
In response to a national shortage of childcare places, practitioners and funding, the children’s commissioner for England has proposed a radical new approach to delivering early years provision.
In her Vision for Childcarereport, Dame Rachel de Souza sets out plans for “opening up schools to provide more early years education” as a solution for the problems faced by private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers around rising costs which are resulting in higher fees for parents and putting some settings under financial pressure.
“Currently, rent or mortgage payments account for 12 per cent of private providers’ costs, and other costs (including utilities) account for 11 per cent – these are only likely to increase in the short term, and may make many childcare settings unsustainable,” the report states.
Into the void
De Souza, a former head teacher and founder of a multi-academy trust, believes schools can step into the void.
“As school rolls fall across the country, with the number of pupils in state-funded primaries set to fall by a fifth over the next decade, there will be significant underused space in schools,” the report states.
“Opening up schools to provide more early years education would address both these issues.”
De Souza also suggests plans to “drive up childminder provision” through the introduction of compulsory childminder agencies in all local authorities to plug gaps around school opening hours.
“To bring more childminders into the sector it is essential to ensure the right balance is struck between easing administrative burdens and ensuring there is the right oversight and support in place to drive up quality,” the report states.
“Every local area should be required to have an agency for childminders – this could be run directly by a local authority, a multi-academy trust, a group of schools or the local family hub. These agencies should transform the way information is provided to parents, childminders are supported, and different parts of the system are joined up.”
De Souza also calls for reform of the funded childcare system, take-up of which she says is “hugely variable” across England leaving some children from disadvantaged backgrounds unable to access places at PVI providers.
“Local authorities around the country report huge variation in their ability to secure sufficient childcare,” states the report. “Drawing on school resources to increase provision for two, three and four-year-olds in school would be a way to meet this challenge and provide greater consistency across the country.”
Bringing early education into the wider school sector could also address the sector’s workforce crisis by presenting “an opportunity to align workforce training, development, and support with that of wider school staff and teachers”. This, the report states, would raise the status of the profession and give practitioners “the respect and opportunities they deserve”.
Sector leaders have criticised the plans, which come at a time when the government is considering changes to childcare ratios and funding, described them as “incredibly misguided”.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, says: “The suggestion that we should simply accept that those settings that are struggling are likely to become unsustainable in the long term and look to schools to deliver early years places in their place, is one we find deeply concerning.”
Here, three experts assess the merits of the key proposals.
Agencies not the answer
By Liz Bayram, chief executive, Pacey
We welcome the commissioner’s commitment to reverse the childminder decline and for championing this high-quality, flexible form of provision as central to the early years and childcare system. However, we do not feel the measures proposed in her report will deliver the desired impact for families or providers.
Driving up the number of new childminders through agencies, without a long-term plan to retain the dedicated professionals already working in our sector will do nothing to alleviate the concerns they have about their financial sustainability, pay and status within the wider sector. Instead, they want to hear how government will help them to deal with the impact of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis that is damaging our sector and resulting in widespread service closures.
The report fails to mention any plan to reverse the chronic underinvestment that prevents practitioners earning a decent wage to remain and progress in their career.
There are other measures which would make a real difference to childminders, such as reversing the illogical rule that prevents them delivering funded provision to relatives.
Inadequate funding the problem
By Purnima Tanuku, chief executive, National Day Nurseries Association
This report ignores the contribution that the PVI sector makes in shaping the lives of very young children. It also ignores the inequality in the government investment for children in early years and once they start school – for example, the early years pupil premium is £342 compared with £1,385 once a child starts school.
The suggestion that schools offer the solution is misplaced. The majority of high-quality early education is delivered by private and voluntary nurseries. The reason that some nurseries are becoming unsustainable is down to the government paying nurseries less than it costs to deliver high-quality places.
School-based early years provision is more expensive. Many nurseries open from 7am until 7pm year round because working parents need this flexibility. Many schools already work alongside local nurseries and childminders, who already deliver wraparound care.
The existing system would work well if nurseries were enabled by sufficient government funding. Investing in a child’s first five years is where the commissioner should be focusing.
Reform needs to go further
By Natalie Perera, chief executive, the Education Policy Institute
Ensuring affordable and accessible early years provision must be a priority for the government. While I welcome the children’s commissioner’s vision, I think that we can and should be more ambitious in certain areas. For instance, as well as rationalising the funding regime underpinning access to the childcare system, there’s a strong argument to outright increase funding to early years providers, which in England currently stands below the OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] average.
Additional funding could support a high-quality, specialist early years workforce, with supervision undertaken by staff holding full and relevant Level 3 qualifications. Driving up numbers of childminders is also important and can provide a supplementary function to that of specialist early years settings.
We have been clear in our research that schools can play a vital role in helping to improve and shape children’s early years development, as well as providing wrap-around enrichment activities for older children. Given the impact of the pandemic and increasing child poverty, this remains a burning priority.