Reading test 4 - New Zealand's National Pony spokesman on...

Early Childhood Education
New Zealand's National Pony spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith,
recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his trip
and what they could mean for New Zealand's education policy
A
'Education To Be More' was published last August. It was the report of the New Zealand
Government's Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. The report argued for
enhanced equity of access and better funding for childcare and early childhood education
institutions. Unquestionably, that's a real need; but since parents don't normally send children to
pre-schools until the age of three, are we missing out on the most important years of all?
B
A 13-year study of early childhood development at Harvard University has shown that, by the
age of three, most children have the potential to understand about 1000 words - most of the
language they will use in ordinary conversation for the rest of their lives.
Furthermore, research has shown that while every child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be
suppressed dramatically during the second and third years of life. Researchers claim that the
human personality is formed during the first two years of life, and during the first three years
children learn the basic skills they will use in all their later learning both at home and at school.
Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world.
C
It is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds tend to
do less well in our education system. That's observed not just in New Zealand, but also in
Australia, Britain and America. In an attempt to overcome that educational under-achievement, a
nationwide programme called 'Headstart' was launched in the United States in 1965. A lot of
money was poured into it. It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was
supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school.
Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two
explanations for this. First, the programme began too late. Many children who entered it at the
age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. Second,
the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, 'Headstart' children returned to the same
disadvantaged home environment.
D
As a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child's
life and the disappointing results from 'Headstart', a pilot programme was launched in Missouri
in the US that focused on parents as the child's first teachers. The 'Missouri' programme was
predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents,
is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. The four-
year pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who
represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. They