Too many children are starting school without a good level of communication and language
The Read on Get on campaign from the Save the Children have highlighted some startling facts about children’s level of communication and language development for when children start school.
Teachers are claiming more needs to be done in nursery settings to help children who are falling behind. They believe having a low level of communication and language development at the age of five can impact the child’s development throughout school life and further.
Teachers suggest that children are starting school without the basic skills needed to be able to form full sentences and unable to follow instructions. This is impacting on both the children who are behind and the children who are not. Teachers are having to concentrate more time on teaching the basic communication and language skills which should already be in place meaning there is little time to teach and support the children who are on track with development.
Save the children believe the quality of early years and nursery settings need to be improved and ensure all children have the communication and language skills they need ready to start school, begin learning to read and to learn within a classroom.
These low levels of communication and language development are not only impacting on the children’s ability to learn but also on classroom management as children are struggling to understand and express themselves. This is leading to incidents of frustration and challenging behaviour.
It is now being suggested more needs to be done to improve the quality of settings and more funding needs to be on offer. Having quality early years experiences has the biggest impact on a child’s development and is the most effective way in narrowing the gap.
It is being put to government that they need to be doing more to support early years settings and teachers. They need to think of next steps and strategies that can be put into place to support these children who are struggling