Warning over widening early years attainment gap
Dan Parton
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
The government must "adequately" fund early years education because there are signs the inequality gap for early years education is beginning to widen again, sector representatives claim.
Figures published in Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Results in England, 2018 by the Department for Education, show that the percentage inequality gap rose slightly in 2018 to 31.8 per cent, compared with 31.7 per cent the previous year and 31.4 per cent in 2016.
The gap is calculated as the percentage difference between the mean average of the lowest 20 per cent and the median average for all children.
The rate is smaller than the 36.6 per cent recorded in 2013, but Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, warned that without investment, this trend could continue and damage the life chances of disadvantaged children.
The DfE's figures also showed significant variation between local authorities. The gap between all children and the lowest-attaining 20 per cent of children varies from 21.2 per cent in Richmond upon Thames to 45 per cent in Stoke-On-Trent.
At national level the percentage of children achieving a good level of development improved again, with 71.5 per cent of children achieving a good level of development in 2018, an increase of 0.8 per cent on 2017. This figure has increased in each year since 2013.
"It is encouraging to see that the percentage of children achieving a good level of development has improved, albeit by a small amount," said Leitch.
"This is thanks to the dedicated, professional early years workforce who continue to do their best for society's youngest children despite the lack of proper government funding.
"However, there are warning signs that the inequality gap is beginning to widen again, with significant variations between local authorities which show wider gaps in predominantly poorer or rural areas.
"Government underfunding of early years education hits all childcare providers hard, but more so those that operate in poorer or rural areas because often parents cannot afford to pay for the private hours or voluntary extras that providers are forced to charge to make up the funding shortfall.
"We are in danger of damaging the life chances of our most vulnerable children at a crucial time in their development. As a society this could cost us much, much more in the future than adequately funding early years education now."
Yesterday the alliance expressed concern that early years had not been mentioned in briefing documents on education funding, leaked ahead of next week's Spending Round.
