Topical Teaching

Prolonging the commencement of school by 2 years is a nonsense. There is nothing wrong with the current system when it comes to the school age requirement. However, there is a great deal wrong with the system when it comes to helping support children through the transition and developing an environment which is just as determined to boost a child’s sense of self as it is their grade average. Better they work on reinvigorating the current system instead of changing it radically:

Children should not start primary school until they are six or seven-years-old, according to a coalition of education experts who warn of the damaging pressure to perform in class at a young age.

A letter written by 130 teachers, academics and authors said the UK should follow the Scandinavian model and put off formal lessons for two years.

Under the UK’s current system, children start full-time schooling at the age of four or five.

Experts say this is causing ‘profound damage’ in a generation which is not encouraged to learn through play.

But the call was last night dismissed by as ‘misguided’ by a spokesman for the Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Children in the UK are obliged by law to be in school aged five, which the lobby group said is creating a ‘too much, too soon’ culture.

The warning singled out recent government proposals which mean five year olds could be formally tested from the beginning of their schooling.

Under the current system, children are first assessed at the age of seven. But under Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s proposals, a ‘baseline’ test could be introduced in the first year of primary school.

The group of experts warned that monitoring a pupil’s progress from such a young age promotes stress and fear around learning.

Click on the link to read Fun Facts about Children

Click on the link to read Teaching Children to be Honest Yet Respectful

Click on the link to read The Children of Today Show a Lack of Respect For Authority

Click on the link to read Is There Anything Better than an Inspirational Child? (Video)

Tags: baseline’ test, Child Development, Education, Education Secretary Michael Gove, generation which is not encouraged to learn through play, News, Nick Clegg, not start primary school until they are six or seven-years-old, Parenting, pressure to perform in class at a young age, starting school age

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