Reading Ethos

There has been a lot of coverage in the UK press about pressuring children to read early. Some people have speculated that teaching children to read at age six is too early. Some suggest that early reading can turn children off reading altogether and that delaying the teaching process until the age of seven would be a better approach.

The founders of earlyreadingskills.co.uk do not believe that young children should be introduced to formal learning too early. We strongly believe that learning to read should be fun and enjoyable; and that parents taking back control of the reading process at home is the best way for a child to learn to read in a relaxed environment.

Early formal teaching can indeed put a child off learning and we would recommend that in an ideal world children start their formal learning when its age appropriate for them to do so. Some children may well cope with a formal learning setting better than others. Whereas one child may be ready to start school aged four another may well be better suited to starting at age six; and forcing a child to sit in a classroom before he or she is emotionally and educationally developed to do so, may instil an early loathing for the school setting.

One only has to look at a the documentary filmed for on the Channel Four Despatches programme “Lost for Worlds“ to see that there are some children clearly having difficulty with a formal school setting. They found the dogmatic style approach to teaching synthetic phonics tedious, and thus it was hard for them to concentrate. Had these same children been taught in a non - target driven culture by their parents, or at Nursery, in a way that made learning a game and extension of play rather than a chore, there would be no children in this country leaving school being unable to read unless there was a good reason for them being unable to do so. Indeed, children with special needs would have the added benefit of being picked up by the system earlier and could be given the extra help they deserve.