Children are starting school barely able to speak because their parents are too busy to talk to them, a leading teacher has warned.
Nearly half of 4 and 5 year olds at one school in Tottenham begin reception class knowing 30 to 50 words or fewer, Sir Robin Bosher said – a similar level of English seen in 18 month year olds.
By four or five, healthy children can normally say 1500 to 2000 words.
Many of the children have little experience of playing with others.
Sir Robin said 57 out of 60 children who began at the school last September spoke no English, but this presents little problem for teachers as young children can become fluent in a second language within six months.
However, 25 children in the year had “no or hardly any” ability to speak any language whatsoever.
His teachers have had to “skew” the curriculum. “The first three months is entirely around engulfing them in the richest language. It takes a lot of work,” said Sir Robin, the director of primary education at Harris Federation, a leading chain of academies. He is leaving the post to join the management of Ofsted, the schools inspectorate. The problem has worsened over his 30-year career, he said.
“The language deficit has increased because there's a higher number of children without English. It's also because the extent to which the families have that time to talk to children is reduced, where mum or dad are both working all the time because they have three or four jobs. It's about time, or the understanding how important that is."
“You have to help children to learn how to play as well. They may not have been playing with lots of other children. It’s a fact, and you have to deal with it.”
Michael Gove, the education secretary, has lamented the fate of children who arrive at school still wearing nappies because the state has been too slow to intervene in “chaotic” homes.