improve learning outcomes (as proven in government’s own Prep Trial Report).

Secondly, the aim of Prep is to PREPARE children for school. To transition 4 and a half to 5 and half year old children into a learning environment (a primary school) more than one adult is necessary to ensure they are safe. After all, it is the responsility of the Prep teacher to prepare them in such a way that they are ready for Year 1. I don’t know about you but the last time I checked, 4-5 year olds need help with getting to the toilet, getting back from the toilet,learning to play in the playground with hoards of 6,7 & 8 year olds, learning to sit and listen, learning to follow instructions, learning to actually stay in the school grounds etc. How can one adult on their own be expected to do this job well.

Prep classrooms need full-time aides!!!!!

To grandma Joyce above I feel for you but from experiences I have witnessed many state schools are notorious for this management of special needs students and those who don’t conform immediately (that’s adults and normal children included) They simply don’t have funding to a)train staff b)support staff with trained teacher aides and they take SO long to diagnose because the Govt had put in so many papers and meetings with specialist GOs and teachers that the prep children NEVER get seen to before the end of the year and the poor teacher and parents and children of the group suffer the consequences alone to support the child who has difficulties.

I know of a few northside schools where special needs and children with behaviours are still not seen for help in Year 1 burning out yet more teachers.

I know of a prep child who coped well when there was an adult 1 to 1 with him half the day but then the rest of the prep group missed out on two adult interactions and there was no extra as Minister Welford quoted in May last year on the ABC radio - it’s a lie or isn’t he informed of the horrors that actually happen in his schools?

The child used to have to go home at 12 every day too until they got him a special school placement two days a week that met his needs beautifully. Now I hear on the grapevine his parents have to pick him up at 12 again but he’s in Year 1, surely that isn’t permitted?

It’s outrageous that the quality we had in preschool has gone because they probably whitewashed the report to try and trick us into a false sense of security about prep. It didn’t work we are intelligent parents who know what was and what should be and what will be when they come to their senses.

Now I read they still try to hide any discussion we parents may seek with them where’s democracy in Queensland? Silly silly.
http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/story/0,,21444858-3102,00.html

I am a prep teacher and must say how impressed I have been with our 2 classes of students this year. It is always good to reflect as a professional, and a parent. With one term under our belt we can really have a good look at how prep has gone. Is it perfect, no - it is in its first year of full rollout. I am a bit dissapointed not to see any positive comments on this site, as while there are issues that need to be closely looked at there are positives as well.

Am I tired, you bet. Do I think there needs to be more aide time, most certainly. But I am a realist and know that most of what happens in education from a government point of view is more to do with avaliable funding than anything else.

In the Early Childhood network meetings I attended last year we had doubts about a lot of things including toileting, length of the day, aide support and the big playground. To our surprise (at my school), and delight, it has gone quite smoothly. We have had only 2 toileting accidents, we do not do class toilet visits, children go in pairs to our school toilet block which is about 30 - 40 mtrs from our new small prep boxes, and we make sure they go every break time. We had high expectations and the children have risen to it. Our children are varied in behaviour with one ASD, immaturity (and i don’t just mean normal 4-5 year old behavious, I have one who spits at me, stamps their feet and whines like a 2 year old!) plus other mixes. And we cope with the fantastic support of our admin and specialist teachers.

I am forced to have almost a quarter of my aide time outside class contact hours. It is good for set up and pack up, but does naturally effect the program I am able to have. I work my timetable around this and plan my whole group times for when my aide is not with me. It works well now we have got into a routine and the students know what to expect. Sometimes as teachers we try to do too much, fit as much learning as possible into every minute of the day and it is not always possible or necessary. To me this is where a lot of stress for teachers and, as a result the students, comes from, we can only do so much with our given resources.

Our school also decided to have prep like any other year in regards to break time. They could go anywhere in the school and share the oval and their prep playground with years 1-7. We buddied them up with year 7 students who supported them in the first few weeks and now continue to assist them in the wider school. Again, we had the expectation and they rose to it. The students are also coping well with 5 days a week. I have one family who has changed their dinner routines so they can get their Preppy (middle child of 3) to bed earlier, and some who made other small adjustments as well. We have a rest time, and despite being told by some parents that their child will not lie down and rest … they all do! Some sleep, others lie and rest.

For the lady who wrote about hand washing, we don’t have soap in our school toilets most of the time either. There is soap at the beginning of most days then it disappears by morning break or we find it smeared over walls! What we do instead is use our basin outside prep and have it with soapy water for hand washing. Not the ideal solution but better than nothing. I am not defending schools on this issue, just consider the cost of replacing soap 2-3 times a day, every day because of misuse by children. In classrooms it is the teachers who generally pay for such items out of their own pockets, it is not allowed for in class budgets.

QSA states there is no expectancy for prep students to be able to read and write, so the previous person whose school had a set of expectations needs to direct them to the curriculum writers. There shouldn’t be space for EVERY child to sit at a desk either, it is a play based program. The program should be negotiated with students and follow their interests, and the teacher guides and extends their learning through these play situations. It is interesting that QSA is introducing play based learning into grades 1-3 as well, so Prep students will be able to flow more easily into the more formal system rather than go from Prep to desks and a whiteboard.

My personal aim is that if my students leave each day with a smile on their face and they are wanting to come back to school the next day, week and year, then I have achieved! In all honesty (as most learning theories and developmental statistics will tell you) most young children develop at their own pace and will learn the basics naturally, all they need is positive support and guidance in their learning journey. We all would like a bright child who can read and write before grade 1, but isn’t it more important that they want to learn, they want to be at school and they are willing to have a go themselves.

I hope this shows some of the positives in Prep. I don’t belive my experience is the only positive one out there or my school is out of the ordinary. At the network meetings I have attended this term there are many positives being discussed. We do need to continue to push the powers that be for more aide time and on other issues. We need to also remember that children are capable learners and if Prep is the play based program that it is supposed to be then they will thrive. Having high and realistic expectations (at home and school) can make a big difference.

the children and I can cope with the lack of full-time Aide, the distance from the main campus, not being on-line etc……but in a play-based environ, how do we cope with the bells?!! As soon as the children get into a play situation where valuable social, language learnig and active learning begins…the bell goes and I have to run off to do a duty and they must stop and eat socialize with another batch of children not related to the in-depth play they were involved in! the children need flexibility in their schedules to facilitate the play.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!I am a prep teacher and we need a full time teacher aide for the programme to be successful.The needs and individual differences of the children can only be catered for with two trained adults in the room. I have had a child climb the fence and run away across the road on three occasions, and each time the teacher was by herself. Not a very nice situation to be in!!!!!!!!! Behaviour of chn. is very demanding, and overall the teachers are finding themselves in situations that are very extremely demanding and taxing ….the language and physical abuse that we encounter seems to increase every year, indicating a decline in parenting skills and expectations that it is always some body elses problem, not their own. We need more money injected into early childhood education, as the needs of the children are only increasing due to a deterioration of parenting skills.

I have been working as a Teacher Aide for 17 years in Preschool. I have a wealth of experience working with a variety of Teachers, Preschoolers and their families. In my 17 years I have worked in some extremely varied environments. I have qualifications and a proven track record in early childhood.
I love my job but I am very sad, stressed,burnt out, disollusioned and thoroughly disgusted at what is expected of our precious children in Prep and the undue stress and pressure put on Teachers and Aides. I too was excited and looking forward to a new challenge after the Teacher Aide Prep Inservice. But after one term of Prep sadly, I have resigned! To begin with my hours were cut from 30 to 10 per week. The Prep Teacher had to share myself and another Aide who worked up in the school for 1 day and in Prep 2 days. The Teacher then had 1 day without an aide at all. We were all pushed to our limit to get everything done to make the transition through the week as easy as possible. Together we worked many hours in our own time to organise, and re organise to make it all work. Not to mention the children,with all the same anxieties, behaviour & developmental challenges, hygiene & toileting issues and special needs that come with 4 and 5 year olds. It was the most awful kind of constant stress to do all that was required to support the Teacher and still be able to support the children and their needs in the best way possible. Horrible, absolutely horrible. I would have to agree without a doubt that the children in Prep in 2007 have certainly been short changed badly by our Government.

The only answer is to vote out the government no matter how bad the opposition looks, they might surprise us and rise to the occassion, at least they promised full time aides.

I see parents voting with their feet right into the private schools for full time aides, child-paced and friendly, caring practices and resources in bright, cheerful classrooms and safe playgrounds.

I have mixed feeling reading the blogs tonight. I amso glad that I am not alone in my concerns for Aide Hours and supervision but so sad that so many parents feel the same and so many Teachers are put under so much stress. I have worked in Early Childhood for 10 years before having my own children and find it appalling that the ratio is no longer applicable as they are in a school environement. It matters more as they are now the babies of the playground and need to be watched. Would you leave one adult to host a child’s birthday party in the park with 30 kids. I think not but that is what we are asking of our our most valuable resource…OUR TEACHERS. God bless them. I know what a releif it is sometimes to be at the end of the day with one 5 year old….I can only imagine how exhausted the teachers must be. Yet again society has come dowm to money and cents with funding aide hours and children and teachers needs are coming a very dismal second. Speak up and lets get our voices heard.

Hi Kate
Don’t speak too fast about full time in Year 1, some principals, under school-based decision making, have decided that Year 1 students should only attend until big lunch.Due to the child’s special needs some principals state the school wants the child’s experience to remain positive and with only being funded for aide time in the mornings, they can cover morning tea for supervision and interaction. Lunch time is too hard to supervise 1 to 1 for a teacher with the rest of the school in an area and an expense especially for little schools. So it’s easier to send the child home if there isn’t a special ed unit at the school. You’d better write to the Premier now to get this one sorted or call 4BC radio afternoons - they helped sort out the aide time for a little girl with brittle bone syndrome. It’s a tough call for all to keep others safe, help everyone learn, especially the child with difficulties to shape their behaviours while not missing out the others. I wish you every success getting assistance for your grandson in prep and beyond.

What a surprise!….. my prep child’s teacher resigned weeks ago and now the teacher aide, too, is resigning. These resignations are entirely predictable as prep staff are stretched too thinly and decide the stress is unbearable. (Or perhaps they are like rats abandoning a sinking ship in fear of litigation from parents of injured children………)

Our government needs to do something URGENTLY. The situation is shameful! What an irony it is to be called ‘the smart state’.

Shame on you both Premier Beattie and Mr Welford.

As the husband of a Prep teacher I regularly get to see my wife come home feeling very tired and stressed (sometimes to the point of tears) because of a lack of resources for Prep and an admin that refuses to support her and her Prep colleagues. She has said to me many times that she no longer finds teaching a pleasure and for the first time in her career she dreads going to school. It has gotten to the point that she is seriously considering quitting teaching.

How is it better for the children when they are at school a lot longer and without a full time teacher aide? Any parent and teacher can appreciate that children are tired at the end of the day and subsequently behave like tired children which makes it trying time for the teacher.

Then there is the issue of safety which was recently highlighted when my Wife had to evacuate her entire prep class due to the builders at her school accidentally setting fire to some building materials located near the door to her class room. It was only by sheer luck that she had a number of parents in the room at the time to assist the evacuation. How is a single teacher expected to evacuate 25 very young and frightened children safely and efficiently??

One of her friends who teaches prep at another school is expected to escort her Prep class across a busy road on her own (no aide or other teachers to assist) in order to attend assembly.

If something is not done soon then I strongly believe that there will be very few Prep teachers left to teach future generations. Some very good talent is at a high risk of being lost forever.

I am a prep teacher of a straight prep class with 22 children (16 boys 7 girls) 3 special needs children and 5 with speech and language issues. I was previously a preschool teacher and found so much joy in teaching 4/5 year old children. Every day was wonderful to see them grow, learn, laugh and play. Prep this year has been a hugh challege, we have had our teacher aide hours cut like everyone else and have tried to work around these changes, though have found this increasingly more and more difficult. One of the biggest issues other than teacher aide time is that of the lack of interviews with parents at the start of the year. Our children started day one without me knowing more than their names (no parents names, medical, persoanlity and language issues). In my own time I had to organise to have interviews with parents to give them an opportunity to have a discussion with me about their child. The other issue I have is that of special needs children (who are wonderful members of our class) not accessing EIDP classes Prep teachers are now expected to cope with them full time in their classrooms with no additional aide time. It is the just below average children I feel for the most. With the phasing out of reading recovery there is now no one concentrating on these children. Special needs children are catered for, bright children are catered for but those who don’t fall into any designated box get no additional support. If our prep teachers and teacher aides are not supported you will find a declining number of experienced teachers working in the early years. What a shame that will be with all the money the government has just spent on advertisments about how wonderful “experience” is in the workplace.

I am so disappointed with Prep & hardly know where to begin listing my concerns. My eldest child (son) started prep this year in a small country state school. He was so looking forward to it after having a wonderful experience with a C&K pre-prep program last year. It only took 3 days for him to change his mind, saying school was “weird”. Why wouldn’t it be - in the second week they were sent to different rooms for music, religion, sport - all with different teachers. They had to have a buddy to go to the toilet (probably 20 meters away). Parents weren’t even encouraged to go into the classroom & spend any time in there - we had to wait till the bell rang before the kids could enter the room - then say our goodbyes & out we went. I know this is not how it is in every school, but it is here. By the 3rd week the teacher was sending them outside to us at pick up time & parents rarely enter the room. We have not had a meeting, not been given information about what or how the kids are learning, not even been given a schedule of what the kids do each day of the week! By the end of my son’s 2nd week he was screaming, kicking & punching me whilst begging not to take him to “that school”. He is past that now, but is still anxious about going, to the point where he doesn’t want to go to sleep at night so he doesn’t have to wake up to go to school. On May 17th the teacher rang me to say my son had left school & started to walk home. It was at the end of lunch, & somehow he managed to walk from the playground to his classroom where he got his bag, back past the office to the front gate, & at least 200mtrs down the road (main road) before anyone got to him. Apparently another student (older) had followed him to the gate & pushed him out. No wonder school feels weird - this is far from his safe & secure environment at pre-prep. They are still such little people, yet the focus seems to be on fitting them in with the rest of the school & making them grow up faster than they need. The school has all year to prepare them for year one - no need to start in the first term! And of what benefit is it if the kids are not enjoying the experience.

Update on my son’s settling in…we have taken him out of the school and placed him in a nearby community school whose philosophy is child initiated learning. Whilst this is not for everyone, my son has totally settled in and the anxiety has gone. We are watching him learn with such excitement and grow in confidence/self esteem - the things that were previously being chipped away at! I am so thankful I had another alternative.

our middle son will start prep tomorrow . he will be five in feb.i will send him because i have to not because i want to. this lovely articulate little boy will spend five full days a week with people he does not know.How is this right. if he was in preschool it would only be three shorter days a week. why is the no flexability in the system. for the working parent maybe this is a cheaper option to day care but for those mums out there like me who are fortunate enough to not have tp work why should i HAVE to give my very young child to the system prematurely. i firmly believe that we should have the option of part or full time. this would ease the strain on teachers and budgets. there seems to be no emphasis put on the value of growing up at home. the time spent at home with parents and siblings is SO important,especially to young children. our othr son did the kindy pre school and then yr one thing and does brilliantly at school both socially and academicaly.those five years spent mostly at home have proven to have benefitted him more than anything. children need to be raised by their families not schools. the point i am trying to make {its v late} is that it should be up to the parent to decide when our kids are ready for school.sure some kids are better off at school than at home but making it compulsory is only catering to the lowest common denominator. not fair to all of us who actually enjoy our little ones and treasure our time with them. as for me i will be sending him to a private prep and will only send him three days, the other two will be spent with me doing what all normal little children should be doing loving learning and playing and enjoying his little life before grade one. if the system wants to have a problem with this let them, he will miss out on nothing and will do better next year because he will have had a HEALTHY BALANCE of formal and informal learning. Heres something the so called smart state may not know some of us mothers actually know what is best for our children. goodnight.

I am a full time Prep teacher and have been teaching for around 20 years. One of my friends yesterday asked me how I was enjoying Prep and I told her that I hated it. I was quite shocked that those words came out of my mouth as I’ve never felt like that before about any year level that I have taught both here and overseas. I work with Sheree Holden who previously posted a comment. I feel unable to cope most days because of the number of children that I have (29). Like Sheree said, it’s now nearly half a term gone and the school and Education QLD still haven’t been able to form another class to alleviate us of the extra children. The biggest problem is that we’ve become attached to the children and know the parents so choosing who stays and who goes has been an agonising decision and one that has been completely left with us alone to deal with. We have had little support on this matter. Add to