Editor's view - Putting a premium on early years
Monday, June 30, 2014
The £50m of funding for the new Early Years Pupil Premium for disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds starting next April will offer significant help to these young children.
A consultation open until 22 August has started and it is important to respond (see our story on pages 6-7).
It is good news that the money will go directly to providers, and that any early years setting with funded children - schools, PVI nurseries, pre-schools, childminders - will be able to accept the money.
The £50m equates to £300 per year for each eligible child, or 53p per hour, which if you are a nursery receiving a rate of around £3.50-£4.00 an hour for your three- and four-year-olds is a substantial increase.
However, it is still well below the amount that many nurseries say is the shortfall on the actual cost of providing these places. And £300 is nowhere near the £1,300 awarded for each child under the primary pupil premium.
It is a start, of course, and the case must be made for the EYPP to be brought up to a similar rate over time. The onus will be on the early years sector to prove that it can make a difference with this extra funding.
Government guidance on the EYPP consultation recommends that the money should go on hiring more early years teachers to lead practice, and this chimes with recent research showing that graduate leadership can make the biggest difference to quality in disadvantaged areas.
Interestingly, in Scotland, new research shows that the requirement for all managers/leaders to have a BA Childhood Practice is paying dividends (see News, pages 4-5).
