Education and Artistic Expression

  Part 2 Blog by Ria Uiterloo   In part 1 of the blog, I shared the development 21 st Century (transversal skills) a necessity in educating children. Developing those skills in and after school through play is essential. If education is a holistic process, how do we help children to discover the real world? How do we help them to apply what they have learned, how to study, use their talents and uniqueness and how to express themselves? At the same time, I often ask myself “Isn’t it tactless as well as harmful and irresponsible to have children doing hours of homework after a full day of school?” Pasi Sahlberg & William Doyle [1] wrote and documented an excellent guide/book for all educators, parents, and policymakers to prove children's lifelong success. They have included accounts of the alarming proportions and stress on parents and children in educational systems that ignore the necessity of play. In an excerpt of the book of Pasi Sahlberg & William Doyle, LE

  Why focus on homework and not promote play? By Ria Uiterloo Parents and teachers often expect the child to be academically active during the day and continue this activity until after school hours. The tutoring and After-school homework programs for young children from primary schools that are being established on our small island St. Maarten are many and growing. Parents feel the need to enroll their children in those programs. Why? In a few articles, I would like to explore solutions that can benefit parents, lessen stress, and prevent suffocation for both children and parents. Homework is defined as tasks given by a teacher that is intended to be finished and carried out outside of school hours (Ramdass and Zimmerman, 2011). Typically, that is the straightforward way to view homework, where a teacher gives it to students to complete at home for practice on the subject of the work without the assistance of teachers to increase understanding and knowledge of the subject.