Nursery World - Let's start at the beginning

Ignoring the importance of the early years creates a vicious circle where children are always the losers, says trainer Ann Vincent

The focus of Sian Griffiths column in the Sunday Times on 13 October was the state of our education system and how it is failing our young people and our economy. Many column inches were given over to results and statistics and comparisons with other countries. Successive political parties, quick to project blame on to their opponents, have pushed this embarrassing issue back and forth like a giant snowball which, unsurprisingly, has resulted in it getting bigger and more compacted

The question was posed - ‘have our schools got worse at teaching the basics’?

Fortunately for us all, according to the article, ‘one man who may know the answer is Richard Cairns’ - who is head of the independent Brighton College. He has ‘spent months globetrotting around the top performing countries’ and he has concluded that ‘the biggest single lesson is we need better teachers’.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included