Early Years

Equal access to early years education

The full entitlement to funded early education hours should be available to all children, and not just those with working parents. Equal access to at least 20-30 hours of provision at three and four should be a priority, followed by two year olds.

INEQUALITY IN EARLY YEARS EDUCATION (2024)

A FAIR START? EQUALISING ACCESS TO EARLY EDUCATION (2021)

getting the balance right (2020)

The Early Years Pupil Premium

The Early Years Pupil Premium should be increased to the same level as primary schools, and its administration should be simplified, benefitting providers and parents.

INEQUALITY IN EARLY YEARS EDUCATION (2024)

A FAIR START? EQUALISING ACCESS TO EARLY EDUCATION (2021)

getting the balance right (2020)

High quality early education

Well-qualified staff are vital in helping to close the gap in development before school starts. Yet many nursery staff lack good GCSEs in English and maths.

Much more needs to be done to increase the qualifications of staff, as well as providing career pathways to attract talent. A ‘Leadership Quality Fund’ should be introduced, which could be accessed by early years settings to attract, hire and pay qualified staff, or train existing staff.

INEQUALITY IN EARLY YEARS EDUCATION (2024)

WORLD CLASS: GLOBAL LEARNINGS FOR ENGLAND ON EARLY YEARS POLICY (2023)

A FAIR START? EQUALISING ACCESS TO EARLY EDUCATION (2021)

EARLY YEARS WORKFORCE REVIEW (2020)

Community based early years support

Children’s centres are a community resource that bring together services for young children and their families. The wider evidence suggests this can particularly benefit low-income families. Yet our research shows that the services on offer have been much reduced in recent years, including in the most disadvantaged areas.

A national strategy for children’s centres is needed to reverse over a decade of cuts to family support services. The government should commit to rolling out at least 350 new facilities, with a focus on the most deprived areas.

INEQUALITY IN EARLY YEARS EDUCATION (2024)

STOP START (2018)

Early years pupil premium

The Early Years Pupil Premium should be increased to the same per-hour rate as the primary schools Pupil Premium to provide targeted support for disadvantaged children. This would better capture the additional needs of this group, and challenges for providers in narrowing gaps in school readiness. It would also provide some crucial financial support for providers during a challenging time.

COVID-19 IMPACTS: EARLY YEARS (2020)

High-quality early education

The workforce is crucial in delivering quality provision, and high-quality early education is more important than ever to narrow gaps in school readiness.

More needs to be done to increase the qualifications of staff, as well as providing career pathways to attract talent. A ‘Leadership Quality Fund’, which could be accessed by settings in order to attract, hire and adequately pay qualified staff, or train existing staff, is crucial to levelling up provision.

EARLY YEARS WORKFORCE REVIEW (2020)

COVID-19 IMPACTS: EARLY YEARS (2020)

Access to childcare

Eligibility for 30 hours childcare should be extended to all those currently eligible for disadvantaged 2 year old provision, which would include those out of work or on very low incomes. As increasing numbers of parents become unemployed or are working on reduced hours or pay, fewer people will be eligible for the current 30 hours of free childcare entitlement, necessary to help people back into work. This could be funded by restricting eligibility for households with high incomes.

This would also need to be accompanied by a long-term commitment to increased levels of funding for these hours to ensure that delivery is viable for providers and quality of early learning provision is paramount.

GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT (2020)

COVID-19 IMPACTS: EARLY YEARS (2020)