The Guardian – Rebecca Ratcliffe
“Poorer children who fall behind in reading at an early age earn around 20% an hour less in later life, according to a study commissioned by the Read On. Get On. campaign, which says poor-quality nursery provision is letting the most disadvantaged children down. Campaigners say the quality of private nurseries – which make up 75% of England’s provision – is too variable and weakest in the most disadvantaged areas. Half of England’s privately run nurseries do not employ a single graduate teacher, according to research by the group, which warns that this is contributing to literacy problems among children. “On average, children from low-income families are nearly 12 months behind their better-off peers in vocabulary by the time they start school,” the report says. One in five children in England cannot read well by the time they leave primary school, while this figure rises to one in three among children from disadvantaged backgrounds.”(more)