Premature schoolification during early childhood hinders later academic success and productivity

As part of my day job as Professor of Education, recently I was privileged to visit children aged 2–4 years at an early childhood setting in England. Everywhere in the setting, the children were wholly absorbed in pursuits they had chosen. From animal role play to climbing, mud kitchen baking to painting, constructing castles to enjoying books, malleable play to wheeled toys, and much, much more, each child was ‘so involved in an activity that nothing else seemed to matter’: they were in a state of ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi Citation1990, 4). That ‘optimal experience’ of deep involvement demands a person’s full concentration whilst also making them creative and productive (Csikszentmihalyi Citation1990, 3). Moreover, Csikszentmihalyi (Citation1990, 4) observed that experiencing flow invokes ‘a sense of participation in determining the content of life – that comes as close to what is usually meant by happiness as anything else we can conceivably imagine’. The children were responding to provocations that their educators had provided with knowledge, skill and sensitivity to support the children’s learning. Yet the children were motivated to become deeply involved by the reward each activity afforded in and of itself, not by the learning it afforded, worthy though the learning goal may have been. That said, the children’s engagements were evidently purposeful, with many children taking the activities in new directions that they created and produced for themselves, revealing mastery and autonomy. Mastery, autonomy and purpose are recognised components of intrinsic motivation which is positively associated with growth and productivity (Becchetti, Castriota, and Tortia Citation2013; Pink Citation2009; Ryan and Deci Citation2018).