Quality Matters in Early Childh - Nieizviestnyi

106 Pages·3.422 MB·English

Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care
UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND)
Quality Matters in Early Childhood
Education and Care
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits – for children, parents and
society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without
attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. UNITED KINGDOM
This series of country reports focuses on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was
selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on (ENGLAND)
current policy initiatives.
Contents Miho Taguma, Ineke Litjens and Kelly Makowiecki
Chapter 1. Where does the United Kingdom (England) stand regarding policy outcomes and inputs?
Chapter 2. What does research say?
Chapter 3. Where does the United Kingdom (England) stand compared to other countries?
Chapter 4. What are the challenges and strategies?

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Please cite this publication as: D
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OECD (2012), Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care: United Kingdom (England) 2012, (E
OECD Publishing. NG
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264176867-en A
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ISBN 978-92-64-17686-7 -:HSTCQE=V\[][\:
91 2012 14 1 E

Quality Matters in Early
Childhood Education
and Care:
United Kingdom
(England)
2012
Miho Taguma, Ineke Litjens
and Kelly Makowiecki
This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The
opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official
views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries.
This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or
sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries
and to the name of any territory, city or area.
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ISBN 978-92-64-17686-7(PDF)
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Photo credit: cover © Mark Yuill - Fotolia.com
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FOREWORD

FOREWORD
This publication is intended to be a quick reference guide for anyone with a role to play in
encouraging quality through England’s early childhood education and care (ECEC)
curriculum.
There is a growing body of evidence that children starting strong in their learning and well-
being will have better outcomes when they grow older. Such evidence has driven policy
makers to design an early intervention and re-think their education spending patterns to gain
“value for money”. At the same time, research emphasises that the benefits from early
interventions are conditional on the level of “quality” of ECEC that children experience.
What does “quality” mean? Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood
Education and Care has identified five policy levers that can encourage quality in ECEC,
having positive effects on early child development and learning.
• Policy Lever 1: Setting out quality goals and regulations
• Policy Lever 2: Designing and implementing curriculum and standards
• Policy Lever 3: Improving qualifications, training and working conditions
• Policy Lever 4: Engaging families and communities
• Policy Lever 5: Advancing data collection, research and monitoring
Of the five policy levers, England has selected Policy Lever 4: Engaging families and
communities for its current policy focus.
This policy profile for England would not have been possible without the support of the
national authority and the stakeholders involved. The OECD Secretariat would like to thank
the national co-ordinator, Karuna Perera, for her work in providing information. We would
also like to thank all those who gave their time to respond to our many questions, provide
comments on preliminary drafts and validate the information for accuracy. We would also
like to thank consultants Janice Heejin Kim and Matias Egeland who worked on sections of
the preliminary drafts as part of the OECD team on Early Childhood Education and Care.
The online version of the quality toolbox can be found at:
www.oecd.org/edu/earlychildhood/toolbox. The online toolbox has additional information,
such as a country materials page where actual documents from OECD countries are
presented, including curricula, regulatory frameworks and data systems information. All
information related to the OECD Network on ECEC is available at:
www.oecd.org/edu/earlychildhood.

QUALITY MATTERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) © OECD 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD ..................................................................................................................................... 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 7
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 9
Aim of the policy profile .................................................................................................................. 9
Structure of the report .................................................................................................................... 9
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 11
CHAPTER 1. WHERE DOES THE UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) STAND REGARDING
POLICY OUTCOMES AND INPUTS? ............................................................................................ 13
Spider web chart on policy outcomes .......................................................................................... 14
Spider web chart on policy inputs ................................................................................................ 18
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 21
CHAPTER 2. WHAT DOES RESEARCH SAY? ............................................................................. 23
Highlights from “Research Brief: Parental and community engagement” ...................................... 24
Why do parental and community engagement matter? .............................................................. 24
Which aspects of parental and community engagement matter most? ...................................... 24
Policy implications........................................................................................................................ 26
Research gaps ............................................................................................................................. 26
Research Brief: Parental and community engagement .................................................................. 27
What is parental and community engagement? .......................................................................... 27
What is at stake? ......................................................................................................................... 27
Why does it matter? ..................................................................................................................... 28
What aspects matter most? ......................................................................................................... 30
What are the policy implications? ................................................................................................ 36
What is still unknown? ................................................................................................................. 37
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 38
References ................................................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER 3. WHERE DOES THE UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) STAND COMPARED TO
OTHER COUNTRIES? ................................................................................................................... 45
Strengths ...................................................................................................................................... 46
Potential areas for reflection ........................................................................................................ 50
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 62
CHAPTER 4. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES? .......................................... 63
Common challenges .................................................................................................................... 64
England’s efforts .......................................................................................................................... 65
Possible alternatives strategies: Lessons from New Zealand, Nordic countries and the United
States ........................................................................................................................................... 67
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 73
ANNEX A. DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 75
ANNEX B. FIGURES FOR SPIDER WEB ON POLICY OUTCOMES ........................................... 77
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 86
ANNEX C. FIGURES FOR SPIDER WEB ON POLICY INPUTS .................................................. 87
Notes ............................................................................................................................................ 95

QUALITY MATTERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) © OECD 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ANNEX D. NOTES TO THE SPIDER WEBS ................................................................................. 97
ANNEX E. METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCES FOR THE SPIDER WEBS ........................ 99
Tables
Table 1.1. Maximum and minimum value on the child outcomes spider web chart ................... 17
Table 1.2. Maximum and minimum value on the policy inputs spider web chart ........................ 20
Table 2.1. Types of parental and community engagement ......................................................... 27
Table 3.1. Inclusion of parents in evaluation of ECEC services ................................................. 47
Table 3.2. Preferred approaches to engaging families and communities ................................... 51
Table 3.3. Parental satisfaction surveys on provision of ECEC services ................................... 53
Table D.1. Overview of available indicators per country: Policy outcomes ................................ 97
Table D.2. Overview of available indicators per country: Policy inputs ...................................... 98
Table E.1. Spider web methodological notes and data sources: Policy outcomes .................... 99
Table E.2. Spider web methodological notes and data sources: Policy inputs ........................ 101
Figures
Figure 1.1. An overview of child outcomes for learning and well-being ...................................... 16
Figure 1.2. An overview of policy inputs ...................................................................................... 19
Figure 2.1. Impact of home learning environment (HLE) ............................................................ 30
Figure 3.1. Child obesity going up ............................................................................................... 48
Figure 3.2. Expectations of parents regarding their children’s education and skills ................... 52
Figure 3.3. Changes in the percentage of divorced or separated adults with children ............... 54
Figure 3.4. Children in couple household by parental employment status ................................. 54
Figure 3.5. Households by number of children ............................................................................ 55
Figure 3.6. How working time arrangements are set .................................................................. 56
Figure 3.7. Gini coefficients in income inequality ........................................................................ 57
Figure 3.8. Trends in income inequality ...................................................................................... 57
Figure 3.9. Trends of international migrants ................................................................................ 58
Figure 3.10. Immigrant status, language spoken at home and reading performance ................ 59
Figure 3.11. Children aged zero to five living in homes with poor environmental conditions ..... 60
Figure 3.12. Content of professional development ..................................................................... 61
Figure B.1. Enrolment rates of children under age three in formal care ..................................... 78
Figure B.2. Enrolment rates in formal early education at age three............................................ 78
Figure B.3. Enrolment rates in early education (preschool) at age five ...................................... 79
Figure B.4. PIRLS Reading achievement in 2001 and 2006 ...................................................... 80
Figure B.5. PISA Reading performance in 2000 and 2009 ......................................................... 81
Figure B.6. Reading performance dispersion .............................................................................. 81
Figure B.7. PISA Mathematics performance in 2003 and 2009 .................................................. 82
Figure B.8. Mathematics performance dispersion ....................................................................... 82
Figure B.9. PISA Science performance in 2006 and 2009 ......................................................... 83
Figure B.10. Science performance dispersion ............................................................................ 83
Figure B.11. Staying in school/education .................................................................................... 84
Figure B.12. Maternal employment rates, age of youngest child under three years .................. 85
Figure B.13. Maternal employment rates, age of youngest child three to five years .................. 85
Figure C.1. Public spending on early education and childcare per child at age three ................ 87
Figure C.2. Public spending on early education and childcare per child at age five .................. 88
Figure C.3. Public spending on family benefits in cash and tax measures ................................. 89
Figure C.4. Components of net childcare costs for couple families in 2008 ............................... 90
Figure C.5. Components of net childcare costs for single parent families in 2008 ..................... 91
Figure C.6. Child-related leave periods: Maternity leave in weeks ............................................. 92
Figure C.7. Child-related leave periods: Paternity leave in weeks .............................................. 93
Figure C.8. Staff-child ratio in formal ECEC services ................................................................. 94

QUALITY MATTERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) © OECD 2012
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Family and community engagement in early childhood education and
care can greatly contribute to ensuring continuous early development
experiences for young children.
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is receiving increased policy interest in England,
as improving quality in the ECEC sector is a subject of growing importance. England
considers improving quality through family and community engagement as a priority, as co-
operation between the ECEC sector, parents and the community can contribute to providing
a more continuous child development process. Parental and community engagement can
also strengthen the quality of parenting and the home-learning environment. Additionally, it
can enhance children’s early development and mitigate the negative effects of family
background. The continuity of children’s experiences across different environments is greatly
enhanced when ECEC centres co-operate with parents and communities and adopt
consistent approaches to child development and learning.
On ECEC outcome indicators, England, in general, performs above
the OECD average, such as on enrolment rates in ECEC and
children’s reading performance. However, England can improve the
staying-in-school rate of children and its labour market outcomes.
England performs above the OECD average on most ECEC outcome indicators but
underperforms on others. On participation, England has a relatively large share of children
attending some form of ECEC. On child outcome indicators, England performs well in
reading and science. Possible policy changes from an international comparative perspective
include improving maternal labour market participation of mothers with young children and
improving students’ performance on PISA mathematics.
For better ECEC policies, England could improve staff-child ratios in
ECEC and parental leave policies for fathers.
On policy input indicators, England performs below average on possibilities for paid paternity
leave and the quality indicator “staff-child ratio” in child care. However, England has above-
average public expenditure levels on young children and family benefits and maternity leave
entitlements. England could consider improving possibilities for parental leave for fathers
and implementing better staff-child ratios.
In England, the importance and value of involving parents and communities in providing
good care and education for young children is increasingly recognised. England has a clear
government plan to enhance parental and community engagement, as laid down in
Supporting Families in the Foundation Years; involves parents in evaluating ECEC services;
has plans to strengthen the co-operation between ECEC and health services; targets
disadvantaged families to decrease inequity; and supports young parents.

QUALITY MATTERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) © OECD 2012
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

International comparative data suggests potential areas for reflection
in England, such as implementing new approaches for family and
community engagement; better meeting family, children and societal
needs; and improving the communication skills of ECEC staff.
Capitalising upon its strengths, England could further enhance quality in ECEC through
strengthening parental and community engagement. Other country practices would suggest
such options as: 1) reflecting on approaches to involve parents and communities;
2) reflecting parental views and opinions in ECEC programming; 3) reflecting upon societal
changes to meet family and children’s needs, such as the increase in divorce rates, full-time
working parents, increasing income inequality and increasing immigrant populations; and
4) further improving the communication skills of ECEC staff.
England could learn from New Zealand, Nordic countries and the
United States, as they have taken measures including engaging
parents in curriculum development; training staff on communicating
with parents; and implementing home programmes to improve
parenting and literacy.
Common challenges countries face in engaging families and communities in ECEC are:
1) lack of awareness and motivation; 2) communication and outreach; 3) time constraints;
4) increasing inequity; and 5) co-operation with other services and other levels of education.
England is making several efforts to tackle these challenges by, for example, revising
entitlement to free hours of ECEC to meet parental needs. To further their efforts, England
could consider strategies implemented by New Zealand, Nordic countries and the United
States, such as involving parents in curriculum development; training staff specifically on
communication and co-operation with community services; setting flexible times for contact
hours between staff and parents; developing specialised parenting home programmes; and
bridging between ECEC provisions and different community services.

QUALITY MATTERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: UNITED KINGDOM (ENGLAND) © OECD 2012