‘Invest in early years and help our youngest learners play their way to a brighter future!’

The launch of the latest EIS publication in early years, ‘Playing for a Brighter Future’, in the wake of the local elections, lays down the challenge for politicians across Scotland to take urgent action to reverse the decline of GTCS registered teachers in nursery for the benefit of our youngest learners.

Since the repeal of the Schools Scotland Code in 2002, we have seen teacher: pupil ratios in Early Learning and Childcare (‘ELC’) settings plummet. Gone are the days when there would have been a guarantee of one teacher for every child in every nursery class.

With the meagre requirement of providing ‘access to a teacher’, local authorities have been given flexibility both in the employment and deployment of teachers across the sector. Differing and ambiguous interpretations of ‘teacher presence’ and ‘teacher access’ have resulted in inequality of children’s experiences in nursery.

With the average nursery teacher to child ratio currently sitting at 1:223 and the ten local authorities with the highest teacher: child ratios having some of the highest rates of child poverty in the country, current ‘access’ arrangements can hardly be regarded as meaningful or doing anything to further the goal of greater educational equity.

Little did we know, when we started work on the production of ‘Playing for a Brighter Future’ back in 2020, the full extent of the challenges the pandemic would bring or the direct relevance of this document to the recovery agenda. Designed as a companion to the 2020 OECD Study, ‘Early Learning and Child Wellbeing’, the publication highlights the stark messages learned from the OECD comparative study of early years provision in Estonia, the U.S. and England, and their relevance to early years in Scotland today.

The OECD study delivers a timely reminder that we cannot look at cognitive development or attainment in isolation; cognitive growth goes hand in hand with the development of social and emotional skills. Early intervention measures, which seek to support the holistic development of the child and address the gaps resulting from poverty and socio-economic disadvantage, are crucial in the strive for equity and in improving outcomes in later life.

The research outlines the continuing benefits of quality ELC on educational and health and wellbeing outcomes in later life, as well as to the education system. The development of cognitive, social and emotional skills in the early years and better outcomes for the individual throughout schooling lead to stronger employment and socio-economic outcomes; better physical and mental health in adulthood; and positive contributions to society.

The report sends a stark warning for governments:

‘The evidence is overwhelming. Starting behind means staying behind. When children’s early learning is not strong before they start school and continues to be weak in the first two years of school, the outlook for these children is bleak.’

The message from the OECD could not be clearer. To enable all children to thrive and to ensure equity of opportunity for all learners, ELC must:

• adopt early intervention strategies;
• support all parents as early educators of their children; and
• address the poverty-related achievement and attainment gap.

So, what does the OECD report mean for early years provision in Scotland today?

At first blush, it might be thought that there is little for Scotland to learn from the OECD findings. The Scottish government has stated its commitment to making Scotland the ‘best place in the world to grow up’ and to give children ‘the best possible start in life’ by reducing inequalities of outcome and investing in early years on the basis that its long-terms benefits to individuals are well-evidenced. With the extension of ELC entitlement to 1140 hours for all three and four year olds and for vulnerable two’s; it might be thought that the essential components are in place to realise the policy ambition.

But yet again, what we have seen emerging is the yawning gulf between policy and practice, resulting from a lack of investment and the falling number of qualified teachers in the sector.

Despite the legislative underpinning of early intervention strategies, without the necessary investment in both teaching and early years staff, in professional learning and in the provision of adequate time to allow professionals to engage in meaningful multi-agency discussion, and resources to fund the necessary interventions, the information gathered from assessments cannot effectively impact on outcomes for our youngest learners.

Access to additional support is uneven across the country and with so many teachers being removed from nursery, children’s additional support needs may not be identified until Primary 1 – meaning that the window of opportunity for effective intervention, highlighted in the OECD study, is narrowed even further.

When we consider the impact of this in the context of COVID, with reports of delayed development in speech and language and evidence of distressed behaviour manifesting themselves in early years classrooms, the importance of heeding the OECD advice, providing increased investment and reversing the decline in the number of nursery teachers becomes even clearer.

The OECD report also makes a compelling case for greater investment in the early years to provide the targeted support needed to combat the impact of poverty. The Fairer Scotland Duty and the Child Poverty Act require local authorities to consider how they will seek to minimise socio-economic disadvantage in all aspects of their service provision, including early years, and must be properly funded by the Scottish government to enable this.

However, we know that the pandemic has wreaked the most damage upon children and families who are most disadvantaged by societal inequality, and the achievement and attainment gap between children from the lowest income homes and those from the highest, continues to grow.

Targeted intervention to address the impact of poverty must be accompanied by investment in qualified early years teachers. As ‘bridging professionals’, teachers guide and support children across the early level, using their knowledge of pedagogy, child development and early intervention strategies to scaffold learning, ease transitions and, through family engagement, foster richer home learning environments.

The importance of such high-quality early years provision was a central tenet of the OECD research and has been reaffirmed as a key principle of educational reform in the recent Muir report, ‘Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education’. Professor Muir highlighted the imperative for:

‘increased recognition of the role and value of early years, including their approach to learning and teaching and the use of outdoor learning, in setting the direction of travel for the lifelong journey of learning by all children.’

Yet the 52% reduction in the number of nursery teachers since 2010 is taking its toll.

‘Playing for a Brighter Future’ highlights that unless this worrying trend in the decline of the number of nursery teachers is reversed, then the high-quality interaction envisaged by the OECD, by Professor Muir and in the policy ambitions of the Scottish government will not be realised.

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