Is there a definitive answer about the 'right' age to start your child at school?

It’s the debate we hear over and over again – school starting ages. Should you send your child when they are age-eligible or should you delay their entry? And why-oh-why can’t there just be a flat out rule. A definitive age your child must go at?

The answer to that is as easy as looking at your own children.

When I look at my three kids I see how different they are, different needs, different skills and different temperaments. Much like your children I am guessing.

The reason there is such a wide gap is that children are so vastly different and have different needs.

Kay Margetts, an Associate Professor in Early Childhood Studies told The Motherish that it is a tricky issue fraught with many different concerns for parents. But that she firmly believes we should just wait till they are five.

“There is little or no research, I do not know of any, showing that starting school before age 5 is of benefit to children,” she said.

Professor Helen McGrath is a former classroom teacher and an adjunct professor in the School of Education, RMIT University. She told The Motherish that there is no definitive answer about when your child should start school but that, “Available research supports the conclusion that most children should start when they are age-eligible according to their school system.”

The debate focuses upon when the transition between play-based pre-school and the start of 'formal' schooling should begin.

Children in Australia begin formal education almost two-years before almost anywhere else in the developed world. But a recent article in New Scientist titled: "Too much, too young: Should schooling start at age 7?" argued that formal education at age four or five was harmful and misguided and that play-based learning, as provided in pre-school, far outweighed the importance of formal learning.

“Experimental psychology has consistently demonstrated the superior learning and motivation arising from playful, as opposed to instructional, approaches to early education," the article states.

The article further examined the psychological link between play based learning and better outcomes. It read, "There is an equally substantial body of research concerning the worrying increase in stress and mental health problems among children whose childhood education is being 'schoolified'. It suggests strong links with loss of playful experiences and increased achievement pressures."

In Europe, the most common school starting age is six, and even seven in some cases such as Finland. The Finland example is one often used by parents as a reason for delaying schooling. But Professor McGrath says it is nonsense.

“There are many other reasons why children in Finland do well educationally “ she says “ The teachers in Finland are more valued and qualified than in other countries and the teacher-student ratio is very low. Children in Finland also take part in a system called 'educare' which starts when they are three and which integrates education, teaching skills that link to reading and maths, as well as care.

WATCH this kindergarten student's first day at school as filmed with a Go-Pro. We dare you not to shed a tear. Post continues after video...

So what does the research say?

Well, confusingly different research says different things. Assoc. Prof Margetts says that research showed the youngest children in a class tended not to do as well.

Professor McGrath disagrees telling The Motherish that there is also research that shows children who are the youngest in the class in the long term were more likely to have better learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

Is your head spinning now? Mine is.

And then there is the research that says being the oldest in your peer group gives you an advantage. This research, on Canadian hockey players, and outlined in the book Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Outliers, found that children who are older in their year will generally have developed before those born later in the year. Thus they will be bigger, stronger and have greater hand-to-eye co-ordination than their younger peers.

Those children are then streamed and given special or extra training opportunities, and they fulfill the prophecy that was in part created by their advanced age. Gladwell extrapolates this example across a number of other areas, arguing that being older in one’s peer group, gives one an advantage.

But Professor McGrath says that this doesn’t necessarily translate, pointing out an Australian study that included 3,684 New South Wales high school students in years 7–12 was conducted in 2009 by Professor Andrew Martin. He found that students whose entry to primary school had been delayed were more likely to report that they valued school less, enjoyed it less, and felt less engaged with school and learning.

And just to mess with your minds, there is a totally separate study from the US in 2002 that found by the end of their sixth year in school, children in the US whose preschool learning had been 'academically directed' achieved significantly lower marks compared with those who had attended play-based programs.

Well that clears it all up doesn't it?

So what do you do?

Interestingly, Victoria’s Department of Education figure show that rather than what we all believe - that more and more parents are “holding back” it is actually the opposite -  with the amount of preps who were aged six on April 30 of their first year actually declining slightly in recent years: 9097 of 43,967 in 2008 (20.7 per cent) to 8807 of 50,858 in 2013 (17.3 per cent).

“The biggest myth is that children who aren’t automatically showing readiness should be held back until they mature, despite the fact that maturity is the interaction of readiness with experience,” Professor McGrath said. “If we waited to be totally ready for everything we have to do, we wouldn’t do very much. You have to take the leap at some stage.”

Assoc. Prof Margetts says that the system needs to change.

“It would be more equitable to review the starting school age so that children needed to be 5 on or before 31 December of the year prior to school commencing – that is they needed to be 5 years old to start school which is the same as starting school the year they turn 6.”

Until then I am afraid there is no answer. NO right or wrong. Just weigh up each child individually and trust your instinct.

What all the experts do agree upon though is that if you do decide to delay their entry then good quality early childhood education in the 'gap year' is crucial.

Now we just need to work out when's the right age to start that...

What did you do with your child? Would you like to see the system changed?

The starting age varies around Australia:

•   In Victoria, and ACT kids can start prep aged 4 years, if they turn five by April 30

•   In NSW and WA they must have turned five by July 30.

•   In QLD children must be enrolled in the year they will turn six by 30 June.

•   In SA if your child turns five before 1 May they will start school on the first day of term one in that year.

•   In TAS kids must be five by 1 January to be enrolled in Prep, the first year of school.

Some websites that may help:

Kidsmatter: starting school.

Transitions in Early Childhood.