Educating very young children

Opposition

Many oppose the theory of learning through play because they think children are not gaining new knowledge. In reality, play is the first way children learn to make sense of the world at a young age. Research suggests that the way children play and interact with concepts at a young age could help explain the differences in social and cognitive interactions later.
These pressures to implement more stringent early structured curriculum are evident in the UK as well. In their 2017 report titled, Bold Beginnings, Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, argued for less free play and more reading in math in the Readiness Year for 4-5 year olds equivalent to US kindergarten.^[8] Ofsted's report pushed for a stronger academic curriculum in Reception Year with more standardized testing, systematic synthetic phonics instruction, and increased direct teaching time every day in writing and mathematics. The report went so far as to say that "Some headteachers did not believe in the notion of 'free play'".^[8] Those teachers seemed to view free play as too "rosy" and with an unrealistic view of childhood.^[8]
In opposition to the Bold Beginnings report, Beard (2018) published a report on a Cambridge study that compared two groups of children. One group began formal reading lessons with phonics emphasis at age five and the other group did not begin until age seven. The study found that there was no difference at all in the reading ability of the two groups of children by age eleven. However, the study did conclude that "the children who started at five developed less positive atitudes to reading and showed poorer text comprehension than those who started later."^[41]
When learning what behavior to associate with a set action can help lead children on to a more capable future.^[42] As children watch adults interact around them, they pick up on their slight nuances, from facial expressions to their tone of voice. They are exploring different roles, learning how things work, and learning to communicate and work with others. These things cannot be taught by a standard curriculum, but have to be developed through the method of play. Many preschools understand the importance of play and have designed their curriculum around that to allow children to have more freedom. Once these basics are learned at a young age, it sets children up for success throughout their schooling and their life.^{[citation needed]}