Creating a sustainable early learning and childcare system for Scotland
- Lectures and events
- Publication Date
- 02/03/2022
- Featuring
- Professor Eva Lloyd OBE,
- Ollie Bray
September 2021 marked the introduction of 30 funded hours of early learning and care provision for all Scottish 3-, 4- and eligible 2-year-olds. Despite the pandemic’s impact, Scotland’s central and local governments, in partnership with the ELC sector, admirably managed to maintain the momentum behind this major policy innovation.
Four years earlier England introduced 30 funded hours, in contrast, targeted at the children of employed parents. Unlike in Scotland, those 30 hours and the 15 funded hours for children not eligible for 30 hours, are predominantly delivered in the private childcare sector. As in other marketised early learning and care systems, this situation is giving rise to equality and sustainability issues. Those involved in any future expansion of ELC in Scotland may wish to take note of these.
This video was part of the RSE’s early years conference, which focused on placing the needs of children, their being and belonging, at the heart of early learning.
The conference took a comprehensive look at placing the needs of children at the heart of their learning, rather than focusing on early learning and childcare as a means to an economic or practical end.
The transcript for this video is currently being prepared, apologies for any inconvenience.
Please note transcripts are automatically generated, so may feature errors.
