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One in seven children cannot write their own name after a year at primary school, figures showed today.
Boys lagged behind girls for early writing skills, with more than one in five unable to form simple words such as "mum" and "dad".
Gordon Brown has committed £25billion to early years education since 1997.
The Foundation Stage Profile findings are based on teachers' observations of children after their reception year at primary school, and include social skills and early maths and literacy.
The figures for England this year are the first since the Government's "nappy curriculum" for 0-5 year-olds was introduced. They show almost four out of 10 pupils could not write a letter to Father Christmas or a shopping list. One in 10 struggled with adding up.
Children's minister Dawn Primarolo said: "Overall achievement is the highest it has been since records began."
Reader views (5)
Not sure I get this ... are children supposed to be able to write a letter to Father Christmas or a shopping list at age five? Thats a bit of a stretch no?
- Sam, Sydney
Children's minister Dawn Primarolo said: "Overall achievement is the highest it has been since records began."
....depends on who is setting up the goal-posts. But Helen, you're right. Never has been, and never will be full literacy - but close to 40% is anything but acceptable. My suggestion would be to look for cultural precursors to this - just as they had their problems back in Churchill's day, when indigence WAS still a part of the social matrix, and one's place in life DID affect one's fortunes, so they have problems now. That said, I think them different problems today or maybe not. Different cause, same effect.
I would point at hopelessness and and a learned lack of personal drive - a direct result of dumbing down in education, and encouragement of dependence on officialdom - directly affect the will of parents to push their children to learn, paralleling their own lack of drive.
Anyone care to argue the toss that it is the parent's, throughout the history of mankind, that have been the primary teachers of their offspring? Anyone want to argue that the corollary, or even parallel effect of this would be a natural instinct for kids to take the lead from parents in those crucial learning years?
Beat down the parents and the kids are likely to follow them downhill - like when not learning to read or write.
- Rogan, Irving
helen with a quote like that maybe the govenemtn should learn for the history instead of making the future and literacy problem worst.
thousands if not millions of kids entered secondary school without the basic reading and writing skills something needs to done. secondary school present a whole bunch of problems for any child being held back just creates another
- Cassandra, london
Britain has never been anything like fully literate; maybe somebody could give me an example of the mythical period when it was? Here's a quote from Lord Silkin addressing Parliament on 19 March 1952(incumbent Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, Conservative): "Judging by a recent Government publication entitled Reading Ability, illiteracy has certainly not diminished, as compared with pre-war years. Indeed, there is rather more illiteracy to-day than there was in the years before the war. Child delinquency is as great as ever, and moral standards show no sign of improvement."
- Helen, West London
They don't learn to write their name until they start secondary school, and that's only so they can sign their name when they begin drawing unemployment benefit!
- Nowan King, London
