One of the biggest challenges it is facing in 2015 will be to keep to its core principles and values as it is subject to policy zeal and scrutiny in the run-up to, and aftermath of, the general election.
As we need to keep reminding policy makers, there is more to the early years than providing childcare slots at the most economic rate. While affordable childcare is undoubtedly important for parents, we must not lose sight of the fact that its real purpose is the care and education of our youngest children. The pressures of an unyielding deficit and further strains on public expenditure bring a real threat of reduced funding for services, so we are likely to see a drive to provide increased places at as low a cost as possible. Talking of costs, the challenge for early years providers delivering care to two-year-olds funded through the free childcare scheme will be to ensure children's diverse needs are met within the funding available.
Wherever two-year-olds are educated and cared for, the challenge is to ensure that their distinctive learning and development needs are catered for holistically. A clear articulation of what characterises good practice with two-year-olds is so important if it is to avoid being judged against an externally set view based more on practice with older children.
A further challenge will be the move towards integrated reviews at 24 to 30 months between health and early years education. The report of the integrated review implementation study highlights how much is expected of the early years workforce now. It is time to reward them without hiding behind the excuse that governments cannot tell private providers what to do. Governments surely do that all the time. It is the level of funding and lack of guidance that are holding us back and it is time that early years teachers held the same status as teachers of other age groups.
At the upper end of the Early Years Foundation Stage age range, we must be alert to the implications of baseline assessments, due to be rolled out in September 2015, initially on a voluntary basis. Early years educators need to resist any external pressure to prepare children narrowly for the ensuing school test or to see the test results as a way of holding early years provision to account.
Key changes
- Policy makers should review the full costs of early years care and education and invest adequately in the sector
- The government should scrap plans for baseline assessments in their current guise and ensure any revised version takes full account of the implications of children's birth dates in all transition and assessment plans
- Professionals must join and support advocacy organisations to articulate and stand up for the distinctive nature of effective provision for the youngest children - practice with oneand two-year-olds cannot be judged against that with five-year-olds
Election manifesto pledge
Introduce a model of funding that provides remuneration for early years staff in line with their qualifications, the demands of the role and that supports career structures.
Dr Jane Payler is chair of TACTYC: The Association for the Professional Development of Early Years Educators
