Nursery World - Editor's view (145)

If further proof is needed that the culture of testing and formally assessing young children in our education system needs to be reversed, then our news story on private tuition for toddlers (page 9) provides it. Parents of children as young as two, panicking about their offspring's performance in baseline assessment, SATs and independent school exams, are hiring tutors to help them make the grade. With so much of primary schools' efforts and time now directed towards shoring up their SATs league table positions, it is disturbing but not that surprising that parents feel formal learning has to be drilled in from an increasingly early age.

Parents of children as young as two, panicking about their offspring's performance in baseline assessment, SATs and independent school exams, are hiring tutors to help them make the grade. With so much of primary schools' efforts and time now directed towards shoring up their SATs league table positions, it is disturbing but not that surprising that parents feel formal learning has to be drilled in from an increasingly early age.

Nursery World, however, will continue to provide information about the best practice in the early years. This week, our eight-page pull-out on storytelling looks at the importance of the oral tradition in developing language and literacy skills in an appopriate and joyful way. And our series on the early learning goals turns to self-care routines. Learning to wash and dress themselves are important stages in a child's development that should not be neglected because of formal learning pressures.

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