British children are traditionally barely out of nappies when they begin school. But could this be about to change?

Children should not start formal learning until they are six years old, say early years experts who helped to write the “nappy curriculum”.

A Freedom of Information request by The Times Educational Supplement (July 4) reveals that the Government is being advised that the present targets for children under six are too harsh.

The Early Education Advisory Group has told the Government that to meet the principles of the new early years foundation stage (EYFS), it should be extended until the end of Year 1. The group has previously criticised goals set for children under the new foundation stage, which include being able to write their names and form simple sentences, as too difficult for many to achieve. About one third of children have attained these writing goals since 2005.

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“Many reception teachers are demoralised ... in their lack of success in getting children to attain these goals, and they are aware that this situation helps to develop a culture of deficiency for young children, identifying what they can't do,” the group says.

The two goals will be reviewed under Sir Jim Rose's inquiry into the primary curriculum, Beverley Hughes, the Children's Minister, confirmed. The group also recommends that qualified early years teachers should be employed in all early years settings, a proposal described as “feasible and right” by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary.

Little Englanders may fail

You might be a little hazy in telling your Kazakhstan from your Kyrgyzstan. But the gap in young people's awareness of the wider world appears to be much more serious.

Teenagers are not given enough opportunities to discuss world events in class, leaving them “globally illiterate”, The Times Educational Supplement (July 4) reports.

An Ipsos MORI poll for the education charity DEA found that while the majority of children aged 16 to 19 say that they receive lessons on global matters in class, almost twice as many were more interested in making money than improving the planet. Only half of the 2,000 young people surveyed felt that it was a good idea for people from different backgrounds to live in the same country; nearly 30 per cent were neutral to the idea and 14 per cent were opposed.

The findings led DEA to express fears over a “little England” mentality. “The Government wants young people to have a ‘world-class' education,” says Hetan Shah, chief executive of the charity. “[But] an education system that leaves English children without a basic understanding of world events or problems ... sets children up to fail,” he says.

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