When should children start school?

A group of education experts have stated that children should not be starting formal school lessons until the age of 6 or 7, believing that earlier schooling is causing ‘profound damage’ to children.

They believe there should be much more emphasis placed on learning through play, rather than the traditional National Curriculum.

But England’s education minister said that this approach would disrupt attempts to close the achievement gap between privileged and non-privileged children.

The argument states that the current system – focusing on reading, writing and maths – is started at too early an age, and that England should be following in the footsteps of Scandinavian countries, where children routinely start formal schooling at a later age. The belief is that children who start school at 6 or 7 consistently achieve better educational results, as well as higher levels of emotional well being. The writers of this statement share the view that an extra few years before starting formal school provides a ‘crucial opportunity for children to be children’.

90% of countries in the world start formal schooling at the age of 6 or 7, but in England it is the norm for children to begin primary school at the age of 4. But does starting school at a younger age make for better results in the long term?

Our Education Minister believes it does – replying that “At the moment we've got one of the biggest gaps between the performance of low-income and high-income students. And if schooling were to be delayed, that would mean that it was even later that we started working on closing that gap. And I think that's a massive problem”.

Children in this country who start school at the age of 4 or 5 have usually been in a pre-school or nursery environment for at least a year prior to primary school, where the focus is strongly on ‘learning through play’. In my experience, there is also still a strong sense of this in reception classes, alongside more formal teaching methods. So would delaying the start of formal schooling have any effect on children’s learning and emotional well being? This teaching assistant thinks not…..but I would love to know what you think!

Author: - Kate Fever blogger at:  Family Fever