So I have not been too surprised to find that every time I discuss the future of children's centres, or the EYFS, there is a suggestion these two areas should be prioritised.
It is easy to agree with that; but agreeing the practical steps to take is trickier. I start by being sceptical of attempts at the direct teaching of specific skills. We know, from many years of research, that children's brains are magnificently fit for the purpose of learning language. Immersed in a sea of words and meanings, nearly all children will become communicators and listeners - the exception being those who need specialist help.
But the problem is that not all children find themselves immersed in that sea: some are hardly even paddling at the shore. In the 1990s, researchers Todd Risley and Betty Hart found that, by the age of three, some US children would have heard over 33 million words said to them by their parents, while others would have heard only 10 million. Some would have heard over 500,000 positive statements from their parents, others fewer than 60,000.
Risley and Hart found that the best way to help parents is surprisingly simple: encourage untalkative parents to talk more. There is no need to coach them in any particular style of interaction, or teach any particular communication skills. The Every Child a Talker (ECaT) programme does not promote the direct teaching of communication skills; instead it shows how communication-friendly environments and practitioners can make a real difference.
The same goes for emotional development. In early childhood, the emotions develop through relationships and the experience of living in a community - a nursery or a classroom. Children are supported when they are respected, helped, treated with sensitivity - and are expected to live those same values themselves. Trying to teach 'emotional skills', with sheets of smiley and sad faces just does not work. Isn't good early education about the development of the whole child, and not just the practice of skills?
Julian Grenier, early years adviser to Tower Hamlets council in London.
