A question that pops up regularly on the numerous teacher groups that I belong to is around the right ratio for teachers to children in Reception.
Incredibly, the statutory ratio is just one to 30. I find it hard to believe that it is completely legal for one teacher to have a whole class of 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds by themselves. This feels neither acceptable nor safe.
The response on the forums I visit is often disbelief, particularly when we consider that prior to starting school, many children are used to a ratio of one to eight.
In almost all of the schools that I have worked in, there has been a sensible approach to this. For the most part, this ratio has rarely been applied, and most Reception classes are allocated at least one teaching assistant to support the teacher.
Worrying staff ratios in EYFS
But currently there is a changing picture in schools. We have fewer teaching assistants, less funding and an increase in children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream. So what happens when school budgets can’t accommodate this sensible approach any more?
I am hearing about worrying scenarios in which TAs are being shared across several classes, meaning that Reception teachers only have a part-time TA or none at all.
More on the early years:
Unfortunately, I recently experienced this first hand. My TA was absent and there was no cover arranged. Towards the end of the day, one of the children began to cry because she felt unwell. I was trying to comfort her as other children began to call me for help with the usual things: coats, bookbags, lost items and so on.
One of the children then threw himself on the floor and had a meltdown (understandably, because he usually has a high level of adult support). Then the child who was feeling unwell projectile-vomited, splashing some of the other children and leaving a big puddle on the floor.
I also happen to have a child in that class who has a severe phobia of vomiting and in that moment I recognised just how phobic she is: she immediately ran to the corner of the room, screaming in terror and shaking. Meanwhile, the child having the meltdown decided to bolt. I picked up the emergency radio and sounded the SOS for a TA.
It shouldn’t have to be this way. Each of those children had a need that wasn’t met and it was neglectful that there wasn’t a responsive adult to help them.
We are seeing cuts in support staff and an increase in high-need children in mainstream schools. It is the perfect storm. The ratio of one to 30 is relevant because it allows for this overstretching to happen; there is no legal protection for children to have what I would argue is adequate adult support.
Anyone who has experience of young children knows that they have a range of needs, which may relate to toileting, language, emotions or behaviour. These needs will be very much present in a typical class of children and are not necessarily related to SEND. All young children need and deserve a responsive adult.
Additionally, if we want high-quality early years provision to offer a secure foundation for our children’s learning, we need skilful adults who can facilitate interactions and extend children’s learning through meaningful conversations.
They cannot do that if they are stuck in the toilet with a child because they are the only adult allocated as support.
The lack of SEND support
Reception children often suffer the misfortune of inadequate support because many with SEND are not yet diagnosed. They need the level of support of an education, health and care plan but spend their Reception year without that in place.
This is at a time when they are very young and vulnerable, and their behavioural needs can be at their most extreme. The system fails them because we need to prove that they are struggling before we can have the funding or support.
The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 sets out this teacher-to-pupil ratio and it has remained unchanged for many years, yet schools are changing. Enormously.
For this reason, I feel it would be right for the government to carry out a review of the statutory minimum ratios for EYFS, particularly the one-to-30 infant class legislation.
I also think the ratio of one to 13 for teachers in maintained nurseries should be challenged. I continually hear about very similar difficulties in these settings.
For the past few years, budgets have very tight, and one of the areas that has been impacted the most is adult support (or lack thereof). I know that this is a difficult situation across the primary range but it is especially so in early years, and it needs to change.
The writer, who wishes to remain to anonymous, is an early years teacher in the South East of England
