Children are arriving at school unable to speak properly because parents are not playing and talking to them enough, Labour's Tristram Hunt has said.
Many heads believe the problem has got "markedly worse" in the last 10 years, said the shadow education secretary. Parents need to get "down on all fours" and engage with their children from an early age, he said.
Mr Hunt spoke to journalists after addressing the National Association of Head Teachers' annual conference. After his speech to the conference in Liverpool, he told reporters: "Whenever I talk to head teachers one of the big issues is the development and underdevelopment of speaking and listening skills, those motor skills, and what that comes from is playing and talking to children, getting down on all fours from goo-goo, ga-ga onwards."
He suggested the problem could be down issues like technology, time-poor working parents or a lack of understanding about the importance of engaging with babies and toddlers.
