... concerns would be; are children younger than five better off following an inflexible curriculum? Shouldn't children of this age be learning through play? Although the policy on primary school curriculum is incorporating more play Miller et al. (2002:3) suggests that the links of early years settings to primary school curriculum lead 'some early years settings to introduce formal learning too soon.' Concerns of early admission to schools, albeit very different, date back to the 19th Century when children often worked to provide an income for their families and schooling would not have been an issue until they were a lot older, and even then many did not attend. When schooling at 'the age of five was introduced into the 1870 Education Act' (Woodhead 1989:5), many feared that there would no longer be money coming in to provide food for the family. Apprehension is a lot different today but is still ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now