By Jane Mueller. Published by The Educator on 9 December, 2019.

If there is someone to blame for the ‘student achievement crisis’, we should not be looking to parents, teachers, schools or the children themselves. Education policy is the culprit. Education policy is failing our children.

The Australian, UK and US education systems thrust academic demands on children from a young age. In our hunger for unmatched intelligence and the quest to give children the best start in life, these systems have bought into the belief that, if formal curriculum from age seven will bring about quality outcomes, then starting at age five – or perhaps even three – will surely result in even greater outcomes.

Study after study reveals that, while imposing academic demands on young children may result in competitive gains in the short term, it does not put these children on a faster or stronger trajectory in the long term. In fact, in terms of future academic performance and career success, children who experience an extended play-based childhood will typically overtake their peers who engaged with formal curriculum from a young age.

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