The early years sector is increasingly moving towards offering childcare “at the expense of providing high quality education” due to “mounting pressures” on providers, according to latest research.
The Sutton Trust says disadvantaged children are being hit hardest by this trend “with learning gaps between the most and least well-off young children set to widen in the coming years”.
Its policy briefing has raised the concerns as the government expands provision of funded hours to working families from April. This will mean early years “will not be provided to many children from poorer families”, says the charity.
It points out that only one in five families earning less than £20,000 a year will be able to access the expansion of funded places, compared with four in five families earning more than £45,000 a year.
