NEWS

Kit Malthouse has left his role as education secretary as new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffles his top team. Malthouse has been replaced by Gillian Keegan, who has served as MP for Chichester since 2017 and as parliamentary undersecretary of state for apprenticeships and skills in from 2020-21 and parliamentary under-secretary of state for Africa since September 2022.

Keegan is the fifth education secretary to serve in the role this year after a
turbulent few months at the Department for Education (DfE). Her predecessor
Malthouse took over from James Cleverly in September, who had only recently been
appointed himself following the short tenure of Michelle Donelan earlier this summer.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “We welcome Gillian Keegan as the new education secretary and congratulate her on her new role. With six different education secretaries in post over the last 14 months, it’s clear that the education sector is in desperate need of some stability and continuity, and that establishing a clear sense of direction for education policy in this country must be a top priority for Ms Keegan in her new position.

“It is crucial, however, any such policy work recognises that education starts long before the school gates, and acknowledges the absolutely pivotal role that the early years sector plays in supporting long-term learning and development, alongside our primary, secondary, further and higher education colleagues.

“As such, we look forward to working closely with Ms Keegan to ensure that early education and care is treated with the respect it deserves and sits at the heart of
her department’s work going forward.”

An official government e-petition opposing the relaxation of staff-child ratios in early years settings in England has reached 100,000 signatures. The petition, started by Zoe and Lewis Steeper, whose son Oliver tragically died after an incident at a nursery, reached 100,000 signatures on 28 September, the one-year anniversary of Oliver’s death.

By reaching 100,000 signatures it will now be considered for a debate in parliament.

The government is proposing to increase the maximum number of two-year-olds per adult in nurseries and pre-schools in England from 4 to 5. The plans are widely expected to form part of the 'childcare reforms' included in the government's Growth Plan. The official government consultation on the proposals closed on Friday 16 September.

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, commented: “The fact that this petition has now reached 100,000 signatures clearly shows how worried both providers and parents are about the likely impact of proposed ratios changes on the early years sector in England.

“Let's be clear: changing ratios is a mindless policy that will do more harm than good to a sector already on its knees. These changes have been falsely sold as a cost-saving measure when, as our own research shows, it will do little – if anything – to deliver savings to parents. Instead, all these proposals will do is put the quality of care and early education children receive at risk, and place even more pressure on an already-overburdened workforce in the middle of a staffing crisis.”

The Children’s Commissioner has called for a “transformative” new model for early education and childcare, in her Vision for Childcare report. The report argues that as rising costs make private providers increasingly unsustainable, schools could help “address the early education challenge” by using ‘underused space’ given that the number of pupils is set to drop in the next 10 years.

It states: "Currently, rent or mortgage payments account for 12% of private providers’ costs, and other costs (including utilities) account for 11% - these are only likely to increase in the short term, and may make many childcare settings unsustainable. Opening up schools to provide more early years education would address both these issues."

Other recommendations in the report include increasing numbers of childminders, simplifying early years funding, further steps to monitor children’s progress and reforms for parental leave.

In the introduction to the report, Rachel de Souza commented: “I am optimistic that we can implement solutions to provide childcare and early education that is trusted, affordable, accessible, and nurturing for families. Some of the solutions I have proposed are ones that I myself have implemented first-hand and seen the positive results of when I was running schools as a headteacher. Now is the moment that we can rollout these solutions further to benefit more children and more families.”

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, commented: “It is disappointing that while this report rightly recognises that the currently early years funding system isn't working, it fails to acknowledge that the only way to solve this problem is by substantially increasing investment into our vital sector. Extending existing offers across more age groups without tackling this fundamental issue will only exacerbate an already-dire situation.

"What's more, with private and voluntary providers currently delivering the vast majority of early years places in this country, the suggestion that we should simply accept that those settings that are struggling are likely to become unsustainable in the long term and look to schools to deliver early years places in their place, is one we find deeply concerning. Those working in our sector have a wealth of very specific knowledge and expertise built up over years of experience supporting early learning and development and the suggestion that this could be so easily replaced is incredibly misguided."

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss was reportedly considering “abolishing ratio rules” in the early years completely in the weeks before she resigned as leader of the Conservative Party, according to The Times.

Reports also suggested that the former Prime Minister was considering giving early years funding directly to parents, rather than to providers via local authorities.

The paper also reported that the Prime Minister was considering allowing parents “near-total freedom” on how they spend the funding, possibly allowing for it to be given to relatives rather than registered providers.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said that the government was “exploring a wide range of options” for early education but said that not decisions had been made at the time.

“Quality early education and childcare is fundamental to any functioning society, and particularly at a time of economic crisis: our vital sector not only supports children to
get the best possible start in life, but also ensures that parents across the country are able to work and contribute to our national economy.

“However years of neglect and, more specifically, underfunding have left us in an untenable situation where costs are continuing to spiral for parents while talented education professionals, sick of being overworked and underpaid, are abandoning the sector in their droves.

“Rather wasting any more time on a fruitless ‘deregulation’ agenda that would have only exacerbated an already dire situation, we need a clear, comprehensive long-term early years strategy from government that actually supports the delivery of affordable, sustainable, high-quality care and education.

“As such, we urge Mr Sunak to scrap government plans to relax ratios in early years settings, and instead commit to the substantial investment needed to ensure the sector can not just survive, but thrive in the years to come.”

The plans also include a “workforce plan” for the early years sector. Phillipson said: “Those who work in our childcare settings are often not properly supported, don’t have access to professional development and are among the most poorly paid workers in our society. But they’re doing the most important jobs in terms of giving our children the best possible start in life.”

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “Labour’s plans to introduce breakfast clubs for every primary school in England will make a real difference to parents with school-aged children trying to balance their careers and their childcare needs, as well as ensuring that no children start the school day hungry, and so we warmly welcome this proposal. That said, if Labour is truly committed to transforming the childcare landscape in this country, plans to address the severe challenges that nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are facing must also be central to this drive.

“Years of underfunding and poor policymaking has left the early years facing a severe recruitment and retention crisis, and mass setting closures – with around 4,000 providers shutting in the last year alone – leaving children unable to access vital early education and parents struggling to find the affordable, reliable childcare they need.
“As such, any plan to solve the ‘childcare crisis’ must start with the early years and must include a long-term plan for the sector based on realistic, sustainable funding.”

The Department for Education has shared further details about its scheme aiming to “drive quality and training opportunities” in the early years, using funding previously pledged as part of the Covid-19 recovery package for the sector.

The funding, which was originally announced in 2021, aims to improve teaching of early speech, language and numeracy skills in the sector while also offering leadership training and opportunities for graduates in the sector.

Over the next three years, the DfE plans to offer:

• early maths, language and social development training for 10,000 early years professionals
• an ‘expert and mentors’ programme to provide bespoke leadership training to 7,500 early years settings and childminders
• graduate-level training that will lead to early years teacher status
• support for almost 6,000 early years educators to achieve the new National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership
• training for up to 5,000 SENCOs
• a network of 18 Stronger Practice Hubs
• a universal online child development training offer
• the continuation of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention Programme