Download or read book The free entitlement to education for three and four year olds written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-05-22 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Education provides funding for local authorities to pay for three and four year olds to receive their entitlement to 15 hours of free education each week. The Department devolves delivery to local authorities and providers but it is responsible for the overall value for money from the system. In 2011-12 the Department's estimated funding for the entitlement of £1.9 billion provided over 800,000 three and four year olds with access to free education; an estimated annual allocation of approximately £2,300 per child. While the Department and local authorities have focused on ensuring places for children are available, there has been less attention on how value for money can be secured and improved. While there is evidence of educational improvement at age five, the evidence that this is sustained is questionable. The Department needs to do more to understand how educational benefits can be lasting. There is not enough good information for parents to make informed choices and there is concern at reports that some families are still not receiving the entitlement free of charge. It is important that all parents know what the entitlement is and that it should be provided completely free. Early years education has the greatest benefit for children from disadvantaged backgrounds however these children have the lowest levels of take-up and deprived areas have the lowest levels of high quality services. The Department needs to identify and share good practice from those local authorities which are having the most success.
Download or read book Delivering the free entitlement to education for three and four year olds written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-02-03 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The national take-up rate for three and four-year-olds in early education has been sustained at 95 per cent since 2008, despite an eight per cent increase in eligible children. There are however, wide variations in take-up between local authorities. Take-up for children from the most disadvantaged families is lower than overall take-up, and access to high quality provision varies depending on where children live. The percentage of good or outstanding provision across local authorities in March 2011 ranged from 64 per cent to 97 per cent. Areas of highest deprivation are less likely to have high quality provision. Children's level of development at age five has improved, but National Key Stage One results at age seven show almost no improvement since 2007. Although the relationship between the entitlement and Key Stage One results is not straightforward, the Department intended the entitlement to have lasting effects on child development throughout primary school and beyond. It is not yet clear, however, that the entitlement is leading to longer-term educational benefits, and the Department does not yet have robust measures to demonstrate whether the longer-term benefits it expects are being realised. The Department also lacks a robust analysis of the relationship between performance and funding levels. The NAO's analysis found that local authorities which fund providers of the free entitlement at a higher rate were not necessarily those with high-quality provision. There are also limitations in the information available to help parents choose where and how their children use the entitlement.
Download or read book An Equal Start written by Gambaro, Ludovica and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2015-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this topical book, leading experts from eight countries examine how early education and care is organised, funded and regulated in their countries.
Download or read book HL 117 Affordable Childcare written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Select Committee on Affordable Childcare and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Affordable Childcare (HL 117) examines the Government's provision of early years education and childcare for younger children. The Government currently invests 5.2 billion annually in early education and childcare, set to rise to 6.4 billion in the next Parliament with the implementation of the tax-free childcare scheme and the roll-out of Universal Credit.
Download or read book Childcare Act 2006 written by Ann-Marie McAuliffe and published by JKP. This book was released on 2006 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An useful guide to The Childcare Act 2006 for professionals working in children's services.
Download or read book Parents Poverty and the State written by Eisenstadt, Naomi and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2019-07-19 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Naomi Eisenstadt and Carey Oppenheim explore the radical changes in public attitudes and public policy concerning parents and parenting. Drawing on research and their extensive experience of working at senior levels of government, the authors challenge expectations about what parenting policy on its own can deliver. They argue convincingly that a more joined-up approach is needed to improve outcomes for children: both reducing child poverty and improving parental capacity by providing better support systems. This is vital reading for policy makers at central and local government level as well as those campaigning for the rights of children.
Download or read book Accountability for public money progress report written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-04-17 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is a follow-up to the Committee's report on Accountability for Public Money (HC 740, session 2010-11 (ISBN 9780215559029)) an issue at the core of the relationship between Parliament and government. Accounting Officers remain accountable to Parliament for funds voted to their departments but the policy intention is that local bodies will have significant discretion over the services they deliver. In the Government's response, 'Accountability: Adapting to Decentralisation', Sir Bob Kerslake drew a distinction between those services that government delivers directly and those that it may fund but are delivered in more decentralised arrangements. He proposed that Accounting Officers set out, in Accountability System Statements, the arrangements they have in place to provide assurance about the probity and value for money of funds spent through devolved systems. All departments are expected to produce Statements by summer 2012. Departments have made a genuine effort to develop arrangements which reconcile accountability and localism but the Statements so far are unwieldy and considerably more needs to be done to improve their clarity, consistency and completeness. There is concern that accountability frameworks must drive value for money and, critically, are sufficiently robust to address the operational or financial failure of service providers. Departments are placing increasing reliance on market mechanisms such as user choice to drive up performance and value for money, but there are limits to what these mechanisms can achieve. The Treasury needs to take ownership of the system and ensure that the Comptroller and Auditor General has the necessary powers and rights of access to examine the value for money of funds spent through devolved systems
Download or read book House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts Early Action Landscape Review HC 133 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early action in public policy delivery involves the use of resources to tackle causes rather than symptoms. The Government spends nearly £400 billion each year on, for example, health, education, employment, justice and welfare, but huge numbers of people still suffer preventable health problems that are expensive to treat, too many young people leave school with too few qualifications and unable to get a job, too many young offenders commit further crimes when they leave prison, often because of drugs or alcohol addiction, and too many families get locked into benefit dependency. A concerted increase in effective early action could help to deal with the root causes of such problems, benefiting individuals and society and saving the taxpayer billions of pounds each year, but governments have consistently failed to deliver. Early action accounts for only a fraction of annual spending and this spending is not properly co-ordinated. There is no common definition of early action, no central ownership, and little capacity at the centre to drive effective delivery and share good practice. The Treasury is far too focussed on the short term. Robust evidence on the cost-effectiveness of early action and strong incentives for departments to implement early action projects are both vital. Good evidence, however, is thin on the ground and existing incentives do not seem to be working. Addressing social problems effectively also requires that departments work together but, despite some encouraging evidence of joint working amongst departments and at the local level, silo behaviour still predominates.
Download or read book Education Policy Unravelled written by Gillian Forrester and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-10-06 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education Policy Unravelled examines the nature of contemporary education policy, its purposes and political formation. This thoroughly revised edition charts the continuity of policy development along neo-liberal lines, taking a historical perspective broadly from the 19th century and towards the emerging position of the current Conservative government in the UK. This new edition now includes: - the developments in education policy which took place under the Coalition government administration between 2010-2015; - a brand new chapter on policy developments in early childhood education and care; - a brand new chapter on inclusive schools, special educational needs and disability; - new activities and illustrative case studies to challenge and inform students' thinking and understanding around key policy issues; - discussion of new research and recent legislation to illuminate important and emergent issues in education. Written in an accessible style, this is an invaluable guide for engaging with education policy as it uses a variety of key elements of policy theory in order to support students through some of the complexities involved in contemporary policy analysis and critique.
Download or read book Childhood Today written by Alex Owen and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2017-07-24 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is an urgently needed book that explores a number of different concepts of childhood in 21st century. The book throughout considers enduring topics and new concepts of childhood, and initiates a number of questions that students of education, childhood and early childhood studies can engage as lines of inquiries. The book offers a multidisciplinary approach of the child today, that influences practice, policy, and education, and offers diverse dimensions to provoke our thinking." - Dr. Ioanna Palaiologou, Institute of Education, University College London How we understand what ‘childhood’ means in today’s society is constantly changing, and the rate of this change is unprecedented. This new edited book explores what it really means to be a child of the 21st century, and how we as professionals, researchers, parents and adults can understand an environment seemingly in constant flux. Each chapter seeks to explore and problematise some of the different ‘labels’ that we give to children in an attempt to understand their contemporary experiences. From the Regulated Child to the Stressed Child to the Poor Child the book covers a wide array of key issues in contemporary childhood, including obesity, risk, special needs, wellbeing and poverty. The pace of change in childhood can be daunting but this book helps students, practitioners and researchers to explore and understand the variety of issues affecting children in the UK and all over the world.
Download or read book The best start in life written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-03-10 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government has set itself the challenging target of halving the number of children living in poverty by 2010-11 and eradicating child poverty by 2020. With 2010 fast approaching, Ministers are still committed to the targets, and the Committee wanted to ascertain whether DWP has the right measures in place to meet its objectives. Significant progress has been made, but the target remains challenging: there are still 2.8 million children living in poverty and the most recent data shows a slight increase in this number. The Committee is convinced of the damaging effect of poverty on a child's self-esteem and expectations, and also its effects in contributing to social exclusion. Children growing up in poverty are also more likely to have poorer health and poorer educational outcomes. There are groups of children who have a much higher risk of growing up in poverty, for example if they or a parent are disabled, and there are higher poverty rates amongst Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black children. Getting parents into sustainable work should be the focus of the strategy to lift them and their children out of poverty, but there are concerns that the Jobseekers' Allowance regime is not sufficiently flexible to reflect the complexity of lone parents' lives. To eradicate child poverty by 2020, the Government needs a long-term strategy on benefit income for those who are unable to work. If benefits are uprated in line with inflation, the gap between the incomes of those in work and those on benefits will only get wider, as benefits will not keep pace with earnings. As poverty is measured as a percentage of median earnings, the implications for the 2020 target, in particular, are serious.
Download or read book The early years single funding formula written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Children, Schools and Families Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-24 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Early Years Single Funding Formula is intended to replace the different methods currently used to fund early years settings in the maintained sector and in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector. Each local authority will in future use the same criteria for every setting in its area when allocating funds for education and care provided under the free entitlement for three and four year olds. But the Formula has resulted in winners and losers, and the greatest losers will be maintained nursery schools, which provide a quality of education and care which is very high and sets the standard for others to follow. Overall the difficulties encountered so far with the Single Funding Formula have arisen because of the way in which it has been implemented, rather than because of the concept. Local authorities were encouraged to offer settings a supplement to the basic hourly rate of funding to recognise high quality provision, but many have not done so. A quality supplement should be made mandatory. The Government was correct in deciding to defer full implementation until April 2011 and the year's delay must be used to restore stability and to rework funding formulae where necessary. Sir Jim Rose's proposals to encourage entry to primary school in the September following a child's fourth birthday will have far-reaching consequences for early years funding, but blur the distinction between early years and primary education. The Government should examine whether a unified funding system should be introduced for all children aged from 2 to 11 years old.
Download or read book Encouraging Physical Development Through Movement Play written by Carol Archer and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Movement-play, put simply, is encouraging physical activity in a child-led manner for the benefit of children′s health, learning and wellbeing. This book looks at the theory behind the importance of movement and: how movement play links with all the areas of early childhood development physical activity guidelines for young children practical advice and photos to support implementation in settings how to assess your own setting how to best work with parents on this topic comprehensive guidance on writing a physical development policy The early years is one of the critical periods in the establishment of physical behaviours and physical development is also one of the prime areas of the EYFS as well as other, global, curricula. A must-read for students on Early Childhood and Early Years courses and Early Years practitioners to improve their practice and understanding of psychical development for the benefit of young children.
Download or read book Parliamentary Debates Hansard written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 1724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Exploring childhood in a comparative context written by Mabel Ann Brown and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-05 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring Childhood in a Comparative Context meets an increasing need for students focusing on early childhood to be familiar with alternative practices in other countries. Providing a ready-made source of information about a wide range of countries including Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and many more, the book clearly describes the way each country understands and conceptualises childhood. Each chapter includes contextual information about the country, an introduction to the theory that has shaped practice and describes the curriculum for pre-school and primary education. Including vignettes from practitioners working in each country to illustrate practice, the chapters explore key themes such as: Child development Parental involvement Teaching and learning Professionalism Assessment Pupil experience. Accessibly written and including opportunities for reflection, this timely new book will give students a valuable insight into alternative education systems that is essential if they are to become practitioners with a current and global approach.
Download or read book As an Equal written by Rosie Cox and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Au pairs are relied upon by tens of thousands of UK families to do everything from childcare and housework to elder care, pet feeding and waiting at dinner parties. Traditionally thought of as privileged and well-educated young women having fun on a 'gap year' abroad, au pairs have been excluded from many of the recent discussions on migrant domestic labour. However, since 2008 au pairing has been effectively unregulated in the UK and the result is that au pairs now constitute one of the poorest paid and least protected groups of workers. Through an examination of lived experiences, As an Equal? draws on detailed research to examine au pairs and the families who host them in contemporary Britain, revealing au pairing to have become increasingly indistinguishable from other forms of domestic labour. Crucially, hosting an au pair is shown to form part of families' attempts to provide good (enough) childcare in the context of extended working hours and poor public childcare provision. This increased reliance of families on an exploited workforce is shown to form part of the wider political climate of economic austerity, and raises profound questions about the position of women within the neoliberal economy.
Download or read book Towards a more equal society written by Hills, John and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2009-02-25 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When New Labour came to power in 1997, its leaders asked for it to be judged after ten years on its success in making Britain 'a more equal society'. As it approaches the end of an unprecedented third term in office, this book asks whether Britain has indeed moved in that direction. The highly successful earlier volume A more equal society? was described by Polly Toynbee as the LSE's mighty judgement on inequality. Now this second volume by the same team of authors provides an independent assessment of the success or otherwise of New Labour's policies over a longer period. It provides: · consideration by a range of expert authors of a broad set of indicators and policy areas affecting poverty, inequality and social exclusion; · analysis of developments up to the third term on areas including income inequality, education, employment, health inequalities, neighbourhoods, minority ethnic groups, children and older people; · an assessment of outcomes a decade on, asking whether policies stood up to the challenges, and whether successful strategies have been sustained or have run out of steam; chapters on migration, social attitudes, the devolved administrations, the new Equality and Human Rights Commission, and future pressures. The book is essential reading for academic and student audiences with an interest in contemporary social policy, as well as for all those seeking an objective account of Labour's achievements in power.
