Babies born in England during the Covid crisis have been slower at developing key language, cognitive and social skills, and the veteran education policymaker Sir David Bell is warning that rapid intervention is needed to stop those children being left further behind.
More than 80,000 children born in 2020 or 2021 did not reach one or more of the key measures of progress for their age group last year, according to official data highlighted by Labour’s education team, including 60,000 very young children who did not develop communication abilities usually seen in children their age.
Writing in the Guardian, Bell – who is chairing Labour’s review of early childhood education – said nursery closures and “eye-watering” childcare costs meant many two-year-olds were unable to receive high-quality early years education to make up for the “crucial experiences” they missed during the Covid crisis.
“It’s no wonder that headteachers have spoken of children arriving at school who are still wearing nappies, whose communication abilities are limited, or who are still unable to use a knife and fork,” said Bell, a former primary school teacher who later served as the permanent secretary at the Department for Education and the chief inspector of Ofsted.
“Despite the best efforts of teachers, gaps in learning and development widen as children grow older, becoming embedded and therefore more difficult to overcome.
“Prevention is better than cure, which is why we need to intervene early to prevent educational gaps from developing before they can grow. This will require a clear plan from the government. Yet its support has so far been lacking.”
Bell said creating a “new, modern childcare system” to eradicate those gaps would not be easy.
