Although there are strong arguments for funded places for younger children, such as to relieve working parents of overwhelming childcare costs, the funding rate, set by the Government is not sustainable in the maintained sector, by which I mean day nurseries or pre-schools.
Ofsted figures show that the number of childcare providers has been falling steadily since 2015.
In not providing a fair funding rate for three and four-year-olds, and settings not being allowed to ask for additional “top-up” money from parents, the result has been that settings have had to pass that cost onto parents of younger children, in order to keep the doors open.
In a report this year, by the Local Government Authority, nine out of ten councils said that the risk of closures would significantly undermine the opportunity to extend provision for funded two year old places, and this would disproportionately impact on disadvantaged areas and families.
It is every child’s right to good quality education and care, and working parents need childcare, but I question whether the school environment is the best place for the specific needs of two-year-olds.
The needs of a two-year-old are very different from those of three and four-year-olds. Level 3 staff and those with Early Years Teacher (EYT) status, are qualified in the education and care of children from birth to five years, whereas primary teachers who specialise in early years, haven't received the same training.
However, despite both delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, the roles lack parity. Whereas a primary school teacher can be counted in numbers in the early years, those who have gained EYT status (the usual pathway, being a four-year degree level course), are not allowed to work in schools, despite their depth of knowledge of child development and their awareness of how to meet the specific needs of younger children.
It also needs to be questioned, whether the school environment gives paramountcy to the needs of the two-year-old:
- The environment can be large and overwhelming and the nursery classrooms are often not stand alone classrooms.
- The school day will not meet working parents’ requirements for childcare, resulting in parents patching together care around school hours, impacting on the continuity of care, that is so important for young children. In view of this, many independent schools offer full daycare within their nurseries. Should this be something that schools should be considering?
- The ratios, within a school setting, might not allow for the individual attention that a two-year-old needs. However, most in the maintained sector will not be adopting this new ratio, as they believe that it would not be in the best interest of the child or the wellbeing of the overstretched staff team.
Early years provision will undergo enormous changes over the next few years, due to economics and adapting to meet the work patterns of parents. This change is inevitable.
However, this should not be to the detriment of the child, or the standards of provision offered. It is well known that the early years sector needs rethinking and that whoever is in Government needs to overhaul the system. Maybe now is the time to embrace the skills of those with EYT status and utilise their age-specific knowledge to create a place, and parity for them within the school system.