Bold Beginnings and the Rhetoric of 'School Readiness'
FORUM - ISSN 0963-8253
Volume 60 Number 3 (2018)
Bold Beginnings and the Rhetoric of 'School Readiness'
LOUISE KAY pages 327-336
DOI: 10.15730/forum.2018.60.3.327
Abstract
The 'school-readiness' agenda is becoming increasingly dominant in recent policy discourse, and this article explores how the Bold Beginnings report builds on this agenda. By focusing on the curricular gap between the end of Reception and Year 1, and on the importance of mathematical and literacy outcomes, it is argued that Bold Beginnings clearly establishes the Reception year as a site to 'ready' children for school. Using a rhetorical analysis approach,this article considershow the text is constructed as a persuasive discourse advocating the further formalisation of the early years.
To cite this article
LOUISE KAY (2018) Bold Beginnings and the Rhetoric of 'School Readiness', FORUM, 60(3), 327-336. https://doi.org/10.15730/forum.2018.60.3.327