Hundreds of thousands of families in every corner of England will soon feel the benefits of a rebuilt early childhood support service that will give every child the chance to succeed, and every parent somewhere to turn for advice and support.
The Best Start in Life strategy will see a fundamental step change in how the government drives up quality in early education, ensures places are available in every community, and restores crumbling family services for the next generation – as the government places £1.5bn of cash behind the reforms.
Having a trained early years teacher can lead to better long-term life chances for children, with research showing settings with graduate staff score more highly on all quality measures.
However, only one in ten nurseries have an early years teacher now, meaning action to restore fairness is needed after years of neglect.
That’s why through a new incentive scheme, the government will fund tax-free payment of £4,500 to attract the very best talent and keep 3,000 more early years teachers in nurseries serving the 20 most disadvantaged communities in the country.
The approach taken is just one first step toward raising standards in the most disadvantaged areas and ensuring every community has a fair chance to succeed – a crucial mission to drive real national renewal.
The strategy will set out measures the government is considering to raise the quality and availability of places, strengthening partnerships between nurseries and schools to get children ready to enter reception.
From next April Ofsted will inspect all new early years providers within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years, compared to the current six-year cycle.
That’s why we are restoring crucial family services by delivering up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across every local authority in England and scaling up the very best of early years education and care to get tens of thousands more children starting school ready to learn.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
My driving mission is to make sure every child has the chance to succeed no matter their background – and this new strategy will help give our youngest children the very best start in life.
The best way of reducing inequalities is by tackling them early: that’s why we’re joining up family support services through our Best Start Family Hubs, driving up quality in our early years system and strengthening support for children as they enter primary school.
These aren’t luxuries. They are the essentials, and that is what this government will deliver as we fulfil our Plan for Change.
The strategy sets out a number of other levers to raise the status and skills of educators – including through consulting on a new professional register for the early years, working with the sector to establish a career framework, and funding early learning interventions in English and maths.
Today’s plan follows the announcement of a number of measures to support families, such as urgent action rolling out 30 hours government-funded childcare this September, thousands of places in school-based nurseries, and a record uplift of almost 50% to early years disadvantage funding.
But the government wants to go further to make parenting easier. The strategy commits to designing and delivering a simpler system to make it easier for families to access early education and childcare, looking widely at the current support provided by different parts of government and taking account of the ongoing review of parental leave and pay.
The government will also look at how social investment – where positive outcomes for society are prioritised over profit – could be leveraged to create more quality childcare places in the communities where they are needed most.
Sarah Ronan, Director, Early Education and Childcare Coalition said:
Today marks a turning point in how we value early education. This strategy sets out a long-overdue vision for change and a new beginning for a system that has been under pressure for too long.
We welcome the Government’s commitment to work with families and the sector, and the focus on raising the status of the workforce.
Change won’t happen overnight but it starts today with a shared mission to give every child the best start in life.
There will be new funding for partnerships between schools and local nurseries to strengthen transitions into school and break down barriers from day one, and every local authority will work with government to agree statutory targets to improve school readiness in their area.
The strategy follows a record investment confirmed for early years entitlements next year, increasing to over £9 billion, with £400 million set aside over the next three years to improve quality in early years settings and reception classes and drive better outcomes for children.
