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6th June 2014

The government is facing mass opposition from childcare professionals over ‘destructive’ childcare policies, a landmark survey from the Pre-school Learning Alliance has revealed.

The Alliance’s Early Years Agenda survey has revealed that most childcare professionals do not support planned changes to childcare in England, including plans to encourage more schools to take two-year-olds, implement childminder agencies, and introduce baseline assessments at the start of reception.

The survey received 1270 responses, making it one of the most representative early years surveys of the past five years. It found that:

• 81% of childcare professionals oppose plans to encourage more schools to take two-year-olds.
• 85% oppose plans to remove staff ratio and qualification requirements for out-of-hours care.
• 86% of childminders do not intend to join a childminder agency; 81% of all practitioners expect agencies to lead to an increase in childcare fees; and 85% are opposed to plans not to require all agency-registered childminders to be inspected by �°������ϲʹ�������.
• Only 18% support the plans to introduce baseline assessments at the start of reception.

It also found that only 3% of childcare professionals feel that that the government adequately consults with the childcare sector when developing policy.

The survey also highlighted serious concerns over the sustainability of the free childcare offers for two-, three- and four-year-olds. Less than 1 in 5 childcare providers (19%) said they receive enough funding to cover the cost of providing free places for three- and four-year-olds, while less than a third (32%) said they receive enough to cover the cost of providing two-year-olds places.

Neil Leitch, chief e xecutive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said:

“The first five years of a child’s life are crucial to their long-term development. As such, early years policy should be based on the knowledge and expertise of experienced childcare professionals who know what is best for young children’s learning and development.

“These results prove that government reforms are taking childcare in this country in completely the wrong direction. Rather than introducing changes that will support early learning opportunities and give children the best start in life, the government is trying to deliver ‘childcare on the cheap’.

“These destructive reforms are putting the childhoods of a generation of children at risk. Some of the government’s policies — such as plans to push two-year-olds into schools and to introduce a ‘baseline’ test at the start of reception — are likely to cause significant damage to children’s early learning experiences. Others — like plans to remove ratio requirements for out-of-hours care for children as young as four, and to remove the need for agency-registered childminders to be inspected by �°������ϲʹ������� — have serious safety and safeguarding implications.

“Add to this the fact that the free entitlement schemes for two-, three- and four-year-olds remain significantly underfunded, and you have a sector that is being stretched to its limits.

“The current situation is simply unsustainable. The government must start listening to these concerns and rethink its approach to childcare reform. When a whole sector of professionals is telling you that your proposals are misguided, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.”

Full survey results and analysis are included in the Early Years Agenda interim report

This report is the first in a planned series of research papers which will inform the Alliance’s forthcoming Early Years Manifesto for Government, a realistic, sustainable plan of action for the future of the childcare sector.

For further information, please .

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Notes for editors

ABOUT THE SURVEY

The Early Years Agenda survey ran from 6 March 2014 to 9 May 2014 and was open to all early years practitioners. The survey focused on five broad early years policy areas: schools, funding, qualifications, childminder agencies and �°������ϲʹ�������. Practitioners could either respond to the survey online via the Alliance website, or fill out a hard copy version which was distributed to all Alliance members via the organisation’s internal membership magazine, Under 5.The survey received 1270 responses in total.

FINDINGS

Funding:

• 73% of respondents currently offering free entitlement places for three- and four-year-olds do not feel that they currently receive sufficient funding (compared to 19% who do).
• 54% of those currently offering free entitlement places for two-year-olds do not feel that they currently receive sufficient funding (compared to 32% who do).

Schools (and out-of-hours care):

• 81% do not support government plans to encourage more schools to take two-year-old (compared to 8% who do).
• 55% oppose government plans to introduce baseline assessments at the beginning of the reception year, and make the EYFS Profile non-statutory (18% support the proposals).
• 85% oppose proposals to remove ratios and staff qualification requirements for out-of-hours providers. (excluding) childminders who look after children aged five to seven as well as those attending reception classes (5% support the plans).

Childminder agencies:

• 60% of registered childminder respondents are ‘definitely’ not planning to join a childminder agency, while a further 26% are ‘probably’ not joining an agency (compared to 1% ‘definitely’ planning to join an agency, and 2% ‘probably’ planning to do so).
• 50% of all respondents do not think that childminder agencies will encourage more childminders to join the profession (compared to 11% who think that they will).
• 85% are opposed to plans to require �°������ϲʹ������� to inspect childminder agencies and a sample of registered childminders, rather than inspecting each registered childminder individually (3% support the plans)
• 81% think that the introduction of childminder agencies will have led to an increase in childminder fees (4% expect it to lead to a reduction in fees).

Qualifications:

• 58% feel that practitioners who train as Early Years Teachers (EYTs) should be awarded Qualified Teacher Status (16% are opposed to this proposal).
• 66% support plans to require all EYTs to have at least a C grade in GCSE English, maths and science (compared to 26% who are opposed).
• 64% support plans to require all Early Years Educators (EYEs) to have at least a C grade in GCSE English and Maths (compared to 27% opposed). However, 52% disagree with the government’s decision not to accept functional skills as equivalents to GCSEs in EYE entry requirements.

�°������ϲʹ�������:

• 19% of respondents have had one or more inspection triggered by a complaint/concern. Of those, 29% saw their �°������ϲʹ������� rating downgraded as a result.
• When asked to rank their confidence in the fairness and consistency of the early years inspection process from 1 (extremely unconfident) to 10 (extremely confident), respondents gave an average rating of 4.7.
• 54% do not support government plans to make �°������ϲʹ������� the “sole arbiter of quality” and refocus the current duty on local authorities to secure information, advice and training, on ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ providers (compared to 19% who agree with the plans)

General:

• Only 3% of respondents feel the government adequately consults with the sector when introducing or changing early years policy (89% do not)

ABOUT THE PRE-SCHOOL LEARNING ALLIANCE

• The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country.
• The Alliance represents 14,000 member settings and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training and accreditation schemes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice.
• The Alliance website is at

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