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The majority of people working with children and young people have not had any formal training to support speech, language and communication skills, according to a new report from The Communication Trust.

 

The Trust surveyed more than 1,200 people working across the education, health and care sectors, including early years practitioners and teachers. While almost all respondents agreed that communication skills are important, 53% said they had undertaken no formal training in this area.

 

A lack of budget and time were the top two reasons given for not undertaking training. This was particularly true for the early years sector, with 70% of respondents saying that a lack of funding was the biggest barrier to professional development on this topic.

 

Just a third of respondents said that they felt confident supporting children’s speech, language and communication development and only 4% felt that they had received sufficient training in this area.

 

In response to the findings, the Communication Trust has recommended working with �°������ϲʹ������� to ensure that early years reports highlight best practice for speech and language. It also suggests that training in this area focuses on working with parents to support children better.

 

Describing the lack of training in early years settings as “very concerning”, the trust also argued that the survey demonstrates how the sector must adjust its thinking as the teaching landscape changes.

 

The survey findings will provide a source of information for the 2018 Bercow – Ten Years On review, due to assess how speech, language and communication teaching has improved in the decade since the original Bercow report.​