Coronavirus: Early years and education settings need long-term recovery plan
Catherine Gaunt
Monday, June 7, 2021
The future of education must focus on long-term recovery - ‘not short-term catch-up' - and children’s mental health, according to a new report from Voice Community, published today (Monday).
It calls for 'a broader' response to catch-up than solely focussing on academic skills, highlighting the impact of the pandemic on young children's social skills.
Mental health was the single biggest concern of the 600 members of Voice that took part in the survey. It was clear that the impact of coronavirus would be felt for a long time and that children would need to develop social skills and that the curriculum needed to support this, Voice said.
It also found that the burden of administration and standardised achievements are hampering the ability of staff to focus on supporting and educating children.
Early years concerns
The Voice survey of Community union’s education and early years members across the UK received 607 responses, including 130 members who identified as working in local authority or PVI early years settings, and 11 in private homes (including nannies).
In addition, there were some responses from members who work in early years within school-based settings that have attached nurseries.
Key early years findings:
- Staff in the early years sector do not feel valued.
- Pay in the early years sector is too low.
- Funding in the sector is inadequate and inconsistent.
- Young children have lost social skills during the pandemic.
The report said, 'The early years recovery should have a specific focus on social skills, helping the very youngest children to have the best start in life.
'The amount of pupil premium should be increased in the early years sector to more accurately reflect the influence that can be had on children’s lives during this critical life stage.'
The report added, 'The recent change to the early learning goals in the Early Years Foundation Stage has re-ignited previous debates about learning through play, with a renewed focus on communication skills, literacy, and numeracy. To be clear, there is no reason that these cannot be delivered and observed through student-lead activities, but members are concerned that "early years have lost the sense of learning through play".
'This could be particularly key as we emerge out of the pandemic where, as a member explained “messy play and social interaction are so important in the early years".'
'Mass exodus'
Fears have also been raised of a mass exodus in the education and early years sector after the report revealed that over a fifth of staff intend to leave in the coming three years.
More than a fifth (22 per cent) of early years and education workers said they planned to leave the sector in the next three years. Among early years workers in the survey the figure wanting to leave was 28 per cent. This compares to 24 per cent for classroom teachers, and 20 per cent for teaching assistants.
The primary reasons given for leaving the sector were the pressures of the role, high administrative workload, and low pay. Low pay is a specific problem in early years settings, and for classroom/teaching assistants. Career development has taken a backseat during the pandemic.
One respondent said, 'The Government has made it quite clear that early years are not educators and are a babysitting service', while another said, 'We are an undervalued, underpaid sector that clearly no-one cares about.'
Another respondent said, 'Early years staff will leave the sector in droves. We are unsupported, unprotected and furious.'
‘The aftermath of the pandemic represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change education and early years education – what we learn, how we learn it and how we assess it – and ensure it meets the needs of children, parents and the economy.
‘This opportunity must be about long-term recovery and progress – not short-term "catch-up".
‘There is no quick-fix solution for politicians to make headlines with, tick some boxes and pretend it's "job done". Adding some hours to the school day here, shaving a week off the summer holidays there, in an attempt to return to the old ways of a system that needs to be reformed, will not work.
‘The new system must meet the needs of learners, not learners the needs of the system.’
- Download the report here
