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Is there too much emphasis on academic development?

Arran

There's a lot of controversy over whether children with summer birthdays should start reception class in September or whether it should be deferred to later in the academic year because their development is behind children with autumn birthdays.

This argument almost always centres around a child's academic development and overlooks their social and physical development. The reality is that children develop at different rates academically, socially, and physically. It is a myth and a misconception that children in reception class (assuming they all start in September) with summer birthdays are almost always behind children with autumn birthdays academically. It's not uncommon to find many children with summer birthdays who are academically ahead of children with autumn birthdays but are behind them socially and physically.

The situation can be more acute with children with high-functioning ASD who usually excel in reading and mathematics at a young age, so are interpreted as being clever or gifted, but are behind socially and sometimes physically.

I can remember when I was in reception class I was considered talented because I could read lines of text and do sums normally expected of KS1 children but at the same time I couldn't ride a bike without stabiliser wheels and I did not interact well with other children in the playground. A classmate who was about two months older than me could ride a bike without stabiliser wheels on the day he started and interacted well with other children in the playground but he was still reading flashcards on the last day of reception class and couldn't add two single figure numbers together. Was I more developed than he was or not?

Do you think that society places too much emphasis on children's academic development and overlooks and downplays their social and physical development?

Parents

  • It's a very deep subject.

    Successive governments have had a very one-dimensional perspective on education in that academic development is the only parameter that really matters, and they place social and physical development far onto the sidelines. Primary schools are evaluated using SATS for English, mathematics, and sometimes science. Secondary schools are evaluated by GCSE grades. Michael Gove even decided to go further and only count hard academic subjects towards EBacc in order to stop schools puffing up their position in league tables with 'soft' subjects like food technology or drama. The majority of educational reforms over the decades have been for academic subjects.

    Rather ironically, there is no advantage in children being ahead academically of what is expected for their year group. Those who are ahead often become 'problem' children in that they are reluctant to do the work that is set for them or they get bored and mess around in lessons because they aren't learning anything that they do not already know. Accelerated learning is not easy to implement under the framework which schools have to operate. At the same time, children who are ahead of what is expected for their year group in sports and music are highly admired. Subjects which the government considers to be far less important than English, mathematics, and science. In fact there is almost no limit to how talented children can be in sports and music.

    If children are struggling with reading, spelling, or mathematics, then there is almost no limit to the amount of help and support they can receive at school, but if children are behind socially or physically then any help and support that they receive is a personal favour as no infrastructure officially exists in schools to help children in these areas. My classmate in #1 had extra help and support with academics all through primary but I never had any help and support with bikes or social skills.

    Some children with ASD are good at exams but they can struggle with coursework due to the less structured nature of coursework along with weaker organisational skills and executive function. There is a belief amongst progressives in education that coursework benefits 'disadvantaged' children over all examination but I do not think this always applies to people with ASD.

    A private tutor told me that he spends more time teaching exam technique rather than the subject material. This applies equally to neurotypical children as it does to children with ASD. He said that many state schools utterly fail to teach good exam technique which inevitably jeopardises the grades of students. Raw intelligence is not sufficient to get A* grades. Good exam technique is essential. He also mentioned that many private schools make efforts to teach exam technique which is the secret why their children often get better grades than children from state schools.     

Reply

  • It's a very deep subject.

    Successive governments have had a very one-dimensional perspective on education in that academic development is the only parameter that really matters, and they place social and physical development far onto the sidelines. Primary schools are evaluated using SATS for English, mathematics, and sometimes science. Secondary schools are evaluated by GCSE grades. Michael Gove even decided to go further and only count hard academic subjects towards EBacc in order to stop schools puffing up their position in league tables with 'soft' subjects like food technology or drama. The majority of educational reforms over the decades have been for academic subjects.

    Rather ironically, there is no advantage in children being ahead academically of what is expected for their year group. Those who are ahead often become 'problem' children in that they are reluctant to do the work that is set for them or they get bored and mess around in lessons because they aren't learning anything that they do not already know. Accelerated learning is not easy to implement under the framework which schools have to operate. At the same time, children who are ahead of what is expected for their year group in sports and music are highly admired. Subjects which the government considers to be far less important than English, mathematics, and science. In fact there is almost no limit to how talented children can be in sports and music.

    If children are struggling with reading, spelling, or mathematics, then there is almost no limit to the amount of help and support they can receive at school, but if children are behind socially or physically then any help and support that they receive is a personal favour as no infrastructure officially exists in schools to help children in these areas. My classmate in #1 had extra help and support with academics all through primary but I never had any help and support with bikes or social skills.

    Some children with ASD are good at exams but they can struggle with coursework due to the less structured nature of coursework along with weaker organisational skills and executive function. There is a belief amongst progressives in education that coursework benefits 'disadvantaged' children over all examination but I do not think this always applies to people with ASD.

    A private tutor told me that he spends more time teaching exam technique rather than the subject material. This applies equally to neurotypical children as it does to children with ASD. He said that many state schools utterly fail to teach good exam technique which inevitably jeopardises the grades of students. Raw intelligence is not sufficient to get A* grades. Good exam technique is essential. He also mentioned that many private schools make efforts to teach exam technique which is the secret why their children often get better grades than children from state schools.     

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