UK experts slam new syllabus for toddlers
Kids under 5 expected to write full sentences, solve maths problems
December 02, 2007
ALL study and no play makes Jack an anxious little boy, say child development experts in England who are criticising the new national curriculum for those aged below 5.
The group, which includes leading child psychologists, said the curriculum - due to become law in the third quarter of next year - will cause anxiety and reduce enthusiasm for learning, reported The Times.
They say the severity of the compulsory measures, which will affect about 25,000 nurseries and kindergartens in both private and state sectors, has gone largely unnoticed.
Under the new early-years foundation stage (EYFS) framework, children aged 3 and 4 will have to write sentences with punctuation, use phonic methods to read complex words and solve practical problems with maths.
The framework also requires children to be continually assessed using 13 different learning scales, including problem-solving and writing.
The group of child experts launched a campaign yesterday to lobby the message that babies and young children learn most naturally through free play, movement and imitation, instead of formal teaching.
A letter signed by the group said: 'An overly formal, academic and/or cognitively biased curriculum, however carefully camouflaged, distorts this learning experience.
UNPREDICTABLE PROBLEMS
'An early 'head start' in literacy is now known to precipitate unforeseen difficulties later on - sometimes including unpredictable emotional and behavioural problems.'
The new EYFS framework will also affect thousands of non-mainstream pre-school organisations, such as Montessori schools which have a less academic approach.
Psychotherapy and counselling lecturer Richard House said: 'What is most objectionable is that the framework is compulsory. The central state is defining what child development is.
'It means that a pre-school would have to pursue the government's defined view of healthy child development, even if it contradicts their own view.'
Leading early-years consultant Margaret Edgington said: 'We are going to end up with lots of children who can read and decode print, but who haven't got the skills to understand what the words mean.'
In response, a government spokesman said that EYFS is a 'play-based approach to learning' and that it had been developed with the backing of early-years specialists.
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