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The government should focus on improving the quality of early years education, rather than increasing the quantity of places available, the Social Mobility Commission has suggested in a new report.

 

The report, entitled Time for change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997 to 2017, argues that the impact of early education has previously been 鈥渂lunted鈥� by the attempt to combine the 鈥渃onflicting objectives鈥� of childcare and teaching. It concluded: 鈥淎lthough huge investment in early education has already had a positive impact on development, it has not yet given disadvantaged children the boost required to catch up with their peers.鈥�

 

It also reports that if progress continues at its current rate, it will take 15 years for all children to be school ready by the time they reach five-years-old and 40 years before poorer five-year-olds reach the same level of attainment as their peers.

 

The report recommends that the government focuses on raising the quality of early education offered to the poorest children. It also suggests that the government helps to increase demand for services by communicating the importance of the early years to parents, particularly those in hard-to-reach groups.

 

The Alliance has welcomed the report鈥檚 findings on the early years. Chief executive Neil Leitch said: 鈥淔or far too long, childcare has been used a political football, with all parties appearing to prioritise a short-term desire to win votes over a long-term ambition to improve children鈥檚 life chances.鈥�

 

Neil added: 鈥淯ltimately, if the government wants to improve social mobility in this country, it needs to start thinking long-term, prioritising spending where it鈥檚 most needed and, crucially, putting the needs of the child, not the voter, at the heart of policy development.鈥�