18th February 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Education Minister Liz Truss has announced that schools will be petitioned by the government to accept students from age two. The campaign is being stepped up in a bid to help parents suffering from the shortage and cost of childcare facilities. Truss is to write to all local education authorities urging them to create space for toddlers, and to provide on-site child-care. The government also intends to make changes to the law which would make it easier for schools to accept younger children.
The move is hoped to create tens of thousands of childcare spots which would ease the pressure in highly populated areas. Local authorities are already working on a government pledge to provide free childcare to over 130,000 toddlers from disadvantaged backgrounds, but has of yet been unable to provide the number of places necessary. The kinds of places made available are designed to be age-appropriate, with nurseries, child-minders and school places being opened up to children according to their ages. Truss promised that if two year olds were given school places the care they would receive would be also age-appropriate, involving music and stories, and that starting school early would not mean that children would be ‘hot-housed’.
However, child advocacy groups have criticised the plan to put children into school from age two, arguing that it is an attempt to provide cheap childcare on a mass scale. The Pre-School Learning Alliance have expressed concerns that the government doesn’t seem to be talking about what is right for children, focussing only on obtaining the cheapest child care. Citing the fact that the government has so far failed to supply the childcare places promised, they warned that sending children to school earlier was a cheaper solution. They also pointed out that the necessary facilities to accommodate the extra children were not currently available, and urged the government to think through the plans before proceeding.