We need better data
Natalie Perera, executive director and head of research, Education Policy Institute
Monday, August 7, 2017
Nursery World columnist Natalie Perera argues the case for more data in the early years sector.
Last month, the Education Policy Institute was delighted to host the launch of a new report by the OECD, ‘Starting Strong 2017’. The report compared early education and childcare in more than 30 countries, and one of the key findings was that, in the UK, children who attended pre-school for two years or longer performed better (by around half a year) at age 15 than those who didn’t. Overall, the report supported greater investment and political focus in the early years, but it was clear that more research is needed.
The OECD also confirmed, last week, that England will join a new study that aims to understand how the early years can boost development. The study will look at a range of factors including language, literacy and numeracy.
But critics immediately took to social media, stating their inherent opposition to plans to ‘test’ five-year-olds in this way. There then ensued some of the usual debates about early assessment.
I’m neither a teacher nor a neuroscientist, so I generally avoid debates about the right time or approach to assess children. But I have worked in government for many years and I’ve seen, first hand, how decisions are made. And I can say, with some confidence, that we are nowhere near winning the case for increased investment in the early years. While there is acceptance that the disadvantage gap opens up before age five, there is little consensus of how to prevent it.
This area needs all of the data it can get in order to make the case to Government. As it stands, the sector doesn’t have the voice that schools have. School funding was a key issue in the General Election campaign this year and, since then, has grabbed the headlines of some of the leading broadsheets. Similarly, higher-education funding and tuition fees mobilise people and forces the Government to, at least, respond.
There is a real risk that the early years sector assumes it has successfully demonstrated its value to Government (it hasn’t) and that principled opposition to testing will prevent better, more reliable data from being used to argue the case for further investment. Of course, testing should be age-appropriate, but it cannot be beyond global experts to develop such a process given the very high stakes involved here.
