Forget Sweden or Finland: how many English parents know that in Wales young children are following a play-based curriculum up until the age of 7?

“At the beginning there was a bit of distrust from the parents,” says Sarah Owen, a mother of three (and former teacher) from Welshpool. “We all knew that play was important, but a lot of us were wondering how our children would learn to read if they were playing all the time. After all, it is drilled into us that the sooner you learn to read, the better.”

Sarah Owen’s views are relevant as they come in the middle of a heated debate about the value of early schooling and particularly when children should be taught to read. New research published this week was interpreted in startlingly different ways. Some claimed it showed that early teaching had no impact on children at the age of 5 – others said quite the opposite.

However, David Richardson, co-author of the new study, says that it does show that children who attend pre-school before the age of 3 do better – both educationally and socially – at age 5.

There is a lot of evidence that if you don’t learn to read, you become demotivated later on but it doesn’t have to be at the expense of having fun. You can play with letter sounds, sing songs and nursery rhymes, at home and at pre-school. This is not about formal teaching behind desks.

In reality, the way schools teach their youngest pupils in England has changed in recent years from the rigid approach that was in fashion ten years ago. Today there is much more of a stress on play. Widespread use of phonics has also made a real difference, and despite the sense of gloom and doom around literacy, England still performs well in international studies.

Source: Times Online

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