We've picked up on a story run by the BBC recently and wondered what your thoughts are on this issue.
Children in the UK start compulsory full time education at 5 years old but many, of course, start at 4. Whilst the government has recognised the problems associated with 'Summer born' children, little has changed in the age in which we expect our children to start school for over 130 years!
Orginally, it was the Victorians (in 1870) who thought it a good idea for children to start education at such tender age. However, the system was first implemented to keep them away from wayward parents and poor social conditions not to give them a love of learning. More social conditioning and child protection than improving literacy rates!
England now has the earliest starting age for school in the European Union and sadly the levels of achievement aren't the highest, in fact quite the reverse. Finland is the 'superstar' of education and is consistently among the top performers. In contrast to England's system, Finnish children start school at the age of 7 and have much longer holidays than their UK counterparts - 11 weeks in the summer.
So despite English children spending the most amount of time away from their families studying at school, they are not achieving the success of children in other EU countries. The Cambridge based, Primary Review, has scrutinised the way education is implemented in this country and has concluded that there appears to be no correlation betwen quantity and quality in education.
So, where are we going wrong? Do our children start school too early? What are your views?
If you'd like to make a comment on this topic, look at the end of this posting (after the ads) for "Posted by Friends of English Martyrs at 16:00 0 comments" click on the word 'comments' and type away! When you re-visit the blog a number next to 'comments' will signify how many other people have left comments which you can read.
No comments:
Post a Comment