Chat with Sue Palmer, early years advocate and campaigner for raising the age at which formal learning starts through the Upstart campaign.
We discuss what shifts in thinking are needed.
"Real play is needed for our children between 3-7. We are squeezing the play out & putting huge pressure on them to achieve, whether or not they are ready for it. Then we wonder why we have a mental health crisis!"
Sue Palmer, a former primary headteacher in Scotland, is a literacy specialist, writer, presenter and ‘childhood campaigner’. She has written over 200 books, software packages and TV programmes for schools on aspects of literacy and many hundreds of articles for the educational and national press. Over the last ten years, her books on child development in the modern world – notably Toxic Childhood (second edition 2015) – have led to frequent media appearances and comments about changes in children’s lifestyles. Her latest book, Upstart: the case for raising the school starting age and providing what the under-sevens really need, was published in 2016.
You can connect with her here https://www.suepalmer.co.uk/ & with the upstart campaign here https://www.facebook.com/upstartscotland
This link might help you know where the campaign she chairs stands just now. So close, and yet still so very far away from achieving
change: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/members-business-upstart-scotland-march-9-2021
The Legacy Life Podcast is brought to you by Sarah Parkes, Conscious Parenting Expert
Explore her 121 Parent and Business coaching at www.spcoaching.co.uk
