Liz Constable sends children to school year earlier

WA children will start school a year earlier under an education system designed to accord with the national curriculum.

WEST Australian children will start school a year earlier under a new 13-year education system designed to accord with the national curriculum.

From 2013, it will be compulsory for five-year-olds to attend pre-school while WA will also join most other states in moving Year 7 from primary to secondary school from 2015.

But the peak parents group and the teachers union immediately criticised the government for not consulting or informing them on the details of the changes before the announcement.

Education Minister Liz Constable said compulsory pre-primary school would give children the best start in literacy and numeracy skills.

While 97 per cent of children are already enrolled in pre-school in WA, attendance is patchy.

The change would fit in with the national curriculum, due to be phased in from 2013, which encompasses children from the pre-school year, known as foundation, through to Year 12.

"To make pre-primary compulsory is a way of us saying we want to focus on this age range," Dr Constable said. "We want to make sure children have the very best start in terms of their literacy and numeracy foundations."

Only in Tasmania and NSW is school also compulsory from the age of five. 

The minister said she had discussed the changes with all key stakeholders, but parents and the State School Teachers Union said they were not consulted.

Dr Constable said there would be $300 million in capital costs, and it was too early to say what the extra teacher training and other costs would be. In 2007, the Education Department estimated it would cost $830m.