EDUCATION Cont. from page 35 health, education and


employment support for young families – will also be cut in real terms. Overall, then, more money has been taken away than put in to early years education.


With Sure Start funding now no longer ringfenced and school forums continuing to be responsible for the allocation of funding for the free entitlement, local authorities will be in the driving seat of the fate of pre- school education in this country.


They face key several challenges in this important policy area, not least reduced funding from central government.


First, there is considerable variation in the amount nurseries receive from different local authorities to deliver the free entitlement, with two thirds of nurseries reporting making a loss on the free session which is impacting on their future sustainability.


“ in the UK we still spend considerably more per head on schools and tertiary education than early years education ”


Nursery closures have been significant in recent years – nearly 400 closed in 2009. The early years single funding formula, its nationwide rollout postponed by the last government, must provide a credible, stable funding solution for nurseries.


Second, OFSTED has reported an increase in the number of inadequate childcare settings in the most deprived areas in the past three years.


If a setting is of low quality, 38 pse


it will deliver little return for the child or indeed have a negative effect. Evidence suggests that higher qualified staff are correlated with better educational outcomes.


So childcare settings need the funds and freedom to attract and retain high quality staff to make pre-school really effective.


Finally, it is important that diversity in the childcare sector is supported. This is not only because parents have different preferences for the type of childcare used – be it a Montessori or Steiner nursery, a maintained nursery, a childminder, even grandparents – but because many parents work atypical, flexible hours and may have to reply on different providers.


Childminders, who typically work longer, more flexible hours, have declined rapidly since 1997, with 40% of professionals lost. The challenge is to ensure regulation and funding supports the plethora of childcare provision.


Local authorities will have to be imaginative and innovative in dealing with these issues, especially considering the funding constraints they now face and the heavy expense parents already incur for paying for childcare.


Above all, local authorities must remember pre-school is perhaps the most vital part of a child’s education and the best hope for increasing social mobility and generating savings – from, for example, reduced anti- social behaviour in the future. When it comes to investment in education, the earlier the better.


Ryan Shorthouse is a researcher at the Social Market Foundation and a trustee of the Daycare Trust


Councils urged to think smart about school catering


Local authorities can boost turno- ver for school catering services by thousands of pounds with simple changes to school canteens and kitchens, according to new figures from the School Food Trust.


The organisation, which is lead- ing the work to encourage more children to eat a healthy meal at school, says councils that join with their schools to think differ- ently about issues such as queu- ing, cramped dining rooms or waste in the kitchen have already increased their turnover by up to £63,000.


The figures emerged from a programme launched to help councils and schools find their own solutions to issues which can prevent children from wanting to eat in the canteen or kitchens from running efficiently – without investing large amounts of capital.


The first four local authorities to take part increased their turnover by an average of £41,000, with one council seeing a rise of more than £63,000.


School Food Trust chairman, Rob Rees, said: “At a time when local authorities are scrutinising every single penny they spend and budgets are being squeezed from all sides, these councils and schools have proved that there are still lots of things you can do to improve school catering which really don’t cost the earth.


“It’s a win, win, win – this is a way to encourage more children to eat healthy school meals, which means they will behave better and do better at school. At the same time, council catering services have more customers – and you don’t have to spend lots of money to achieve it.”


Nov/Dec 10


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