Pupils aged 4 keep trying to swipe books like iPads
ONE in four children start primary school not knowing how to use a book correctly – with many trying to swipe or tap pages like a phone or tablet, a report reveals today.
A survey of 1,000 staff also found that a quarter of reception pupils are not properly toilet-trained and a third are unable to put on a coat, hold a pencil or count to ten.
Teachers told researchers for educational charity Kindred Squared they were spending a third of the school day ‘ babysitting’ four- and five-year- olds who lack basic skills.
Yet only 16 per cent of parents surveyed thought they were solely responsible for teaching their children how to use books, and only half thought toilet-training was entirely up to them.
Felicity Gillespie, of Kindred Squared, said: ‘The shocking findings should be a watershed moment for schools and parents because we know that children who are behind before they begin reception are more likely to struggle throughout life. If teachers are still having to spend on average 2.5 hours of their day helping children who are developmentally behind, every child misses out.’
One teacher said: ‘Our reception children would be able to show you how to use a mobile phone, how to use a tablet... I’m not sure if some of them would know which way around to hold a book and which way the pages turn, but they can certainly show you how to use a phone and a tablet.’
Another said: ‘I guarantee you can put a tablet or a mobile phone in front of them... they’ll probably be able to show me a thing or two. But you give them a board game or, you know, a hula hoop. They don’t know what to do with it.’
Tracy Jackson, the National Literacy Trust’s head of early years, said: ‘This research is in line with what we’re seeing across the early years sector.’