'EYFS changes bring risks to children's communication and wellbeing'

Recently the Government announced a consultation on changes to the early years foundation stage (EYFS) framework which includes changes to the qualifications required for staff working in nurseries and childminders. This comes on top of changes to the number of young children each member of staff can be responsible for. 

At Speech and Language UK, we believe these proposals in combination represent a significant risk to the wellbeing and future education of millions of toddlers and children. The unintended consequences of this decision could significantly impact future generations of children who have speech and language challenges.

 Currently, ‘communication and language’ is an integral part of the EYFS and we are very pleased that Government has recognised that it needs so much focus. However, Government is proposing to reduce the number of staff with more advanced qualifications, so their knowledge of communication and language overall will be reduced. At a time when the number of children with speech and language challenges is rising and with fewer staff to interact with children, this is a mistake. Children who have speech and language challenges are six times less likely to pass English tests at age 11 and a whopping 11 times less likely to pass similar Maths tests. We should be taking every opportunity we can to prevent speech and language challenges.

All staff who work with children from birth to five years old need to know how to develop children’s communication skills and be able to spot and support children who are struggling with speech and language at the right time. The Government’s own data shows that even before these proposals, 20 per cent of children are failing to reach the expected ‘Communication and Language’ level for their age. 

These changes will affect children in nurseries and schools in some of our most vulnerable communities, who are already likely to have speech and language challenges and higher levels of special educational needs and disabilities. All these vulnerable groups will be disproportionately impacted.

The Government has recently invested in extra training for 10,000 staff which includes those working in nurseries and childminders, providing a significant opportunity for some of the existing workforce to deepen their knowledge of communication and language, maths and personal and social development. However, this alone cannot make up for any proposed reduction in qualification or numbers of staff overall.

All staff working in nurseries and childminders should be given more tools and training to change children’s lives. At Speech and Language UK, we are pushing for better use of existing measures of early language as well as developing new tracking tools for nurseries and schools. Giving early years settings more tools and training will ensure that more children’s speech and language challenges are identified early. Rather than reduce entry level criteria, we want to see a strengthening of all pre-qualification training so that all staff working with young children are confident in supporting communication skills for the babies and young children they care for.

Government should create a strategy for preventing speech and language challenges that works across all government departments and commit to establishing high quality early years education for all children. Otherwise, it will pick up the price in future maths and English results, as well as worse wellbeing and employment for decades to come.

Find out more at Speech and Language UK