Released last week, a report from the Sutton Trust and the Sylvia Adams Charitable Trust highlighted a dangerous gap in our early years education provision.
The report found that some of our most disadvantaged three-and-four-year-olds are only qualifying for 15 hours of free childcare each week, while their better-off peers are receiving 30 hours. The policy disjoint revealed by the report is a stark reminder of why early years education is such a crucial tool in reducing inequality and why the sector must continue to push for the funding and policies it needs to ensure every child can thrive.
What happens from birth to five years can cast a long and permanent shadow on a child’s life chances. By the time a child starts school, a 4.3 month development gap has already been established between disadvantaged children and their better off peers. This gap persists through the child’s entire educational journey.
During my time at the helm of Teach First, it was seeing children in Reception who didn’t know how to play or communicate with their peers which pushed me to expand my educational focus beyond schooling and into early years education.
The impact of early years inequality will not be news to the thousands of hard-working, dedicated and informed educators who make up our sector. We know how vital the pre-school years are and how high-quality early years support can set up a child for long-term success. And many of us have long been perplexed at the inconsistencies of the current childcare allocations. But to see the numbers in black and white highlighting which three-and-four-year-olds are losing out is heartbreaking.
No-one in the sector, (nor indeed in Government), wants to deny vital support to those who need it most. For the sake of the next generation, we must therefore look to improve our provision.
First, as the report urges, decision makers should take this opportunity to review how access to early years education is distributed. No policy maker sets out to make life harder for the already disadvantaged, but sometimes unintentional outcomes emerge over time. Following 18 months in which the under-fives have been deprived of so much learning, play, and support, now feels an opportune moment to reassess the structures of early years education provision and seek ways in which it can do more for those who have least.
Second, we must urgently do more for the people, businesses and infrastructure needed to support these children. The pandemic has had a brutal and sometimes devastating impact on too many early years education settings.
The number of nursery closures has increased by 35 per cent thanks to Covid-19 and many staff have been made redundant or been forced to move into different sectors as their employers face an uncertain future. We need to increase support for those operating on fragile ground while also finding new ways to encourage talented individuals to join the early years sector – whether as childminders, nursery staff, or health visitors.
Decision makers at both national and local level can help facilitate this through, of course, funding and policy innovation. But this prioritisation of early years will also, in turn, provide the sector with a boost in prestige and recognition that is long overdue and which will help draw in passionate individuals to help man the frontlines. There are signs of encouragement in this regard, with applications to retrain as childminders through my initiative tiney shooting up in recent months as people look to pivot into more meaningful careers. But there is still a long way to go.
Early years education has slowly, steadily been creeping up the agenda in recent years. We’ve long known how vital its role in the development of the next generation is, but its place at the table of national priorities has been slow to materialise. Perhaps now is the moment when decision makers will seize the opportunity and provide it with the time, energy and urgency it deserves.
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