Education and social mobility experts at the Sutton Trust have
today warned of a major deterioration in the education of
disadvantaged young children. The Trust says that the role of the
early years sector is increasingly moving towards childcare at
the expense of providing high quality education, with learning
gaps between the most and least well-off young children set to
widen in the coming years.
In a new policy briefing published today by the Trust, widespread
evidence of mounting pressures in the early years sector is
reviewed alongside the policies of the two main parties.
In two months’ time, the government’s expansion of state-funded
early years provision will start to be rolled out, but only for
children whose parents meet certain work-based criteria*. This
means expanded early years education will not be provided to many
children from poorer families. This comes as increasing workforce
and capacity pressures for providers could see them prioritising
places for the children eligible for the most funded hours, and
‘childcare deserts’ are opening up in less affluent areas,
placing poorer children at further disadvantage to gain nursery
places.
Just 20% of families in the bottom third of the earnings
distribution are eligible for the existing 30 hour offer for 3-
and 4-year-olds, and all parents in full-time education or
training are ineligible. 70% of those who are eligible for the
support are from homes in the top half of earners.
Just 20% of families earning less than £20,000 a year will have
access to the planned expansion of funded places, compared to 80%
of those with household incomes over £45,000.
The Trust says that eligibility for the expanded childcare offer
is likely to further widen the early years attainment gap, which
has been widening since before the pandemic. Measured as the
percentage of each group meeting expected early learning goals,
the gap between children eligible for free school meals and their
peers increased from 17 percentage points in 2016/17 to 20
percentage points in 2022/23.
The Labour Party has criticised the government for “neglecting
the importance of childcare as education that sets children up
for school and for life, particularly affecting children from
lower-income backgrounds”, but as yet, it has not made any
commitments to address this inequality in provision.
In an extensive review of the issues facing the early years
sector, which risk not only widening inequality, but also
worsening the quality of education for all young children, the
Sutton Trust’s briefing highlights that:
- In 2023, one in five early years staff members were
unqualified (did not have a relevant GCSE/level 2 qualification),
up from one in seven in 2018.
- Funding given to early years settings to support
disadvantaged children (the Early Years Pupil Premium) is just
25% of the amount given in Pupil Premium funding to primary
schools.
- Other funding ringfenced for disadvantaged children through
the National Funding Formula has remained the same since 2017-18,
despite growing numbers of children qualifying, meaning this is
now spread more thinly.
- While there are now around 500 Family Hubs in England, over
1,400 Sure Start children’s centres have closed since 2010.
The Sutton Trust concludes that by not taking action, the next
government will reinforce disadvantage for children before they
even start at school, and risks widening the attainment gap. It
is calling on both the main parties to commit to tackling these
issues by:
- Rebalancing entitlements so that all young children (aged 2 -
4) have a core education entitlement of at least 20 hours per
week, with extra provision needed for childcare paid by parents
on a sliding scale of fees by income level.
- Developing an early years workforce strategy with minimum
qualifications specified, and funding to attract graduates.
- Reviewing the early years pupil premium to match the level
provided to schools and improve how it is administered to
providers.
- Improving the wider support to families with young children
by re-invigorating a national children’s centre programme.
Sir Peter Lampl, Founder of the Sutton Trust and Founder
of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
‘Politicians are failing disadvantaged children. The early years
are a crucial stage that can create opportunity or lock in
disadvantage. As things stand, government policy treats early
years provision as childcare rather than education, and there is
no indication as yet that this would change under a Labour
government.
‘It’s disgraceful that the very children who would benefit most
from early years education are being increasingly excluded from
it. We need to rebalance government funding or we will continue
to see poorer children falling further behind.’
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- *To qualify for the expanded state-funded hours, both parents
need to earn on average the equivalent of 16 hours on the
national minimum wage per week, and no more than £100,000 per
year. A family with an annual household income of £199,999 would
be eligible if each parent earns just under £100,000. For more
detail, including on single parents/parents on parental leave etc
see page 5 of the full briefing.
