Starting School Age !

Once again the age that children start school is under the microscope.  In New South Wales the minimum is set at four years and six months and that is the lowest for all the Australian states and Territories.  There is a strong body of opinion that it should be raised to six years.

A study of Danish children returned a finding that those starting their schooling at age six had a seventy-three percent decrease in inattention and hyperactivity.  It was reasoned that this increased maturity of young minds allowed children to quickly settle into the school routine, particularly as mental development is not uniform in it's timing.   Some children may be "ready " for school months earlier than others, and a poor start may influence the outcome over their entire school life.

It is one of the peculiarities of Australia that we have entirely different curriculum's as well as starting ages across the range of states and Territories.  All efforts to achieve uniformity have so far failed and we can not even agree on the books that are required reading. Families that move from one state to another for employment reasons have the daunting task of trying to assimilate their children into an entirely different schooling system.   The logic of achieving uniformity in education is unassailable.

Unfortunately this entails a clash of ego's.  Each state education system claims that it is superior and should be the standard chosen.  It also occupies an important segment of the job market with both the number of teachers as well as the huge support bureaucracy that underpins education.   This involves strong unions which are resistant to any sort of change.

This question of the age at which children start school has interesting ramifications.  It is closely tied in with the scarcity of pre-school and kindergarten facilities, and the cost associated with gaining access for a child.   It is a huge expense for a working parent and obviously this is lifted the moment their child can make the move and start his or her education in a state provided free public school.  Should the entry age be increased to six years, many parents face a fee impost from which the entry age presently delivers relief.   Having children remain in pre-schools and kindergartens for many additional months will also aggravate the existing place shortages.

The benefits of a school starting age increase to six years are hard to quantify, but as every parent knows children quickly settle into a class pattern that endures for their entire school life.  There are some children at the leading edge of learning - and some dragging along at the tail of the field.  It stands to reason that any child struggling to adjust to schooling because of immaturity is likely to fall into that lower category, and once there - remain at that level indefinitely.   We may be doing harm if we send a child to school before they are ready to meet that challenge.

There is growing concern that Australian education may be out of step with the rest of the world, and in particular - with the standards that apply in Asia.   The hours of schooling here are minuscule in comparison with many of our near neighbours and it is these people we will need to compete with in the jobs market of this globalized age.

We will do our young people a disservice if we fail to meet the challenge and create a national education system that delivers a world standard !