“We need to raise the standing of the [early years] sector, make it part of the education system so that it is regarded with the same parity as our schools,” shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson told the Guardian in July. “What you achieve in the early years makes such a big difference.”
Phillipson’s words echo the strongly held belief at Liverpool Hope University, where its well-established early years education courses are about more than education. As Prof Cate Carroll-Meehan, dean and head of the school education, says: “When you think about how a child develops into an adult, it really is those first five years which are critical in terms of not just physical development and emotional development, but how they regulate their emotions, how they learn to get on with other people, and the values they form – their attitudes and prejudices.”
The university – which evolved from the unification of three teacher training colleges, the first founded in 1844 – prides itself on training teachers who are creative, proactive and reflective. Mikaela Nugent-Jones, senior professional tutor in primary education, says: “We talk very much about the ‘Hope teacher’, teaching with moral purpose, and seeing their career as a vocation – it is more than just teaching children and helping them to learn; it is about making a difference to a child’s life.”
Rachel Redfern is in her third year of study as an early years and primary education student at Liverpool Hope University. She says that while she is not “naturally academic”, dedicated teachers allowed her to flourish, and she wants to give that gift back. “Early years, as the name suggests, is the very foundation of a child’s development. We are laying the path for these children for the rest of their educational journey and what a privilege that is. We are teaching children fundamental skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.”
Carroll-Meehan says this is also a time when “dreams are built”, and children learn from their environments and the people around them. “The work we do here with our trainees and students is not just about saying: ‘Here is the curriculum, go and deliver it,’ but about giving them the critical viewpoints, an appreciation of the complexities, and putting the ‘human’ into their work to allow them to connect with each individual child. It’s about understanding people, essentially.”
A testing time
Yet early years education faces many challenges in the UK, not least funding, resources and policy changes such as the decline of the Sure Start initiative, a UK-wide programme launched in 1999 to support children under the age of four and their families. At its peak, in 2009-10, Sure Start received £1.8bn a year (a third of overall early years spending), but funding has since fallen by more than two-thirds and many centres have been closed or now offer reduced services.
“Sure Start is a good example of a policy that could really have made a difference long-term but was decimated under the austerity policy of subsequent governments,” says Dr Clionagh Boyle, the university’s head of early childhood. “The lip service that is paid to the importance of young children while electioneering doesn’t translate to policy that addresses child poverty,” she says.
Boyle formerly worked in children’s policy and advocacy. She recalls the sea change when Every child matters was introduced in 2003, designed to put an end to disjointed services. “It was such an important shift in our way of thinking about children’s services planning. The subsequent policy shift from Every child matters with its focus on health, learning, safety, citizenship and economic wellbeing to a much narrower focus on academic achievement has not served children well, particularly our poorest children.”
The privatisation of many early years services that saw the demise of government-funded initiatives has left a void, and this also serves to exacerbate inequalities at an early age. Boyle says this affects holistic development, wellbeing and learning. “Our system and approach need to be reattuned to recognise that early childhood is important in social policy, advocacy and politics as well as for education.”
For Boyle, the recent expansion of free childcare entitlement for working parents suggests the government doesn’t understand the “crisis” in the early years sector. “The funding rates proposed are nowhere near enough to provide high-quality places. Research such as the landmark Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project shows that early childhood education only makes a difference to children’s outcomes if it is high quality, with well-qualified and well-paid staff. This is why research, raising the qualifications of the early years sector, and advocacy for better pay for a graduate workforce are all connected.”
Giving Hope
Those working with children in the UK can be underpaid and undervalued, says Boyle. This is where the role of universities and graduate-level jobs is crucial. It is one of the many challenges Liverpool Hope aims to make sure its early years students are prepared for.
As well as priding itself on its pastoral care to ensure staff get to know each trainee and their unique starting point, Nugent-Jones says students are taught resilience. “They are agents of change, and we want them to be leaders of the future, and that relies on having the resilience to keep going in that role and to bounce back from setbacks. We also equip them to be critically reflective and research-informed to help them to navigate the challenges they will face in their career.”
Liverpool Hope’s courses for early years teaching include a professional studies strand that nurtures a questioning mindset, encouraging students to discuss the approach of the university’s partner schools, and to unpick and better understand some of the practices with an expert tutor. “This helps to develop their educational philosophy and the teacher they want to be in the future,” says Nugent-Jones.
Based on the belief that working with young children requires an understanding of pedagogy, psychology, sociology and philosophy, one of Liverpool Hope’s new qualifications is a BA in early childhood studies with graduate practitioner competencies. It requires students to complete 80 days in a range of placements – such as children’s centres, schools, hospitals, wellbeing and family support services – alongside their degree. The first cohort graduated this year. “They are entering the profession well versed in child development and pedagogy but also in policy and advocacy,” says Boyle. “And they will need those skills if we are serious about bringing real change for and with children.”
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