The Demands of Task Orientation at School for Young Children

Some years ago I received a verbal report from an educational psychologist, who observed a reception class in an infant school during the first day of school. He gave several instances of such stressful behavior after the parents had left, but just as the nurses in hospital do not notice the withdrawn behavior of small children in the hustle and bustle of life on a hospital ward, the infant teacher can easily miss similar behavior in the hurly-burly of an infant class.

The child does, of course, not only feel that his mother has left him, he also leaves his younger siblings at home, this can lead to intense jealousy which can be expressed in various ways; at home it might lead to sleeplessness or minor illnesses that prevent the child from going to school; at school he might appear inattentive and irritable.

The need to comply with the demands of the 'task orientation' at school is also very difficult for the young child. Of course he has to comply now and then with the wishes of his parents and siblings at home, but in school his activities are determined by the wishes of the teacher and the rules of the school most of the time. He has to begin and to finish whatever he is doing when the bell goes, he has to occupy himself with the tasks that the teacher suggests, be it reading, number work, hand-work, or listening to a story or doing PE. He has to line up before he goes to Assembly or to meals. He has to be silent on various occasions, and when he talks he must not talk too loudly so as not to disturb the other children. This demand to attend to activities, concentrate on learning matter and comply with the rules necessary for communal living are very important elements of education at all ages. Of course, the maturity of the pupils always taken into account, particularly with the very young child, but a certain degree of compulsion is unavoidable. Again there is no harm in this, and indeed it is a very important actor in the preparation for work in adult life. But again, if an individual child is forced too much, troublesome behavior will ensue. In this case, 'troublesome behavior' might be expressed by the child's unwillingness to learn, and it is very difficult for the teacher to distinguish this type of behavior from that of the child who does not progress on account of low intellectual ability.