Four-year-old children are starting school unable to speak properly because their parents are not getting down on all fours and playing with them at home, Labour’s education spokesman has claimed.

Tristram Hunt said he had been struck by the number of headteachers who had raised concerns about the number of children turning up at reception class with delayed speaking, listening and motor skills.



There had been a marked decline in speech and language skills in the past decade, Hunt said. He suggested it could be down to the prevalence of technology such as smartphones and Ipads, or a lack of understanding among struggling parents of the importance of play in children’s development.



Hunt was speaking after addressing school leaders at the National Association of Head Teachers’ annual conference in Liverpool. He admitted it was tricky straying into a debate about good and bad parenting, but said parents had a responsibility to play and talk to their children.



“All of the accumulative evidence is building up showing how important a stable and loving family structure and good attachment is for a child’s progress. Whenever I talk to headteachers, one of the big issues is the delayed and under developed speaking and listening and motor skills – and that’s what comes from playing and talking to children, getting down on all fours, from goo-goo ga-ga onwards.

“I’m struck by how often headteachers say this has got markedly worse over the last decade. Whether that’s a story of technology with television, and smartphones and Ipads, or whether it’s poverty, through both parents working and not enough time, or whether it’s about a failure to understand the importance of this, I’m not sure.



“But I think it’s definitely a challenge to the education system.”



Hunt was critical of the closure of 750 Sure Start Centres under the coalition government, saying they were places in which valuable parenting skills were shared and learned within communities.



“We do think that teaching parenting and promoting attachment and having mums learn from mums and dads learn from dads, and children learn from children in children’s centres is an important way in which the skills of parenting are crowd-sourced amongst communities,” said Hunt.

“There’s a lot of criticism directed towards teachers about attainment but I think there are responsibilities in terms of playing and talking to children that parents have a duty to engage with.”



He said a Labour government would play “an advocacy role” in promoting play as a vital element of a child’s development. “It’s difficult because you get into a tricky landscape of good and bad parenting. We know how important the early years are. Politics is partly about leadership and tackling difficult issues.”

Hunt was also asked whether Labour would be able to deliver a pay rise for teachers. He acknowledged the difficulties of attracting and retaining teachers, but told delegates that though he could make a difference to workload, he could not promise to deliver substantial pay rises.



“There are very strong voices out there in terms of us being able to only promise what we can deliver in terms of the public finances and we’re not yet where we need to be in terms of the health of our public finances.”