Early years: valuable means and effective ends

Background paper: Review of early years policy since 1994 by Janet Grauberg ( July 2014 )

Policy Developments 1994 - 1997

It is never easy or accurate to pinpoint the start of a policy debate. For simplicity, I will argue that the current debate about Early Childhood Education and Care started twenty years ago, when in 1994, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) published a report entitled “Start Right” written by Sir Christopher Ball, the RSA’s Director of Learning.[1]

In terms that would be very familiar to those engaged in the debate today, the report reviewed the evidence that high-quality early education leads to lasting cognitive and social benefits in children, and recommended that:

· Full-time school should not start until six;

· Part-time nursery education should be compulsory from three;

· Child benefit could be linked to parents' attendance at parenting classes;

· Nursery schooling should be provided at 'family centres' where parents could learn alongside their children;

· All nursery school teachers should receive a full professional training;

· A new code of conduct should govern all pre-school education;

· The new system should be in place by 1999.

In 1996, the final year of the then Conservative Government, two key developments picked up some of these threads. A set of guidelines for early years settings was published, known as “Desirable Outcomes” and a Nursery Voucher scheme was announced.[2] We would think of the Desirable Outcomes as "learning goals”, emphasizing early literacy and numeracy and the development of personal and social skills.

Before 1996, 3 and 4 year olds were only able to access free part time nursery education places in maintained nurseries, with other provision paid for by parents. Nursery Vouchers of ￡1,000 were introduced to allow parents with 4 year old children to receive vouchers which they could use in a range of provision. This enabled private and voluntary sector providers, which met a set of national requirements, to access additional funding to provide free part time places for 4 year olds.

When Labour formed the Government in 1997 Nursery Vouchers were withdrawn and a new system was introduced where local education authorities administered funding to private, voluntary and independent sector providers (PVI) in their locality. The local authority (LA) maintained a register of providers and also received grants to provide development support and training for these settings in order to support quality.

The 1998 National Childcare Strategy Green Paper , Sure Start Local Programmes and policy before 2004

The National Childcare Strategy

In May 1998, the Government published the first of what would become a succession of wide-ranging documents on childcare and early years.[3] With a foreword by Prime Minister Tony Blair, it placed the childcare strategy as part of creating a modern society, supporting families under pressure and encouraging family-friendly employment, while giving children the best start in life. As you might expect from a new Government coming in after a long time in opposition, it sought to mark out its approach with distinctive values – stressing the role of Government rather than the market in solving the problems of modern society.

“For too long, the UK has lagged behind in developing good quality, affordable and accessible childcare. The approach taken by previous Governments to the formal childcare sector has been to leave it almost exclusively to the market. But this has failed to meet the needs of many children and parents as society has changed. The voluntary sector has been expected, with little Government support, to fill gaps in services for parents caring for their own children and informal carers. As a result we are all losing out - children, parents, employers and society as a whole. Childcare in the UK today has three key problems:

· the quality of childcare can be variable;

· the cost of care is high and out of the reach of many parents; and

· in some areas there are not enough childcare places and parents' access to them is hampered by poor information.”

In proposing solutions to these problems it debated all the themes which reappear over the subsequent fifteen years – choice and flexibility, availability and affordability and quality. It covered childcare for children aged 0 – 14 and included proposals for:

· raising the quality of care, including curriculum, regulatory and workforce reform;

· making childcare more affordable;

· making childcare more accessible by increasing places and improving information.

It heralded the introduction of the Childcare Tax Credit, as part of the Working Families Tax Credit, reimbursing up to 70% of childcare costs up to a limit of ￡70 for one child and ￡105 for two or more children, available to single parents working more than 16 hours a week or couples where both parents worked more than 16 hours a week. This was to be introduced in October 1999.

It also announced the start of the “Free Entitlement” – a promise that from September 1998 all four year olds would have access to an early education place, with a vision for this to be extended to all three year-olds. This extension was announced in September 2000 and introduced in 2004.

It saw a leading role for LAs, bringing together providers and employers to review provision locally and prepare plans for expansion and improvement, in local childcare partnerships.

“ Our aim is to ensure good quality, affordable childcare for children aged 0 to 14 in every neighbourhood, including both formal childcare and support for informal arrangements. The Strategy is founded on a commitment to promoting the well-being of children, offering equal opportunities for parents, especially women and to supporting parents in balancing work and family life …..

….The Strategy will be founded on the five principles of quality; affordability; diversity; accessibility; and partnership….

….. The two tests of the success of our approach will be:

· better outcomes for children, including readiness to learn by the time they reach school and enjoyable, developmental activities out of school hours;

· and more parents with the chance to take up work, education or training because they have access to diverse, good quality childcare. ”

Sure Start Local Programmes

In 1998 the Cross-Departmental Review of Services for Young Children concluded that disadvantage among young children was increasing and that early intervention could prevent poor outcomes.[4] It also noted that current services were uncoordinated and patchy and recommended there be a change in service design and delivery, suggesting that programmes should be jointly planned by all relevant bodies, and be area-based, with all children under five and their families in an area being clients. In July 1998, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, introduced Sure Start aimed at providing quality services for children under five years old and their parents.[5] The original intent of the programme design was to focus on the 20% most deprived areas, which included around 51% of children in families with incomes 60% or less than the national median, i.e. the official poverty line.[6]

The aim of the programme was "giving children the best possible start in life" through improvement of childcare, early education, health and family support, with an emphasis on outreach and community development.

The Government allocated ￡452 million between 1999-2002 for Sure Start to create 250 local programmes (SSLPs) reaching up to 150,000 children in areas of deprivation. The programme was area based, with the target group comprising all children under five years of age and their families living in a prescribed area serving.

The inception of the “Foundation Stage”

Curriculum development was one of the important features of the following years, with a Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) consultation in Spring 1999 leading to the decision to create a distinct “Foundation Stage” in education for children aged three to the end of reception year.[7]

Detailed guidance was published in May 2000.[8] In the foreword, Nick Tate, CEO of the QCA sets the document clearly in an educational context, saying

“The establishment of a foundation stage is a significant landmark in funded education in England . For the first time it gives this very important stage of education a distinct identity….. The purpose of the guidance is to help practitioners provide learning and teaching experiences of the highest quality throughout the foundation stage, while allowing them to respond flexibly to the particular needs of the children, families and community with whom they work. In this way, standards of learning and teaching will be raised, so helping to give children secure foundations on which future learning can build . ”

“ The curriculum for the foundation stage should underpin all future learning by supporting, fostering, promoting and developing children’s:

· personal, social and emotional well-being: in particular by supporting the transition to and between settings, promoting an inclusive ethos and providing opportunities for each child to become a valued member of that group and community so that a strong self-image and self-esteem are promoted;

· positive attitudes and dispositions towards their learning: in particular an enthusiasm for knowledge and learning and a confidence in their ability to be successful learners;

· social skills: in particular by providing opportunities that enable them to learn how to cooperate and work harmoniously alongside and with each other and to listen to each other;

· attention skills and persistence: in particular the capacity to concentrate on their own play or on group tasks;

· language and communication: with opportunities for all children to talk and communicate in a widening range of situations, to respond to adults and to each other, to practise and extend the range of vocabulary and communication skills they use and to l isten carefully;

· reading and writing: with opportunities for all children to explore, enjoy, learn about and use words and text in a broad range of contexts and to experience a rich variety of books;

· mathematics: with opportunities for all children to develop their understanding of number, measurement, pattern, shape and space by providing a broad range of contexts in which they can explore, enjoy, learn, practise and talk about them;

· knowledge and understanding of the world: with opportunities for all children to solve problems, make decisions, experiment, predict, plan and question in a variety of contexts, and to explore and find out about their environment and people and places that have significance in their lives;

· physical development: with opportunities for all children to develop and practise their fine and gross motor skills and to increase their understanding of how their bodies work and what they need to do to be healthy and safe;

· creative development: with opportunities for all children to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of art, design and technology, music, movement, dance and imaginative and role play activities . ”

Ofsted enters the stage

The reform of regulation announced in the 1998 strategy took another step in the summer of 2001 when Ofsted took over from local authorities in England, the responsibility for regulating childcare under the Children Act 1989. The National Standards for Under Eights Day Care and Childminding were introduced in September 2001 and represented a set of minimum standards below which no childcare provider should fall.[9]

They were also intended to underpin a continuous improvement in quality in all settings. There are 14 National Standards. Each Standard described a particular quality outcome, and was accompanied by a set of supporting criteria giving information about how that outcome is to be achieved. The criteria are matched to each of five different types of day care and childminding provision:

· Full day care;

· Sessional day care;

· Crèches;

· Out of school care;

· Childminders.


Regulations under the Children Act 1989 required providers (technically the registered person in each registered setting) to meet the 14 Standards. The regulations also required providers to have regard to the supporting criteria. Ofsted was required to have regard to both the Standards and the supporting criteria, and was responsible for issuing guidance on how the outcomes required by the National Standards may be achieved.

A review in 2003 described the standards as having been generally well received and having led to greater consistency, although concerns were being expressed about lack of flexibility and about inconsistency in the way that Ofsted were interpreting the guidelines.[10]

Birth to Three Matters

Alongside the development of the concept of the “Foundation Years” and associated curriculum guidance, in November 2002 the Government published “Birth to Three Matters.”[11] The purpose of the Framework was to provide support, information, guidance and challenge for all those with responsibility for the care and education of babies and children from birth to three years.

The Framework took as its focus the child and steered away from subjects, specific areas of experience and distinct curriculum headings. It identified four Aspects, which celebrate the skill and competence of babies and young children and highlight the interrelationship between growth, learning, development and the environment in which they are cared for and educated. These four ‘Aspects’ are:

· A Strong Child;

· A Skilful Communicator;

· A Competent Learner;

· A Healthy Child.

It also distinguished four development stages:

· Heads Up, Lookers and Communicators (0 – 8 months);

· Sitters, Standers and Explorers (8 – 18 months);

· Movers, Shakers and Players (18 – 24 months);

· Walkers, Talkers and Pretenders (24 – 36 months).

EPPE Outcomes Report

With hindsight, one of the most important developments in 2003 was the publication in October 2003 of the first outcomes of the EPPE Project (The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education).[12] EPPE is a European Longitudinal study looking at a national sample of young children’s development. The study focused on how the circumstances in which all children made progress (as assessed by a bespoke assessment process), and what factors contributed to that progress. The study covered all children, but also addressed whether pre-school education made a difference to children who came from more disadvantaged backgrounds, and highlighted differences between boys and girls in early years development.

Two important themes which emerge are the importance of the quality of adult-child verbal interactions, and the importance of parental involvement in children’s learning, in particular where staff were proactive in supporting parents to engage with children in activities which complemented those happening in the pre-school setting. Both of these themes take some time to feature in public policy in England.