Early years
Where now after damning indictment of primary education? 20 Feb 2009
The Cambridge review of primary education has been three years in the making. More than 70 academics have produced 29 reports with thousands of children, parents, teachers and headteachers taking part in surveys across the country. It presents a damning view of the primary curriculum, which it suggests has failed generations of children, as well as a blueprint for a radical new kind of schooling.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/20/primary-education-review
UK children ‘reading too early’, 22 Nov 2007
Children are too young to learn to read when they first start school in the UK, an academic claims. Pushing reception pupils too hard could put them off for life, especially boys, says Professor Lilian Katz. She believes government plans to teach children to read even earlier, at pre-school, are a mistake. The government insists children are starting school at the best time, and says early years learning involves play-based as well as formal learning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7107798.stm
School start age ‘should be six ‘, 1 Aug 2007
The Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) says many who begin formal schooling aged just four are not ready for an academic curriculum. Deborah Lawson from PAT said it was vital that children should have more freedom to play in nurseries without being told what to do by adults. The government said primary schools followed an age-appropriate curriculum. Speaking at the PAT annual conference, in Harrogate, Ms Lawson said: “There is evidence that by starting school earlier, our children are not better off than those children who are starting later. “As practitioners and parents we have all seen children who really were not ready to start school.”