Smart move to start school later

PARENTS of children approaching the school starting age should consider holding them back for a year after research found older children do better on intelligence tests than their younger counterparts.

PARENTS of children approaching the school starting age should consider holding them back for a year after research found older children do better on intelligence tests than their younger counterparts.

A long-term study from the Australian Institute of Family Studies will examine the school starting age for the first time in this country and early results have uncovered that there is a difference in cognitive outcomes.

But the initial results of the research -- which examined children in the second year of their primary schooling -- surprisingly found there was no difference in the emotional and social development of students.

Researchers also quizzed parents on why they chose to keep their child home for another year and found that it was mainly concerns about their child's reading and writing ability.

They also discovered that 14.5 per cent of parents held back their children in the year of the study, 2005, and it was more likely to be boys than girls.

Research fellow Ben Edwards, who is one of three researchers undertaking the study, which will follow the children until 2018 when they graduate from high school, said there was no correlation between delaying school age and parents' wealth, education or English language background.

He said the results showed that older children did better on cognitive tests -- which examined their comprehension of words and verbal reasoning -- comparedwith their younger counterparts.

"If their kids are very young and on the cusp of school-age, I would be cautious about sending their kids to school," Dr Edwards said. "And if their kids were on the cusp and they may be struggling a bit, they should consider whether to send them to school and delaying may be good."

But he said there was no evidence to suggest there was any difference in the social and emotional development of younger and older children by Year 2.

The school starting age varies across the country, with some states saying children have to be age five by January, April, June and even July while others have multiple intakes throughout the year.

Dr Edwards said teachers were asked to rate students on their behaviour in the class and how they related to their peers. "There are no differences (between the ages or genders) and that was really surprising to us because we expected there to be," he said.

"Our study suggests there is no need for parental concern in this instance."

Dr Edwards, who is giving a presentation on these results this week, said this was only the first stage in the study and they might see changes in the future development of the children. "This is a study that is to be continued," he said.