DfE statistics undermine government’s ‘two-year-olds in schools’ plan, says Alliance
18th September 2014
The Pre-school Learning Alliance has described the government’s plan to rely on schools to deliver the two-year-old free entitlement scheme as “nonsensical”, after new statistics published by the Department for Education revealed that the majority of primary schools do not plan to offer any places under the scheme.
According to the Childcare and Early Years °ϲʹ Survey 2013, released today, only 6% of primary school nursery classes currently offer funded two-year-old places - and of those that don’t, only 12% plan to offer places in the future.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said:
“The government believes that encouraging more primary schools to take two-year-olds will support the expansion of the free entitlement offer, but these statistics clearly show that that is simply not the case. For the government to continue to focus so heavily on promoting school nurseries as a source of provision for funded two-year-olds, therefore, is completely nonsensical.
“96% of two-year-olds currently accessing free childcare do so at non-maintained settings, so why isn’t the Department for Education doing more to support these providers - especially given the current shortfall in funded places? The report itself states that the extension of the offer ‘will require a substantial increase in capacity among those who cater for this age group, primary daycare providers and childminders’.
“The government should recognise the pivotal role of the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector in the delivery of early years care and learning and look to build on this progress, rather than spending a disproportionate amount of time and effort on a ‘school-focused’ approach that has little chance of succeeding.”
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Notes for editors
- Download the Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey 2013
- The survey reveals that:
- Only 6% of primary schools with nursery and reception classes currently offer funded provision for two-year-olds, compared to 74% of full daycare providers and 68% of sessional providers (see table 5.1, page 100).
- Only 12% of primary schools with nursery and reception classes that do not currently deliver funded provision for two-year-olds intend to do so in the future, compared to 47% of full daycare providers and 42% of sessional providers (see table 5.7, page 109)
ABOUT THE ALLIANCE:
- The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
- Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
- For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website: