England’s early years system is at a critical juncture, with ongoing discussions for reform and the recent budget announcement signalling a large-scale expansion. Author of our recent report on the early years, Elena Rosa Brown, unpacks what England could learn from other early years systems around the world.
This could present an opportune moment to establish an equitable and high-quality provision for all families in England. Research indicates that such provision has the potential to significantly improve life chances for children, bridging the attainment gap between lower-income children and their more advantaged peers.
We know that just providing childcare without attention to quality is likely to be detrimental. An expansion of cheap, subsidised childcare in Quebec, Canada, in the late 1990s, found the expansion reduced the quality of provision with negative outcomes for children in the long-term, including worse health outcomes, lower life satisfaction and higher crime rates later in life. Quebec shows the dangers of expanding early years provision without a focus on quality.
However, while research tells us that high-quality early years provision is important, understanding what this looks like in practice has remained a challenge up until now. Our report World Class, funded by the Sutton Trust and launched this week, has started to address this challenge by looking at what England could learn from other countries to make early years policy work for all children.
