Most children can do certain actions by a certain age. These are known as developmental milestones.
Academic milestones are specific skills learnt in each grade at school.
Developmental milestones
Children all develop at their own pace. However, most children are at about the same age as they reach particular milestones.
The study and classification of early childhood development has a long and rich history. It began in the late 1800’s, and flourished in the early twentieth century. Arnold Gesell is credited with the first large-scale detailed study of children’s behaviour. His research confirmed the order and average age by which particular developmental milestones should be reached.
Studies have continued to this day. They extend beyond the early stages of development. There are even theories and categories that focus on adolescence into early adulthood.
The Center for Disease Control Prevention website has helpful articles for each age. They even make suggestions for parents based on the milestones their children should reach at each stage of development.
If you would like to do a deeper dive into this topic there are resources available. The National Academic Press has free resources. These include downloadable pdfs of more academic publications, such as this one. The bibliography/further reading should also point you in the right direction.
Academic Milestones
Debate continues regarding what constitutes learning and how it is best done. What most would agree on is that certain skills should be learnt in each grade throughout school. These are academic milestones.
We have written about the shortcomings of South Africa’s schooling system. It needs a drastic overhaul, and will continue to produce poor results until such time as that happens.
But one thing that the CAPS curriculum did get right was what it aims to teach each year. The problem with CAPS lies not in its content, but the way it has been administered.
Considering what international curricula aim to teach, CAPS tracks pretty well. If the aims of CAPS are implemented and targets met, children will be able to read on an international level. Their mathematics would also be on par with children in other countries.
It is easy enough to get hold of the various curricula online. They are available for download on the government’s education website. This is the link to the language curricula for Senior Phase (Grade 7 – 12). You should find the other subjects on the website for each subject (from maths to life orientation). These are also for the Foundational Phase (Grade R – 3) and the Intermediate Phase (Grade 4 – 6).
Japari School in Johannesburg is slowly working through the primary school milestones. They have done accessible articles for Grade R (in one article), Grade 1 (in three articles) and Grade 2 (in four articles) so far. (The links are to the first article in each series.) It is unclear when they will complete all of them, but keep an eye. It seems all of them will be up in time.
Milestones Are Helpful
Milestones are a very helpful gauge to see whether children are on track. This should be kept in context though. Some children who are perfectly fine do speak or walk a later than their peers.
If you do have a major concern, contact a specialist. This will either put your mind at rest or confirm that your child does need specialised support. Either way, you will be able to effectively address your child’s needs with the correct information.
PLEASE NOTE: This brief article is for informational purposes only, and does not amount to advice. We have provided links to further information that we believe is helpful, but do not necessarily agree with everything that other websites propose, advise or write about.
Bibliography/Further Reading:
Developmental Milestones:
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/watchmetraining/module2.html
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/adolescent/chapter/history-of-developmental-psychology/
https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/06/k-12-milestones-what-should-students-know-be-able-to-do-when/
Academic Milestones:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244014536406
https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/06/k-12-milestones-what-should-students-know-be-able-to-do-when/
https://www.gov.za/faq/education/what-caps
Keeping Milestones in context
https://www.fatherly.com/health-science/reasons-stop-stressing-toddlers-developmental-milestones/
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/concerned.html
