MPs call for greater early intervention
Early intervention in primary schools is needed to break the cycle of deprivation and under- achievement that is rife in disadvantaged areas, say an all-party group of MPs.
Failure to invest sufficiently in support services for young children means thousands of children are destined to leave school 'illiterate, pregnant, unqualified, unaspirational and underachieving', said the group in Getting in early: primary schools and early intervention.
The study by MPs, education experts and academics, published by the Centre for Social Justice and the Smith Institute, argues that spoken language is the foundation for success in school.
Jean Gross, director of the Every Child a Chance Trust and editor of the study, said head teachers talk of 'increasing numbers of children who hear little language at home beyond the "daily grunt".'
She added, 'In a poor household, a child will hear 500 different words a day; in a rich household they will hear 1,500. As a result, it is estimated that one in ten children start school unable to talk in sentences or understand simple instructions.'
She said 'remedial action at the age of eight, nine or ten is too late' and called for a local early intervention strategy for each area.
Measures recommended in the study include one-to-one reading support for six-year-olds, speech therapy and coaching in social and emotional skills.
Contributor Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, called for a coherent early intervention strategy applied across generations and said, 'Early intervention may lack the drama of the banking bail-out, but it is equally necessary and equally revolutionary.'
MP John Bercow, who led the Bercow Review into children's speech, language and communication, said early identification and intervention 'should be writ large in the priorities of children's commissioners and service providers everywhere.'
Limited language skills lead to literacy problems, which then leads to behavioural problems, said the study.
