The consultation asked for views on the government’s proposals for a reformed early years funding system and how the DfE plans to transition towards it.
Our response
Our response focuses on the issues of quality, access, and supporting socio-economically disadvantaged children and children with identified and emerging SEND (special educational needs and disabilities).
We argue that:
- It is crucial that socio-economically disadvantaged children can access high-quality early education and childcare. There is robust evidence for the positive impact it has on these children’s outcomes.
- Effective professional development is a key lever for improving the quality of practice in early education and childcare. It is crucial that funding is sufficient to permit spending on professional development programmesA programme is a package of support, including professional development, that helps early years educators to improve particular areas of practice and children’s outcomes. with robust evidence of impact on practice quality (including the EEF’s eight early years Promising Programmes).
- The DfE should ensure that guidance draws on evidence-based reviews and exemplifies what effective spending and practice looks like for a range of setting types and sizes. This should include considering how settings receiving small sums of money are supported to make effective spending decisions.
- The DfE could consider how they could better support access to early education and childcare for disadvantaged children and children with SEND through the admissions process to early years settings offering funded entitlements. Ensuring that disadvantaged children attend the hours they have access to is also important.
We support the principle of driving funding towards the most disadvantaged areas, and there could be benefits to adding a place-based measure of disadvantage. But the DfE should ensure a clear policy aim for any change and carefully model its effects.
Read the full submission.