Can we afford not to provide high quality early education and care? Cathy Nutbrown responds to More Great Childcare

Professor Cathy Nutbrown

Have no doubt - More Great Childcare is not an adequate response to the Nutbrown Review. On the other hand, Cathy Nutbrown's paper, Shaking the Foundations of Quality [PDF] is a thoughtful and often stirring critique of the government's proposals.

Cathy Nutbrown writes: 

At the heart of early childhood education and care are children and their families and, again, it may be a truism but it is worth reiterating that no changes in policy should be made unless they are demonstrably beneficial to them. It is not possible to provide good foundations for life and learning for the youngest children on the cheap. But it should be possible, with political will, to provide quality experiences for children that are affordable. When the budgets are set the question to be asked is not "Can we afford high quality early education and care with well qualified professionals?" Rather, when we take account of the strongly evidenced benefits of high quality and appropriately caring early learning experiences to later life, the question to be asked is "Can we afford not to provide high quality early education and care with well qualified professionals?"

Please email, share, Facebook and post Professor Nutbrown's paper wherever you can - it's that important.

Read more of my posts about More Great Childcare:


Leading researchers warn that government proposals will "lead to an unintended reduction in quality"

Professor Denise Hevey's comments on More Great Childcare

When is a teacher not a teacher?

Liz Truss on ratios and qualifications - an ill-considered announcement

Elizabeth Truss and nursery ratios: why there is no case for change