Nursery schools are closing while more and more primary schools are opening nursery classes. What effect will this have on early years education? asks Mary Evans
The latest Government figures confirm the suspicions of nursery campaigners that more and more of the country's youngest children are receiving their early years education in nursery classes attached to primary schools, rather than at traditional nursery schools.
According to a Department of Education spokesman, there were 564 Local Education Authority nursery schools in England in January 1990 and 4,668 primary school with nursery classes, but by January this year those figures had changed to 514 and 6,203 respectively.
The loss of 10 per cent of the nation's nursery schools over a decade might not seem that significant when trying to determine whether a trend is developing, until one considers the point made by Pauline Trudell, chair of the National Campaign for Nursery Education, that where a nursery school merges with a primary school it is not counted as a closure, but as an amalgamation.
Therefore, not all the losses of nursery schools show up in the closure statistics. Perhaps the figure to focus on is the growth in the number of primary schools with nursery classes attached - nearly 1,500 in the ten years, which represents an increase of almost one third.
It is clear that the reasons behind these closure and merger decisions are financial rather than educational. Traditional nursery schools are hailed as specialist centres of excellence, which lead the early years educational sector in innovation and the development of good practice.
However, as Mrs Trudell says, the Government is putting local education authorities under increasing pressure to ensure that their schools turn in good performances in the league tables. At the same time, local councils are required to exercise financial prudence, so nursery schools become an easy target for budget cuts.
Early years consultant Marian Whitehead explains, 'Nursery schools are being closed, not for educational reasons, but for economic reasons. It is cheaper and, bureaucratically speaking, neater to have children educated on one site, with one head teacher and one building to maintain. But it is a false economy.'
None of the campaigners on behalf of nursery schools doubt the dedication or professionalism of the teachers and nursery nurses working in nursery classes in primary schools. However, they argue that the ethos, size, facilities, staffing and resources of primary schools mean they cannot compete with nursery schools.
They point out that a nursery school has its own specialist head teacher, staff, facilities and equipment all focused on the development of the very young. While in a primary school, even when the head teacher has an interest in early years education, the nursery class is only a fraction of the picture and not the entire canvas.
Mrs Trudell explains how research has found that young children develop intellectual concepts by moving around - and not sitting still. Nursery schools are geared up for the children to work inside or outside as the mood takes them, whereas primary schools are more formal and restricted.
There are also different staff:child ratios in nursery and primary schools.
Margaret Edgington, vice-president of the NCNE, says that under the DfEE's requirements, nursery classes operate on a ratio of one teacher and one nursery nurse for 26 children aged between three and five, while nursery schools operate with one teacher and one nursery nurse for 20 children.
'We know of cases where primary heads sneak in extra children. There have been some nursery classes of 30 children. There have even been cases where there has not been a teacher in the nursery class at all, but two nursery nurses with the class overseen by the head or the reception class teacher. There is a local authority in the Midlands where this happens as a matter of course.'
She adds, 'We know for a fact that nursery schools have driven good practice because they are specialist institutions, have specialist early years head teachers and have been innovative in the education of young children.
'Staff from nursery classes flock to nursery schools to see what they are doing. The nursery teacher in a primary school is isolated and can be pressurised by a head teacher who does not understand early years education, to work in inappropriate ways and become too formalised.'
However, researcher Dr Tony Munton says the growth in nursery classes owes more to the introduction of the voucher scheme than nursery closures. 'On the question of which is the better setting, the simple answer is "we don't know", because there has not been any systematic research into nursery classes.
'We know the ratios are different, but we also know ratios are not determinate of quality. There needs to be some research, so we can make a case based on facts and not fantasy. Those campaigning against nursery classes seem to think that because the children are in primary school nursery classes, they sit at their desks in serried ranks doing their two times tables. It is just not like that in the schools I have visited.'
The influential Plowden Report in 1967 highlighted the desirability of nursery classes as opposed to nursery schools because, it argued, there were educational advantages in enabling children attending school below the age of five to do so at the school they will attend after five. The main advantage is that it avoids the child experiencing the disruption and disorientation of changing schools.
This benefit has been highlighted by York City Council, which is introducing pilots next year to implement its new approach to early years education. The council will continue to maintain its provision of one nursery school and 18 nursery classes, which cater for half the city's under fives. For the remaining children, it will co-ordinate a partnership of providers revolving around local primary schools.
York's Early Years Co-ordinator Jo Armistead explains that the early years sector will not be under the control of the schools, and its foundation stage education will be distinct from key stage one. 'You would not expect many people to change schools in the middle of A-levels, and the education of these very young children will not be disturbed. They will be there from three to five, whereas at the moment they could be in playgroup for a year, at nursery for a year and then in key stage one for two years.'
Ministers ordered costly research into the under achievement of boys after this summer's A-level results when girls outperformed boys. Marian Whitehead argues that instead of looking at what happens to boys in the final years at school, the Government should concentrate on early years education. 'All the research and received wisdom shows that young boys are very sensitive, and if they are treated too formally they become disaffected.
'If we don't preserve our nursery schools in this country, we will have destroyed our greatest resource as centres of research into the understanding of child development. We will lose a complete phase of education. Can you imagine the outcry if we abolished another phase of education?
Mrs Trudell adds, 'After more than 20 years of teaching, I find it frustrating that the Government is turning its back on the evidence. If you look at the research - including research the Government has commissioned - you see that nursery schools give children the best possible start intellectually, socially and emotionally.
'The Government says it is not closing the nursery schools and it is up to local councils to decide what provision best suits local needs. We say the Government should provide extra money, if need be, to maintain these specialist centres of excellence.'