Progress you cannot see on a certificate

Structured awards are useful. They give a shape to a year and something concrete to work toward, and children like them. They also measure a narrow slice of what's happening.

The quick answer

• Certificates miss the things that last: sticking with it, asking for help, getting on with people, coming back after a bad day.
• You notice those over time, which means somebody keeping a record.
• On Befundo the record is your child's Progress page: each class, its attendance, and the teacher's notes.

What the certificate misses

Sticking with something boring. The child who worked through the dull middle section learned the harder lesson.

Asking for help. A child who puts a hand up in front of fourteen other children has done something socially expensive.

Getting on with people they didn't choose. Most of adult work is this.

Handling a bad day. Turning up and being mediocre in public, then coming back next week.

How to notice it

You won't see it in a single session, because it looks like nothing. You see it in comparison over time, which means somebody has to keep a record. That's most of what a class record is for.

On Befundo, the record lives in two places:

• Your child's Progress page. Choose your child in the switcher, then Progress. Every class they're in or have finished, with attendance and Open report.
• Each class's Report. Their attendance meeting by meeting, and every note the teacher wrote.

Ask a different question

"How was it?" gets "fine". "What was the hardest bit?" or "what did somebody else do well?" gets you into the territory certificates don't cover.

A child who can't yet do the thing, but has stopped being frightened of not being able to do it, has made the more durable progress.

None of this argues against grades. It argues against reading them as the whole picture, particularly for the child who isn't going to be first.

Look at the record

Choose your child in the switcher on your dashboard and open Progress.