– UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, rightly said in a recent speech that children’s learning starts long before they enter school. The big problem is that, on average, the poorest children begin school 15 months behind their more advantaged peers, a situation that tends to have a long term implication. Parents are of course key in their children’s early learning development, but the government should also pay more attention to nurseries, parents’ best partners for the early education of a large majority of preschoolers.

– In the UK, more than 90 percent of three and four year old children benefit from a 15 (soon to be 30) hours of free preschool childcare. This is the crucial period during which children develop the building blocks of learning, in particular the so determining math, language and communication skills they need to be kindergarten ready. Attending high quality nurseries, led by a qualified early childhood teachers, is probably one of the surest means to diminish the rate of disadvantaged children falling behind.

Image: Day Care (Wikipedia)

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