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Long Term Effects of Early School Entry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Marion M. de Lemos
Marion M. de Lemos*
Affiliation:
Australian Council for Educational Research
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Extract

The debate regarding age of entry to school goes back a number of years. It seemed to come to a head in the late 1970s, coinciding with the visit to Australia of Dr Raymond Moore, who put forward the somewhat extreme view that children should not start school before the age of about 8 to 10 years. Hisargument was based on a maturational view of development. Experiences must wait until the child is ‘ready’ and the brain has ‘matured’. In particular, he argued that exposure to early reading and the close work involved in the pre-school and early primary school could harm the developing visual system and lead to long-term visual defects, particularly short-sightedness.

Moore's position was of course contrary to the mainstream of thought in this area, and particularly the recognition, stemming from the work of Hebb and Piaget, of the importance of the early environment in laying the foundations for later development. It nevertheless had some popular appeal, and was taken up by various parent and teacher pressure groups who called for changes to school entry policies and specifically raising the age of entry to school to five years.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , May 1988, pp. 6 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 1988

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References

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