This post is written by Matthew Milner, MA in Education and MBA at Stanford University and Tarun Varma, implementation specialist at The LEGO Foundation.
The problem: Governments often don’t prioritise early childhood education and many people don’t realise the developmental importance of the early years.
Why it matters: Research shows the relation of quality early years education with better life outcomes.
The solution: Raise awareness of the importance of the early years with politicians and the public in order to improve the quality and access of early education.
The public sector often fails to prioritise early childhood education, despite a former education secretary in the UK giving evidence that it is one of the most important factors in life outcomes and social mobility.
Two key statistics showcasing some of the issues facing the early childhood sector in the UK are:
The UK is one of the most expensive places in the world for childcare, with an average of 30% of a family’s wage going towards it.
Despite this high price tag, quality and provision are not universally accessible. In 2018, 28% of children finished their reception year (the first year at school) without the early communication and reading skills that they need to thrive.
This was one of the key topics that Naomi Eisenstadt, a long-time policymaker, Scott Greenhalgh, a social impact investor, and Brett Wigdortz, a serial successful education entrepreneur, focused on as part of a panel that we facilitated for the University of Oxford’s Meeting Minds conference this year.
The panellists focused on two key questions: why the public sector struggles to prioritise early learning, and what we can do to encourage further investment in this space.
Why does the public sector often struggle to prioritise early education and childcare?
The issues stem from government budgets decreasing over recent years. As a result, public money is spread very thinly across many different issues. Competing priorities limit the bandwidth within social systems to concentrate on young children. This has been especially true within local authorities, which were typically the groups that supported many of these early years programmes.
One of the main drivers of the lack of investment is also that many people don’t understand the developmental importance of the early years. This has led to the focus on workforce participation (getting parents back to work) rather than on child development. Since the main benefactors (the children) do not have a voice (or vote), it makes this a harder issue to push. An example of this problem is how adult social care is currently a major focus for the UK government (older adults are a large voting body of the public), while early childhood is not talked about as much.
Recently however we have seen some positive movement with the formation of The Royal Foundation, started by the Duchess of Cambridge, which focuses on the early years. Governments also seem to be starting to convert discussion to policy as shown by the Family Hubs model of Andrea Leadsom in the UK and Biden’s American Families Plan in the US.
Continuing this momentum and overcoming these issues will be key to ensuring all children have access to quality early childcare education.
"While it is going to be imperative that the investment in this space increases, we also need to continue to encourage innovation that will increase the impact of each pound spent."
So what can we do?
The panel discussed two approaches to ensuring we can improve the quality and access of early childhood education. As the challenges we face in this space are so important, and the improvements required are so large, it is going to be imperative that both of these are pursued simultaneously to move the needle.
1. Increase the amount of money in the space:
The first solution is to increase the amount of money that is spent in this space. We need to help politicians and the public alike realise the importance of the early years. This includes sharpening awareness of the long-term payoff to society and advocating on the behalf of children.
Some of the key initiatives that the panel spoke about were:
Increasing money provided to local authorities to increase quality and access of care in their areas.
Providing money directly to low-income families, rather than only providing services. Evidence shows that extra money helps as it reduces stress on families, and stress harms child development.
Incentivising the private sector to pick up part of the bill. For example, providing tax breaks to employers that support childcare for their employees (particularly low income).
2. Do more with the same amount of money:
While it is going to be imperative that the investment in this space increases, we also need to continue to encourage innovation that will increase the impact of each pound spent to ensure that all children have access to high-quality care.
Some of the key initiatives that the panel spoke about were:
Brett discussed how his new organisation, Tiney, is trying to support more people to become childminders where they can capture more of the money themselves rather than the practitioner getting only a small percentage of it. They are looking to build childminding into an attractive career.
Decrease the number of free hours that an individual child receives, and use the money to raise the quality of those hours. Higher quality hours are more important for child development than a higher quantity of hours.
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