Why aren ’ t pupils ’ school-ready ?
We listed some reasons why children might not be at the expected level when they enter school , either at primary or secondary stage , and asked school leaders to tell us which reasons most commonly apply in their setting . Overall , a lack of social skills is the most-cited reason when responses are pooled from both phases , with almost three-quarters ( 72 %) of school leaders selecting it from our list . The next most-cited reasons are a lack of self-help skills / resilience ( 66 %) and delayed speech ( 65 %).
When comparing the experiences of the different phases , we see that lower than expected academic levels are the most common reasons for poor school-readiness among pupils entering secondary school . Lower than expected reading levels is cited by over three-quarters of secondary school leaders ( 76 %), followed by lower writing levels ( 63 %) and lower numeracy levels ( 56 %).
At primary level , more school leaders considered a lack of social skills ( 79 %) to be one of the most common reasons for children not being at the expected level when they join ; delayed speech ( 78 %) and a lack of self-help skills / resilience ( 69 %) were the next most selected options .
Both primary and secondary school leaders say that low self-esteem is in part responsible for pupils not being school-ready . A third ( 33 %) of primary leaders cite it as a contributing factor , and more than four in 10 ( 47 %) of those in secondary settings .
More needs to be done to help parents understand what ‘ school ready ’ means and what they can practically do to help . Language and socialisation would be at the top of the list for most schools but we need to be specific and clear about what to work on .
Perhaps schools need to build relationships with families much earlier . In many cases parents have a clear idea which school their children will attend . Perhaps we should be providing more support for prospective parents and helping them understand what we hope to see when children join the school .
We live in a very different world from the one we grew up in , where screen time is increasingly replacing social interaction as a way of spending time . Resistance is futile on this one , so we have to find ways to use technology healthily to promote language development and interaction skills . We also need to help parents understand just how valuable and enhancing real-life interactions are . There is no substitute for story reading or playing a board game which requires discussion , but technology can still enhance these activities .
As in so many aspects of learning , the key is to build a trusting , non-judgemental partnership between school and home ."
Andrew Teale Headteacher , St Paul ' s Church of England Primary School and National Leader of Education
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