The Scottish Greens have pledged to raise the school starting age to seven, which would bring Scotland in line with almost all other European countries except the Netherlands (and the rest of the UK). The party would introduce a play-based kindergarten stage for children between three and six years old, arguing that trying to teach literacy and numeracy at such an early age is “counterproductive” and can put children off school.

It’s easy to sneer at this as just another progressive educational policy that reinforces the “soft bigotry of low expectations” by lowering standards. Yet — whisper it — the Scottish Greens might be right. There are plenty of studies which show that play-based learning before the age of seven leads to fewer behavioral problems, stronger emotional regulation, and greater motivation to learn.

For example, one study compared groups of children in New Zealand who started formal literacy lessons aged five and seven. By the age of 11 there was no difference in the reading ability level between the two groups, but the children who started at five developed less positive attitudes to reading and showed poorer text comprehension than those who had started later.

Campaigners have long argued that young children’s natural curiosity and instinctive eagerness is institutionally undermined in favor of prescriptive learning. They contend that children are being forced into formal schooling too early, then diagnosed with learning difficulties when they react badly to the straitjacket of traditional schooling.

Even if you don’t agree with the philosophies of Montessori momfluencers or Steiner schools, it’s clear something has to change. Almost 20% of schoolchildren in the UK are registered as having special educational needs — five times higher than the European Union average — and they are being diagnosed earlier and earlier.

This is a particular problem for summer-born primary school children: for example, nearly half of summer-born boys are categorized as having SEND by primary schools, while 39% are being ascribed a “good level of development” in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (an assessment measure taken at the end of Reception) compared to 80% of autumn-born girls. Is the problem simply that we are expecting too much of them too soon?

Our sedentary lifestyles, increased screen time and parenting failures also mean that more children are simply not physically ready to start formal learning at the age of four or five. One study by Loughborough University found that 96% of teachers believed young children’s physical development had declined in recent years, also detailing that a third of students exhibited problems with movement which may affect learning and behavior.

A play-based kindergarten stage sounds radical or indulgent. But given how much “play” has been eroded in other areas of children’s lives, perhaps this is really about restoring a fundamental necessity that has been lost. Starting formal education at age four or five increasingly looks like an anachronism: the policy was first introduced in 1870 as a way of reducing the malign influence of feckless parents and appeasing suspicious employers (an early start meant an early school leaving age).

The key, however, is to ensure that any early years play-based “curriculum” is structured, high-quality and purposeful — not just glorified childcare or “wasted time”. The devil is in the detail, and this is something the Scottish Greens have yet to deliver.

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Kristina Murkett is a freelance writer and English teacher.

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