The first year at school

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday V)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: The first year at school

Proposal

The first year at school is perhaps the most important year in the educational career of learners. And yet it remains comparatively under research across the world. This paper sets out the case for its importance and outlines what we still need to know about this crucial period.
Although children start school at different ages it always represents a major transition involving all that that entails including stress, anxiety, excitement and the potential for problems. We have shown, using regression discontinuity analysis in England, that more progress is made in the first year of schooling than in any other year. This corresponds to children often learning to read during that first year; an achievement which is hard to better. They also made major strides in the early mathematics and it is the first time that they experience organized, structured group work. How far this is true of other cultures we cannot be certain.
Our work has also shown that the progress, which children make, varies enormously from school to school and class to class. We have found this in many countries including Russia, South Africa and Australia. But, is it always the case? This variation is important because we have shown that the more progress that children make in the year the higher their achievement at the end of compulsory schooling; the first year at school has a long-term impact in the years which follow.
We know that there is a very high dropout rate from schools in some cultures and, although we have not seen strong evidence, we believe that, in addition to family economic factors, the quality of schooling has a role to play. And yet, it is thought appropriate to allocate less qualified teachers to younger children. We need skilled and able teachers at the start of school and small classes. We also need to provide a comfortable and enjoyable experience.
We also know that simply getting children to school does not guarantee high quality education.
The iPIPS project has been able to throw light on some of the issues outlined above but only some of them. Every statement above is true for one or perhaps a few countries and we urgently need to know how widely they apply. More crucially, we need to know how to improve education in the first year in all countries. Simply calling for better teachers is not the answer, nor can we wave a wand and create smaller classes. These must be long-term aims but in the shorter term, we need to find ways to work with existing teachers to improve provision in their own situations.

Author

• Peter Tymms, Durham University