A new report urges quality childcare rather than quantity of childcare places
A new report published by Social Mobility Commission highlights the importance of focussing on the quality of childcare rather than the number of childcare places. It has been expressed by the Social Mobility Commission who monitor the progress of social mobility that if progress continues the way it is now children will still not be school ready and it could take 15 years for all children to be ready. With children not being school ready by the time they reach five years old this again means children are not at the same level of attainment as their peers.
It has however been expressed by Government the need to close the attainment gaps between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, this has yet to be achieved. In order for children from all backgrounds to be school ready further support from Government is needed and children should be placed at the heart of Government spending.
Within early years the attainment gap has only recently started to shrink, despite billions of pounds being invested. The report that was issued outlines recommendations for the government these are
• Establish a new national ambition to ensure that within a decade every child, regardless of background, is school ready by the age of five and that the attainment gap between poorer five-year-olds and their peers has been halved
• Focus childcare policy on improving teaching for the poorest children by doubling the early year’s pupil premium to enable childcare providers to offer extra support for disadvantaged children
• Support early years’ teachers by shifting regulatory emphasis and funding from teacher qualifications to continuing professional development
• Restore funding for parenting programmes and experiment with online classes to achieve scale without undermining quality – using funding from both health and education budgets and shared objectives across both departments.
It has strongly been emphasised by the Social Mobility Commission that change is needed in order to improve social mobility and give all children a better start in life.