Nursery World - Analysis: Birthdate Effects - Summer-born children at a 'strong disadvantage'

The question of when children are developmentally ready to start school underlies a new and timely review of research into birthdate effects outlined by Tim Oates of Cambridge Assessment.

For years, evidence of a birthdate effect has stared out of qualifications data; summer-born children appear to be strongly disadvantaged. While those responsible for working on these data have, through mounting concern, periodically tried to bring public attention to this very serious issue, it has been neglected by agencies central to education and training policy. Following a flurry of press interest during 2007 and 2008, it has - justifiably - become a key part of the recommendations which may flow from the Rose review of the primary curriculum.

A review of this kind offers far more than a simple rehearsal of the findings of a series of relevant studies. It allows us to understand the accumulation of evidence in respect of the birthdate effect and to discount certain explanations of why it occurs. Crucially, it allows us to gain a view across the whole of the education system - and this reveals two critical things.

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