Questioning the relationship between pre-compulsory education and school

Abstract

As interpretative researchers with an interest in pre- compulsory education, we find ourselves challenging the relationship between education and school. In a time where 94% of four-year-olds are in some form of funded education in England (National Statistics, 2020) the expectation for children to be in reception classes from such a young age is clear. In this paper we question the relationship between education and school in a system of hyperactive policy change (Ball, 2018). By changing the conjunction between ‘education’ and ‘school’ the focus shifts from viewing education as school, to consider approaches to education at school, and what education looks like other than school. We would like to share our research into different facets of pre-compulsory education through a consideration of parents choosing different forms of education, an analysis of partnership working through mathematical play in the reception class and learning through unsupervised play outside of the school gates. We hope to challenge current thinking that school starts at four and to question the schoolification of early education.