Computer skills should be given the same importance as reading, writing and arithmetic, and children should be taught to use podcasts and PowerPoint presentations in primary school, a curriculum review will say today.

The long-awaited report by Sir Jim Rose, a former schools inspector and senior government education adviser, will suggest that children are so computer literate at such a young age that ICT skills usually taught in secondary schools should begin in primaries.

This will ensure that what goes on in the classroom is “a better fit with children's developing abilities” and will help to ensure that education in England does not get left behind by the global technology revolution.

Sir Jim will also recommend a whole new approach to learning, moving away from the teaching of traditional subjects, such as history, geography, music and RE, towards a focus on teaching organised around six general themes: English communication and languages; mathematics, science and technology; human, social and environmental understanding; physical health and wellbeing; and art and design. “We need to teach important things, but we need to give children opportunities to apply them across subjects,” he said.

He added that he would like to see less breadth and more depth to what children learn in primary school. “The primary stage doesn't have to cover everything by the time children are 11. We are trying to give primary schools flexibility to do less, but to do it better.”

Sir Jim was asked to conduct the review by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, last year in the face of growing concerns about standards and morale in primary schools. One fifth of 11-year-olds are failing to reach the standard expected of their age in English and mathematics.

There are also widespread concerns that schools are focusing too much on national curriculum tests, putting children off learning.

The reforms would mirror changes introduced into the Key Stage 3 curriculum in September, which allowed more cross-curricular teaching across a range of subjects, greater flexibility in timetabling and a less detailed prescription on what should be taught.

But they are unlikely to meet with universal approval. Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, said yesterday that the move away from subject areas towards topic-based learning would erode standards.

“The danger is especially acute in science and maths, where the World Economic Forum says we're now 47th in the world. Other international league tables show we're already falling significantly behind other countries in terms of education. We need more rigour in the curriculum, not less,” he said.

John White, of the Institute of Education, said that Sir Jim's six areas of learning were “too academic” and did not allow enough space to focus on children's personal development. “What could happen is that you are just replacing one set of categories of learning with another, without looking at what learning is for,” he said.

Another of the review's main recommendations, that summer-born children should have the option of starting primary school part-time at age four, is equally controversial.

Most children begin school in the September after their fourth birthday, though some authorities allow children to start later in the academic year. But there are concerns that summer-born children do less well in school and this can affect GCSE and A-level results - and access to university.

Instead of allowing parents to hold summer-born children back a year until they are mature enough to cope with school, Sir Jim suggests that they begin at age four, but only part-time, giving them time to ease into formal schooling.

He said that teachers also needed to ensure that summer-born children were taught together in groups, not with older children, and that they got the right support.

But the move is bound to prove controversial with some child development experts who claim that children in the UK already start formal schooling too early. They argue that much of the rest of Europe delays formal education until six or seven and still performs well in international tests.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said giving flexibility to parents was a good idea, but cautioned that the Government still needed to look at the issue of testing very young children.

The review will also call for more play-based learning in the first year of primary school, to help to ease the transition between nursery and primary school.

Although the remit of Sir Jim's review does not cover testing, he said he would like to see greater use of “assessment for learning”, a formal tool of monitoring individual pupil progress. He hoped the Government would continue to explore alternatives to the national curriculum key stage 2 tests for 11-year-olds, such as single-level testing in which children sit “less formal” papers twice a year. Children are entered only when their teachers assess that they are capable of passing, in much the same way as the grade tests for music exams.

“This is a strong possibility that ought to be explored. We must persevere on this,” Sir Jim said. He said he hoped that in the meantime primary schools would cut back on intensive drilling for tests.

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