CEY1428

Written evidence submitted by Kindred

We welcome this House of Commons Education Select Committee inquiry into childcare as we believe it will be a vital and timely intervention into a debate that many families and child care providers are having and have been having for many years.

Kindred² is a charitable foundation working with partner organisations to improve early education and early child development. As a charity which aims to increase the national focus on the importance of early years and which campaigns for a greater emphasis on the vital first years of childhood, we are grateful for this opportunity to submit written evidence to the Committee.

We have been working to build a cross-party consensus to shift the emphasis in early education policy which would help improve outcomes.  Our projects and collaborative work explore several components of the terms of reference with the potential to offer practical and achievable changes to the childcare system that could deliver better outcomes for children, parents and carers as well as childcare providers.

Earlier this year, Kindred2 convened a coalition of early years organisations including Early Education and providers LEYF and Ark Start, identified a series of practical and affordable options for more efficient and effective Early Years spending in England. We commissioned Frontier Economics to analyse current government spending on childcare and to suggest different models to improve on the early years system by adapting the focus and delivery of existing funding streams.

The resulting report seeks to inform future discussions about the funding of ECEC by calculating real costs, suggesting ways that access and entitlements can be simplified for parents and refocusing current spending on the priorities of achieving a quality of education for all children, particularly those who need it most.  Consequently, we think this report is invaluable when reviewing evidence within this inquiry.

The table below breaks down the four suggested models, however the full analysis can be found here (Early Years Funding Options).

The impact of the current patchwork, expensive and failing childcare system is perhaps most evident when children start school. Kindred² commissions YouGov annually to carry out an annual ‘school readiness’ survey of school professionals. Year on year our research shows that children nationally are not being adequately prepared for Reception. Almost a thousand primary school staff responded to the 2021 survey (find the full analysis here). They reported that on average, 50% of all children are not ready to start school.  Almost a third of teacher’s identified the variable quality of nurseries as a reason why so many children are not school ready. When only half of children in Reception classes are achieving their developmental milestones it is clear that there is a lack of adequate preparations for this transition. The consequences of this are vast impacting every child, staff member as well as school finances.

The results of our latest school readiness survey will be published on 24th January 2023 and once again the findings are startling. In addition to teachers, this year we also sought the views of 1000 parents of Reception-aged children. The data shows that both teachers and parents think that the cost of nursery/childcare as well as the quality of it is a significant contributing factor as to why children are not school ready.

Results also reveal a stark gulf between parents and teachers views around the level of school readiness we are seeing in schools. This goes to the heart of the funding crisis and the lack of sufficient state or official guidance for parents of preschool children. Much of what we argue is needed would not require massive funding increases. We are suggesting more information and greater awareness, which would lead to closing the perception divide that we have exposed. If children are starting school with improved development skills and independence, then teaching can be more effective and more pupils would be getting a decent start to their education careers.     

We submit that the childcare system needs reform and urgent changes but simply increasing funding alone is not a solution without increases in both societal and political emphasis on Early Years.

In 2019, Kindred² approached the Centre for Social Justice and the Fabian Society to establish an expert-led Commission for the Early Years. This resulted in a cross-party manifesto calling for an immediate expansion of employment rights for new and expectant parents, increased compulsory health visits, dedicated and locally-relevant parental support services, and support for the professional development of those who work in early years. Further details of the content of the report can be found here.

Throughout our work, a central message has become clear and that is giving parents the right information at the right time is vital in helping to promote healthy child development. Research, we conducted in partnership with the Royal Foundation, revealed that only one in four people recognise the specific importance of the first five years of a child’s life in shaping lifelong outcomes.

Our Projects are designed to offer solutions and answers. To help improve understanding of the early years in future generations we established the SEEN Programme (Secondary Education around Early Neurodevelopment). The Programme provides schools with lesson resources and staff training on the topic of early brain development and the importance of the early years on long term outcomes. The programme was developed in collaboration with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Oxford University and with key academic and education expert groups. The Princess of Wales saw the lessons in action in November 2021 when she visited pupils at Nower Hill High School in Harrow, North London. SEEN lessons have now been delivered in almost 70 schools reaching over 8600 students.

We hope that this evidence will be of value to the committee as it considers the possible solutions that many parents, families and childcare providers are urgently seeking and would  be happy to provide any further details requested.

January 2023