The Early Years

Available for over a year

Every day this week the former Conservative MP and universities minister, David Willetts, is examining our education system - stage by stage. Putting politics to one side, he's taking a long hard look at education to challenge some of the conventional wisdom we've all lived with for a long time - and which, he argues, shapes the debate without our even realising it. In today's programme, David suggests that a misunderstanding of neuroscience has led us to put far too much weight on the first three years of life. He says we should rebalance education spending away from the early years in favour of creating more opportunities to learn later in life. Producer: Charlotte McDonald.