Sarah has 8 years of experience working within the childcare sector focussing on early years and over 3 years as an Apprenticeship Trainer, managing a caseload of apprentices to achieve their qualifications and level 2 functional skills. She started at Best Practice Network as an Apprenticeship Tutor in 2021 and is now Apprenticeship Performance Manager. She has recently completed her BA (Hons) in Early Childhood. 

This research opened the eyes of a range of practitioners, policy makers and professionals to the high importance of teaching within the Early Years sector. Unfortunately, during 2020, we also faced a worldwide pandemic, which meant that families were forced to self-isolate and not leave their home unless it was necessary. With early years settings forced into closures, it was not only those from disadvantaged backgrounds who gained developmental delays, but many other children in early years too. Ofsted’s annual report for 2020/21 found that 44% of early years providers had reported children’s personal, social and emotional development had fallen behind (Gaunt, 2021).

To act on this, the government initiated a policy to enable working parents 30 hours of funded childcare a week. This was to try and support children in accessing education, instead, it has widened the gap further. Families with low income are only able to access 15 hours per week creating wider inequalities (The Sutton Trust, 2021). What we have learned from these studies is that for the short time each child is within their early years provision, Early Years Practitioners need to ensure a larger impact can be made.

One of these early intervention schemes being recommended is home learning opportunities. Many provisions are supporting children and families by offering books or story sacks to take home for the children to share with their parents, following the ‘chat, play, read’ initiative (DfE, 2019). This targeted approach supports the most disadvantaged and provides an opportunity for communication, language and literacy development and is considered best practice to give all an equal chance of achieving. 

Many settings are also enabling opportunities to follow children’s interests through ‘in the moment planning’ while others are merging age groups to enable older children to support younger children. Many have found that this has created benefits to personal, social and emotional development and to improve peer learning and social responsibility (Chase and Doan, 1994, cited in Rawstrone, 2020).

Cultural capital, influenced by Bourdieu and following a sociologist approach, is another way that many settings today are improving the lives of all children, particularly those who are at risk of lower social mobility (Early Education, NDA). Cultural capital is about teaching children the knowledge, skills and behaviours included in society, social interactions, and cultural events. The theory outlines that the greater the cultural capital, the greater chance for success in the child’s life. The Department for Education aims to increase cultural capital for all children by developing the language skills of children through a curriculum which is rich in knowledge to focus on expanding cultural experiences.

Our goal at Best Practice Network is to take this research on board to highlight the change which is required in society to develop positive social mobility and reduce these statistics within Early Years. Parents, as well as Early Years Practitioners and Early Years Educators are the foundations of children’s lives, which emphasises the importance of the development of staff working within the Early Years sector. We need to support children to achieve their potential through a safe learning journey and celebrating the unique child.

Apprenticeships and training courses are a way in which staff can be upskilled to develop their practice and support vulnerable groups to help close this developmental gap in the future, enabling positive outcomes for young lives.