If Boris Johnson is really interested in ‘levelling up', he should start with nurseries | Polly Toynbee

Investment in jobs in education, rather than roads, would mean improving people’s life chances for decades to come

Nurseries, already teetering on the edge, are collapsing in the pandemic. In the poorest places, where they are already thin on the ground, more than a third are likely to close through lack of funds. An Early Years Alliance survey of 6,300 nurseries makes grim reading. Those under pressure are only surviving now on furlough pay: when that’s withdrawn they will go under, threatening not just nursery jobs but also parents’ work if they can’t find another place. Children’s life chances are already severely damaged by losing 100 lockdown days: Education Endowment Foundation research expects the attainment gap to widen by 36% during school closures.

The youngest will be most stricken if they have no nursery to return to, as levelling-up starts with them. Decades of research shows that supporting every month of a young child’s development is worth years later in school. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that good early years education lasts through life into improved earnings for disadvantaged children. But the attempt to close the social class gap for young children has stalled over recent years, as underfunded nurseries struggle with underpaid, under-trained staff.

We boast of a fictional 'cradle to grave' welfare state, but both the cradle and the last stages of life are outsourced

Related: Nurseries will close without more support during coronavirus

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3io2TrP