Education: Early Years

Lord Storey Excerpts

Wednesday 29th November 2017 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Storey]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to provide high-quality early years education in England.

[Lord Storey (LD)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who will speak in this debate. I very much look forward to their contributions and to the Minister’s response.

There is no doubt that early years education is one of the best possible investments that any society can make, and that every pound spent well delivers returns that will last a lifetime. A young child who is equipped with the experiences and skills to make the most of their life will not only live a much happier life, he or she will make a much more positive contribution to our society and will be a net contributor to their own life and the community in which they live. A young child whose parents have not had the advantage of good parenting or have grown up in poverty will almost inevitably need support to make sure that their own children realise their potential.

At this point I need to draw a distinction between childcare and education. In coalition, we were proud to push the introduction of free childcare and increase it to 30 hours to enable both parents to get jobs and contribute to the family economy. There are, of course, huge problems for childcare providers in delivering the childcare for the money that the Government are willing to provide, but that is a debate for another day.

Many early years providers strive to provide more than just childcare and begin to educate children naturally in ways that many parents do through conversation, learning simple nursery rhymes, simple counting games and a range of practical activities—that is, learning through play. They also try to ensure that parents who need support are encouraged in good parenting habits. However, even at the earliest ages, children will gain most benefit if their nursery can afford to train, develop and pay staff well. Staffing is the largest single cost for childcare providers and the single largest cost as children move into early years education settings.

There is no sharp distinction between childcare and education. Good childcare also develops the child in all sorts of ways and early years education picks up from where the child is and continues to maximise the child’s development socially, emotionally and educationally. But—this is a big “but”—as children develop, they need highly trained staff to enable them to be taken on an educational journey that will equip them to succeed at primary school, secondary school and beyond.

We hear a lot about “narrowing the gap” but high-quality childcare, followed by high-quality early years education, is about not letting the gap widen in the early years and beyond. What we had in England—and, to some extent, still have—is early years provision that, as Andreas Schleicher of the OECD says, is the envy of many other countries. However, the Government seem determined to see our provision decline from the outstanding to the mediocre, with funding to local authorities being cut, not to the bone—it is worse than that. By 2020, some authorities will have lost half their revenue income: they will be forced to spend all their funding on statutory services, with the vast majority being taken by adult social care.

One of the earliest casualties of austerity were the libraries, a valuable free resource for parents of young children. Tragically for education, one-third of Sure Start centres have been lost since 2010, with more than 40% of centres closing in London and the north-east, where many of the most vulnerable families live. Young children in Swindon and Solihull, for example, have no designated centre any longer. Vulnerable children across the country will have a much less sure start than their older siblings.

Yesterday, the State of the Nation report by the Social Mobility Commission reported that there are many areas where less than half of disadvantaged five year-olds reach a good level of all-round development. Only half of local authorities have a clear strategy for improving disadvantaged children’s outcomes. Could it be that clear strategies cost money? I am led to understand that Bold Beginnings, to be published by Ofsted tomorrow, will reinforce the findings of the commission.

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

“The Commission is completely right to highlight the importance of the early years in improving social mobility … Worse still, the eligibility criteria for the 30-hour policy excludes the poorest families altogether, while offering financial support to households earning as much as £199,000 a year”.


For families where, for whatever reason, both parents are not—or, in the case of one-parent families, the single parent is not—employed, the 30 hours of free childcare is not available. How do the least well-off pay for their children? What has this to do with the needs of the child? Poor children are being penalised on the altar of austerity. Leitch went on to say:

“Add to this the fact that the early years pupil premium is still less than a quarter of what primary schools receive, and it’s clear that the Government has its priorities all wrong when it comes to the early years”.


High-quality early years education depends on the quality and qualifications of the staff in these settings. We are a long way from having graduate-led settings, for which we on these Benches have consistently argued. Each early years setting needs to be led by staff who have been trained in child development. That will enable them to offer children a rich and varied experience, using a wide range of play activities. The training will also enable staff to identify, at a very early stage, any signs that a young child may be more likely to develop, for example, mental health problems. If this is achieved, the savings to the community and to the personal costs to the child will be immeasurable.

On Monday, Liz Bayram, chief executive of PACEY, said:

“Graduate leadership is strongly associated with narrowing the gap between our most and least disadvantaged children. However, we are hearing increasing reports of Early Years Teacher training courses closing, and a rapid decline in the number of qualified Early Years Teachers, as fewer and fewer students choose the early years sector for their teaching career”.


The more we learn about how children develop and grow, the more it reinforces the benefits of investing in the early years. Resources spent on high-quality early years education are repaid in the later years as confident, well-rounded children take full advantage of their education. High-quality early years education is an investment that pays dividends for the rest of that child’s life. An investment in every child’s future is an investment in all of our futures.