When should kids start going to school

Don’t hurry to start going to school – in short that is what most recent studies have shown!

For the sake of children’s emotional well-being and academic achievement, UK scientists have undergone series of studies to investigate when is the best age for children to start formal schooling.

Research has shown that later start to formal education has many benefits.

It relates to contribution to playful experiences to children’s development as learners, because to play means to explore, to do something by yourself, to learn.

Anthropological, psychological, neuro and educational studies have proven that play is essential in child’s development. The mental functions increase with the playful activity.

Furthermore, development psychology studies demonstrate the motivation arising from playful as opposed to instructional approach in learning.

Physical and social play supports children in developing their intellectual and emotional skills which have been shown to be crucial in early learning and development.

A number of studies have documented the loss of play opportunities for children over the second half of the 20th century and demonstrated a clear link with increased indicators of stress and mental health problems.

One particular study of 3,000 children across England, showed that an extended period of play-based pre-school education was of particular advantage to children from disadvantaged households.

Studies have compared groups of children in New Zealand who started formal literacy lessons at ages 5 and 7.

By the age of 11 there was no difference in reading ability level between the two groups, but the children who started at the age of 5 developed less positive attitudes to reading.

According to the results, better textual understanding have children who started studying to read at the age of 7.

In a separate study of reading achievement in 15 year olds across 55 countries, researchers showed that there was no significant association between reading achievement and school entry age.

 

Source: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence