TOO OFTEN we focus on academic performance as the sole barometer of our children’s progress. But what young people do outside the classroom is crucially important for their development. How much time they spend playing, reading or being involved in sport plays a major role in helping them meet their full potential. This is why the findings of the latest instalment in the Growing Up in Ireland series, published last week, are so valuable.
The longitudinal study, based on interviews with more than 8,500 children, focuses on how recreation, home environment and the wider community are influencing learning among nine-year-olds. It findings indicate that children involved in cultural activities – such as music, drama and dance – and those who read for pleasure are likely to score well on reading and maths tests.
Not surprisingly, children who spend most of their spare time in unstructured activities such as watching television fare worst in test scores. However, at the other extreme, parents who overload their children with too many activities are not helping them as much as they believe. It shows that children in this “busy lives” category are often involved in too many activities that end up cancelling out some of the educational benefits. When broken down by social background, the results show that children from middle-class and highly educated families are much more involved in cultural activities than those from the most disadvantaged families.
We can draw a number of important lessons from these findings. For one, parents need to take responsibility for what their children do in their spare time. It’s not easy being a parent, juggling work and home life with raising a family. But promoting greater parental awareness on the benefits of activities outside school would assist many in doing the right thing.
Of course, it’s not always that simple. Recreation outside school often costs money. Many children from poorer backgrounds are losing out academically by not being able to access the same kind of activities as their more privileged peers. If unaddressed, this will widen what is already a wide chasm in achievement between children of different social classes.
The State, then, has a critical role to play. The need for access to safe play areas in neighbourhoods is something governments failed abysmally to prioritise during the housing boom. Overall, policy-makers should examine ways to ensure all children have access to the kind of out-of-school learning opportunities, regardless of their social background. International research consistently shows the considerable economic benefits that flow from investing in child development.
We need to do all that we can to promote quality childhoods. Supporting families in raising children, identifying the services needed and the information that will help mothers and fathers to be confident and secure parents will improve outcomes for the next generation. It is not simply in our economic interests to do so. It is also for the greater good of society, families and, most importantly, children themselves.