Alternatively, the recent Field and Allen reports argue strongly for the social benefits of early education and childcare - reducing poverty, and intervening early to prevent vulnerable children from creating social problems in the future.
By both measures, we are in danger of feeling seriously let down. After spending billions on the free entitlement to early education at three and four, children's progress at seven has been flat-lining for the last four years. The national evaluation of the pilot phase to provide free places for two-year-olds showed no benefit overall to the children. Neither of these findings should really be a surprise - we already know the EYFS does not link very well to Key Stage 1, for example. But it is becoming increasingly easy, in a time of austerity, for critics to argue that there is no evidence that spending money on the early years is making a significant difference.
This makes me think two things. First, if only we could travel a little more slowly and carefully when it comes to designing and delivering projects in the early years. The funding for two-year-olds is great news, but only if the money is spent wisely. We are in danger of getting caught up in a senseless dash to create a target number of places by 2014. Instead, we should be reflecting on what might be the best we can do for such young children, given their vulnerability.
Second, it would be better to focus on the here-and-now for children, rather than trying to solve potential social problems for the future. As the psychologist Jerome Bruner commented in 1978: 'Childwatching of a sympathetic kind can go a long way towards helping us to think about child care more in the spirit of gentle problem solving and less as an exercise in ideological projection.'
- This is my last column for To the Point, as I am about to start a new job heading up a nursery school and children's centre in spring. Thanks to all the readers who have been in touch over the years, and also a big thank you to the team at Nursery World.
