Editor’s view - Reporting back
Monday, July 24, 2017
With the election over and the Department for Education team in place, we’ve seen several major reports emerge boldly into the public domain.
It’s good to see the latest Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) report into outcomes up to the age of three, which shows firm evidence of improved cognitive and socio-emotional development in children in early years provision between two and three (see News, pages 6-7).
This is very positive for both group providers and childminders, and could be useful when lobbying for more funding for the 30 hours.
Speaking of which, the other significant release was the evaluation of the pilots of the 30 hours ‘free’ childcare (see News, pages 4-5). The report is detailed and balanced, with plenty of caveats about the limitations of the pilots in showing what will happen after the full implementation in September.
Not surprisingly, the DfE has trumpeted the conclusion that there is ‘no specific reason’ to believe the policy will not be a success. However, when you examine the challenges that the report highlights – recruitment difficulties, nurseries saying they will limit places, different funding rates for the pilots, less than full implementation in seven of eight areas – it is also easy to conclude that there is no specific reason to believe it will be a success.
For parents, the 30 hours was, of course, found to be of benefit, but this policy needs to be at least neutral for providers too if it is truly to succeed.
Nursery World Business Summit
All these topics and more will be under discussion at our Business Summit on 8 November. More information at www.nurserybusiness-summit.com.
