More Great Childcare

Today sees the long-awaited government response to the Nutbrown Review (see <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nutbrown-review-final-report.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> for details). While it's easy to get carried away by reactions on Twitter and other social networks, I think it's safe to say that the initial verdict from professionals working in the early years sector is, to put it mildly, not a happy one. In particular, the decision to relax ratios (ie allow nurseries or childminders to look after more children per adult) has led to accusations that quality and children's safety will be compromised.<br /><br />First of all, it probably makes sense to have a look at the full text of <i>More Great Childcare: Raising Quality and Giving Parents More Choice</i>, which is the full title of the government's proposals. You can read the full text by <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/More%20Great%20Childcare%20v2.pdf" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.<br /><br />There is plenty of press coverage of the report today, with articles summarising the main points of the report. Try looking at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21232270" target="_blank"><i>Nursery Ratios Raised to Cut Childcare Costs</i></a> from the BBC or <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/29/nursery-staff-childminders-restrictions-lifted" target="_blank"><i>Childminders and Nurseries Can Look After More Children</i></a> from the Guardian.<br /><br />My post from yesterday, entitled <i><a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/childcare-provision-recent-history.html" target="_blank">Childcare Provision: a Recent History</a></i>, may also be useful in providing ideas for background reading to put today's report into context. If you'd like to see those in the early years sector are saying about the report, then the weekly EYTalking discussion on Twitter tonight between 8pm - 9pm is likely to be lively! Just follow the #EYTalking hashtag.<br /><br />UPDATE: Since I originally posted this a few hours ago, several articles detailing the sector response have appeared online. Click on the links below to read reactions to the government's proposals:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/rss/1168740/Great-Childcare-Sector-overwhelmingly-opposes-ratio-changes/" target="_blank"><i>More Great Childcare: Sector Overwhelmingly Opposes Ratio Changes</i></a></li><li><i><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/29/childcare-reform-proposals-fierce-criticism" target="_blank">Childcare Reform Proposals Face Fierce Criticism</a></i></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/reality-check/2013/jan/29/britain-childcare-expensive-improve-quality" target="_blank"><i>Is Britain's Childcare Expensive, and Will Reforms Improve Quality? </i></a></li></ul>

More Great Childcare

Today sees the long-awaited government response to the Nutbrown Review (see previous post for details). While it's easy to get carried ...

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Childcare Provision: a Recent History

The issue of childcare is in the news again today, following <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/1168488/Early-years-sector-vents-anger-childcare-proposals-leak/" target="_blank">rumours of an imminent change to staff : child ratios</a> in early years settings, and the publication of <a href="http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/quality%20childcare.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Quality Childcare: Improving Early Years Childcare</i></a>, a new report from the Policy Exchange think tank which claims that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/28/childcare-figures-deprived-areas-worse" target="_blank">childcare in deprived areas is worse</a> than that on offer in wealthier areas. The new Policy Exchange report is the latest in a spate of recent childcare reports examing issues of cost and quality, so today's post attempts to round up and make some sense of all the latest research in this area.<br /><br />To understand current government policy, it's probably worth looking at <a href="http://www.centreforum.org/assets/pubs/affordable-quality.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Affordable Quality: New Approaches to Childcare</i></a>, a brief paper written in May last year by Elizabeth Truss, the current Parliamentary Under Secretary of State with responsibility for childcare. The paper advocates that the UK learn lessons from the Netherlands' model of childcare provision, leading to the publication a few months later of <a href="http://www.ippr.org/images/media/files/publication/2012/10/double-dutch-childcare_Oct2012_9763.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Double Dutch: the Case Against Deregulation and Demand-Led Funding in Childcare</i></a>. This report was authored by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), and argues that the Danish model for childcare would be a more useful influence for policy in the UK.<br /><br />Many of the most recent reports on childcare focus on the affordability of providing high-quality provision, particularly in light of the austerity agenda affecting so many services. So in no particular order, publications that deal with this issue include <a href="http://www.smf.co.uk/assets/files/publications/SMF%20The%20Parent%20Trap.PDF" target="_blank"><i>The Parent Trap: Illustrating the Growing Cost of Childcare</i></a> (Social Market Foundation, Nov 11),  <a href="http://www.daycaretrust.org.uk/data/files/Research/making_work_pay.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Making Work Pay - the Childcare Trap</i></a> (Daycare Trust, Sep 11), <a href="http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services-client-groups/children-young-people/centreforsocialjustice/136648ChildcareFINAL041012.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Transforming Childcare: Changing Lives</i></a> (Centre for Social Justice, Oct 2012) <a href="http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/media/downloads/Chilcare_Report_June_2011.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Childcare: Failing to Meet the Needs of Working Parents</i></a> (Resolution Foundation, June 2011) and <a href="http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/media/downloads/Counting_the_costs_of_childcare_1.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Counting the Costs of Childcare</i></a> (Resolution Foundation, Oct 12). While the more recent <a href="http://www.ndna.org.uk/Resources/NDNA/Generic%20Folders%202/06/business%20performance%20survey%20FINAL.pdf" target="_blank"><i>The Nursery Sector in England, Scotland & Wales</i></a> (National Day Nurseries Association, Jan 13) views the subject from a different point of view, summarising how nurseries are performing as businesses in the current climate.<br /><br />The long-term benefits of high-quality childcare have been examined in many studies over the years. There are too many to list all of them here, but two recent(ish) reports that might interest readers include <a href="http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/earlyintervention-smartinvestment.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Early Intervention: Smart Investment, Massive Savings</i></a> (Cabinet Office, Jul 11) and <a href="http://www.managementthinking.eiu.com/sites/default/files/downloads/Starting%20Well.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Starting Well: Benchmarking Early Education Across the World</i></a> (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2012). The latter of these actually places the UK 4th in a league table of preschool environments in 45 different countries.<br /><br />And finally, a batch of relevant reports from the DfE itself, though it should be pointed out that some of these were commissioned before the current government came into office, and so do not necessarily reflect government policy. With that in mind, try having a look at:<br /><ul><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR221.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents 2010</i></a> (Jul 12 - the next one is due next week!)</li><li><a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d001088/osr18-2012.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2011</i></a> (Sep 12)</li><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR217.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Exploring the Flexibility of the Free Entitlement to Early Education: Research among Parents</i></a> (Jul 12)</li><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR220.pdf" target="_blank"><i>The Impact of Sure Start Local Programmes on Seven Year Olds and their Families</i></a> (Jul 12)</li><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR131.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Rolling Out Free Early Education for Disadvantaged Two Year Olds: an Implementation Study for Local Authorities and Providers</i></a> (Jul 11)</li></ul>That's about as comprehensive a collection of reports from the last couple of years that I can manage. But if you're aware of other research that I've missed here, please share it with other readers by leaving a comment below.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipex26GLtnsDBhtP5iysx5GgSUcMwoOr_HWHD1eaowGNBGAKJzGz-fIQFen-Hh47uUmavAWMyy43VbsHrssm-S9Y6P0bvRBwtfG8TajNEOVkNF1R8VNhXlG50kgHkZrItQIv13XlAyOw/s1600/ChildBubble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipex26GLtnsDBhtP5iysx5GgSUcMwoOr_HWHD1eaowGNBGAKJzGz-fIQFen-Hh47uUmavAWMyy43VbsHrssm-S9Y6P0bvRBwtfG8TajNEOVkNF1R8VNhXlG50kgHkZrItQIv13XlAyOw/s200/ChildBubble.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>

Childcare Provision: a Recent History

The issue of childcare is in the news again today, following rumours of an imminent change to staff : child ratios in early years settings,...

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State of Children's Rights in England

The <a href="http://www.crae.org.uk/" target="_blank">Children's Rights Alliance For England</a> (CRAE) has just published its annual <i>State of Children’s Rights in England</i> report. The publication assesses how well the Government is protecting children's rights in England covering such areas as child protection, and how well the UK is complying with the <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm" target="_blank"><i>UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</i></a>.<br /><br />You can read the full report by <a href="http://crae.org.uk/assets/files/s%20Rights%202012.pdf" target="_blank">clicking here</a>. A press release summarising the main findings is <a href="http://www.crae.org.uk/news-and-events/news/government-failing-in-its-responsibilities-and-promises-to-children.html" target="_blank">also available</a>.

State of Children's Rights in England

The Children's Rights Alliance For England (CRAE) has just published its annual State of Children’s Rights in England report. The publ...

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Children and Bereavement

A number of students have recently made enquiries about childhood bereavement, so today's post should give you some ideas of where you can find information on this topic.<br /><br />There are a number of organisations devoted to providing support in this area. The <a href="http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/" target="_blank">Childhood Bereavement Network</a>, <a href="http://www.winstonswish.org.uk/" target="_blank">Winston's Wish</a> and <a href="http://www.cruse.org.uk/Children.html" target="_blank">Cruse</a> all have websites with information about their work, suggestions for resources which you may find useful, and links to other similar sites. The NHS also has a <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/bereavement/Pages/bereavement.aspx" target="_blank">bereavement area</a> on its Live Well site, some of which is relevant to children and young people.<br /><br />If you need something something a little more 'academic', you should really take a look at a couple of research reports written by the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre in 2011. <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Childhood%20bereavement%20literature%20review.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Childhood Bereavement: A Rapid Literature Review</i></a> is a short overview of the topic and will give you plenty of ideas for further reading, while <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Long%20Term%20Outcomes%20Of%20Parental%20Bereavement.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Long-Term Impact of Childhood Bereavement</i></a> looks at data from the 1970 British Cohort Study. Or for something more succinct, try the <a href="http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/0315.pdf" target="_blank">executive summary</a> of <i>The Impact of Bereavement and Loss on Young People</i>, a 2005 project from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, or a 2002 paper from Barnardo's entitled <a href="http://www.barnardos.org.uk/sibling.pdf" target="_blank"><i>A Review of Sibling Bereavement</i></a>.<br /><br />And some short articles you might find useful: the BBC Health site has a piece entitled <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/bereavement/bereavement_effectschildren.shtml" target="_blank"><i>How Bereavement Affects Children</i></a>, Teaching Times has published <a href="http://www.teachingtimes.com/articles/counselling-bereaved-children.htm" target="_blank"><i>Counselling for Kids</i></a>, and in 2007 Early Years Update published <a href="http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/managing-loss-grief-and-bereavement-1892" target="_blank"><i>Managing Loss, Grief & Bereavement</i></a>.

Children and Bereavement

A number of students have recently made enquiries about childhood bereavement, so today's post should give you some ideas of where you c...

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The Nursery Sector

The <a href="http://www.ndna.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA)</a> has just published a brief report which contains details of research carried out with nurseries across the UK. The survey was primarily interested in business matters - financial performance of settings, staffing issues etc - and highlights <a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1075944/nurseries-reveal-true-cost-free-entitlement" target="_blank">problems stemming from the government's free childcare entitlement scheme</a>.<br /><br />To read the full text of <i>NDNA Insight Report: January 2013 - The Nursery Sector in England, Scotland & Wales</i>, <a href="http://www.ndna.org.uk/Resources/NDNA/Generic%20Folders%202/06/business%20performance%20survey%20FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>.

The Nursery Sector

The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) has just published a brief report which contains details of research carried out with nurseri...

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Early Years Education in the UK: a Brief History

Happy New Year! It's probably traditional to start a year by looking forward, but a tweet I saw reminded me about something that I've been meaning to post on here for a while, which should be useful if you've got an interest in the history of early years education...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/" target="_blank">Education in England</a> is an excellent website which I've mentioned on here before (see <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/history-of-education-in-england.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>). Among the content on the site is a collection of official full text reports on all aspects of education dating back to the 19th Century. Several of these are specific to the early years sector, so I've put links to the relevant pages of the site below:<br /><br />The Acland Report: <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acland1908/" target="_blank"><i>School Attendance of Children Below the Age of Five</i></a> (1908)<br />The Haddow Report: <i><a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/hadow1933/" target="_blank">Infant and Nursery Schools</a></i> (1933)<br />The Plowden Report: <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/plowden/" target="_blank"><i>Children and their Primary Schools</i></a> (1967) (see Chapters 9 and 10)<br />HMI Survey: <i><a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/hmi-5to9/" target="_blank">Education Five to Nine</a></i> (1982)<br />The Rumbold Report: <i><a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/rumbold/" target="_blank">Starting with Quality</a></i> (1990)<br />The Tickell Report: <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2011-tickell-report-eyfs.pdf" target="_blank"><i>The Early Years: Foundations for Life, Health and Learning</i></a> (2011) (there is also much more about this in this <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/tickell-review-of-early-years.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>)<br /><br />Happy reading!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJf_8NXE_Fi82Y2iCOJhu0cTtukzhVjCVDV4KeeMzdIbdLDX4vH0MN-GSzghbZhllM6biHMfjl43s1IFU2Ka8beVCXFt9rn_OaLaYiPvy1oEe-KsSuNCVrqSDndSNacfhqLcnkf1bfAQ/s1600/girloncomputer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJf_8NXE_Fi82Y2iCOJhu0cTtukzhVjCVDV4KeeMzdIbdLDX4vH0MN-GSzghbZhllM6biHMfjl43s1IFU2Ka8beVCXFt9rn_OaLaYiPvy1oEe-KsSuNCVrqSDndSNacfhqLcnkf1bfAQ/s200/girloncomputer.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><br />

Early Years Education in the UK: a Brief History

Happy New Year! It's probably traditional to start a year by looking forward, but a tweet I saw reminded me about something that I'v...

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