Starting School

Psychologist Dr Amanda Mergler from the School of Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology studied 224,000 state school students over four years.

She found the proportion of parents holding children back until they turned six almost doubled between 2010 and 2014, climbing from 1.5 per cent to 2.9 per cent.

"We also found that the vast majority of those children were boys," Dr Mergler said.

"We do know that boys … they are often more active, they're less likely to want to sit nicely."

As part of her research, Dr Mergler also reviewed an online forum and found parents around the country were really struggling with the decision.

Factors parents considered included how close a child was to the cut-off age, the maturity of the child, the impact on later years, and the parent's own school experience.

"Parents, who had negative experiences as one of the youngest in their class, or positive experiences being one of the oldest, felt justified in delaying [kindergarten] entry," Dr Mergler said.

"They wanted their child to have more maturity and be one of the oldest in the class, indicating this would help them deal with issues including peer pressure, drinking and remaining focused on studying."

The study found;

1. parents be given access to support services when making the decision about school starting age.

2. further discussion on a National starting school age is required

3. holding back your child increases play - based learning

Read the recent article http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-20/when-should-...

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