The Government is proposing to extend nursery education to two-year-olds, because it says the most vulnerable children start school at such a disadvantage that more nursery schooling might help them.
In France around 35 per cent of two-year-olds already attend nursery school, or ecoles maternelles. A recent study by French economists Dominique Goux and Eric Maurin shows conclusively that children who attend school aged two have similar results to other children on maths and French tests at age eight, and there are no differences in the staying-on rates aged 16 - there are no discernible harmful effects of starting school early. But it does make a big difference to mothers. Significantly more single parents work if their two-year-olds go to school.
But here's the rub. The ecoles maternelles are open 28 hours a week between 8.30am and 16.30pm. Schools routinely offer lunchtime care and after-school provision. It is all free and in the public sector. But children are in groups of 25, with one fully trained teacher, and some help from a domestic assistant.
Some French critics say two is too early to start school, and the groups are too large and impersonal. But it is a popular service and the children, albeit on fairly crude measures of outcomes, do not seem to show any ill-effects, and may do better than staying home or in other forms of care.
French economists calculate that it is more cost-effective to offer free full-time nursery education; alternative daycare is expensive and it is better to have mothers working than on benefits. The proposals our Government is offering fall far short of the French system. Our hours of nursery education are too short to be useful to working parents, and provision is increasingly in the private sector (for-profit childcare is not allowed in France). French mothers are a lot happier and more secure in their childcare arrangements than English ones, and their peace of mind impacts positively on their children.
If the Government goes for nursery education for two-year-olds, let's hope it is open to lessons from abroad.
Helen Penn is professor of early childhood studies at University of East London.