A UK-based charity has found that over one third of children there lack the basic skills needed to start school.
This included just over a quarter of students who arrived to school without toilet training. Similar numbers could not hold a book correctly and turn its pages, and more than a third who could not dress themselves, share with others or hold a pencil.
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Kindred Squared, the charitable foundation behind the report, spoke to 1000 teachers and 1000 parents to gather the data, which showed a substantial gap between perception and reality, with 88 per cent of parents reporting that they felt their child was school-ready.
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The impacts of students starting school without key skills included the loss of 2.4 hours of teaching time per day to help them with basic tasks such as eating, with 1.4 hours a day lost due to lack of toilet training alone. 55 per cent of teachers reported increased stress due to the additional workload.
UK students enter school during the academic year following their fourth birthday, with all students typically beginning at the start of the school year in September. This means that students can be aged anywhere from four year and one day, to having just turned five years old.
The report also raised concerns around other areas of school-readiness, which it defined as “children being developmentally ready to access the learning and development opportunities available to them in Reception, where this is not due to a previously identified Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND)”.
Multiple areas of concern
44 per cent of students were found to be unable to sit still, and 37 per cent could not listen or respond to instructions. 26 per cent were unable to express their needs, and 25 per cent lacked even basic communication skills. Many of the areas had experienced a one-to-two per cent increase on last year’s survey.
In the parents’ survey, only 45 per cent felt it was their responsibility to teach their children how to play and share with others, with 30 per cent feeling that holding a pencil or crayon was their responsibility to teach.
Causes explored for the lack of school readiness included cost of living, with parents working longer hours, excess time on electronic devices (for students and parents), and parents not talking or reading to their children enough.
The picture in New Zealand
Similar data is not collected in New Zealand, where school attendance is not compulsory until age 6. The Office of Early Childhood Education, however, recommends “seven essential skills” for parents and caregivers to help ensure their child is school-ready:
- Knowledge of the environment and world: giving a child varied experiences, from travelling on a bus to visiting the park
- Self-help skills: Dressing and undressing, using the bathroom and washing their hands independently, and tidying up after play
- Listening skills: Talking to children and focusing their attention, plus regular reading
- Curiosity and questioning skills: Inviting questions and responding to children’s questions, finding out new information together
- Fine motor and coordination skills: Drawing, cutting out, puzzles, clay, threading beads and water play
- Independence and responsibility: Practicing being around others, potentially without their parent, such as spending time with friends and family. Also noticing and praising independent tasks such as putting on their own shoes.
- Academic knowledge: looking at letters, numbers and shapes, pointing out things in the environment such as insects, plants and street signs.
