You’ll know the birthdays of every child in your class. But do you know if that date was the one on which they were due to be born? Did they arrive into the world 10 days late? A week early? Or even, a month or two months early?

More importantly, does knowing this information matter?

Yes, says Professor Samantha Johnson, it definitely does: knowing whether a child in your class was born preterm should make a difference in how you teach and support them.

In an episode of Tes Podagogy released in 2019, Johnson, a developmental psychologist from the University of Leicester, explains that there are likely to be two to three children who were born preterm in every classroom, who, she warns, may be missing out on vital support due to a lack of knowledge in schools about the challenges they might face.

While it’s not the case that every child born preterm will experience difficulties, she explains that the most common ones are associated with mathematical ability, social and emotional skills, and attention.

“On average, children are likely to have cognitive difficulties - poor working memory, deficits in visuospatial ability, processing speed and executive function,” says Johnson.

“We also know that children born preterm are at greater risk of attention difficulties, social and emotional difficulties - difficulties interacting with peers and maintaining friendships - and being shy, anxious or withdrawn. These children will often have a number of these difficulties that co-occur. But what we tend to see is that there is not a greater risk of these groups having an increased risk of conduct problems or defiance.”
 

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In the classroom, then, while these children tend to be withdrawn and struggle with focus, they don’t tend to be disruptive or aggressive. As a result, teachers may not realise they need extra support. 

Indeed, in a survey conducted with colleagues in 2015, Johnson found that neither teachers nor educational psychologists had a good knowledge of these potential issues. She also found that only 16 per cent of those surveyed had received any training on the educational outcomes of, and potential challenges experienced by, children born preterm.

Johnson suggests that this lack of knowledge and training may be one of the reasons why parents are reluctant to tell schools about a child’s birth history; without knowing what the potential difficulties of a child born preterm might be, there is little use in telling a school that information.

But with more information now available, she feels it is a useful piece of data for teachers to know.

“Among these children, there is a very small proportion who have difficulties severe enough to have a diagnosis (and the vast majority attend mainstream schools). Usually, it is subtle difficulties in a number of areas but, combined, they can have a big impact on learning.

“If a teacher is not aware of the kinds of difficulties the child may have, and is not aware of the birth history, these children may not be picked up as having difficulties. Their attainment could be within average range, but with these issues addressed, they could be achieving much more.”

In the podcast, Johnson goes on to highlight the work she and others are doing to inform and train teachers about how they can support these children, as well as the developmental assessments required to spot potential difficulties.