Leading article: Proof that parents are teachers too

The results of tests taken by all four- and five-year-olds as they start compulsory schooling appear to back up the picture painted by Unicef in its report last week on children's wellbeing. In 13 assessments - ranging from testing skills in maths and reading to observing emotional development - the young children scored less well last year than in 2005. Why is this?

Ministers tried to explain it by saying that the way these tests are scored has become tougher. However, according to Dr Madeleine Portwood, an educational psychologist, the reason is that parents do not spend enough time playing with or talking to their children before they start school.

The Unicef report (see Comment, right) puts it more starkly: the welfare of British children is among the lowest in the developed world. It is important, however, to acknowledge the steps taken by the Government towards improving pre-school facilities. Money has been poured into Sure Start centres - offering one-stop health- and child-care facilities - and every three- and four-year-old can have a nursery place if parents desire it. The evidence of the past week, however, underlines that it will take a long time to overcome child poverty and the effects of the Thatcher spending cuts. It also shows that Tony Blair's "education, education, education" mantra cannot deliver a world-class service if spending on education is considered in isolation from that on social services.

Dr Portwood may be right that too many parents believe that the availability of universal pre-school education somehow reduces the energy they need to put into their children's development. Efforts have to be redoubled to persuade many parents of the need to interact with their children. There has been much talk of compulsory parenting classes for the mums and dads of truants or children excluded from school.

There's still a long way to go before we can be satisfied that enough is being done to prepare parents for dealing with their children's most formative years - the years before they start school. If the effort is not put in then, youngsters become disaffected in school because they have not learnt the skills of concentration and social interaction they need. This stores up trouble for the future.