TOO MUCH TOO SOON
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The Evidence

Rather than prioritising what tests they can pass or grades they can later achieve, investing in early childhood is all about nurturing the kind of people and citizens we want young children to become.  An over-early focus on knowledge and skills, rather than social values and relationship, runs the risk of undermining young children's capacities and potentials as social beings and dynamic learners. It also robs them of the time and space that they need to develop as confident, happy individuals, in touch with themselves and the world around them. Levels of wellbeing are strongly correlated with levels of inequality and we know that the most disadvantaged children benefit most from spending more time in rich, play-based social environments.
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Public Health England Report, 2016

"Young children’s rights and interests appear to have been subjugated to the perceived interest of the economy and the government’s deficit-reduction. The absence of a consideration of children’s rights to quality early years provision and of early childhood as a legitimate phase of life, more than as preparation for later educational outcomes, raises serious concerns about the future direction of early years policymaking"
- Eva Lloyd, London Review of Education, Volume 13, Sept 2015 -
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UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 13 - Children in the Developed World
​UNICEF 2012 School Readiness Report
State of the Nation - 2016 Social Mobility Report​
The School Starting Age and Mental Health, NBER, 2015
The Decline of Play and the Rise in Mental Disorders, Peter Gray, Medium Digest, Oct 2017
The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences combine to shape Brain Architecture, HCDC, 2008


​Children need an 'environment of relationship' - Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University


​UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
General Comment 7

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​At what age are children ready for school?
​Dr David Whitebread, The Conversation, 11/07/14
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Upstart Scotland - The Evidence
SCM 2015 Consultation Submission - School Starting Age
SCM 2014 Consultation Submission - Summerborn Children
“THEY’RE CHILDREN… NOT ROBOTS, NOT MACHINES”: THE INTRODUCTION OF RECEPTION
BASELINE ASSESSMENT, NUT, 2016


Exam Factories, NUT, 2015
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Children Under Pressure, NSPCC, 2015

Child's Play:The New Paediatric Prescription, Dr Aric Sigman, British Association for Community Child Health News, Annual Scientific Meeting Special Issue. December, 2015


Pre-school Learning Alliance consultation response on the cost of providing free childcare

When Brain Science meets Public Policy, Institute for Child Success, 2015


Time to Trust the Teacher, Dr Pam Jarvis, June 2015

On Becoming Human, Dr Pam Jarvis, 2015


The Politics of Mothering, Vanessa Olorenshaw, 2015

All Party Education Committee letter to the government re summerborn admissions, March 2015

All Party Parliamentary Group Report on  a Fit and Healthy Childhood, 2015

Building Great Britons - All Party Parliamentary Group Report on Conception to Age 2, 2015

Centre Forum Report - Valuable Ends and Effective Means, July 2014


How Government could reduce Family Breakdown - Centre for Social Justice, July 2014

The Long and Winding Road, Dr Bruce Perry and Amanda Jackson, Insight Issue 9

Effects of Childcare on Child Development, Professor Jay Belsky, University of London, 2009

Key Data on Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe - Eurodyce and Eurosts Report - July 2014

The role of informal childcare: A synthesis and critical review of the evidence - Nuffield Foundation 

No More Baby Steps - Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) - June 2014

Less-structured time in children's daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning - Universities of Denver and Colorado, June 2014

On Becoming Social - the importance of collaborative free play in childhood - 
Jarvis, Newman and Swiniarskic,
International Journal of Play, February 2014


The Foundations of Lifelong Health are built in early childhood, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2010

Does pre-k work? It depends how picky you are, Grover Whitehurst, Brookings, 2014
Canada's universal childcare hurt children and families, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005
Nurturing children - why 'early learning' doesn't help - Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC) 

Baby Bonds- the importance of early attachment, Sutton Trust


INITIAL ARGUMENTS


BASELINE TESTING


COMPARISON WITH THE 
NORDIC APPROACH


MORE GREAT CHILDCARE?

RIGHTS AND VALUES


PLAY


SUMMERBORN
CHILDREN


TEACHER-LED IS BEST?

SCHOOL READINESS


THE BROADER CONTEXT


THE GERM
INFECTION


PISA RESULTS

We have tried to ensure that all the information on this site is as accurate as possible. Please let us know if you spot any errors.

A Save Childhood Movement Initiative
www.savechildhood.net

  • HOME
    • HISTORY
  • Why it matters
    • THE EVIDENCE >
      • THE FLOURISH MODEL
      • NORDIC v PRESCHOOL
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    • Get Involved
  • LATEST NEWS
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