Children should not begin formal school lessons until they are least six or seven years old, a group of educational experts have said.
The experts, including academics and teachers, said there should be more emphasis on the curriculum on learning through play as early schooling was causing “profound damage” to children.
A spokesman for Education Secretary described the group’s recommendations as “misguided” which appears to be at odds with Northern Ireland Education Minister John O’Dowd who looks certain to introduce new rules to allow flexibility of the school starting age here.
A campaign group calling for a more flexible scheme met with the Education Committee at Stormont yesterday.
The group, made up of parents and teachers, said the current system worked for most children but they wanted a degree of flexibility so parents of children who were not ready to begin school could hold them back.
They want children aged four in May or June to be able to enter school a year later.
Speaking after the meeting, Education Minister John O’Dowd said his “mindset was to bring a scheme into play.”
He said the main issue was not whether there would be a scheme but exactly what scheme would be introduced.
He said he expected to make a decision in the coming months but warned legislation might be needed.
At age four, Northern Ireland has the lowest statutory age of entry to school in Europe, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research.
The lobbying group feel a number of children are not ready to be in the primary school classroom.
In Northern Ireland, the statutory age of entry to school is four while in England, Scotland, Wales, Cyprus and Malta, the age is five.
The statutory age is six in the Republic of Ireland as well as 25 other European countries.
In Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Sweden the age is seven.
The group told the Education Committee some younger children were distressed when they came to school and it could take weeks and months for some of them to settle in.
The group urged the Committee should look towards the English and Scottish models and the model for the Republic of Ireland where parents have a say if they feel their child is not ready to go to school.
“If a pre-school practitioner and even our year one practitioners feel the children are not ready, we should be able to defer their entry to start at age five,” they said.
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