More than a quarter of children begin primary school unable to communicate in full sentences and concerns are growing about the amount of time they are spending on digital devices. Figures show that 28 percent of 4 and 5-year-olds do not have the communication skills expected by the end of reception year. The problem is probably the same in math. Damian Hinds, the UK Education Secretary, promised to halve within a decade the number of students lacking the required level of speaking and reading skills.
It is really a big issue to have so many children starting school unable to build complete sentences and even read simple words. "This matters, because when you're behind from the start you rarely catch up. Your peers don't wait, the gap just widens. This has a huge impact on social mobility." Research has shown that five-year-old kids with a poor vocabulary have twice more risks to be unemployed at age 34 than kids with good vocabulary. Unfortunately, the situation is not improving; since 2010, in the United Kingdom, the attainment gap between pupils in care and their peers during years 1 and 2 has been rising in both literacy and math.
Picture: The First Lesson, by Carlton Alfred Smith (Wikimedia Commons - w/Effects)
