Unfree Kingdom: Boys aged three 'must work more'
Lady Liberty
www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/boys-aged-
three-must-work-more
Boys aged three 'must work more'
Government demands action to close the nursery school gender gap
By Sarah Cassidy, Social Affairs Correspondent
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
After a year of school, more than one in six boys cannot write his own
name or simple words such as "mum", "dad" or "cat" � double the number
of girls � official figures show.
Early-years experts condemned the move, arguing that having more targets
to get children writing by the age of five would be "developmentally
inappropriate" and potentially damaging, particularly for boys. But Dawn
Primarolo, the Children's minister, said in an interview with The
Independent that after 12 years of Labour government, the gender gap
remained a "stubborn" and "worrying" problem.
"It is about readiness to learn. It is part of the development process.
There is a gap, and it is a worrying gap," Ms Primarolo said. "What we
can see is that boys, particularly on emotional development, lag behind
girls. That emotional development is very important in language
development through play before they start school and reading and
writing.
"Although that gap between boys and girls is closing, in writing it is
still quite wide."
The guidance, which will be sent to nurseries from January, will include
advice to set up role-play activities tailored to boys' interests, such
as builders taking phone messages and writing up orders, post office
employees writing on forms, and waiters taking orders from customers.
Boys will also be encouraged to write using unusual materials such as
chocolate powder and coloured sand to make marks on the floor and walls
outside.
Ms Primarolo said the new guidance aims to get all nurseries and
childminders to learn from those who have successfully narrowed the
gender gap.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Some boys don't
enjoy writing or see it as relevant � but teachers and practitioners can
make it fun and relevant. The guidance will offer practical examples
about how to do this.
"Because boys don't seem to be as interested as girls in drawing and
mark-making, it is important that practitioners ensure that this doesn't
then result in limited access to resources such as paper, crayons, paint
etc, and insufficient opportunities or encouragement for boys to write."
Official figures released earlier this year showed that boys were
lagging further behind girls by the age of five since the introduction
of Labour's "nappy curriculum".
Boys are also less likely to know the alphabet, or how to count to 10,
sing simple nursery rhymes from memory, dress themselves and work well
with classmates at the end of the reception year, before they start Year
One.
The figures were the first results from the Early Years Foundation Stage
� a compulsory programme introduced in September last year for all
schools, nurseries and childminders.
Overall, just over half of children reached government targets for all
areas of early development, including personal and social skills,
literacy, problem-solving and numeracy, physical development, and
creativity.
Some 52 per cent of five-year-olds were competent in all areas � a
three-percentage-point rise from last year. However, boys were
significantly less likely than girls to start the first full year of
school properly prepared. The gender gap widened in three key areas:
writing, problem-solving and elements of personal development.
The Government said that at least 23,000 more children had reached a
good level of development this summer compared with 2008.
Child-development specialists have opposed the writing targets for five-
year-olds since they were first proposed, arguing that many children,
particularly boys, do not develop the fine motor skills needed for
writing until they are six or seven.
Sue Palmer, a former headteacher and author of the book 21st Century
Boys, described the decision as "state-sponsored child abuse", arguing
that boys were developmentally behind at birth and needed time to "run,
jump and play, in order to acquire the physical control and capacity to
focus that they will need later on".
She said: "The Government's belief that they can accelerate human
development is just nonsense. This is massive control freakery which
will be disastrous for the children. These very young children have
become hostages to political fortunes because ministers believe that
their political futures depend on getting a certain number of children
to reach these targets by the age of five. That is just wrong."
Dr Richard House, a senior lecturer at Roehampton University and a
founder of the Open Eye campaign against the early-years curriculum,
warned that many of the targets for five-year-olds were inappropriate
for the age group. He added: "Many of the much-criticised 'teaching to
test', assessment-driven characteristics of the primary school are now
invading our nursery settings."
--
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And read this:
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Demon Buddha
> Pathetic.
God damn... the British are dumb as they come.
Channel Cast
Stile4aly
So, wait... learning to write at a young age is a bad thing? I mean,
if you're 5 and can't write "Cat' that strikes me as a problem.
Demon Buddha
Nobody seems to be saying that, so you ought not put words in peoples'
mouths. What IS a problem is the government solution, which is typical
of the idiocy of that institution. Typical of the panty-waist idiot
nature the British people is the fact that they lay down for the
governmental dictate.
Stile4aly
The government solution is to set targets and provide sample lessons
to pre kindergarten providers. How this is an overreach of power is
unclear to me.
Sanders Kaufman
"Demon Buddha" <Nob...@no.where> wrote in message
news:OuGdnVKVtoNVmt_W...@giganews.com...
> Typical of the panty-waist idiot nature the British people is the fact
> that they lay down for the governmental dictate.
As opposed to what - anti-government creeps who whine anonymously on the
internet?
What a HERO you are... not!