ABSTRACT
Beneath Roy Hattersley’s rhetoric and political message enshrined within it is a belief, that if children reach statutory age having the necessary academic and social skills to benefit immediately from their transition into school, they are at much less risk of failing at a later stage. Failure within the educational system correlates highly with such negative outcomes as juvenile crime, unemployment and poverty. Along the way, failing children suffer unhappy experiences, gathering feelings of poor self-esteem and self-worth and their teachers often express their equally strong feelings of frustration and inadequacy at their inability to affect change in a positive direction.
