Early language skills are key to succeeding later on in life
According to a recent survey carried out by Save The Children suggests that children aged five who have poor language skills may struggle with maths at age 11. Figures from this survey showed that children are failing to meet the expected standards in national tests when they leave.
Are there contributing factors as to why children have poor language skills and what can be done about this to help children reach their full potential?
For children who do not reach the expected standards in their Sats will under government plans from 2017 have to re-sit them in their first-year secondary school. This is why it is far more important now that these children are given the help they need to prevent this from happening.
Gareth Jenkins, from Save the Children, says the research demonstrates for the first time the most crucial determinant of success in Sats tests is how well children can communicate when they start school.
The poorest children are more likely to start school without simple skills, such as being able to tell a short story, express feelings and communicate easily with a wide range of adults.
To help children start school with simple skills what can nursery provision do to give these children the skills they need? It has been suggested that nurseries are to employ an early year’s graduate teacher to help improve the quality of learning opportunities offered. This would mean a significant increase in employees gaining this qualification in order for employers to employ these graduates. Many nurseries are not in a position to pay the price for the graduates to be employed as there aren’t the funds available.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “The number of graduates in the workforce continues to rise, and we want to see more trained graduates in these roles.
“That’s why we provide funding course fees and bursaries for eligible trainees and are also supporting employers to help with their staff training costs.
“We 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.”
What are your views on a childcare provision employing an early years graduate?