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A new report from the Sutton Trust has argued that the government’s 30-hours scheme could widen the gap between the disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.

The Sutton Trust also noted that the government has recently cut funding for graduate training for early years professionals and removed the requirement for nursery and reception classes to have a qualified teacher.  It called for funding to be secured to ensure that qualified teachers remain in place and to support greater career opportunities for early years professionals.

 

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, commented: “While investing in a highly-qualified workforce, as this report recommends, is certainly one piece of the puzzle, qualifications in and of themselves are no guarantee of quality. There are plenty of years practitioners who may not have formal qualifications but are experienced, passionate, caring and have an excellent understanding of child development.”

 

However, Neil also said that the report was right to warn about the government’s focus on quantity over quality through the 30-hours offer. He said: " The government talks a lot about the need to ‘close the gap’ between the most disadvantaged children and their peers, and yet its flagship childcare policy actually risks making things worse. Research has shown that the 30-hour offer disproportionately benefits more well-off families, while those at the bottom end of the income ladder – whose children often gain the most from accessing quality early years provision – risk getting left behind.”

 

Neil added: “Ultimately, the government needs to decide what its priority is when it comes to early years policy: supporting children’s learning, or just getting parents back to work. Because it’s easy to talk about the importance of improving social mobility, but without the action to match those words, it’s all just empty rhetoric