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EXCERPTS
The recent news from Ofsted that the quality of childcare is poorer in deprived areas should send alarm bells ringing across Whitehall for a government that has pledged to end child poverty. There is now good evidence that high-quality early years care and education can have a profoundly positive impact on child development &em; and these effects are the most long-lasting for children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
Of course, there are many excellent services out there, and it would help if parents could afford them. The fact that parents in the UK pay the lion's share (around 70%) of childcare costs puts the best childcare out of reach for many. In much of Europe, it's more common for parents to contribute 20 or 30% to the costs of childcare.
Significant investment is needed if the increased cost of providing improvements in quality are not to be simply passed on to parents &em; we need to break down this "quality and cost" conundrum in the UK.
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In countries like Denmark and Sweden, a child's future outcomes in terms of education and income are no longer determined by those of their parents &em; unlike in the UK and US, where children are far more likely to follow in their parents' socioeconomic footsteps. High-quality, play-centred, early years settings have played a key role in this. The prize of ending child poverty and inherited disadvantage is there for the taking if we get childcare quality right &em; because only the highest-quality childcare produces these positive outcomes. For this reason, the news this week that despite significant improvements, only 54% of daycare groups and 53% of childminders in the 30 most disadvantaged local areas were deemed good or better &em; compared to 60% and 63% in other areas &em; does not bode well.
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New Zealand, a country not famed for high levels of public expenditure, took the decision to raise the quality of its childcare provision by creating a new generation of graduate childcare professionals, paid on national scales. By 2012, if settings are not up to scratch, they will not be registered. This is being funded by supply-side grants, so the costs of increased quality will not be passed onto parents. In fact, the New Zealand government is providing a system of financial incentives for childcare settings so they receive higher grants when they improve the quality of their setting, for example, by training staff or reducing child-to-staff ratios. Helen Clark's Labour government clearly means business. Scotland may yet lead the way in the UK by exploring the possibility of introducing the Scandinavian model of childcare. If it goes down this path, the Scottish executive could leave the rest of the UK standing.
In the end, this debate boils down to the value we place on the welfare and development of children in this country. If we want to provide high quality childcare to all families, then, as a nation, we have to pay for it. Childcare should be a life-enhancing experience for children. Without this, parents cannot take steps to improve their own and their children's standard of living with any confidence.
- reprinted from the Guardian