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Free Childcare – at what cost?
The Pre-school Learning Alliance annual conference was held on Friday 16th June in the prestigious London Hilton Bankside. The main theme of the event was the introduction of 30 free hours’ childcare and the impact it would have on pre-school settings.
EduCare provide all Alliance members with a range of Safeguarding and Duty of Care courses which they can access for free as part of their membership, as such we were delighted to be part of the exhibition and meet members.
Don’t expect just crayons and child care
The conference started with 3 key presentations which set the tone for the day. The presenters showed that Early Years education is vital to the development of our children and should not be overlooked, or assumed that settings are only there to provide ‘child care’.
Neil Leitch, Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance started the presentations with an ardent speech.
He ran through a summary of activity and campaigning that the Alliance have made to parliament regarding recent proposed changes to the sector and assured all attendees that they would continue to work to represent the interests and concerns of the sector.
Karyn McCluskey, Chief Executive of Community Justice Scotland spoke of her work with violent offenders and made an impassioned plea to the members of the audience to help her reduce the number of young people she comes into contact with.
Karyn discussed Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which include abuse, neglect and dysfunctional home environments, have been shown to be associated with the development of a wide range of harmful behaviours including smoking, harmful alcohol use, drug use, risky sexual behaviour, violence and crime.
Karyn believes that if you can reduce a child's ACEs you can change the world, and that understanding of a child or young person’s behaviour as a result of multiple ACEs can change a person’s interaction with them from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What’s happened to you?’.
Karyn urged the audience to understand that their role in early years’ education is not simply the provision of soft skills. Based on the proven scientific benefits that can come from a hug, she stated that what early years’ practitioners are actually delivering is hard science that can help overcome ACEs. Looking at the characteristics of ‘Dandelion Children’, intervention in early years can greatly affect the development of any young person and help all children become those who survive and thrive.
You can read more about Karyn’s work in this article: Karyn McCluskey: the woman who took on Glasgow's gangs
As the conference came so shortly after the snap election, the intended ministerial speaker was unable to attend and so was replaced with the Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson. Paul’s role was to look at the current economic climate and how austerity is affecting Britain today. He referred specifically to mother’s returning to work, the very demographic who will be affected by the introduction of 30 free hours of childcare.
The format for the remainder of the conference allowed attendees to choose two of the following workshops that provided practical knowledge that they could take back to their setting:
- It’s not fair – Understanding children’s behaviour –Tamsin Grimmer, Early Years Consultant
- Magical outdoors, turning ‘urban’ into Forest School –Tracy Betley, Forest School Leader
- Implementing policy changes to obtain better outcomes for children with SEND –Philippa Stobbs, Assistant Director, Council for Disabled Children
Find out more about the free EduCare courses available to members of the Pre-school Learning Alliance on their website.
