Mark Allen Group

The aim of identifying areas of learning is to help adults to create a balance, to address all the different, equally important areas of what children gain across the years of early childhood.

Young children are important as themselves; they are not pre-anything. For this reason I avoid using the word ‘pre-schooler’ to refer to children under five years. We do not call adolescents ‘pre-workers’ or people in their fifties ‘pre-retirees’!

However, in my view, calling young children themselves ‘pre-schoolers’ seriously increases the risk that their learning and experiences are valued only as school preparation.