EDUCATION: EARLY-YEARS WRITING LESSONS 'DO NO GOOD'

7/14/2008 6:38:00 AM

The Guardian 14 July

Teaching children as young as three to write short sentences and use punctuation has little effect on their literacy skills later on, according to research which raises new questions about the government's plan for a curriculum for the under-fives. Tutoring children in nurseries to read using basic phonics and write simple sentences does not improve their success once they start school, but encouraging them to talk and communicate does, the unpublished government research has found. The research was released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Liberal Democrats, who last night questioned why the government had previously chosen not to release the findings, which run counter to its plans for an early-years curriculum. The Department for Children, Schools and Families insisted it had published more substantial and conclusive evidence to back up its policy. The research, commissioned from academics at the Institute of Education, University of London, compares how children score in the early learning goals, which from September become compulsory, with how they score in literacy and numeracy tests once they reach school.Guardian

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