Early Learning For Two Year Olds

West Midlands, 22 February 2012

The DfE perspective

John Browning

Early Education and Childcare Division

The new Government is interested and active on early years ....

Sep 2010 Extended free early education hours for 3s and 4s

Oct 2010 Announced entitlement for disadvantaged 2s

2011-12 Reviews – Tickell, Field, Allen, Marmot, Munro

Apr 2011 Strategic partner and co-production

Apr 2011 Early Years Single Funding Formula in every area

Jul 2011 Consultation on revised EYFS

Jul 2011 Families in the Foundation Years policy document

In July 2011 DfE and DH published:

Families in the Foundation Years – the Government’s vision

Supporting Families in the Foundation Years – for commissioners and the workforce how they can deliver on our vision

Evidence Pack

A parent friendly website with resources and links on 4Children’s companion website

www.foundationyears.org.uk

Supporting Families in the Foundation Years: principles and priorities The foundation years are vitally important in their own right and for

promoting future life chances.

The moral argument is clear and the economic argument increasingly well understood.

There is a consensus we need to do more, by:

– Ensuring a focus on child development;

– Recognising parents and families need to be at the heart of foundation years services;

– Promoting effective and evidence-based early intervention;

– Working to improve the quality of the workforce; and

– Establishing a new relationship between central government, commissioners and providers.

Since Supporting Families in the Foundation Years:

Nov 2011 Consultation on free early education

» Streamline guidance» Additional flexibility for parents» Quality requirements for providers» Alter monitoring of childcare sufficiency» Targeted offer for 2 year olds

Nov 2011 Announced expansion of entitlement for 2 year olds

Spring 2012 Government response to consultation

Sep 2012 New guidance for 3s and 4s, and new EYFS, in force

Free entitlement for less advantaged 2s – the bones: Announced by Deputy Prime Minister in October 2010 as part of the

Fairness Premium, alongside pupil premium and student premium.

Initially for 20% of children nationally, 130,000 children.

November 2011 autumn statement announced doubling to 40% - 260,000 children.

Two phases – 20% from September 2013, and 40% from September 2014.

Percent of eligible 2 year olds locally will differ. At 20% eligibility:

• ranges from around 1 in 10 in some areas (such as Richmond upon Thames and Wokingham) to around 1 in 3 in others (such as Barking & Dagenham, Hartlepool, Islington and Wolverhampton).

• some areas will need to secure several thousand places – we estimate some 4,700 in Birmingham, 3,300 in Kent and 2,700 in Essex and in Lancashire. All will need some places, because individual not area-based entitlement.

Free entitlement for less advantaged 2s: rationale

There are attainment gaps between disadvantaged children and others throughout education system.

Evidence indicates that good quality early education from age two upwards has positive benefits on children's development.

But fewer children from disadvantaged backgrounds have opportunity to experience early education at age two – in 2009, 43% in families earning under £16,200, compared with 73% in high-earning families.

• Currently, take-up is lower among children in second poorest quintile than in poorest quintile.

• Government has no current plans to extend entitlement to all two year olds.

Free entitlement for less advantaged 2s: law and funding

Section 1 of Education Act 2011 enables a statutory duty to be put on local authorities to secure provision for children defined as eligible.

Eligibility will be defined in regulations.

2010 spending review and 2011 autumn statement identified funding:

– £760m in 2014-15

– Building up in advance of 2014-15, to support development of capacity and quality

• A long-term legally-backed feature, not a short-term initiative.

• Dividing funding by numbers suggests an average hourly amount per child of just over £5. But, as for 3s and 4s, no plan for national hourly rates:

• Will be formula from Government to local authority; and

• Local authority will have discretion over how it funds locally.

Proposed (for 20% of two year olds, from September 2013):

Mirror free schools meals criteria, so a single, national measure of economic disadvantage

Looked after children

Asked:

• Should guidance signal priority for some other groups of children?

What route for the funding from Government to local authorities?

Should flexibility and quality proposals for three and for year olds apply in the same way to provision for two year olds?

Didn’t cover:

Criteria for 40%, from September 2014 – will be separate consultation.

Free entitlement for less advantaged 2s: consulted November 2011 until 3 February 2012

Two year olds take up places in a variety of settings at the moment:

day nursery, 161000

Play group/ pre-school, 98000

Childminder, 39000

Other (mainly nanny and babysitter),

29000

Maintained - Nursery School,

41000

Maintained - Nursery Class,

12000

Special day nursery, 5000

Most provision is private - 89% of day care and 95% of sessional places were run by PVIs.

• Ensuring sufficient funding

• Higher cost of provision for 2s than for 3s and 4s

• Ensure that providers receive funding, address lack of ring fencing

• Providers need revenue through the year, not just in term times

• Increasing supply of places

• Timescale is tight, it takes time to create new places

• Must increase awareness among providers so they begin to expand

• Access to loans and funding, to expand or convert settings

• Ensuring high quality, especially in disadvantaged areas

• Recruiting high-quality staff, and providing training opportunities

• Specific skills are needed for 2s

Challenges identified in consultation responses

Free entitlement for less advantaged 2s: trials in 2011-12

Nature Areas

Increasing capacity, through greater flexibility

Hartlepool, Rotherham, Walsall/Wolverhampton

Developing the workforce Medway, North Yorkshire

Assisting providers Derbyshire, Manchester/Tameside, Southampton

Supporting childminders Northamptonshire, Sunderland, Sutton/Merton

Improving quality Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Tower Hamlets

Early Learning For Two Year Olds

West Midlands, 22 February 2012

The DfE perspective

John Browning

Early Education and Childcare Division

What do you see as your challenges?

What discourages existing providers from expanding and new providers from entering the market?  How can we ensure that the right quality provision is available locally?

How might these challenges be overcome?

What would positively incentivise existing providers to expand and new entrants to join the market? How might parents/carers learn of the offer?

Do you have initial views on eligibility criteria at 40% nationally?

Free entitlement for less advantaged 2s: questions