We must not and should not abandon our pre-schools
James Hempsall
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
It is a familiar tale, a pre-school becomes the victim of changes in childcare demand and is set to close.
Yet more should be done to support them to navigate the vagaries of change. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of real, experienced and practical support when things get difficult. That’s my view anyway.
It is a well-known theory that builders are the first to notice the effects of economic recession. Similarly, it may be early years and childcare settings that notice the effects of socio-demographic and/or employment change. And let’s face it, they have all seen the profound impacts of Covid-19.
Change brings opportunities to be taken. Some have seen ups and downs in demand for their places, others have experienced shifts in the type of demand (things like sessional mornings and/or afternoons, shorter or longer days, or limiting to funded provision only), and there have been changes (mostly it must be said - downward) in the demand for paid-for childcare.
Out of school providers particularly felt the sudden loss of demand for paid-for childcare during lockdown as they did not benefit from the cushion of continued early years funding. That exposed what was already an obvious gap and inequality in childcare policy and within the childcare marketplace.
As demographics, economics, and public policy ebb-and-flow like the tide, the supply of childcare and early years (of all types) must move. Like tiny crabs scurrying along the edge of the giant surf and the sand so as not to be engulfed by the crashing waves. Such a need to be nimble inevitably means many aren’t sufficiently fleet of foot, or their model simply is too rigid or structurally constrained to be able to keep up. The fact is, and this is challenging everyone, we all need to dance to an unpredictable beat.
This week, I received a call from a long-established pre-school playgroup. Voluntarily managed by a committee of parents, they were in crisis and had been reaching out for support.
They had asked their local authority, and some support had been offered, although limited to funding contracts and terms, and quality issues. Their membership organisation, on the end of the ‘phone line, was said to have been unsympathetic and lacking in practical advice and information – their words.
I was their last resort. After a few emails, we chatted. I offered counsel through the anxiety, fears, frustration and it has to be said loneliness and isolation. The pre-school had been experiencing a sustained period of low demand and low funding income, paid-for childcare had reduced, recruiting and employing qualified staff had become impossible, the management committee had resigned, leaving one parent member to pick up the pieces. There were reserves that could fund the final bills, but there was only one real option. To close. But how?
And that is the gap we need to fill. To support business, constitutional and governance processes and procedures. Because it is a minefield and a million miles apart from funding policy and childcare quality.
It seems those around this setting weren’t ready, willing or able to step up and support this setting. We had no choice but to do so, without a contract or funding from the local authority I might add, nor with an expectation the setting would be able to pay for our on-hand expert’s time on the phone and at a meeting.
No one likes to see a setting close, we all instead want to see them matching their supply to the demand that is needed and wanted. And in the case of pre-schools, they always have and always should play a vital role and stepping stone into childcare for children in local communities, especially those not served by full daycare, and for their parents, who after having children themselves, have typically become involved in volunteering and employment through this supportive route.
A route I must stress has been fast diminishing and leaving the sector with a strongly linked recruitment block – not all new recruits come from college – and neither should they. But pre-schools run by parent committees of volunteers are an anachronism. They were created when childcare was a good cause, now it is an expectation, part of the welfare state, and increasingly big business.
If we don’t plug this gap, we will see more and more pre-schools close, unnecessarily. We need a new deal from government, from local authorities, and from sector membership organisations please.
James Hempsall is director of Hempsall’s Consultancy