Parents delay sending kids to school for social reasons and physical size. It’s not about academic advantage

If you have a child born at the start of the year, you may be faced with a tricky and stressful decision. Do you send them to school “early”, in the year they turn five? Or do you “hold them back” and send them in the year they turn six?

Media reports refer to parents who want to “hold children back”. This is particularly the case for boys. Some parents express concerns boys may develop more slowly and school activities may favour girls.

Our new study surveyed Australian parents to understand their reasons for sending children to school early or on time or holding them back.

School entry in Australia

State regulations for the age of starting school vary across Australia, and between public, Catholic and independent schools.

Typically, however, children born in the first part of the year can be sent to school in either the year they turn five or the year they turn six. This can lead to big age caps in a school year level.

Public school cutoff dates are April 30 in Victoria, May 1 in South Australia, June 30 in Queensland and July 31 in New South Wales.

A 2019 study of more than 160,000 NSW students showed overall, 26% of children were held back, although there was variation between different regions. This is much higher than in many other countries. For example, delayed entry is as low as 5.5% in the United States and 6% in Germany.

Read more: A push to raise the school starting age to 6 sounds like good news for parents, but there's a catch

Our research

In our research published in Early Education and Development, we surveyed 226 Australian parents who had a choice about whether to send their child to school in the year they turned five or six. Parents were from a mix of states and recruited via social media and a variety of other media, including parenting magazines.

We found 29% of parents intended to send their child to school in the first year they were eligible and 66% planned to start later. About 5% were unsure. Consistent with trends in other countries, parents were almost four times as likely to report they intended to start boys later than girls.

There were five key factors guiding their decisions.

1. Money and work

One group of factors, which we labelled “practical realities”, meant parents were more likely to send a child on time or early.

This included high early childhood education costs (it is much cheaper to send a child to a government school than pay for daycare) and parents’ work demands (and the benefits of regular school hours). As one parent said:

School is a cheaper option for many parents and community preschool (which is cheaper, depending on the number of days) is not a practical option for many working families.

2. A child’s size

Parents also considered their child’s physical size relative to their peers. Other studies suggest parents worry smaller boys will be bullied and will struggle to demonstrate sporting prowess.

Reflecting on this trend, one parent said:

I would prefer that my child wasn’t starting school with children well over a year older just because other parents think boys need a bit more time to mature. They are then significantly older and bigger by then.

3. Social readiness

Another group of factors involved children’s social, emotional and behavioral readiness for school. This includes their ability to pay attention and sit still, follow instructions, regulate and manage emotions and show empathy and consideration for others.

One parent sending their child to school in the year they turn five said:

Our child will be fine […] He is able, social and confident and hopefully this will mean he will have a positive school experience irrespective of what year he starts.

Another who chose to hold their child back suggested:

I want my child to be introduced to formal schooling as late as possible to ensure his brain development and emotional regulation are mature enough to handle the transition.

4. Family time

Another set of reasons influencing parents’ decisions was a desire to spend time together with their child before formal schooling. As one parent said:

I always hear that no one ever regrets sending their child a bit later but they often regret sending early. I can afford for her to have an extra year of preschool and time at home and that is a luxury I acknowledge not everyone has.

5. Milestones

Parents also looked to the future and considered their child’s age relative to peers. This included when they would be starting high school or completing teenage milestones, such as driving, drinking, managing friendships and finishing school. This might explain why rates of holding children back vary by region. As one parent told us:

The people around me having a choice (and holding their children back) ended up influencing my choice. She [my daughter] could have started school but would have been in a peer group that had been held back.

What about academic concerns?

Interestingly, parents did not typically express academic concerns or motivations (such as a desire to see their child move ahead of others academically) as a factor in their decision. Indeed, as one parent said:

I have very strong beliefs about what school readiness means and for me it is much more than just being academically ready.

Although there is evidence older children have a developmental advantage over younger children when entering school, academic benefits dissipate over time. For example, older children do better on Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN numeracy and literacy tests, but benefits fade or disappear by Year 9.

What does this mean?

Our research suggests the reasons why parents start a child early or hold them back are complex – and very much based on the needs of individual families and children.

Taken together they suggest teachers not only need to accommodate a wide range of ages starting school but a sizeable portion of families who will have “delayed” school for a variety of personal reasons.