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Too Much, Too Late: Life chances and spending on education and training
1 Mar 2005
Executive summary
Efforts to widen participation in education are narrowly focused on transitions at sixteen and eighteen, such as the creation of a university Access Regulator. Such measures will not change the status quo significantly as long as the UK continues to invest nearly three times as much per student in higher education as it does per child under five. This ignores the critical role that early education and care plays in improving school attainment and forming an individual's capacity for life-long learning. This report argues that expanding opportunity can only be achieved by a relocation of spending on education and training in favour of the under fives.
Given current constraints in the public finances and competing priorities for investment, a reallocation of spending would provide the additional investment needed to offer all children under five access to the affordable, high quality services that will give them the best start in school. A strong foundation for learning in the preschool years can then be built on in primary and secondary school, with the effect of improving attainment at sixteen. This will create new opportunities for young people from disadvantaged families who currently see their life chances severely limited by poor attainment in school.
Failure to invest adequate amounts early in the life cycle means that the education system will continue to fail nearly half of all young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Young people who leave school without 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C are forced to make up for poor attainment the first time round through 'second chance' adult education and training programmes that have a dire track record. Many offer little improvement in employability or earnings.
The current pattern of spending treats each phase of education separately. A reallocation of spending in favour of the early years emphasises the connections between different phases, recognising that doing well in one phase depends on prior attainment and, in turn, influences the likelihood of doing well in the future. In the medium term, the following changes should be made to spending on education and training to ensure that investment underpins the government's commitment to improving life chances:
- Raise the £3000 cap on student contributions to higher education to limit annual growth in public funding. Redirect savings in government spending on universities to support high quality early years services.
- Switch investment from ineffective classroom-based training for low skilled young people and adults to more effective, lower cost work-based options, including subsidised work. Redirect savings in government spending on the low skilled to support high quality early years services.
- Add savings in public spending on higher education and the low skilled to the £1 billion earmarked for the childcare tax credit in 2007/8 to increase direct funding to childcare providers. This will reduce the parental contribution to early education and care and remove the affordability barrier for all families.
- Invest in targeted follow-on interventions during school to maintain the gains from high quality early education and care and prevent the attainment of disadvantaged children from slipping back. This will increase the percentage of sixteen year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds achieving five GCSEs at grades A*-C, making a lasting contribution to life chances.
For more information visit the Social Market Foundation website.
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