This article suggests that many of the 16-year-olds who don't achieve a C or better in GCSE English may have had parents who didn't recognise the value of talking to them from the moment they were born. It argues that a bringing together of health visitors, Sure Start centres and primary schools could help lift many children out of the cultural poverty associated with poor language skills. But it won't help if the cultural poverty of a home is due to economic poverty, inevitably causing parent(s) to spend little quality time with their young offspring. |
