If the kindergarten child can already read and write

Tuesday afternoon in a Swiss kindergarten. Six-year-old Zoé is begging the kindergarten teacher to give her more tasks for her weekly plan - she has already done everything. «I want to work!» the girl demands enthusiastically. Zoé's mum says: «We didn't encourage this at home at all, but Zoé emulates her big sister and even wants to do homework - she calls it «being big».»

The same range can also be seen with boys: some immerse themselves in playing with Legos, while others want to print out picture after picture and solve number puzzles. Five-year-old Lio, for example, has recently started reading everything he sees - even deciphering the label on the muesli packet letter by letter.

Every child wants to learn to read when they are ready.

Remo Largo

Paediatrician and author Remo Largo («Kinderjahre») states: «Every child wants to learn to read when they are at that stage in their development.» Children are born with an interest in reading, speaking and even communication. Even babies communicate with sounds, and two-year-olds are able to follow a story.

Children imitate reading

Children are fascinated by books, love stories read to them, imitate reading and hold the book out to other children in the same way they know it from being read to - even upside down. «At some point, the child realises that something exciting is hidden behind the black characters and wants to get to know these letters,» says Andrea Bertschi, reading researcher and professor emeritus of literary didactics at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. She sees reading aloud and telling stories as the origin of the «desire to learn to read».

Parents play a rather insignificant role in their children's early learning of reading and maths.

Margrit Stamm, educational scientist

«For some years now, we have had more and more children who can do more and more,» says Andrea Lanfranchi, Head of Research at the Intercantonal University for Special Needs Education. He explained in an interview that in some cantons, one in three children can already master the material on the first day of school that they should only be able to do at the end of Year 1.

This is nothing new: «There have always been children who wanted to and were able to read, write or do maths before starting school,» writes educational scientist Margrit Stamm in her essay on «Learning development of early readers and early calculators». However, the question is: do children who can read and/or do maths at an early age have greater potential than their peers who have no prior knowledge when they start school?

Reasons for the performance advantage

In a study on early readers led by Margrit Stamm, 29 per cent of 2667 children were able to read all letters and 21 per cent all words completely and without errors six weeks after starting school.

A high proportion of the children had partial literacy skills - meaning that only seven per cent of the children had not yet acquired any prior knowledge of reading. The pre-school skills in arithmetic were even more pronounced. The performance advantage of these children was at least one school year.

Learning to read and do maths at pre-school does not require above-average skills.

Margrit Stamm, educational scientist

What made these children early readers or early calculators? Is it the family background, the social and economic class or the children's own interests? Stamm comes to a perhaps surprising conclusion for parents: parental guidance in learning reading and maths played a comparatively insignificant role in her study.

Only a small proportion of the children surveyed received special support at home. 83 per cent of the children acquired their reading or arithmetic skills through self-motivation, of which 27 per cent imitated their siblings or neighbours.

The group of preschool children with reading and maths skills is also not gifted (see box). Margrit Stamm says: «Our study has made it clear that pre-school reading and maths learning does not require above-average abilities.»

Children who learn to read and write at an early age are often self-motivated to learn these skills

However, it can be assumed that such skills are present when children are motivated to learn maths and reading at an early age. According to Stamm, however, it is unclear whether these pupils will continue to perform better throughout their school career. «There is no single answer to the long-term effects of early learning in reading and maths.»

On the other hand, it can be said: Pupils who have acquired reading and/or maths skills on their own initiative before starting school, which manifest themselves as a clear advantage in skills when they start school, are still among the most successful pupils at the end of compulsory schooling.

However, Margrit Stamm summarises: "The early acquisition of skills only guarantees lasting success at school if the corresponding motivation to perform is also present, given a certain level of intelligence.

If a child shows an interest in letters or numbers, this curiosity should be pursued.

Unfounded fear of boredom

If a child can already do maths and/or read when they start school in Year 1, this does not automatically mean frustration or boredom in the classroom. «That's the big challenge for our teachers today: responding to the different stages of development of the children,» says Professor Andrea Bertschi. Cross-grade basic levels and other forms of teaching in schools enable children to receive targeted support.

So what should you do if your kindergarten child wants to learn to read or do maths? The experts agree: if a child is interested in letters and/or numbers, this curiosity should be pursued. If a child shows initiative in learning, an artificial delay is often counterproductive.

If a child wants to write, parents should support them

The suggestion that they don't have to be able to do that yet, that's what school is for, often ends in disappointment and a possible lack of challenge for the child. For parents, this means that if a child wants you to help them write their name: help them. They want to know what two plus three actually equals? Hold up fingers and count.

Not all children have this interest in numbers or letters as early as kindergarten. This is no cause for concern either: «After all, the grass doesn't grow any faster if you pull on it,» writes Remo Largo.

Incidentally, Lio's older sister didn't want to know anything about numbers or letters until first grade. She signed her drawings with a spidery L for Leni. Today, the third-grader is an avid reader - hiding under the duvet deep into the night, she devours book after book.