麻花影视criticises lack of early years focus in Schools White Paper
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 disappointing, though sadly not surprising, that the government has opted to publish an education White Paper that focuses almost exclusively on schools, rather widening the scope and looking at the levelling-up opportunities presented by the education sector as a whole.
鈥淲hile we welcome the fact that the government has recognised that 鈥渉igh quality early years provision will ensure children have the best possible start to their education鈥, the White Paper includes very little evidence or detail on how this is going to be achieved in practice.
鈥淐alls for a long-term strategy for the early years sector have long been ignored by the government and today is no exception. The Schools White Paper is yet another example of the government鈥檚 insistence on prioritising schools over early years providers, despite a wealth of evidence showing that the best way to tackle educational attainment gaps is to invest in quality early education.
鈥淐oupled with years of severe underfunding of the sector, this White Paper will do little to ease the worries of early years providers who understandably feel that government talk of building a great early education system in this country is little more than empty rhetoric.鈥