New ways to close the gap

We already know that children born into disadvantage are more likely to experience poorer health, lower earnings and lower levels of happiness than their peers. The evidence is stark. When you then consider the snowballing impact of Covid-19 measures on families and services, it is almost unbearable to think about how many thousands of under-fives could be left behind.

You are reading this article as someone who is committed to achieving the best outcomes for young children. And, sadly, for some of you, the findings in Ofsted’s new report will have been shocking but also your reality: potty-trained children back in nappies, and small children who have not returned to settings since the first lockdown. Your experience will also likely resonate with the providers who are concerned about children’s personal, social and emotional development.

The catalogue of evidence is growing that the pandemic is far from the leveller that some mooted way back in March. All this in a sector that has already been overlooked in terms of funding and creative interventions for some time.

Early years professionals – from educators to the health and care community – have always played a pivotal role in supporting children’s development and tackling inequalities. Their role is now more important than ever, and the scale of the challenge means we desperately need to invest in innovative approaches that will help them tackle childhood inequalities.

At Nesta, we have launched an innovation partnership programme. We are inviting local areas – partnerships of local services including early years settings, led by the local authority – to join us to trial, adapt and improve services to narrow the gap in school-readiness for disadvantaged children.

By working in partnership with families, communities and professionals, we believe we can design, test and scale innovative ideas that will level the playing field. For example, by applying innovation techniques, we can find insights hidden in data, build a deep understanding of how families make decisions for their children, identify creative ways to improve services, and rigorously evaluate everything we do to find out if it works.

We hope early years settings will be key partners in this work. Increasing the uptake of early education, adoption of evidence-based practice, and strengthening the links between people supporting young children, including formal and informal support, will all depend on effective collaboration with nurseries.

No-one can afford to sit back as attainment and advantage gaps increase. The scale of the task is huge, but inequality isn’t inevitable, and it should not define a child’s life chances. Large-scale, meaningful change is possible if we can apply these innovation capabilities with rigour, focus and ambition.

We hope that you will join us on this journey. Find out more at www.nesta.org.uk/earlyyears.