Pre school education has been a complete waste of money

[Reallytired]

What do you think?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6966112.stm

Is it really true that free pre school provision has not improved the gap between socially deprived households and middle class households?

Presonally I think that nursery was great for my son. Maybe state school nursery isn't enough hours in deprived areas. Or maybe mums bringing up kids don't give such a bad start afterall.

Message withdrawn

I have no information other than that of media reports about the success or otherwise of the provision of pre-school education in England and its success in levelling the achievement gap between socially deprived and middle-class households.

Here in France, where free pre-school education is universal (99% take-up rate) and long-standing, it is widely recognised to be successful in helping to level the achievement gap. However, French children get three years of full-time (6 hours a day) pre-school education (33 weeks a year), which is a lot more than in the UK.

Ecole maternelle (French pre-school) starts at the beginning of September of the calendar year in which a child has his/her third birthday. So my daughter, who will be 3 in November 2007, is starting pre-school next week.

6 hour a day pre-school is on offer. School is generally for four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday). Some schools also offer Wednesday morning or Saturday morning.

In reality, the less prosperous families use the six-hour a day option (plus canteen), more prosperous families tend to put their children in école maternelle in the mornings only for the first year.

Sorry - yes, a different school starting age to UK. Primary school starts in the September of the calendar year in which a child has his/her sixth birthday.

What happens about french three year olds who aren't potty trained?

They have to be potty-trained. They're French children, the developmental milestones happen at different times to the UK

In fact, some schools will take children from age 2 if they are potty-trained. Though this is quite controversial.