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

I think you need to have a clear - frank - discussion about what you actually mean, and what you actually need.

Here's what I believe you want. You want to get as many very small children from C2DE backgrounds into childcare as possible, because the statistics indicate a) these children are less likely to pitch up to school school-ready, b) you want those mothers working, c) you're aware time is of the essence on intervention, so the sooner you get started the more likely they are to have the sort of appreciable improvement you want in return for your money.

But saying to one group of parents "you're more likely to read to your children and do finger painting and go to the zoo, so you can do what all the child experts say is best for children's mental wellbeing and have one-to-one or one-to-two care for your early years" and to another "your outcomes are crap, so you've got to get into nursery as quickly as possible" is impossible. So the answer appears to be to get everyone into nursery as quickly as possible.

But.

1. All the evidence suggests children benefit best from low ratios. With the cash you have available to fund this, the ratios are likely to be enormous. Don't romanticise the French model, the French certainly don't.

1. You are eliding (as mentioned upthread) early years education with childcare. Which is it? Do you really want more than 15 hours of education? If not and the other 15 hours is to enable more people into work it would help to be clear about that.

1. You are snobbish about childminders, with no obvious cause. The amount you are paying them for the free hours (£4.25/hour, with no possibility of the parent topping up) is ridiculous. I am not a childminder, but I use one. I would recommend a childminder over a nursery for the under 2s every time - and so would all the evidence. Also nursery is useless for people with jobs which can't be left on the dot at 5.15 (so, many graduate jobs). Without flexibility, the help is no help.

As far as testing is concerned - you must know if you've been talking to any experts on child development that it's useless at this age. Children mature at different rates, regardless of how stimulating their environment is.

The post refers to "school readiness". As a starting point I think this phrase needs to be unpacked. Are we talking about children having the social and emotional skills to manage the transition to reception, and then on to year one? Or are we talking about specific cognitive skills, numeracy and literacy, the 3Rs? There seems to be a move in some circles towards the latter, which I find alarming. I'm also concerned that making children's preschool years so much about "school readiness" diverts the focus from the early years themselves and what being 2, 3, 4 is all about.

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

Our employer's policies. I was able to take a full year's mat leave and return to a professional role working P/T. My DH was also able to work flexibly and reduce his hours so that between us we could be at home with DS.

The opportunity to go to a range of groups and classes locally also contributed. Our children's centre was great and enabled us to establish a support network of local parents with whom we (and DS) are still in regular contact a couple of years on (something we didn't get from attending commercial mum and baby classes).

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

Fund children's centres. The local council has just closed most of them in our area, which is a sad loss.

Fund children's health services to provide early intervention for children who need it. My DS needed SLT but the wait was/is long. We went private and are glad we did but also know we are very lucky to have been able to do so. Educating parents about the importance of communication skills and how to spot developmental red flags is no good if underlying services aren't there.

*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?

At my DS's preschool staff hold relevant qualifications and access ongoing training. This seems right. I can't speak more generally as DS has not attended childcare.

I think an emphasis on working in partnership with parents is important and good practice in this area should (continue to be?) part of practitioner training.

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

No targets, and please no testing! Important to identify and support SEN/D but this can be done through ongoing observation. I would rather staff were playing with my child and following his lead in terms of interests, than implementing a syllabus, testing and targets.

Would like to add definitely agree with all those saying reopen children's centres.

Also, excellent post by LongTallJosie

• what has made the greatest contribution...

Being able to be a stay at home mum. Children require one to one attention, the less of this they have, the worse their development. (That is why humans evolved to have one child at a time, unlike many animals.) This is relevant to childcare settings in that you must encourage the 'key worker' to be a real relationship, not just someone with responsibility on paper, and must incentivise nursery staff to stay in positions, and to play with children, not merely supervise. I know a nursery with high staff turnover and their children are confused, insecure and sad. (That nursery has the highests paperwork goals around).

Also settings should ensure that children have some one to one time and are not always interacted with as a group. Good settings do that already.

• what support could the government give you...

Young children do not need lots of books/toys etc, they benefit most from a stable happy family unit who have TIME to spend with their child. If the Government has allocated funds to improve child development then it should think about ways to support parents of very young children. The 'Surestart Centre' infrastructure is wonderful and the Government should continue to support this. I.e. Mental health support, breastfeeding support, 'stay and play' groups etc. But frankly a lot of new mothers will ignore a screaming child because they have to get housework done, eg laundry for a baby that has thrown up every hour for days, so there is a real case to be made for subsidising ad hoc domestic support in struggling families to allow the parents to concentrate on the child. This support used to be provided by Grandparents but raised retirement ages have impacted that.

• what would you like to see in... Strategy...

There are currently major flaws in most childcare settings, I would like to see a strategy that tackles these. The flaws include:
++ Staff are underpaid and as a result adult/child ratios are poor. Often one adult will be tidying, one doing paperwork and one watching 20 children. The single supervisor then fails to intervene quickly enough to prevent a row over a toy escalating to biting/hitting. An assaulted child is more traumatised than an assaulted adult, not less, but it is often treated as nothing.

++ Settings do not provide enough exercise, this is particularly important for young boys. Children need opportunities to run (running is actually a huge reason for the success of the human species) but many settings have a 'no running' rule and children are in care all day with little opportunity to build up muscle and, worse, are forced to act against instinct.

++ Children need to spend most of their time with a carer they trust and love. If in childcare, they need low staff turnover and regular one to one time, see above.

++ preschools teach numeracy/literacy because they feel pressure to do so, and because it is easy. They rarely tackle the social skills which is what children of this age are supposed to be focused on. This is KEY. All of the research papers show that preschoolers need loads of free play and adult-supervised social interaction, preferably with older children so they can learn how to be decent people. A two year old learns nothing useful from another two year old, yet this is often mistaken for socialisation. Could primary school children do visits to preschools to teach group play? Older children get to practice leadership and younger learn social skills.

• do we need a syllabus/targets/testing...

It is crucial to understand this: the more paperwork and assessment a childcare setting has to do, the less time they spend nurturing children (and also the greater the staff turnover, resulting in unsettled children and worse childcare). It scares me that you do not understand that this is a deeply stupid question, perhaps it was poorly phrased. Targets and testing damage childcare because they shift the focus away from nurturing.

A young child needs to be looked after by a kind, affectionate, firm, responsible, creative adult. At this age a child is learning the most important skills: how to control his temper, how to negotiate for desired toys, how to wait for a turn, how to be creative, how to make friends, empathy... Without these skills you will have a damaged adult in later life. Literacy and numeracy are unimportant in under age 7s and it is essential to teach those things when the child is interested: an interested preschooler can pick up the alphabet in a couple of days and numbers 1-100 in a couple of weeks: do not waste time trying to teach these things at a young age, they are trivial and you only turn them off learning for life. If you do end up doing a syllabus then it should very specifically NOT include literacy/numeracy. It should consist entirely of social skills: learned through role play and doll games, stories etc.

So my syllabus, off the top of my head, would include
++ physical exercise, preferably outdoors
++ free play
++ empathy (eg adult reads story and talks about how characters feel and why they make certain choices etc)
++ creativity - often children are taught 'draw a circle' 'colour in this' 'paint this model' instead of 'scatter these leaves, what does the pattern remind you of? What else could you make?' Mud kitchens are good. Or playing 'make up a story'.
++ conflict resolution eg staff do puppet show where dolls have arguments but learn to take turns.
++ rest time. Most children this age need a nap, studies show that this massively increases learning, but often preschools say 3 year olds don't need it.
++ kindness.

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

A few things. My ability to stay at home with my son in his early years and take him to activities helped. Attending a totally flexible free play preschool helped too, they were happy to adapt to him, they supported us with toilet training which he was late doing, and supported our wish to delay his school entry.

The biggest difference (in my opinion) was made by finding a school that was supportive of his starting reception aged 5. This has made the difference between him barely coping and thriving at school and it should be a right for parents as in Scotland.

*What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
More and better paid parental leave and flexible working.
A more integrated preschool system with a central source of info- I have found that provision varies between areas and we only found our preschool by word of mouth.
A clear and transparent system for delaying school entry based on parental choice.

*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 staff at my child's preschool seemed very highly trained and did a fantastic job. I don't think they need additional training.

*Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?
Absolutely not. Children are so different and they need to develop at their own pace.

I also agree that Children's Centres need to be funded.

Pride if the summer born issue is still relevant and you haven't already you might like to take a look at the FB group Flexible School Admissions for Summer Born Children. Sounds like the local policy is unlawful.

I've been thinking about the sure start centres closing. This may be a hare brained idea, but how about a sure start version of the library buses for rural areas? Then if you have an estate where 4 mums don't drive, it could rock up and have a sensory unit, baby rhyme time, reading books etc. As long as they had a few staff on board and had a scheduled timetable it could work across communities and could potentially keep costs down? Just an idea, if the funding isn't going to come back unlikely to have extra funds after Brexit IMO.

A clear and transparent system for delaying school entry based on parental choice.

This. ^^

I wish there was a mechanism for parents to defer entry to reception and have an additional year in preschool for children who would benefit from it, or who are just not ready to start school whether they're summer born or not.

What makes a difference? Having pre-natal support and preparation for parenting. Enough midwives to provide safe birth, aftercare and support with breastfeeding. Health visitors with the time to visit and support. Community facilities like libraries. Paid maternity leave and paternity leave and flexible employment. parents having the option to work part time and actually be parents- tax credits supported this, now lots of families need 2 or 3 jobs to survive. Childcare that supports flexible working patterns. A curriculum based on exploration, play and being outdoors until at least age 7. Banning advertising for expensive junk toys and sugary foods during TV programmes aimed at children.

Government policy generally valuing children and parenting instead of trying to force parents into paid work as soon as possible and pushing children into a school environment almost as soon as they can walk.

I am the mother of a 6 year old girl and 4 year old boy and a parent governor at the nursery my son attends. The question of bringing in some sort of standardised testing horrifies me, particularly given the issues currently being experienced in developing the Reception tests in primary schools.

Early years education is the only time children get to develop and grow at their own pace, through play based learning which is focused more on developing skills such as sharing and physical movement, rather than literacy or numeracy. Firstly, testing these would be virtually impossible. But secondly, it could never fully take into account the huge differences children have in their development at this age. In my son's nursery their are children who don't speak English at home, premature babies who are still catching up in some areas, children with additional needs that just haven't fully been identified yet, kids with hearing or speech impairments etc. And that's before you even consider the difference between girls and boys.

My nursery have made absolutely no attempt at 'forcing' my son to start writing. He doesn't want to do it yet so they don't push him. And that's just how it should be because school will start to develop those skills through classroom based teaching.

The best thing the government can do to support parents is to provide 30 hours of childcare to all parents (working or unemployed) and support childminders with grants and mentoring rather than more rigorous assessments or inspections, which put a lot of decent childminders off starting out.

What has made the greatest contribution to your child’s development in their early years?
Having me as a SAHP, and them not having to go into childcare, but having lots of educational/social groups they could attend with the security of having me alongside them.

What support could the government give you as a parent to improve their learning and development at home?
Recognition of the importance of the role of the SAHP. Making sure that wages are high enough, so that in a family with children, one parent is able to financially afford to stay at home if they wish. (Also benefits be such that single parents can also remain at home if they wish)

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 to be qualifications in caring for children and encouraging good play and good child mental health. Formal (or informal academic) learning is not necessary for children of this age. Children in childcare need a 'home like' experience.

Do we need a syllabus or targets in early years education? Would you support testing or any other measures to gauge attainment?
Absolutely, totally, NOT.

I think the questions you have asked show how worryingly out of sync you are with what parents are looking for in early 'education'

We want our children to be happy, comfortable, well cared for and if possible exposed to experiences we find it more challenging to provide at home such as social interaction and messy play.

You are canvassing opinions from a parenting site which already denotes a demographic of ' invested' parents who may well already seek to provide their children with the starting blocks of education so I will try and answer your questions with a broader approach than my own experience

The greatest contribution to my children's early years has been me as their mum. I am far from perfect but the ability to work flexibly has meant I can spend time with them at home. Not all mothers have this option.

I have also benefitted from nursery provision and preschool which has given my children exposure to experiences I haven't always been able to offer- socialisation, outdoor play, a variety of play options, eating with peers etc

The support the government could offer me to support my children's learning and development at home - to be honest early years provision at home doesn't cost much but maybe more guidance/ encouragement about home based activities would be helpful to some families. It can be hard to think if new activities with a toddler

Qualifications - I think people who manage preschool provision should have appropriate qualifications to ensure standards but honestly the majority of the staff just need to be dbs checked and have bags of patience and enthusiasm

Testing - to echo a previous poster ' hell (or other words to that effect) no! I am appalled this is even being considered!

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

DW spending time at home with the children, playing with them, talking (loads) to them, doing creative stuff with them, taking them to lots of different types of pre-school activities and events. You cannot underestimate the importance of the 'early years' spent with a parent or close relative with lots of quality, one-on-one time.

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

Increasing library (and associated services) provision rather than getting rid of it due to cuts! Making resources for learning cheaply/freely available. When DS was little we had a newly opened Sure Start centre that had a toy library. That was brilliant for age-appropriate games etc...

Bigging up Mumsnet Local (and other parenting) sites so that parents of all socio-economic backgrounds know where to go for pre-schooler happenings and classes (both free and paid for). There is absolutely no need for parents and their little ones to be sitting home being bored and/or isolated.

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 do but don't they have to have them now anyway?

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

NO, NO, NO! Use the system adopted virtually everywhere else in the developed world - allow little ones' education to be play-centric until they are 7. Use the Scandinavians' model.

Oh and slightly off on a tangent but I really think that all children (certainly before they leave KS1) should be measured for 'sporting aptitude' and be encouraged as much in their physical education attainment as any other part of it. There is a time and a place for being competitive in the school environment. Doing and achieving in the right sport for a child goes a long way to helping with wider well-being and confidence issues. Encouraging them to 'stay with it' sports-wise undoubtedly will help guard against obesity too.

And think outside the box for young children's learning journeys in particular. Take a leaf out of the 'books' of the alternative education approaches, offered by Montessori, Steiner and Forest schools.

"NO, NO, NO! Use the system adopted virtually everywhere else in the developed world - allow little ones' education to be play-centric until they are 7. Use the Scandinavians' model.

And think outside the box for young children's learning journeys in particular. Take a leaf out of the 'books' of the alternative education approaches, offered by Montessori, Steiner and Forest schools."

This.

There's a lot of people saying in this thread that they themselves have been the greatest contribution and I am sure that's true for most mums here on mumsnet who are more likely to be more involved and erm, not sure how to describe it, but good at engaging with their children and helping them develop. But there are also lots of parents out there that struggle with that, myself included, and that's where nursery can be a huge contributor. My DD goes full time even though I only work part time because her social and emotional development was very behind (which caused behavioural problems) but since being in a nursery setting she has improved lots. I am lucky to live somewhere where this is provided free for DD because of her need so maybe some kind of system that helps needy families who can't afford full time nursery.

No testing more play.
focus on social skils, taking turns through games. motor skills through creative activities.
listening skills through story telling
parents to toilet train

I agree - no more testing. 4 year olds change in ability and attention span literally month to month. There is no point in labeling them at this stage. Social skills are more important, understanding how to interact in play and listening. Sometimes parents themselves aren't always sure how to help with this, which is why the Sure Start centers were great, although they may have been limited in locations that many couldn't get to. Parents do want to know what to do to make their kids school ready. If their kid can listen to an adult respectfully and interact with other kids then great - get them doing fine motor skills over the summer before they start. However many families don't know how to start with these social skills. Parenting tricks such as reward charts, explaining the simplicity of speaking quietly rather than shouting, making sure your child can share - options to help that parents can use for each different child - need to be available to parents in the years before school.