Early Education
Draft response to Scottish Government’s discussion paper on Early Learning & Childcare 1140 hours expansion
- What should be the key features of Scotland’s ELC model?
We know that providing ELC to families has a positive impact on many areas of their lives: these include child development, narrowing the attainment gap, allowing parents to work, train or study, as well as fighting poverty and inequality in our communities. What are the features that we fundamentally cannot compromise on within our ELC delivery model. Are there additional outcomes not referenced here that our ELC policy should aim to achieve?
Early Education believes that the child must be at the centre of any early learning and childcare policy and therefore the quality of provision must remain central. Consideration must also be given to continuity of care and transition issues, especially for the most vulnerable and youngest children. This means that consideration must be given to the impact on the child of the number of hours per day of early learning and childcare, and to the number of different settings or childcarers between whom the child needs to transition. We recognise the importance of flexibility for facilitating parental employment, and the potential benefits to children, especially those suffering the effects of poverty, of families boosting their income. However, a balance must be struck to ensure parents are not required to respond to the needs of employers for flexibility to the detriment of their own children’s welfare.
2. Which specific principles of ELC models should be prioritised within our programme of trials?
Different models of ELC provision might be better at delivering different outcomes. The principles we would like to see provision based on might include (but are not limited to): providing quality, flexibility, fairness, promoting parental choice, accessibility, integration with other services, value for money (for whom? the user, the provider or both?), integration with home life, enabling work, addressing the differing needs of 2, 3 and 4 year olds, and sustainability, among others. Some of these principles may already be more firmly established than others. What principles should take priority? Which would you like to see trialled?
We believe early learning and childcare should be based first and foremost on principles of quality and equity, as these have the greatest potential to influence children’s life chances, especially for the most disadvantaged children. This includes issues such as fair access, accessibility and inclusion. Integration with other services has also been shown to be crucial for effective early years provision, and we would wish to see this embedded as a core approach. Quality is also reliant on a knowledgeable and experienced workforce, and we would wish to see the role of the workforce centrally acknowledged in any policy with a commitment to appropriate staffing requirements and minimum qualification standards.
3. What do you see as the key barriers to a successful implementation of the 1140 hours commitment?
What are the main risks in implementing this commitment by August 2020? Barriers might be financial, organisational, cultural, or might take some other form entirely. What stands in the way of this commitment being delivered successfully for users and providers alike?
We commend the Scottish government for setting a longer timetable than the English government in relation to this expansion, as 2020 is certainly a more reasonable timeframe than 2017 for implementation. We also commend the greater fairness and simplicity of making this a universal offer rather than targetting only some working parents. However, we would ask that the Scottish government consider the targetting of messages to ensure that families are not encouraged to put their children into a setting for 1140 hours if they are not working. The available evidence from the EPPE study shows that 15 hours early learning per week can improve children’s outcomes, but that there is no additional benefit to the child from longer periods in a setting.
There are a number of challenges in relation to building sufficient capacity in the system:
- Space is already at a premium in many Scottish schools, so consideration will need to be given to the amount and type of space required. Our members are concerned that if they take children for twice the number of hours they will have half the number of places, creating additional pressure on the system.
- Playgroups often operate in rented premises such as church halls and may not have the option of increasing their hours.
- The ability for maintained settings to increase the number of hours available is constrained by the terms of staff contracts. Many teachers already work in excess of their contracted hours. Time is needed for PPA as well as contact time, and in the case of children with special educational needs or children. These issues need to be addressed if parents are to be offered increased flexibility.
- Children staying for full days require lunches, so consideration needs to be given to the cost and mechanics of dining areas, food provision and preparation, staff cover, etc.
- If the expansion creates additional pressure on places due to a lack of capacity, there is a risk that the most disadvantaged children lose out.
4. How might these trials be designed to overcome such barriers?
We want to know what these barriers are so we can test different approaches, develop critical understanding of what is effective and feasible, and to share best practice amongst all those with a role in delivery? How would you like the design of the trials to reflect this?
Trials need to include all types of provider - primary and nursery schools, private and voluntary providers, childminders – in a range of areas, including rural ones. They need to look at knock-on impacts within the system, eg if childminders partner with settings to provide wrap-around care, does that have an impact on the viability of the childminder’s business, or the availability of childminders for full-day care, especially for children under 2? Trials need to look at premises issues and the extent to which capital funding or planning regulations are a barrier. They will also need to look at staff contracts and staffing levels, especially in the maintained sector.
5. Are there existing examples of best practice within ELC provision that you can share with us?
What providers already offer users an outstanding service? What features of their work makes their provision exceptional? These might include either outstanding overall or specialised services, or a response to a particular local challenge.
n/a (unless members can suggest?)
6. Are there existing examples of innovative delivery within ELC provision that you can share with us?
Do you know of innovative approaches to providing high quality, flexible ELC anywhere in the world from which we should be learning? Are there existing innovative delivery models in Scotland whose impact you would be interested to see evaluated ?
n/a (unless members can suggest?)
We are happy to facilitate contact with English providers involved in pilots for the 30 hours provision in England.
7. What outcomes should we be measuring through this programme of trials?
What would a successful trial look like, and how would we measure it? What indicators will be needed to inform decisions on future delivery? What areas of children’s and families’ lives might the expansion of high quality, flexible ELC have a positive impact on? How would we measure the impact of a particular delivery model on providers and other stakeholders?
A successful trial would show that there had been a positive impact on levels of family income, especially for the poorest families, accompanied b a positive impact on children’s learning and developmental outcomes. Increased quality and flexibility of provision would be an additional benefit.
We would therefore wish any evaluation of the trials to look at the impact on children’s outcomes, changes in the numbers of children living in poverty, the impact on the quality and sufficiency of provision, and also any impacts on the workforce. Analysis by type of geographical area and demographics will also be vital.
It will be important to test the impact on maternal employment and family working (see : and two recent reports querying the likely effectiveness of such a policy)
8. Are there other services for children and young people that the trials should be integrated with?
Children and Families use a variety of national and local services, and co-locating or linking these with Early Learning and Childcare provision may bring benefits to users and/or providers of the service – these benefits might mean more integrated services which are better, more convenient and/or easier to access; they might provide better value for money or raise awareness of common interests. What opportunities might exist, and how might these be trialled?
Integration of early learning and childcare with health, housing, job centres, social services, etc have been shown to be effective and consideration could be given to including integrated services within the trials, with particular reference to whether that improves outcomes for maternal employment and family income levels. Consultation with the sector would be beneficial to identify opportunities to extend current levels of integration and joint working, building on the work of the Early Years Collaborative.
9. Are there local/regional characteristics that should be explicitly built into the trials?
Scotland is a country with great regional and local diversity, and in order to be successful, the models of ELC provision will need to be cognisant of and reflect these local needs. Which local/regional characteristics most preclude a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach? What responses to specific local challenges might ELC trials need to address to be of real value?
Specific local challenges include the very different circumstances of rural and urban areas eg in relation to access and choice, and viability of settings. Additional barriers also exist in higher cost areas, eg in Aberdeen City, living costs are creating real issues in terms of staff recruitment and retention which will make expansion of provision challenging without further investment. The trials will need to address the real additional costs of premises and staff costs, and the differentials between regions.
10. How can we design trials in such a way as to ensure scalability?
To maximise the value of this programme, we want to ensure that the lessons we learn from our chosen trials can be applied to similar ELC settings in Scotland. What do we need to factor into the design of the trials to enable this?
Given the variability in circumstance between local authority areas, we would wish to see pilots being carried out in a wide range of local authorities, as well as a range of types of provider. It will also be important for trials to be carried out across a sufficiently large area to identify possible system-wide impacts.
11. Would you be interested in being involved in the programme of trials? If so, in what capacity?
Early Education would be pleased to be involved in discussions and to facilitate contact and consultation with our members. We would also be pleased to share feedback about parallel developments in England.