Children's progress tested from birth

[Brangelina]

In the Guardian today
Do you think it's a bit excessive or a good thing? I mean, don't children develop at entirely different speeds? I'm not in the UK (and therefore my child will not be reading at 5) but something like this would totally stress me out.

it would totally stress out the child too. mad. who are these people setting all these goals? it makes me mad

Instead of interacting with children the carers are going to have to stand over them doing paper work. What if they fail, extra coaching!!!

Don't like the idea at all. Not sure how much the assessments would stress the child directly as they are observational, presumably over a period of time and I suspect the ajority of children would be wholly unaware of it. However, I do think it would stress the parents a great deal and unecessarily when they realise that their perfectly normal child has not met some of the developmental markers simply because they are developing in a different way.

In addition, any assessment only has value if it is going to be used to acheive some aim ie help children in certain aspects. As one cannot teach or support a child in tounching its toes or many or the other things the Government is going to look out for, what on earth is the point.

For me this is symtomatic of the belief that the more we assess children, the better they will be at whatever it is. Having taught in higher education, it is my experience that assessment detracts from the learning process as pupils become entirely focused on exam passing rather than the subject itself.

What the hell is wrong with this effing govt? Is there nothing that they don't want to monitor? Yet another reason to get out of this country asap.

As a Accredited Childminder I already do about 20 hours of paperwork a week, on top of a 50 hour week with the children, and that doesnt include, shopping for them, researching activities, preparing for the next day etc. How much more does this bloody government want!!!!! We will have no time for the children, they what the job is all about.

Just like the police being too busy filling out forms to catch any crims, Shosh. It sums this govt up, I'm afraid.

i sometimes wonder if the government just wants to create more jobs for graduates who see themselves as too good to actually work with children, but more suited to telling childcare workers how it should be done.

Its absolutely potty! A lot of kids struggle at school already thanks to the government thinking they should all be reading and writting fluently at 5, why the hell would we want to enforce this on our babies! It makes me so cross, as adults its accepted that we all have different skill levels and abilities in different things, why do our kids all have to be achieving the same thing on the same day? I have steam coming out of my ears!!!

the more i think about it the more angry i get. there are so many threads here about parents worrying their child isn't reaching the so called 'goals'. it's just stressing parents out when they should be enjoying their children

Exactly SEA, I get grief because my DD is small and isn't putting on the right amount of weight, according to what we now know are highly flawed charts. Reading up on the skills for each age group she's streets ahead on some and not even contemplating others, so how will she be measured? She's learning 2 languages so she's a bit fuddled with her speech, but will that be taken into account? Who the hell compiled that list of skills and on what basis? And what will happen if I move back to the UK when my DD is 5 and she can't read because here on the continent they start school at 6? Will she be branded backward?

I really don't get all this. I can understand training childminders to spot signs of syndromes such as autism so the children concerned can get help early, but I don't see why "normal" children should be pigeon-holed to fit certain criteria of behaviour and development and risk being labelled backward or whatever if they don't quite fit. Not to mention the added angst for the parents.

WTF - and where is alduous Huxley?

is this a totalitarian state? jesus christ.

what a load of pointless tripe.

If these kinds of checks are so important then why are the HVs' developmental checks being phased out all over the country? Is this a way of reintroducing them on the cheap?

More NuLab garbage.

How much is this all going to cost?

This government will have these children all fingerprinted next.

They will soon not be our children. As soon as we give birth they will be taken away to start schooling

Thats absurd, All children are diffrent you can't test them like this.

I love the idea that children should be able to write before they go to school. Can imagine teachers being delighted that parents have made some half-cocked attempt to teach children that the teachers then have to undo. Because some children may have the fine motor control and interest to do this but many won't and shouldn't be forced to meet some ridiculous target.

You have to wonder if these people have ever had children.

How can they say all children should be able to read by the time they go to school? To start with all children learn at different rates, we know that. And also some children at 4y11 months when they start and others 4y1m - could be a huge gap at that age!

Beverley Hughes, the children's minister, denied the goals would lead to a "tickbox approach" to assessing children, though she acknowledged this had happened under the previous system. She rejected suggestions that a 92-page set of practice guidance featuring 513 skills and attitudes children should acquire which accompanies the framework was excessively detailed.

92 pages and 513 skills Yeah, right!!! It is surely unworkable, lol!

Does anyone actually remember that kids like to play??!! All this fuss about testing kids leads to panicked mothers forcing their kids to read/write and spending hundreds on "educational" toys. I've fallen into the trap myself then think oh sod it. The magnetic letters are currently in a toy saucepan being "lunch" for a teddy bear which is where they belong! Perhaps the government research is sponsored by Leapfrog or VTech!!

when will they teach the muppets who decide this nonesense some common sense? It would be a much more worthwhile use of funds than trying to work out if my baby can get all 5 of his toes in his slobbery chops

Well it will please the pushy mums anyway!