MNHQ here: seeking your views on 'school readiness' and early education for a debate in Westminster Hall

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We've been contacted by Parliament's Public Information and Resources Group; they're interested in hearing your thoughts on children's early years development and school readiness, to inform a debate that will be held at Westminster Hall this coming Tuesday (July 12).

The debate has been called by James Berry, Conservative MP for Kingston and Surbiton, and here's what he has to say about it:

"We sometimes think of education as starting only at primary school or once children have reached their fourth or fifth birthdays, but this is far from the case. Even the very youngest children are learning all the time and a growing body of research shows that this early learning is vitally important; early education and childcare play important roles in children’s life chances."

"The doubling of the early years free childcare commitment to 30 hours is an opportunity to look at what actually goes into this provision. How can we get our children ready to have the best possible start at school?"

"I have called a debate in Westminster Hall, together with a cross-party group of MPs, to examine this issue from all sides and to inform future government strategies on the topic."

James would particularly like your input on the following questions; your responses may be referred to during the debate (which you can watch at 9.30am on Tuesday July 12 here - or indeed attend in person.)

Questions
*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

Thanks
MNHQ

What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?
Time spent together. Been able to take him to brilliant activities including those provided by the brilliant local children's centre.

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
Longer maternity leave.

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?
No, current training is good. And specific qualifications is a bad idea, it will prevent good staff members from being able to get a job. Trying to recruit graduates is also a poor idea whilst pay is so low.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?
No! I have a summer born, 2 weeks before September. He will be bottom of the class. Testing him in comparison to his classmates would be cruel. He will develop in his own time, and trying to force a young child to meet a syllabus or targets is only going to make children who aren't ready yet hate education.

Interesting questions. My biggest worry about the increase to 30 hours is the huge financial pressure this will put on nurseries, and good resources are essential to provide quality care.

To answer the questions:
*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

A really excellent ofsted outstanding nursery which focussed on play based learning, had more staff than the required ratios, and amazing facilities both indoors and out. They are at risk unless the 30 hours is properly funded

Plus - a supportive employer who allowed me to work part time, enabling me to have a big role in my sons life and take him on adventures/ follow his interests

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

Sure start centres etc with good activities
Lots of well resourced libraries with decent opening hours and trained staff
Subsidised entry to museums etc

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

Possibly, but this shouldn't be too prescriptive.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

No!!!! I would pull my children out of nursery and quit my job if I thought they were going to be tested / constrained by a "syllabus" whilst at pre school!!

Questions
What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

The sacrifices we've made so that I can stay home. Nothing beats 1:1 from the primary caregiver

What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

Improve support, financial and social, so that more parents have the choice to care for their own child/ren. I don't want them at nursery all day, I want to meet other parents at places like SureStart centres and allow my children to choose their own friends and activities

What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

They need decent pay and respect. Childcare is not the career to shove underachieving 16 year olds into because society wants them in college instead of tackling the reasons that's unachievable

Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

Fuck off. Just fuck off with that one. After the debacle that is SATs what on earth make you think that more testing could be something other than a disaster?

I think we start education way too young in this country, and the focus is pure box ticking and allowing patents to go back to work. After much research we home educate.

What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?
Being able to be at home with them so they do not need to enter 'education' too early.

What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
Better libraries, open more often.

What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?
Anyone taking care of young children should be highly qualified and treated with the respect that should be afforded to those charged with our most precious assets. And paid accordingly.

Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

NO! We have too much testing already. Children need time to develop without boxes to fit into.

Training for nursery / early years professionals in caring for LAC/adopted children, making adjustments for those children's needs - single most needed thing in my experience. Nursery was a constant struggle where I was essentially training them in attachment needs for children who've experienced trauma and neglect. Entering school, where the teachers had been fully trained and just "got it" was an amazing relief. The materials are all there (Sutton Trust early years toolkit etc) - no-one seems to make private nurseries access it...

*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

Lots of time spent sharing books 1:1, talking, exploring, lots of varied play experiences especially outside, lots of adult attention within the context of close relationships, encouragement to learn to take some risks and handle feelings and mistakes.

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

• Understand that relationships come first in early development and all brain development comes from that root, and those relationships need protecting. Otherwise prepare to put a whole lot more cash in the child mental health budget and PRUs for children who don't feel safe enough or able to cope with the demands of school.
• Understand that play is hard core learning - and that is free child led play, not structured, targeted, assessed, action planned, quality assured play
• Open libraries with rhyme time sessions and story telling
• Re establishing children's centres especially in rural areas
• Stop building over all green spaces so that there are places to walk, run around and play that haven't been worthily organised, limited, polished and National Curriculumed to death by the LA as all the parks have.
• Increase the number of nursery nurses on Health Visitor teams who can offer home visits to help parents wanting support with behaviour and play
• Massively increase the number of paediatric speech therapists so the waiting list is a couple of weeks instead of six months and providing individual assessments and group therapy instead of a ten minute group assessment and leaflets (even for children with severe need)

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

They have specific qualifications. Many have degrees. In my area we have some truly amazing quality professionals in nurseries and preschools running around in circles trying to cope with areas of severe deprivation and high needs with resources being cut further every year and a (pointless, unhelpful) paperwork burden that is burning them out.

The two dedicated government funded groups of early years specialists offering ongoing training in my area were all made redundant and replaced with massively reduced opportunities for continuing professional development. Theory in EY training is also usually stuffed with government initiatives, targets and new requirements that costs the children adult time and attention.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

Do we need it? We already have it! It's bureaucracy heavy and doesn't focus nearly enough on key developmental milestones that are achieved through PLAY and free interaction over time with sensitive, available adults. We need a whole lot less of the huge amounts of generated paperwork where there is a photograph of an eighteen month old with paint on their hands beside a list of EY Curriculum points the professional knew but has wasted their time hunting up and recording on paper in order to demonstrate that painting has educational relevance and they weren't wasting the child's time.

No, testing is NOT necessary. We are going to see the fall out in a few years time of galloping reception children into writing sentences before they have letter formation fully pinned down and haven't got the physical development or play skills under their belt sufficiently to discriminate between sounds and shapes. Rather like the introduction of the numeracy hour taught flashy splinter skills but ended up with children failing because they hadn't had the time to gain the basic foundations of those skills first (gained through practical play experience and interaction with adults.)

I was afraid this was the way things would inevitably go with the pushing up of expectations in reception, that the next step would have to be 'preparing' children in early years settings. It will be a huge mistake. The priority of many parents for EY childcare is that their child will be happy, their child will be safe, their child will be loved and well cared for, have the adult support and interaction they need and will enjoy themselves.

What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years
Mine are older now but for me the best thing for them was time at home with a parent.
My experience of nursery staff is that this is seen as an easy career / training option for less able girls who are often disengaged with education.
So for me early years "education" seems to come from those who are less well educated themselves.

These questions make me a) want to cry and b) fear even more for our young children. What are we trying to do to them?

In answer:
What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?
Their parents. Who are interested, engaged and involved. Who talk to them, and read to them, all the time, and listen too. Who are able to provide them with rich and quality experiences (& I'm not talking about chucking loads of money at them, but doing a wide variety of things together). DH and I both work - I'm lucky enough to be part time - and the childcare we chose has provided them with a nurturing environment so that they feel safe and secure. In short, high quality bonding with their parents (& other childcarers).

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home? Yes to libraries and children's centres. Also improvements in parental leave & pay to allow more flexible arrangements longer term than the first year or so.

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?
Well if you are going to expect further qualifications, then I assume they will command higher salaries. Many parents already struggle to afford childcare so how would this be accommodated? Because families could not afford higher costs. Childcarers are already paid too little for the vital job they do. And there are already issues with providing the 15 hrs free preschool EDUCATION (note - not childcare) as it is (providers not paid enough for it)...this is only going to worsen when it increases to 30 hours.

A focus on nurturing and secure bonding, rather than 'education' is crucial at this age and should be the emphasis.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?
Well - this already exists with eyfs & all the checks etc children are subject to. However, in terms of introducing more - Absolutely not. There is already far too much testing of children. Weighing something does not make it fatter. Children need time to play. Certainly at preschool age, play is all they should be doing. There is time to learn formal things later. The early years need to be about developing secure individuals so children are best places to learn later on.

Greatest contribution: me being able to work part time.
I have taken them to mother and toddler groups, swimming, story times in the library, out for dog walks, done jigsaws, cooking, read stories, and they've also had to do normal things like shopping which I think is important. The 30 hours free care won't work for us - it feels as though it's about trying to force me back to work full time not about what is best for my children. I would have preferred to get 15 hours from earlier, so I could have had an easier first few years working part time and still spending time with the girls. As it is, it's been very difficult to afford to work part time, until now when my youngest daughter is entitled to her free hours (turned 3 in April, just after the start of term, so we've had a term when she's been three that I haven't been able to claim help with), and now she will get far more hours than I want, which we won't use, because while she is pre-school I still think some time at home with me is important.

I don't need much from the government, except maybe dropping the rhetoric about getting women back to work. How about choice? If people choose to work full time, brilliant. If they choose to work part time, that's brilliant too. And it's equally brilliant if they choose to look after their own children. But there seems to be a lot of talk about the choice to go back to work and no talk at all about the choice to stay at home, and therefore all the support is aimed at getting people back to work (closing sure start centres etc so there's no support for someone who is at home). It feels like it's more about getting me back to work so I can pay taxes.
Qualifications? Yes, but. It so much so that it's off putting for someone who has a vocation to work with young children. Qualifications do not make up for the ability and desire to work with kids.
Testing? Bloody hell no. We already test far far too much far too young. I want staff to be able to spend more time just playing and less time worrying about box ticking. More testing at such a young age would, for me, be a reason to keep kids at home more, to stop unnecessary testing regimes. Children develop at such different rates, comparisons with some kind of national norm is daft, and labels kids far too early. Let them just be kids.

Questions
*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?
Parents, a shared nanny, a well staffed nursery

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
Keep children's centres- essential at the start to keep parents sane, then to provide information and a space for children outside the house
More leave- Swedish approach
*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?
Higher staff to child ratios
*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?
No, definitely not

Health visiting resource needs to be increased .
We are only able to offer 5 contacts a year to a universal family
Some children are not ready for school FACT . This tends to be in areas of social deprivation .
Children are not spoken to or stimulated let alone-taken anywhere . This is not a priority when day to day families are struggling to put food on the table ./ domestic violence / drug / alcohol misuse .
The 2 year pupil premium and access to high quality nursery setting . School setting being the most preferable is key to reducing inequality .
For my family me being at home and the children being able to access outstanding school nursery provision In my area was crucial to school rediness.

Sort out the Nursery education grant ("free" 15hrs ha ha) funding so that it is actually available to all families. Where I live it is so hard to access due to the horrendously poor funding level that most children cannot benefit from it. Doubling it to 30hours is meaningless.

NO TESTING

improve funding for childrens centres.

These questions make me nervous, it seems like its looking at trying to counteract some perceived underachievement or tackle feckless parenting or make sure everyone goes back to work .

OF MOST BENEFIT TO MY CHILD
being with me, a primary caregiver who gives a shit, has my sons best interest at heart and had a child because i wanted to raise it not for any other reason. Attention and places to go that are free - public transport prices are the biggest barrier to this.

WHAT SUPPORT COULD THE GOVERNMENT GIVE TO SUPPORT
Make it financially viable for someone on a low income to be a SAHP (like the care allowance for elderly), not just a privilidge of the rich but with compulsary attendance at local parent groups for socialisation and guidance and to stop pisstaking.

NURSERY AND CHILDMINDERS
Nothing needs doing, less paperwork and more play (look at Montessori success), it should be about feeling secure and confident and more play. Parent to be seen as childminder, why pay someone to look after your child funded by government while you go to work?

EARLY YEARS AND TESTING
No more testing !!!!! let them play and learn, let them become emotionally secure before reception and they will find it much easier to learn. A happy child is someone who will learn more.

SIDE NOTE: Nothing you do will improve the situation of those children whose parents do not want to make an effort, regardless of social background or finances. They will still need more help at school and school can only do so much.

Webber institute - any info on this school would be gratefully received? We have sold out house in London and heading to the Bedfordshire area...and really like Olney. We are going independent and also looking at the Bedford area to live and for schools.

*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years? - being lucky enough to stay home with my children - my summer born son will be starting school at Compulsory school age. The government need to fix it so that all children can choose to start at csa without then missing a year of their education

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home? - financial assistance to remain at home caring for your own children - not closing all the childrens centre and reducing their resources - let summerborns start in reception at compulsory school age

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications? - yes - more training in outdoor play (forest school) and open ended resources - plus the resources and funding to offer children free play in nature - more training in the law regarding the rights of children to start education at csa

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment? - NO forget the testing and let children be children. Learning through play does not need a curriculum or testing

*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?
Open-ended play and a small forest school setting that does not consider their role as being 'school readiness' as with other preschools attended previously

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
For all parents to take the pressure off expecting children to read and write. To understand that this will come in time. To allow CSA starts for younger /summerborn children so as to promote this ethos

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?
Forest school training, mindfulness, mindset...

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?
NO NO AND NO. To push for children to start formal academic learning much later, 6 years old rather than 4 years, and for learning until then to be play based. This can still be rigorous but ultimately will allow children to develop more fully. The current system pushes out independent thinking and learning and reduces self-control and confidence by pushing children too much too soon.

Government needs to look at what research tells us that young children actually need. The fixation on academic results actually results in poorer outcomes (and I mean academic outcomes) because poorly socialised children don't learn well. Two year olds don't need to be in nurseries. They need to be exploring and playing with loving interested primary carers. Recent stress on funding nursery places has resulted in parents who think their children 'should' be in institutions. No-one seems able to see the bigger picture.

And yy to less stress on coding and decoding (reading and writing) More attention to the harder stuff about how writers make stories and characters would be better for most children's outcomes long term.

And much much much more play from reception/y1 onwards.

No more testing please! The local children's centre made the biggest difference to my first born's early education. Sadly they have closed now due to funding cuts, and my second child hardly gets to engage with anything. No syllabuses, no testing, just learning through play. There is WAY too much formal education WAY too young. My daughter will go to school at 4years and 6 weeks old, and I am deeply uncomfortable with how much the early years has changed and become much more formalised. Our childminder is amazing but she is very worried that she won't be able to continue under the current proposals for 30 hours free, as the funding on offer is not adequate to meet her costs.

He greatest contribution to my child's early years have been taught by myself and my husband, we read to him we teach him things and we put the effort in like the parents on here.

Support for parents- make it easier for parents to stay at home to actually bring their children up. Stop printing leaflets and actually do something! OPEN More liberaries, playgrounds, children's centres and free play groups, help parents actually have a holiday with their kids rather than allowing holiday companies to charge three or more times the price during school holidays- centre parcs for one!!

Testing- for early years? Are you actually on crack, they are little kids!!! Allow them to be curious, adventurous, CHILDREN and stop trying to pigeon hole everyone in neat little boxes to be then subjected at the age of FOUR to a barrage of "you aren't good enough" because they didn't ace some stupid test thought up in a lab. I vehemently protect MY CHILDS RIGHT to a child hood, to run around and ride a bike and get muddy, sandy, salt water wet and ice cream sticky. To paint and sing and play and squeal and to enjoy a care free life. If this government thought I little bit more about the national curriculum and what we are actually teaching our children instead of ticking boxes and progress wheels we would have a nation of achievers, of doers and wanna- doers instead of kids who are taught to pass tests but who don't actually know anything.

*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

Staying at home and being with them. Teaching them about life. Going to the park. Playing games. Having fun. Baking. talking. Letting them grow naturally in a supportive environment.

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

Less of the 'free' childcare and more support for families of young children to enable those who want to, to be there in the formative years.

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

I think that nursery teachers are under valued. I think there should be training, but not in 'education' but in ensuring the children feel loved, supported and cared for. we went to a Montessori which is play based and child led. When we moved to reception, I was shocked about how that treat children as young as just 4 years old. all teachers need better training in play based teaching.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

Absolutely not. If this had been the case, I would not have used my 15 hours of nursery.

Taken from another poster, who I agree with:
I believe we start children far too early with formal learning, every study ever done says it shouldn't happen but for some reason education in Britain never seems to be based on what actually 'works' for children

We start our children too young in the country with unwarranted expectations placed on small children, who have no idea what is happening. I believe the whole system needs to be changed with children starting at 7. Before this age, there should be highly qualified teachers in play based learning. No testing. Let the children develop and grow.

What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

I believe there should be a higher qualified person leading each room, somebody who has really good understanding of how children learn and develop. This person should have good knowledge of child development theory and models of learning and be confident in using such knowledge to deliver an exciting curriculum. their pay should be the same as a teacher as in many cases they are replacing the parent.

What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

Me being able to afford to be a SAHM

What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

Re-open our local library

What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

I think current training is enough. Early years education should be well paid and respected in order to attract and retain high calibre well educated staff.

Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

No, terrible idea!

Excellence in childcare settings such as nurseries has flourished partly because the government has pretty much left it alone.

Please, please don't do to the nursery sector what you have done to primary schools.

*What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

Opportunities to play

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?

Better wages meaning I don't have to work so much when my kids are only little. If I earned more I could go part time and be with them more.

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?

The program of training they currently do to deliver the EYFS seems good to me.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?

No no and no! Who are you suggesting testing, the nursery workers or the kids? Please don't tell me you are seriously considering testing nursery kids, Is this a wind up? How out of touch can you be?

No to a syllabus or targets. Play is the work of children. Good nursery workers and child minders know how to support, enrich and help to extend their play. That's their job, not to deliver a syllabus or teach to a test. Jesus wept.

Patronising load of shite. Education starts earlier than 5 years does it?

1. Me. I'm the best part of their early years.
2. Improving wages and lowering living costs so 2 parents are not forced to work just to survive.
3. Less paperwork and less targets
4. No more fucking tests

Why bother having children at all. Lets just give birth and hand them straight over.

What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?

Time with her parents! That time spent at home, getting to know each other & developing a strong bond is so valuable for the well-being of my child and our family as a whole. Within the community the library has rhyme times, and the children's centre has lovely stay & play sessions. Great way to find support in local community. When she is older I like the idea of her attending a chidlren's centre as it currently looks well resourced & staffed, though I have heard their funding is getting drastically cut, so this may not be the case in the future.

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
More consistently trained health visitors (very variable) They seem to base their early years advice on their own beliefs rather than evidence or best practice. Better funded children's centre services, because they used to have more support for parents.

*What would you like to see in the government’s workforce strategy for early years education – do childminders and nursery staff need greater training to deliver healthy development? Do they need specific qualifications?
Yes- they need information on children's learning & development ages 0-7. The early years teacher qualification barely covers under 3s, yet they help the under 3 units with their planning. There also seems to be a separation on care & education in the training, as far as the children & EYFS are concerned, they go hand in hand.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment? Absolutely not. Educators need to be aware of how children learn, how to support & plan for the children in their care, to identify when to refer, and how to set appropriate individual targets for children, and then be trusted to get on with the job. Testing & mandated targets will be counter-productive. Improve the training, improve professional development, improve the funding. Make it a desirable job with high standards, then trust the professionals you hire.