The National Primary Headteachers' Association (NPHA) accused the Government of being in an 'obscene rush' to get children doing academic work, in a submission to the biggest review of primary education in 40 years.
The Primary Review is a two-year Cambridge University study approaching its midway point. The first interim report will be published this week.
The NPHA report called for nursery and reception class 'fun learning' methods to be extended over the first year of primary school, at the least.
It said research showed that the Scandinavian practice of starting formal education later, at age seven, could produce better academic results in the long term. According to the report, play in teaching and learning would 'disappear entirely in the vast majority of schools' in England at the beginning of Year 1.
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