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SEED Sponsored Research: Children
starting school in Scotland
8 Concluding Comments
Research reports invariably call for more research and
the call is heard so often that it can fall on deaf ears.
But we believe that there are findings in this document
that urge further investigation. Two specific questions
could profitably be addressed:
- Why is there such a weak link between the
pre-school experience for children in Scotland and
their starting points at school?
- Why do older children starting school in Scotland
seem to be starting school at a lower level than
children in other countries?
Such questions suggest qualitative work in the first
instance, which would seek to explore differences between
Scotland and other countries in the approach to pre-school.
It would be important to link this to a review of the
evidence base of pre-school practice.
In calling for this work we are aware that it may be
taken as an implied criticism of current provision but this
would be a misreading of our intentions. The research has
thrown up some puzzling findings that need further
investigation. We really do not know why we have found what
we have found.
In addition to investigating aspects of cognitive
development it would be interesting to look at the
personal, social and emotional development of children in
relation to age of starting school.
The age of starting school is a contentious issue and
this report has thrown some light on the matter, which does
not suggest any need for a change in the status quo. We
note however, that international research has never
satisfactorily answered questions about the best age for
starting school. There are strong opinions but no strong
evidence base. If Scotland were to consider changing its
policy in this vital area then we would recommend an
evidenced based approach with different approaches being
introduced in a controlled fashion in different parts of
Scotland. This would be a world first and could parallel
the enormously important work from Tennessee on class
size.
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