Childcare Bill

I do not think that there is a circle to square. My point is that we are in danger of treating all children under five the same, but basic attachment theory shows that children are very different in the first two years, which are all about the connections that the child makes with the parent or child care provider with whom it comes into close contact. Trying to educationalise or schoolify, as people have put it, those crucial early years threatens to upset the social development of that child. That is why we need to be assured that the early education plans are not as prescriptive as many people fear. The explanatory notes for clause 41 mention"““six areas of learning and development . . . what most young children are expected to achieve . . . educational programmes, setting out what should be taught to young children . . . arrangements for assessing the learning and development””." That is educational language, not the language of social development. That is why we are so concerned about the prospect of prescriptive schoolification of provision for very young children, when what they need is the chance to interact socially and form attachments. They need to be observed, encouraged and stimulated, not tested and not taught. As the NUT has warned, the proposal to extend the national literacy and numeracy frameworks downwards to age three will result in formalised learning too soon. We want to scrutinise that closely and, in particular, table amendments to ensure different treatment for children at that early age. We support the principles behind the Bill, but we want to scrutinise it closely. There is a lot at stake and we cannot risk an approach that puts quantity ahead of quality outcomes. We must not apply to this area the Government’s obsession—as shown in so much other legislation—with testing and ticking the boxes, instead of letting children grow up and learn to interact socially with their carers and peers. We need to encourage a child to develop its own sense of self. Subject to the criteria that I have set out, the Bill will have our support where it genuinely extends more choice and flexibility to more parents and their children; where it improves quality; where it complements and builds on what is already there rather than duplicates and undermines it; where it creates a genuine partnership between local authorities and all other interested parties; where it recognises that a child does best when allowed to be brought up by a loving family and parents, where possible; and, above all, if it allows children to grow up as well rounded individuals, given the best start in life that they all deserve.