We’re used to change in the early years and childcare sector. Some it we can see coming a mile off, some of it comes unexpectedly. No one saw the Covid pandemic coming in 2020, and the Brexit referendum result was on a knife-edge back in 2016. Recent political uncertainty has led to us having a different minister almost every year for as long as we can remember. Whatever the change, and whenever the moment, we must all take the time to look at the landscape and beyond its horizon. Because of all of this has profound effects on what we do, and how we do it.
Foundations
We have achieved so much as a sector and as a profession. We should be proud of moving from a good cause to an essential element of the welfare state. We have matured in terms of practice, quality, professionalism, research, academic approaches, and data. The public, parents, professionals, and politicians are supportive and interested. That’s a lot to celebrate, but unfortunately, interest does not always result in things being right or fully understood, and so our work is not over yet. But it does provide a great foundation.
Fragile construction
On that foundation though, a fragile construction of disparate parts has been built, attached to various single-minded objectives. We have experienced very many incremental additions to policy, to funding, and to working requirements. Some is focused upon early education, some on closing the gap, some on childcare for working families. All great objectives, and equally invaluable. It is though, a complex jigsaw of inter-related and competing elements all jostling to achieve their stated ambitions. We are still tasked with holding it all together and reconciling targeted and universal provision as the solution to its imperfections. This unstable construction requires us all to be the glue (practitioners, providers, professionals, family facing workers, local authorities, and government departments) in all our various roles and interactions.
System simplicity
It needn’t be like this. The whole system is too complicated and complex. It is not enough to make it easier; it must be simple and easy for children, families, and providers. The system needs to seamlessly and effectively deliver universal services for all, and to do more for those that need it by experiencing the effects of disadvantage and needing additional opportunities. That way we will reach those who need the targeted support, and everyone can get early education and childcare right first time and fully understand it, how to use it, access it, and enjoy the benefits from it. That requires us to ask the important questions around how we make that happen, including abandoning archaic systems, abolishing anachronisms, and adopting the best of technology.
Emerging policy?
Some of this thinking is happening already, and government has committed to continue it. Some was referenced in the Chancellor’s budget statement last autumn, some in the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change in December, and the Secretary of State has regularly committed to early years being her “top priority”. The previous Government’s flagship policies to expand early years entitlements, and to open new wraparound childcare were early decisions in the new governments continued support. But what else can we expect to see in the long-term? We think we shall see:
- Wide ranging longer-term reform of early education and childcare across all areas.
- Early education will continue to expand as planned and will change in accessibility, affordability, and quality.
- Wraparound childcare will evolve, connecting in better ways to the new offer of free breakfast clubs, and we hope to see a new focus on school holiday childcare.
- More emphasis on schools being providers/hosts of childcare and early education, or at least better connected to or invested in it, as the issue of ‘school readiness’ will gain prominence as schools experience the effects of the pandemic on families that we have already seen in early years. There shall also be a stronger focus on school attendance, and children’s wellbeing which is inextricably linked.
- Increased emphasis on tackling effects of disadvantage. Extension of approaches e.g. Holiday Activities and Food (HAF), Family Hubs, SEND, closing attainment gaps, and being ready to learn through school breakfast clubs.
- Centralised practical focus on workforce growth, retention, and status, with fresh approaches to entry routes and qualifications.
- Different interest in the quality of provision, and how it is registered and inspected, and excellence through Stronger Practice Hubs.
Our advice to everyone is that:
• We improve all parts of the puzzle to create cohesive strategy, policy, and its application.
• There are simple accessible route maps or customer journeys, making it easiest for those in most need or disadvantage, replacing the need for outreach investment in the long term.
• Existing resources are channelled to the front line, rethinking the risks the over burdensome system is trying to mitigate against.
• A united early years and childcare offer is attached to multiple outcomes and impacts – and not be single-minded.
• We repurpose, redistribute, and reach resources to meet the needs of families that need it most, tackling disadvantage and helping parents’ economic behaviours.
• There needs to be two different funding models applied discerningly. The first: providing childcare for working parents as an incentive to work, and an enabler of it. With simple to access subsidies for any additional paid for services. The second: investment focused and targeted for creating the conditions for social impact, bringing local people into the childcare workforce, funding graduate leadership, and deploying early identification and intervention approaches.
