Interview: Damien Fitzgerald

Damien Fitzgerald is co-author of Understanding Early Years Policy. The 4th edition is out early next year.

With plans to double funded hours for three- and four-year-olds to 30, under-funding remains a problem. How could this be resolved?

In 1990 there were 60,000 nursery places and today there are around 1.7 million. The vast majority of that expansion has been in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector. While there are clear positives from this, it has contributed to a complex system of provision and an even more complex approach to funding.

There is a tension in the current Government’s approach to early childcare education and care.

On the one hand it seems to be about the economics behind supporting parents back to work, and, on the other, reducing levels of social deprivation such as funding for two-year-olds and the early years pupil premium. A number of private settings have argued that they are able to fund 15 hours of provision for three to four-year olds because of income from other hours and unfunded places. But serious questions have to be asked how sustainable this will be with the doubling of funded provision children of working parents.

Whilst complex solutions can be debated there is only one clear way to ensure sustainability and promote coherence – fund early years provision at a sustainable level that will support settings, promote quality and create a highly-skilled workforce.

And if this is not achievable use the available funding to make current entitlements more effective. If not, the outcomes for children are likely to be limited and the future cost of this could be immense.

You mention potential lessons for England from what’s happening in Scotland and Wales.

A clear difference between the Welsh and Scottish systems, when compared to England, is the level of maintained provision. In Scotland and Wales public sector provision is higher. There is also a vibrant network of Welsh-speaking provision – Cyclhoedd Meithrin – that compliments the sector. Scotland has embarked on a quality improvement programme – the Early Years Collaborative - that is driven from providers upwards and supported by community planning partnerships (which have some similarities to the previous EYDCPs in England) and is promoting a coherent curriculum for three to 18-year-olds. This coherence is also evident in Wales, which has a 10-year development for early years (which appropriately covers the ages 0-7) childcare and play workforce. Coherence in terms of provision, curriculum and the workforce are clearly key areas that require further focus in England.

Do you have any predictions for how early years policy will evolve under the Conservative Government?

Doubling the funded provision for three to four-year-old children is potentially positive. However, what is preferable – more hours or better quality of care? This is complex but the focus is clearly on education and early 'schoolification' rather than education and care, which young children need.

They need to be in provision, with highly-qualified, motivated, enthusiastic practitioners. And to achieve this, practitioners need access to development and career progression pathways. We also need more coherence, in terms of quality and qualification levels between the PVI and maintained sector. So far there is no evidence of the same enthusiasm for developing the workforce. To achieve a world-class early years sector requires world-class provision and this requires world-class practitioners. This is clearly a gap in current Government plans.