Who is responsible for this advice to the Premier?

In the press release that gave the reasons for the changes to Kindergaten - the justification for the change was out in to the Premier's mouth

Premier Robert Ghiz says the revised policy reflects Government's commitment to lifelong learning beginning in the early years. "There is a great deal of new research that indicates young children benefit from being in a structured learning environment," he said. "We want to do everything possible to support early literacy and learning, to identify learning difficulties at an early age and provide the necessary early interventions," he said.

There is no research that says that young children benefit from STRUCTURED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. In fact the research is the opposite - what children benefit most from is play based learning!

This kind of advice is not only wrong but dangerous. There is a downside in pushing boys that are not ready. Here is an excellent article on how tricky the gender development issues are between the genders.

How many boys are ready at age five to start kindergarten?

A: On the order of 12 per cent; 88 per cent would do better if they started at age six. The key to success in early elementary education is doing the right thing at the right time. Farmers understand this. You can have the best farmland in the world and the best feed corn in the world, but if you try to plant your crop in the middle of a January snowstorm, you will not be successful. Likewise, you may have a very bright boy, but if you’re asking him to do things that are not developmentally appropriate, he won’t be successful. And the danger is that he will develop negative attitudes toward school, and it will be very difficult to change them.

I had the honour of working for Dr Fraser Mustard as his outreach communications advisor as the research about the potential of the Early Years was first brought to the public. I say this because I am now going to be clear about what is going on.

The departments of education and social services seem to have no idea of what this topic is all about - they consistently use some of the language to justify recommendations that at best have nothing to do with the key findings and as we see here at worst to recommend actions that have serious risks.

Why should the minister or the elected officials know? In this case they have to rely on the "experts". The "experts" show me that they have not done their homework.

If they care to understand the issues of the Early Years - Please go here to where I offer a broad over view of what the research says.