A moment for change? 

Dr Nathan Archer, Director of the International Montessori Institute in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University, discusses early education and childcare as we move closer towards the 2024 General Election.

Recent decades have seen several critical junctures for early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the UK. The imminent general election is yet another such moment in which crucial policy decisions will either offer more of the same or alternatively a fundamental change in the availability, accessibility, quality and sustainability of early education and care for young children.  

The recent expansion of ‘childcare’ through funded entitlements builds on incremental extensions to state funded provision reaching younger children and funding more hours. Changes to eligibility have been built up over years as a result of programmes led by successive governments to tackle varying priorities. Most recently, the 2023 budget announcements were intended to stimulate parental demand for places, and this is no doubt good news for those working parents who can access a funded place. But fundamental questions remain.  

Who is early childhood education and care for? How can funding best support outcomes for all young children? What can be done to ensure provision is as stable a feature of communities as primary schools are?  

A change of discourse? 

The last fourteen years have seen fundamental shifts in policy and a change to the discourse around provision for young children. Liz Truss’s ‘More Great Childcare’ (2012) embedded a narrative of ‘childcare for working parents’ in order for the nation to ‘compete in the global race’. At the same time, there would appear to be a disconnect between what we know about the importance of children’s early years and our nation’s public policy focus on ECEC as a policy driver to secure greater employment. Notably, just this week IPPR research found: 

Parents are most likely to view ‘improving young children’s learning and development in preparation for school’ as the primary purpose of childcare, and we find real appetite to tackle inequality through early years.  

Whilst provision enabling parents to work is clearly important, the next government should prioritise restoring the sector’s role and emphasis on early education.  

Equalising access to early education  

In addition, questions are to be asked about which children are accessing funded early education, and importantly, which children are not. This week data from Office of National Statistics reveal that neighbourhoods with lower levels of childcare access were more likely to have a higher proportion of children living in poverty.  

As identified in the Sutton Trust research ‘A Fair Start?’, just 20% of families in the bottom third of the earnings distribution are eligible for the existing offer of 30 hours of early education and childcare for three- and four-year-olds, and all parents in full-time education or training are ineligible for this entitlement.  

We now face an opportunity to decouple early education entitlement eligibility from parental employment status. This would ensure that all young children have equal access to affordable, quality education and care regardless of where they live or the household income of their family. The Sutton Trust’s Fair Opportunity for All proposes that this is achieved by introducing a universal guarantee that all children can access affordable, high-quality provision in their local area irrespective of who they are, where they are from, or any additional support needs they may have. 

The OECD advocate for a number of actions on equalising access:  

• A strong public policy commitment to early childhood education – backed by a bold vision, strong plans and adequate funds – is important to guarantee access on an equal basis  
• Planning for universal access is the most equitable way to expand early childhood education but it is important to ensure that disadvantaged children are first to benefit  
• Clear, unambiguous legislation on the right to free or publicly subsidised early childhood education is one way to encourage equitable access  
• When feasible, a guarantee of unconditional free pre-primary education is increasingly shown in research and practice to be one of the most effective ways to ensure equitable access  

A stable and sustained workforce 

The recent investment has not been matched with provisions for the workforce in terms of better remuneration, qualification pathways, or improvements to status. There continues to be an urgent need to reverse the trend of declining qualifications and forge robust, contextual professional development of those already in the workforce. 

The sector has long called for a workforce strategy to improve the skills and effectiveness of the children’s workforce developed in partnership with employers and staff. Other nations are seeking to address this. Australia, New Zealand and Ireland have all committed to long term plans and resources for the development of the ECEC workforce. Such a development must be a fundamental element of future plans.  

Systemic change  

As election manifestos are finalised, there is a risk that policy developments will be based on further ‘bolt-on’ expansions of childcare. However, there is a now a moment for the rescue and reform of the ECEC sector and for bold new policy decisions which enable equality of access to early education to be recentred.  

Systemic changes to funding and the development of a workforce are needed. Early childhood education and education must become a mainstay of communities (as primary and secondary schools are) enabling a fair opportunity for all.

The opinions of guest authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Sutton Trust.

Source: suttontrust.com