Call for lessons to begin at six
By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter |
 Nurseries provide a basic foundation for learning |
Children should not start formal learning until they are six, a review of primary education in England says.
Instead they should continue the kind of play-based learning that features in nursery schools and reception classes, the Cambridge Primary Review says.
There is no evidence that an early introduction to formal learning has any benefit, the review says, but there are suggestions it can do some harm.
Ministers say a starting age of six would be completely counter-productive.
Most children start primary school in England aged four, and a large proportion are taking advantage of free, part-time pre-school places in local schools and privately-run nurseries from the age of three.
The kind of learning that goes on there follows the government's "Early Years Foundation Stage", which currently runs to the age of five and is a play-based curriculum which includes some early literacy and numeracy goals.
 |  This is not a wishy-washy - just let them get on with it thing. It's a balance between children-initiated and adult-initiated learning  Dame Gillian Pugh Co-author |
Continuing this informal but structured learning for a year or so would bring children in England in line with many European countries, where school starts at six or even seven, and standards are often higher.
A similar step has already been taken in Wales where a play-based curriculum has been extended to the end of Key Stage 1, when children are aged seven. A similar system is also being introduced in Northern Ireland.
"This would give sufficient time for children to establish positive attitudes to learning and begin to develop the language and study skills which are essential to their later progress," says the review, which is based on six years of academic work.
It stops short of calling for the age of compulsory schooling to be put back to age six, but does call for an open debate on the subject.
However, it adds, that the issue is less about where children learn than what they learn.
Dame Gillian Pugh, who co-authored the review, said play-based learning was not a "wishy-washy, 'just let them get on with it' thing".
"It's a balance between children-initiated and adult-initiated learning," she said.
'Social disadvantage'
She said four and five-year-olds tended to be at a stage where they were just "tuning in" to learning and that they could be "turned off" if they were made to follow too formal a curriculum, too early on.
Sometimes I think people are more interested in the childminding aspects of primary schools and nurseries than whether or not they are having any actual benefit
This would be of particular benefit to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with speech and language delays, she added.
But she argued it would not hold back brighter children who were ready to begin basic numeracy and literacy in reception classes.
The review also notes that there are downward pressures to get children in reception year ready for the early years of school and the tests that follow.
It also calls for free part-time nursery provision to be offered to two-year-olds in areas of social disadvantage and for children with particular needs.
'Pillars of stability'
This would help them get the most out of school and hopefully close the achievement gap, it says.
The authors also call for national assessment tests, known as Sats, to be abandoned, saying their high-stakes nature, being linked to league tables, encourages a too-narrow focus on literacy and numeracy.
Instead, children should be assessed on the broad range of subjects throughout primary school and at its end, but these assessments should be used to monitor children's progress rather than hold teachers accountable.
Welsh schoolchildren no longer sit SATS at 7, 11 and 14, nor are school league tables used there any more.
The review team also called for a major review of the way schools are staffed, arguing that there is a case for using more specialist teachers alongside the traditional class teacher.
But they also said primary schools were "pillars of stability" that were highly valued by parents and pivotal to communities.
'Counter-productive'
England's schools minister Vernon Coaker said the government was already reforming primary education to make the curriculum less prescriptive and free it up for teachers.
He added: "A school starting age of six would be completely counter-productive - we want to make sure children are playing and learning from an early age and to give parents the choice for their child to start in the September following their fourth birthday.
"Our expert group on assessment said it would be a backward step to scrap English and maths tests at 11 and we are piloting a School Report Card, which will give parents a far broader picture of how schools are doing."
Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: "All the evidence shows that proper, in-depth early years education provided by qualified teachers gives the best possible start to children's schooling."
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