School readiness survey - surprising?

[GirlfromtheNorthLondonCountry]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jan/30/some-children-starting-school-unable-to-climb-staircase-finds-england-and-wales-teacher-survey

Is it really the case that 4 year olds (absent disabilities) are unable to climb stairs or sit on the rug because of too much screen time? It just seems so extraordinary to me.

This is what shocked me most in the article - surely this can’t be the case?

Fewer than half (44%) of the 1,000 parents of reception-aged children who took part in a parallel survey said they thought children starting school should know how to use books correctly, turning the pages rather than swiping or tapping as if using an electronic device

A PP on another thread was talking about her intention to declutter and was particularly worried about having 4 shelves of books. It seems for some people books are no longer an important part of life

I wonder if that question got lost in translation - perhaps the parents thought it was a skill for a much younger age group? I think it is on the development questionnaire for toddlers.

Sadly it doesn't surprise me. I've worked in Early Years and the amount of kids who have not experienced all the things they need for their normal development is depressing. Kids who have never been to a park, don't own any books, aren't being toilet trained, only eat beige food - but can't feed themselves. I could go on and on...

We need to bring back sure start centres.

Surprising? No. Depressing? Yes.

I'm surprised they even knew to ask this particular question. It would never cross my mind that some of my friends though 4 year old can't turn pages. This is depressing, tho.

unfortunately, children do not benefit from screen time. I feel like many parents are unaware screen time (even tv) are anti beneficial to their kids.

When my children were young, they thought their dad read a lot more than me... I was reading several books a week, but on my Kindle. It made us think a bit about how they see the world (we had hundreds of childrens books in the house, but not many adult books as we had prioritised their stuff when moving abroad)

Stairs... if a child lives in a single storey home, with maybe a lift, I don't find the stairs overly surprising. My younger DD struggled with stairs at that age as she was short. At home she could take her time.

I saw a thing about this in the Times. I am not all that bothered about children using Americanisms - mainly because quite a few of the children at our school have parents from elsewhere and have non-british accents. They learn our phrases pretty fast.

I am concerned about so many children not being toilet trained before starting school. Mainly because it is such a waste of a qualified teacher's time. It means that the attention is disproportionately given to the quarter of children who are not toilet trained.

There was a bit where it said that only 44% of parents said children should know how to use books before reception. I wondered whether some of the people who answered interpreted the question as the children being expected to read from books (my children couldn't read when they started reception but they did know how to open them).

What a really worrying report. How can a child (without disabilities) not be physically able to walk up and down stairs or sit on a carpet? Seriously? I have a two year old who is potty trained and able to do those things. It’s baffling.

V v concerning. I worry hugely about screen time for youngsters. There are plenty who are on screens all the time and the parents don't know how to manage it. I have no idea how you get to that place. Be a parent!! The poster who says it's fine for average reception kids and beyond to be in nappies; it's not! Be embarrassed and do something about it!

I wonder it it's maybe because parents are just stuggling really badly at home for all sorts of reasons and the kids end up on screens a lot. It might be poverty, or illness or whatever, but kids can end up on screens for a long time if parents are just really up against it.

I know because this happened with me when I had a long illness and it did affect my son's development. I didn't mean it to happen, but it can be very hard when the NHS isn't coping and the parents can't access healthcare.

The problem is that once they are behind, the school system drives very hard and it can be so difficult to catch up. The pace is just relentless, and so kids who start at a disadvantage aren't necessarily helped, but can just be driven lower.

There is a lot of responsibility with app developers . So many apps are marketed as ‘educational’ so parents think they are supporting their children. Problem is, the skills do not generalise to real life (mark making etc). Not to mention the constant ‘gamification’ of skills that should be learned through play and high quality language / reading to the child. I saw two babies under a year this morning in buggies which had special screen holders, glued to a screen. I work with children and honestly (although there’s not enough research) I believe instinctively that screen time is causing so many complex issues for children :-(

I would be interested to know how many of these DC were born to mothers who had covid during pregnancy, or who themselves had covid (possibly multiple times) in the first year of life.

Because we know it's neurotoxic.

But are going to be really slow to examine this properly, because the mere idea that a virus can affect development is just too awful.

I wonder how many of those clumsy kids with poor motor skills and a weak core are actually dyspraxic - those are extremely typical traits but schools do not recognise dyspraxia at all IME. DS's school - not a clue. They just thought he was clumsy, poor at writing etc

They should have asked those teachers how many thought they could actually recognise SEN IMO! I bet loads would think they could when actually their knowledge is probably extremely limited and they'd either not recognise SEN or only recognise it when it was severe. Certainly no one picked up DS until he was almost secondary age and his teacher went on an ASD course and had an inkling.

More knowledge of SEN would really help with understanding the kids rather than assuming it must be down to bad parenting or problem kids.

We reap what we sow. Unfortunately this is what happens when public services are cut to the bone. I am not surprised at all by the report. I understand the frustration with parents who haven’t got their children ready for starting school but really what support is there for inadequate parents? As a PP mentioned SureStart centres all closed. Health visitors are checking on children and families via phone calls. The investment into young children and their families would pay dividends with regard to Educational attainment and life chances. It was a false economy to cut support services to those families. Added to which schools are left to pick up the pieces as usual. Teachers should be teaching not toilet training, brushing children’s teeth or any of the other million other things that the government now expect teachers to do in addition to actually teaching.

My experience too. Depressing and frightening. Young children are soooo unfit - I would imagine it’s a big part of the dramatic rise in poor behaviour, young kids need an outlet for energy and they don’t get it 🙁

I remember when my eldest was a baby and we had someone from sure start attend the baby group and give us free books. She said then that she had come across children that had no idea how to use a book, that was 19 years ago. It broke my heart to hear about children not understanding you had to turn the pages. My youngest does have a bit too much screen time at times but they also has a bed full of books they are reading. When I saw the first post I wondered if not being able to sit on the mat was an attention thing but it's a core muscle issue. I cannot understand how that happens, my children never stopped moving around.

The americanism thing reminds me of my eldest who liked to listen to audio books when in her room. One of her favourites was a Dr Seuss story, which she memorised when she was two and she would recite it in an American accent as that was what it was read in. I have to add she did like reading books with us, she just likes listening to her stories when she was playing, and she never spoke with an American accent other then when reciting this story.

I think the worry is teachers are reporting these types of issues are increasing.

If they had one child like that 5 years ago, two 3 years ago and five now, it is a concern. It's almost more concerning if 'genuine' sen is increasing over something solvable like screens.

That’s scary, although rather concerningly I’ve caught my three year old attempting to swipe on the TV and my name varies between mummy, mammy and mommy…

However, he is toilet trained, knows books aren’t iPads (we read a lot) and can turn pages and walk up and down stairs.

I can see how the toilet training one has happened (unless parents are genuinely being lazy) as there are so many people that give the advice of “don’t even try until they are ready and then they’ll get it in 2 days” which might be true for some kids but others (like mine) will take months to be reliably dry and it takes lots of patience and practice.

More likely laziness tbh

I work in a secondary school. There's a lot of shit parenting going on out there!

That's depressing, my under 1 can turn pages (albeit not always the "right" way).

I've been a swimming teacher for 20 years and the difference I am seeing at the beginner end in the last few years is horrific.
We have ratios set years ago - you can have up to 8 x 3 yr olds in one class, one teacher in the water.
It is no longer safe and I now refuse to do it.
About 10% of the kids have such low/non existent core strength that even with umpteen floatation devices they flop forward, face down. Can't hold their body. They then can't actually climb out of the water using the steps. Need to be lifted out. I have never in all my years teaching seen any kid to have the lack of strength of the last two years.

No it's doesn't surprise me. Coming from someone who works in a school in early years. So many children are more like a baby than a toddler. So when they start school they're more like toddlers.