Childcare and early year's providers survey

This survey by the DCSF gives data on the make up of this provision and it's workforce.

The report has many data, here are some points:
- All types of childcare provision have increased in quantity since 2001 (with the exception of sessional child care provision).
- The number of after school clubs continues to rise, although at a lower rate than previously, whilst the number of holiday clubs is in decline.
- Full day care and out of school providers appeared to be distributed reasonably proportionately across all areas (30% of these providers were located in the 30% most deprived areas). In contrast, childminders (18%) and sessional providers (17%) appeared less likely to be located in the 30% most deprived areas.
- The majority of full day care provision was privately run (66%), with just one in five settings run by a voluntary organisation. The opposite pattern was true for sessional care.
- With the exception of sessional providers, there has been a real increase in the number of paid and unpaid staff working in childcare settings since 2003.
- For most childcare providers, the proportion of staff having attained at least a level 3 qualification increased sharply between 2003 and 2006 while continuing to increase at a slower rate in 2007. While in early years provision in maintained schools, the proportion of staff with at least a level three qualification has increased steadily since 2003.

OECD Education at a Glance 2008

The Annual survey by the OECD found the following for the UK (note this refers to all education, including HE):

- Below average class sizes are afforded through an above average teaching load for teachers.

- The highest spenders on educational institutions are Denmark, Iceland, Korea and the United States, with at least 7% of GDP accounted for by public and private spending on educational institutions.

- The proportion of GDP spent on tertiary institutions in Belgium, France, Iceland, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom is below the OECD average; these countries are among the OECD countries in which the proportion of GDP spent on primary, secondary and post secondary non-tertiary education is above the OECD average.

- For all levels of education combined, public and private investment in education increased in all countries by at least 8% between 1995 and 2005 in real terms and increased on average by 42%, with the UK increasing spending by more than 50%.

- The UK comes fourth out of 30 OECD countries for per-pupil funding in early years and enrolment is far above the OECD average.

- Teacher salaries at primary school level are above the OECD average.

- Secondary school class sizes are below the OECD average.

- The rate of increase for teacher salaries is above the OECD average.

- The UK has the highest private rate of returns to upper secondary education or post-secondary non-tertiary education.

- High completion rates of full degree courses which results in a flow of graduates that remains above the OECD average and the UK continues to be an attractive destination to foreign students, especially in science and technology subjects, and is only second to the USA overall.

- The UK has the 6th highest number of science graduates per 100,000 employed aged 25-34, placing us ahead of Japan and Germany.

Draft legislation: Children's Trusts; Sure Start; Pupil Groups; Apprenticeships; Wellbeing; School Buildings; Admissions

In the last three months (June-September) there have been ten draft legislation pieces open for consultation from the DCSF alone. These are listed below, in order of initial publication.

Admissions - a technical area, so best reading the document if interested.
Pupil wellbeing - educational establishments are required to promote pupil wellbeing, this is draft guidance as to how they could achieve.
Schools causing concern - proposed changes on how to deal with schools which cause concern.
Strengthening Children's Trusts - proposals aimed at making the Children's Trust the main strategic body for children's services.
Zero carbon schools - calls for evidence so the government can realise their 2016 target.
Apprenticeships - steps to legislate for the provision of apprenticeships, including making the LSC ensure apprenticeships exist.
Draft guidance on safeguarding children from sexual exploitation.
Draft guidance for children not receiving a suitable education.
Under performing groups - changes to which groups of children are monitored reducing the overall number but including pupils on free school meals for the first time.
Sure Start Children's Centres - legislation to make this provision a legal requirement.

Reaching the hardest in Children's Centres

A report by Capacity was carried out to look at the effectiveness of children’s centres in reaching the most highly disadvantaged families, the ways in which they meet the needs of those families and the outcomes achieved.

Ket findings:
- The study revolved around four “exemplar” children’s centre case studies, examining their work within the context of current government policies, best practice and a wide range of research perspectives.
- The centres within the study were found to be highly effective in delivering multi-agency services to and for children and families. Each has been successful in reaching a number of families who would be considered “difficult to include”, giving thought to and overcoming the practical and other barriers which might prevent those families using the various services on offer.
- It is possible that more resources than are currently allocated for the children’s centre programme are needed to ensure that it can meet its objectives. In acknowledgement of this, the DCSF has recently announced a cash injection of more than £4billion to children’s
centres which will include additional funds for outreach workers.
- The reach strategies adopted by successful centres have been implemented in a particularly thorough way. Some of the community consultations, for example, have been extensive and highly structured, utilising focus groups, outreach and public information campaigns, as opposed to more limited consultations and surveys.
- If children’s centres are to achieve their objectives, they need to capture detailed information about their users, both at the point of first contact and at subsequent intervals.
- In all four centres, the expertise and depth of experience of those leading the work was very considerable and this was a critical factor in their extensive achievements.

Childcare costs prevent parents from working

More than a quarter of low-income parents are unable to work because of childcare costs, according to a YouGov survey.

The survey, carried out on behalf of Save the Children, found 28 per cent of parents on incomes lower than £15,000, could not afford to work.
Douglas Hamilton, head of policy and research at Save the Children, said parents often have to quit work to look after their children. He said: “The costs of childcare are so high that by going to work parents lose more money than they make. The majority of parents in poverty want to work, but with no-one to look after their children, they can’t.”

The children’s charity is calling on the government to introduce £100 grants for children from poor families to help fund holiday childcare. YouGov’s findings coincide with a Daycare Trust report that found the cost of holiday childcare in Great Britain rose by almost ten per cent in the past year, to a weekly average of almost £88.

Children's Centres - reaching the hardest

This study was carried out to look at the effectiveness of children’s centres in reaching the most highly disadvantaged families, the ways in which they meet the needs of those families and the outcomes achieved. The study revolved around four “exemplar” children’s centre case studies, examining their work within the context of current government policies, best practice and a wide range of research perspectives.

Key points:
- There might be a case for additional resources if children's centres are to achieve their objectives, this is more likely as children's centres attract middle class parents who can afford to pay for services.
- The reach strategies adopted by successful centres have been implemented in a particularly
thorough way. Some of the community consultations, for example, have been extensive and highly structured, utilising focus groups, outreach and public information campaigns, as opposed to more limited consultations and surveys.
- Achieving high visibility for the work and value of children's centres, particularly among those who are most remote from services, requires motivation, painstaking research, rigorous planning, effective communication and a range of professional skills and expertise. Children’s centres which have not yet formulated their strategies may not have ready access to this range of skills and expertise.
- If children’s centres are to achieve their objectives, they need to capture detailed information about their users, both at the point of first contact and at subsequent intervals. Only by this can they demonstrate both that they are engaging the most “difficult to include” and offering them services of value.
- Best practice involved highly differentiated and personalised planning for individual parents, built around their specific circumstances and needs, whether in relation to support for particular family difficulties, or involvement in centre activities, learning or volunteering opportunities. The concept of progression was very evident, each parent moving through a continuum of involvement at the pace which was most appropriate.
- In all four centres, the expertise and depth of experience of those leading the work was very
considerable and this was a critical factor in their extensive achievements. It would be difficult for any qualification to provide benefits comparable to this level of experience.
- On the evidence of the studies, a critical requirement for reaching the most disadvantaged families is an understanding of poverty and disadvantage. Training to provide skills and knowledge in this area should be part of the updated strategy for the children’s workforce.

Outcomes of early childhood education

The New Zealand Ministry of Education commissioned this literature review into the impact of early childhood education (ECE) on children and families. The authors explored 117 international and New Zealand texts to addresses three questions:

(a) What developmental, educational, social, and economic outcomes are associated
with participation in ECE for learners and their families?
(b) Are different outcomes associated with different population groups and under different circumstances/ contexts? Considering whether there are adverse impacts more likely and for whom?
(c) How do different outcomes interact/relate with one another?
i. What is the size/significance of the different impacts of ECE? How long do the effects last?

Key findings:

- ECE participation is positively associated with gains in mathematics and literacy, school achievement, intelligence tests, and also school readiness, reduced grade retention, and reduced special education placement.

- the small number of studies that examined associations between ECE participation and learning dispositions found positive impacts.

- There are mixed findings on the impact of ECE participation on antisocial and worried behaviour.

- There is a suggestion that children may catch more infections (ear, nose, and throat) through ECE participation, and that young children attending all-day centres may experience higher cortisol levels (symptom of stress). Where centres are good quality, cortisol levels tend to be lower.

- Studies found cognitive gains for children from low-income/ disadvantaged homes could be greater than for most other children in mathematics and literacy.

- Children for whom English is an additional language, and children from some ethnic minority groups (including Black children), made greater progress on numeracy and pre-reading measures during ECE participation than the white U.K. children or those for whom English is a first language in the English EPPE study.

- Longer duration of ECE experience is linked with cognitive (“academic”) gains for children from all family socioeconomic backgrounds but full-time attendance has no benefits for cognitive outcomes over part-time attendance in studies of children from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds.

- A small number of international studies found an early starting age before age 2 or 3 is associated with higher levels of antisocial or worried behaviour at the time of attendance or shortly after school entry. These associations were generally found in centres rated as low-quality.

As the diagramme shows, early childhood services that contribute to positive child and family outcomes are settings characterised by:
- intentional teaching;
- family engagement with ECE teachers and programmes, where social/cultural capital and interests from home are included, and both family and teachers can best support the child’s learning; and
- a complex curriculum involving both cognitive and non-cognitive dimensions

"Social Mobility"

The Prime Minister announced a crusade on social mobility within the UK (see Downing St. news release).

Key points:

- Moving to offer nursery places to 2 year old's in the most disadvantaged communities.

- Pilots in certain areas, to give one off payments of £200 to parents who use services such as Children's Centres.

- Publish a plan for child care and early learning and reforms to how these are funded to be released later.

- Doubling the number of Teach First placements, a scheme aimed at getting the best graduates into schools serving disadvantaged communities.

- Increasing, by 10 more local authorities, the use of the Family Intervention Project, a cross government, multi-agency approach to tackle anti-social behaviour by intensive engagement of families.

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Read DCSF News Release.

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Read BBC News article.

See BBC TV News piece

Person or place education policies?

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have analysed government policies since 1997 to evaluate whether policies focused on the person or the place are the most effective at tackling social disadvantage (with a focus on education, employment and income, in this blog entry I focus on those relating to education). Full report

Key points:
- Policies have been equally split between place (e.g. academy schools in deprived localities) and people (e.g. early years education, curriculum change, widening participation in HE) initiatives.

- There was some evidence to suggest that sure start was improving outcomes for children and families but this was reduced for the most socially disadvantaged families.

- The New Deal for Communities and Academies programme demonstrated a link to higher level 2 attainment (other initiatives such as the EMA, Excellence in Cities showed no discernable impact on level 2 attainment).

- AimHigher, Gifted & Talented and Excellence Challenge showed a positive link to the point score of the eight best GCSEs for children.

- The EMA and AimHigher: Opportunity Bursary showed a positive impact on FE & HE participation and retention.

- There are few policies which are targeted at people and place simultanesouly and many policies have multiple objectives.

- For Academies, success was seen to be associated with strong, consistent leadership within schools and the availability of additional resources for buildings, ICT and equipment necessary to create more positive learning environments. For of Excellence in Cities, partnerships and co-operation between – ideally – small groups of schools were identifi ed as key to achieving positive results.

Structure of Primary Education

The Primary Review released a interim report, this one examining the structure of primary education. By investigating changes to English education since the 1967 Plowden Report and comparing to international cases the authors found that:

- Most changes are a result of the 1988 Education Reform Act, which introduced competition between schools.
- Internationally there is a wide variation in the school starting age or point of starting school.
- Evidence suggests that school starting age or the school size has little impact on attainment, but overall evaluation of school structures on impact is limited.

Impact of children's centres

The National Evaluation of Sure Start have released a report on the impact of Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLP) by contrasting the areas served against similar areas not served by a Sure Start.

- Parents of three-year-old children showed less negative parenting while providing their children with a better home learning environment.

- Three-year-old children in SSLP areas had better social development with higher levels of positive social behaviour and independence/self-regulation than children in similar areas not having a SSLP.

- The SSLP effects for positive social behaviour appeared to be a consequence of the SSLP benefits upon parenting (i.e., SSLP -> Parenting -> Child).

- Three-year-old children in SSLP areas had higher immunisation rates and fewer accidental injuries than children in similar areas not having a SSLP; it is possible that instead of reflecting positive effects of SSLPs these health-related benefits could have been a result of differences in when measurements were taken of children living in SSLP areas and those living elsewhere.

- Families living in SSLP areas used more child- and family-related services than those living elsewhere.

- The effects associated with SSLPs appeared to apply to all of the resident population, rather than suggesting positive and negative effects for different subgroups as detected in the earlier (2005) report.

- The more consistent benefits associated with SSLPs in the current study compared with the earlier study may well reflect the greater exposure of children and families to better organised and more effective services, as SSLPs have matured over time, though it remains possible that differences in research design across the two studies could also be responsible.

Impact of Extended Schools and Children's Centres

Ofsted have reviewed 30 Children's Centres and 32 Schools across 54 Local Authorities to find:

- over 75% of those examined provided good or better service overall
- All those examined integrated education and child care effectively
- Both extended schools and children's centres need to better reach new parents and children
- Strategic guidance from the local authority assisted the children's centre and extended school, however there was no assessment of whether the centre was providing value for money as monitoring was weak
- Those using the centres found them to be beneficial and take up was best when consideration was given to transport and integrating health service provision
- Uncertainties around the finances of multi-agency partners threatened services and staffing especially in children's centres

For Children's Centres:
- In 23 (of the 30 examined) children's centres children were seen to be making at least good progress in sessions observed, however, none of the centres monitored the long term progress of children
- There was a positive link between the senior staff having qualifications in education and the children's attitude towards learning and their enjoyment of learning

For extended schools:
- 13 (of the 32 examined) provided the full core offer
- All schools examined provided a varied menu of activities but they also found it difficult to offer year round care or to support families in finding provision
- A positive impact on the child's achievement and personal development was evident, this was greatest for the most vulnerable children
- The most effective are those which integrated the extended school into the whole school improvement plan
- There was some radical thinking in the application of multi-agency working

Early years reform

Just a recap on the changes to the early years sector:

- Since October 2007 Local Authorities (LAs) have had a duty to provide information, advice training to all childcare providers
- DCFS published statutory guidance for LAs on the Early Years Outcomes Duty
- LAs are required to submit targets to DCFS by 31st January for raising standards of children that reach a good level of development at age five and for reducing inequality
- LAs must have completed its assessment of childcare sufficiency and ensure sufficient childcare for working parents and those looking for work by April 2008
- LAs must provide information and advice for parents about childcare and other services in their area by April
- LAs, NHS services and Job Centre Plus must work in partnership to improve all young children's outcomes and reduce inequalities by providing effective integrated services
- Ofsted's new early years inspection framework is published in April
- As from September the Early Years Foundation Stage becomes a requirement in all schools and registered early year settings
- Early years and compulsory Ofsted Childcare Registers take effect in September alongside the new early years inspection arrangements being in place

Root and Branch Review of Primary Education to start

Ed Balls has written to Jim Rose setting out the review of the primary curriculum as announced in the 10yr Children's Plan.

The letter sets the priorities for the review:

- To best personalise learning, allow for creativity and flexibility
- To introduce compulsory language learning at Key Stage 2
- To ensure students develop personal skills at school
- To integrate the early years foundation stage and key stage 1 fully
- To ensure summer born children are not disadvantaged
- To ensure a smooth transition to secondary school and integration with the new secondary curriculum

Jim is to set out his priorities by 15th Feb. and release a provisional report by the end of October 2008.

Nursery provision

DCFS is extending free nursery provision for all 3 and 4 year olds to 15hrs per week, by 2010 (currently the offer is 12.5hrs per week). Nationally 20 LAs already offer the 15hrs provision (including Leeds, Sheffield and York). A further 14 (including Kirklees and NE Lincs) will offer this provision as from 2008. The remaining authorities will have to deliver this extended provision to the most disadvantaged families by 2009 and offer full coverage by 2010.

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