Features

Special Report: Early Child Development

1 min read Early Years
The first five years of life are the building blocks for future success both educationally and socially.
Indicators suggest more children are not developing the social, emotional and communication skills they need to have the best start in life. Picture: AdobeStock/Krakenimages.com

Developing good communication and language, and social and emotional skills are core to a child’s learning journey, alongside physical development, in the vital period before starting school.

Yet, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis have coincided with a downturn in the proportion of children who are achieving a good level of development by the time they reach five-years-old – with potentially damaging repercussions for their educational achievement, ability to build relationships and long-term economic prospects.

For several years, policymakers have focused on boosting the amount of government-funded childcare available. But the emergence of “childcare deserts” in some of the most disadvantaged areas threatens to undermine these efforts making it harder to access places for poorer families.

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