NLT policy

The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults

14 Dec 2010

Following the release of the schools white paper, Labour MP Frank Field released the final report of his independent review on poverty and life chances. Commissioned by the coalition government the review assessed not only the evidence on how important background factors are to life chances in the UK.

The report, entitled The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults, is not a command paper like the white paper and so at this stage it is impossible to know how many of the recommendations will be taken forward. However, the report’s focus on early language development and the importance of the family helps to raise the profile of these essential policy issues, and for that alone the document is a welcome addition to the current evidence base.

The key recommendation of the report is that government needs to shift from considering child poverty in purely financial terms. Instead, the report argues, ‘a shift of focus is needed towards providing high quality, integrated services aimed at supporting parents and improving the abilities of our poorest children when it is most effective to do so.’ To do this the review recommends establishing a set of “Life Chances Indicators” and a ”Foundation Years” stage from pre-birth to five. This would represent a bold step in public policy delivery in the UK and the National Literacy Trust is keen to see the development of these ideas.

The evidence in the final report provides a crucial reminder of the importance of the family on young children’s early language development. In a personal commentary at the beginning of the paper Frank Field writes “We imperil the country’s future if we forget that it is the aspirations and actions of parents which are critical to how well their children prosper.” This message provides essential balance to the schools white paper, reminding policy makers that the development of literacy does not happen exclusively in the school environment and that supporting parents to support their children is essential to success.

The evidence in the report comes from a variety of existing sources including the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education project and the work of Professor Ted Melhiush, but setting out all the evidence in one place provides an excellent single source for clear information on the importance of the early years. The National Literacy Trust met with Mr Field and his team during the development of this report and we are pleased to see that the evidence base reflects the knowledge of those working in the early years sector.

The recommendations within the report are particularly pleasing as they recognise the importance of partnership. Partnership between local authorities, the third sector and communities, but also partnership between settings and parents. As the report says “what parents do is the single biggest influence on children’s attainment” and parents want the best for their children. Best practice around the country recognises this and works with parents, building on their strengths and emphasising their desire to well for their children. One particularly interesting recommendation calls for parenting and family relationships to be given greater prominence in the school curriculum, to allow pupils to obtain a cross curricular qualification at GCSE in parenting.

How this will sit with the white paper’s announced plans for schools is a difficult question, and ultimately this potential clash could mean some recommendations in The Foundation Years won’t get taken forward. Support for this review’s holistic approach to ensuring the development of literacy is not to criticise the white paper’s more focused look at schools, but is merely recognition that if we are to ensure all children grow up with strong literacy skills then we must strive to give support in schools and in communities.

Tags: Children, Early Reading Connects, Early Years, Early years sector, England, Northern Ireland, Policy, Scotland, Social inclusion, TTYB policy, Talk To Your Baby, Wales

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