Diane Rich, national professional officer at Early Education, said, 'So much work is done in a good early years setting to know a child before they start school, to help them cognitively, emotionally and behaviourally, that could be mirrored in primary and secondary education.'
She was reacting to a call from delegates at last week's conference of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Bournemouth, who demanded that headteachers should be given the power to screen children before they start school where there are concerns over 'behavioural difficulties'.
The NUT denied that its proposal would penalise pupils with special needs, but said it was aimed at securing extra support services to help beat disruption in the classroom.
The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) also called for 'risk assessments' to be carried out on pupils with behavioural problems and said it wanted more research into what it termed a 'deplorable' fall in standards of pupil behaviour.
Helen Tunn, a primary school teacher from Oldham, told the NASUWT conference in Scarborough that children as young as four could display 'very violent and disruptive behaviour'.
But Diane Rich insisted that it was the job of teachers and early years practitioners to help children, 'even the disruptive ones, because some four-year-old children behave like this'.
Mike Gordon, executive secretary of the National Association for Special Educational Needs, said the baseline assessment at the end of the Foundation Stage should note a child's emotional and social development as well as their academic attainment.
He said that early identification of problem behaviour was essential so necessary resources could be made available, but he insisted that looking at the causes meant going beyond its manifestation in the classroom to the child's family situation and other issues such as social deprivation.