The importance of early years education has been studied and researched rigorously. The paramount role played by education in enhancing an individual’s creativity and life outcomes has been well documented in the relationship between level of educational attainment and employment rates, life satisfaction, and financial stability. Early years education has also been studied to help move individuals out of generational cycles of poverty and mitigate inequality gaps. The recent pandemic has lead to a regression in the move towards universal education, and bridging inequality gaps across the UK, and educational disparities have exacerbated after the pandemic.
Recent research by Ofsted on early years education, which targets pre-school children between 0-4 years of age, provides guidelines on what pre-school education curriculum should look like for children who have missed out on receiving education during the pandemic. ‘Best Start in Life’, the report shows the relationship between education and life outcomes for individuals.
Among other things, the recent report discusses the early years context in terms of staffing, curriculum and pedagogy. The review emphasises the importance of holistic and integrated ways of learning, highlighting the interconnectedness of learning and development. Giving the example of a walk to the park, the review shows how mathematics, communication, language, and general knowledge can be incorporated in the child’s interaction with shapes, vocabulary, and local knowledge. A recurring theme is the importance of play on teaching children, especially those born during the pandemic, to learn better and faster in environments that were not able to engage in normal curriculum delivery.
Outcomes across student groups
An important issue that received recognition was the need for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to receive adequate and timely education due to its impact on their life outcomes and the positive effects it has on their capacity building for later success. Many disadvantaged students often require additional resources to develop their language and communication skills that form the foundation on which all subsequent teaching is built. A lack of access to such crucial resources has been studied to adversely impact future attainment and educational progress. Despite this, the report finds that children who speak English as an additional language are less likely to take up the full duration of funded early years education as compared to their peers. Statistics revealed that 23% of children who struggled with language at age 5 did not reach the expected standard in English at the end of primary school.
A gendered analysis in the report also finds that this disadvantage is exacerbated among boys where boys from disadvantaged background had worse educational outcome, an effect compounded in the most deprived areas. Such students become unable to articulate their opinions and thoughts and lag behind in future progress that can follow into adulthood and early employment.
With the pandemic exacerbating inequalities, an important area of focus in education that requires increased attention is children with SEND. With increased periods of isolation, the children experience low moods and emotional turbulence. The report highlighted that parents of children with SEND found early years education provision to beneficially impact their children’s social skills and confidence.
The report mentioned that with students having spent their formative years in isolation during the pandemic, they have had fewer social interact ions outside of their family. This has resulted in language and communication skills of these students to be lower than the previous cohort’s while social skills of effective interaction and sharing were also found to be stunted while emotional development was also seen to be compromised.
Early Years Education Staff
In examining the quality of early years education provision, researchers looked at children’s experiences in the educational setting as well as staff ratios and qualifications. Higher qualifications among staff leading to better outcomes for children but in a recent study published by Nuffield foundation describing early years workforce in the UK as being poorly paid and undervalued. The House of Commons Education Select Committee has further considered removing the barriers to early years progression for staff as important in improving recruitment of a high-skilled early years workforce. Additionally, the recent review also focused on a study by the Nutbrown Review that highlighted that the qualification system for early years was ineffective and complex. Several of the qualifications available did not provide the workforce with high quality knowledge and skills required for early years education delivery.
Continued Professional Development (CPD) is paramount in ensuring adequate training levels for all teachers in early years. However, with caps on finding, the report found that many schools were not able to invest in high quality teacher training. Limiting practices by early years managers in curbing staff training opportunities to only those that are mandatory with additional teacher training only focusing on SEND and English as a language were also recorded. 39% of nursery managers reported that they could not afford to fund any non-mandatory training. This has resulted in local areas and authorities implementing CPD according to their own rules and regulations, varying CPS outcomes across regions, possibly adding to worsening regional educational inequalities.
Final Thought
The pandemic has severely worsened education, health, employment and several other inequality indicators in the country. Within these, education is of particular importance in determining a child’s life trajectory. In unprecedented times in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, children require greater support from schools, caretakers and legislators in providing them support towards learning and developing interpersonal skills.
Among these students, those with SEND and mental health vulnerabilities are further disadvantaged in the present system that does not provide adequate teacher training to address complex and diverse needs of all children within a classroom. Keeping with the research and recommendations in the report, greater efforts need to be made – focusing on learning, curriculum, staffing, and pedagogy- in bridging educational attainment gaps between students who entered early education during the pandemic and those before its onset.