‘No optimum age’ for f irst year at school

The age children start school makes little difference to their academic achievement a year on, a study has found.

When test results for 3916 new entrants at 31 schools were compared with their results a year later, the age they started school was irrelevant, especially considering the ‘‘huge range’’ in ability between children, University of Canterbury researcher Dr John Boereboom said.

It did affect their progress, with children who started school earlier showing slightly more improvement. The study found younger students learned slightly more within their first year of school. Boys generally made more progress than girls in maths, but the reverse was true for reading.

Concerns about children’s academic abilities and how fast they learn ‘‘should not be considered as major and overriding factors in making the decision of whether a child is ready to start school’’, Boereboom concluded.

‘‘The social and emotional maturity of a child is as important a consideration as their cognitive ability to count and recognise letters and shapes.’’

The study’s findings lend perspective to recent debates around cohort entry. Legislation from the previous National-led Government allowed primary schools to start children in groups, up to eight weeks before their fifth birthday, is being amended.

The new administration wants to retain the option of cohort entry, but only for 5 and 6-year-olds. Public submissions on the change closed last week. In November, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said ‘‘overwhelming feedback’’ during the select committee process was that children should not start school before then. His office did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Ministry deputy secretary Andrea Schollmann said: ‘‘While we have not commissioned our own research on an optimum age for starting school, we have undertaken literature reviews on this subject. International research on the effects of school starting age on student outcomes is inconclusive. ‘‘This is consistent with the article’s conclusion that there is no optimum age for starting school in NZ and that the decision on when to start school needs to be made by the parents of each individual child.’’

Restoring school entry at 5 could cost taxpayers up to $42 million, official documents show, though changes under National would have cost about $8.3m.

Dr Sarah Alexander, chief executive of early-childhood education organisation ChildForum, said debates over cohort entry wrongly revolved around the early-childhood sector’s fears it would lose up to $11m in subsidies, and principals’ differing views on whether it would make children’s transition to school easier.

‘‘The changes are not about money since the Government pays out more in subsidies to earlychildhood services than it does to schools,’’ Alexander said. ‘‘. . . I think what this research has highlighted is that age is less of an issue and what we need to focus on is whether the child has enough support in starting school.’’