EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT: Too Much, Too Soon? - Early Learning and the Erosion of Childhood

Too Much, Too Soon? - Early Learning and the Erosion of Childhood

Edited by Richard House (Hawthorn Press - Early Years Series, £20.00, ISBN 978-1-907359-02-6)

Leading childhood experts from across the UK and beyond have come together in this book to highlight the damaging effects of formal learning, testing and targets on very young children and make the case for developmentally appropriate support in children’s early years. Included in the recommendations is a genuinely play-based curriculum in early years settings and schools for children up to the age of six.

The book has grown out of the Open Eye campaign, which opposes the early learning goals and the emphasis on assessment within the current education system.

Describing the book, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, professor of psychology, Temple University, in Philadelphia says, ‘If print could scream, the words on these pages would be heard as a clarion call for evidence-based educational reform. In Too Much, Toon Soon?, the authors   teachers, scientists and policymakers – join together to demonstrate how we might achieve rich curricular aims in a more child-centred playful learning approach to early education.’

Contributors include Sally Goddard Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, writing on the physical foundation for learning; academic Sebastian Suggate on the long-term effects of early reading; and Tricia David, emeritus professor of education at Canterbury Christ Church University, on how play transforms thinking.

Other contributors include: Barry Sheerman, MP and former chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee for Children, Schools and Families; Dr Aric Sigman, author of The Spoilt Generation; and psychologist Penelope Leach.

The final chapter, co-written by Dr Richard House and early years consulant Wendy Scott, outlines recommendations for educators and policy-makers.

Nursery World readers can get exclusive access to ‘Current perspectives on the early childhood curriculum’, the chapter by Lilian Katz, professor emerita of early childhood education at the University of Illinois, by clicking on the attached pdf.

The book has attracted numerous endorsements including that of Professor Janet Moyles, who says of the book: ‘Surely the most important book on children’s learning and well-being published this year.’