Early Years Scotland welcomes the forthcoming expansion to 1,140 hours per year of government-funded early learning and childcare for all three- and four-year-olds, and eligible two-year-olds, by 2020. This represents a massive and unprecedented investment in the lives of our youngest children in Scotland. In everyday speak, 1,140 hours roughly equates to the same amount of time that children spend at school in a year.

We know from experience and research that high-quality early learning and childcare is an extremely powerful influencer in terms of the impact that it has on children’s learning, development and life chances. This is especially true for children who are experiencing disadvantaged circumstances, and for whom the damaging attainment gap has already set in, even before school.

So will extra nursery hours alone close the gap?

It may be that we still have some way to go before we eradicate this terrible inequity, but what is clearly a “no-brainer” is that tackling the issues at the earliest possible stage in children’s lives means they have more chance of building strong foundations, as opposed to trying to remedy (unsuccessfully) the inevitable disparity that worsens over time.

However, for some children, simply providing a new pathway that separates them from their parents for more hours over a longer time than previously may actually exacerbate the situation, since the importance of attachment and bonding is not always to the fore.

Involving parents in early years learning

There is an abundance of research that confirms how much “meaningful” parental engagement with children matters, especially at the very earliest stages. Early Years Scotland welcomes the fact that the new Early Years National Standard, which underpins the expansion, highlights the importance of parental engagement and supporting parents and carers to engage with their children’s learning and development.

But how much and what kind of parental engagement is required?

Whilst many early years providers do place meaningful parental engagement at the heart of their practice, and this works really well, for other families, a dual offering where complementary types of service are accessed can be the answer.

For example, some children currently attend their funded nursery place every morning. On two afternoons every week, the child and parent also attend local Early Years Scotland “Stay, Play and Learn” sessions together. At these two-hour-long sessions, which run in a range of community settings, parents and children are welcomed by two fully-qualified, experienced Early Years Scotland practitioners.

Throughout their time together, children experience a plethora of play and learning experiences, and the parents are fully involved. Children and parents enjoy a healthy snack, engage in songs and stories, and the parents have the opportunity to give and receive support to one another about parenting matters.

Unfortunately, despite the huge benefits and long-lasting difference that comes with Stay Play and Learn for both children and parents, the sessions do not qualify as part of the government-funded entitlement; only where alternative funding can be found are these sessions offered.

Early Years Scotland believes strongly that if we are going to give all children the best start in life, we need to offer, as part of the choice of funded provision, an additional service that complements the traditional nursery provision. This would also give parents, as well as their nursery entitlement, the choice to also stay, play and learn with their child for part of their weekly funded hours.

The Stay Play and Learn model helps build parents’ awareness and understanding of their children’s learning and development, and increases their levels of confidence, knowledge, skills, motivation and communication. It boosts their capacity to appreciate the importance of engagement, attachment, relationships and their responsiveness to their children. It promotes effective, positive approaches to managing behaviour. It can also help to tackle social isolation and provide much-needed peer support.

The effect of this on children’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development cannot be overstated. The benefits for parents and their children of playing and learning together in a friendly and stimulating setting, are transferred naturally into family life.

This kind of impact simply cannot be replicated in most traditional nursery arrangements, where, at the moment, most parents have no choice within the range of funded provision available, but to drop their child and go.

As well as Stay Play and Learn, there are many other types of complementary early years services available, which could be included as part of the government’s offer. These could sit alongside the usual nursery, where, as well as attending the nursery for part of the week, children and parents could also opt to participate and spend time together in a different type of session, perhaps on a weekly basis.

Early Years Scotland, therefore, urges the Scottish government to recognise the benefits of enabling parents and children to have the choice to be together, for at least part of their funded nursery entitlement. 

Many children in Scotland find that they are already hugely behind their peers by the time they start P1 (the first year of primary school in Scotland). The gap is then difficult, if not impossible, to rebalance thereafter.

Let’s maximise this incredible opportunity that we have in Scotland with the expansion of nursery provision - to end, for once and for all, the terrible inequity gap that many children face.

Jean Carwood-Edwards is chief executive of Early Years Scotland