In all of its considerations, the working group was conscious that there was a danger of becoming unduly focused on artificially defined groups of children.
Young children develop and mature at different rates.
Some children aged four and a half are more than capable of coping with the challenges which primary school brings, whereas, equally, other children closer to five or even past five find the transition to primary school difficult. Therefore, even if changes were recommended to extend entitlements for certain groups of children, these should not be interpreted as any kind of direction to parents about what would be the most appropriate decision for their children. Decisions should be made on an individual basis. The group was of the strong view that research in this area would be desirable. Strong arguments were made for a common regime of pre-school entitlement.