In January 1989 the House of Commons Select Committee reported on the education of under-fives. This all-party report was welcomed by those in the early years sector. Its recommendations were never implemented.
Twelve years later we have a different Government and the recently published Select Committee report has a different flavour.But it is sad to see that the same concerns remain. One of the main ones is what I refer to as 'the English schooling malaise', where our youngest children are pulled away from childhood and into a system based on misunderstandings of how the brain functions and how learning takes place.
Educators in other countries are aghast that children who may have only just had their fourth birthday are introduced to a formal curriculum. As the Select Committee report itself says, 'Skills such as reading, writing and maths require teaching, but there is no convincing evidence that teaching these skills early (before about six) is advantageous.' Local management of schools and falling rolls led to a 'bums on seats' mentality, with some schools using emotional blackmail, telling parents a place wouldn't be there if they delayed their child's entry or that their child would be behind all the others if they didn't start at the same time.
Research has shown that it is not the number of terms a child attends which affect performance, but their month of birth. Local education authority admission policies with a single date of entry disadvantage the summer-born child and August-born boys in particular. Most parents are not aware of the disadvantages and quite readily choose a full-time reception class place over a part-time nursery place.
I believe that while there is even one four-year-old child still being made to sit for an hour on a carpet, this country should hang its head in shame. But it is incumbent on the Government, the local authorities, teachers and parents to understand why.
