Early language skills define future learning
Five-year-olds with substandard language skills are significantly more likely to struggle with national tests later on, the BBC reports, citing recent research from Save the Children.
Academics at the Institute of Education studied the progress of 5,000 children across England and found that 23% of those that struggled with language when they started school did not meet the expected standards in their Sats (national tests) at the age of 11. It also found that 21% of pupils who struggled with language at five years old failed to meet expected standards when they left school.
The research said poor language skills had an effect on all children, regardless of family background, and that factors like parents鈥 education and poverty were also tied to attainment.
Save the Children said that the research should prompt a national debate about how to improve the quality of nursery provision.
鈥淭he most important thing we could do is see every nursery led by an early years graduate teacher, because the research is really clear that this helps improve the quality of the activities, and the poorest children in particular benefit from that extra care,鈥 said Gareth Jenkins from Save the Children.
Legal framework in England states that a nursery should be run by someone with two years experience and an NVQ Diploma or similar, and estimates conclude that the sector requires an additional 11,000 graduates to be employed.
鈥淭he number of graduates in the workforce continues to rise, and we want to see more trained graduates in these roles. That鈥檚 why we are providing funding course fees and bursaries for eligible trainees, and are also supporting employers to help with their staff training costs,鈥 a Department for Education spokesperson said. 鈥淲e continue to look at what more can be done to encourage talented staff to forge a career in the early years and this will be a key strand of our Workforce Strategy which will be published in 2016.鈥
As of 2017, children who fail their Sats at 11 years old will have to re-sit them in their first year of secondary school.