Nursery World - A Unique Child: Early Childhood Development

The Post-2015 Development Agenda offers a unique opportunity to
carve a positive future for children based on a holistic approach to
early childhood development - but early years practitioners need to make
sure their voices are heard. Dr Eunice Lumsden explains.

The past 17 years have seen Early Childhood Education and Care increasingly become the focus of policymakers and researchers nationally and internationally. In England, we have seen unprecedented investment in workforce reform and indisputable evidence that if a society invests in its youngest children the rewards are lifelong and intergenerational.

Indeed, as we enter 2014 there has never before been a time of such cross-party support for the importance of a holistic approach to early childhood development (ECD) and early intervention - see box for the petition launched by Tessa Jowell and Ivan Lewis and cross-party manifesto The 1001 Critical Days.

Yet there are still barriers for policymakers in actually articulating the knowledge we now have into integrated education, health and social care policy that is able to weather changes in political ideology.

The start of 2014 gives all those involved in developing and providing services for children and their families the opportunity to shape a different future that builds and acts on an ever-increasing evidence base about the importance of ECD. There is no other area where economics, neuroscience and the social sciences all come to the same conclusion - ECD is important.

As the world debates how to build on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda provides an opportunity that will not be seen again for 15 to 20 years: for ECD to be a goal in its own right with targets that all countries must meet.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

At the start of this century, the eight MDGs included halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, promoting gender equality, improved maternal health, reduced child mortality and primary education for all. These goals have supported many countries to develop policies and practice that have had an impact on the lives of children and their families. However, the targets have not all been met and will still not be met by 2015. There are also increasing challenges for the most disadvantaged children and families in all countries.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, started a 'Global Conversation', establishing a High Level Panel to advise him. One of the co-chairs of this panel is David Cameron, placing him in a powerful position to shape the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which will be implemented from 1 January 2016.

The past year has seen activity providing important opportunities to reflect on the MDGs, build on their strengths and the lessons learned, and support the United Nations aim of 'One global development agenda for the post-2015 period, with sustainable development at its centre'.

Furthermore, arguably the most important fact about the new agenda is that it will embrace all countries, not just those deemed as 'developing'. Therefore, it offers an important opportunity for the UK not just to lead in developing the new agenda but to reflect on itself, enhance its own provision, and take a lead in shaping and supporting others in meeting the new targets.

There have been proposals of what should be included and various movements established to lobby those responsible for the agenda to focus on specific areas. There is a real push for equity and equality, with the notion of leaving no one behind and having sustainable development at the core (Ulkuer, 2013).

The MDGs of poverty, education, gender and health are seen as key areas of focus for the new agenda -though how these will all be reflected in the final framework is still being debated. However, what is clear is that currently - despite all that is known about the impact ECD can have on all these areas - a specific focus on this most important developmental period appears to be sadly lacking.

A GROWING GLOBAL VOICE

In a recent article in The Lancet, Margar Chan (2013) clearly articulated that it is what we know about the consequences of poor ECD experiences that should be the critical driver in ensuring that ECD is central to the new framework.

Inconsistencies in care, maltreatment, poor nutrition and the lack of safe, nurturing and supportive environments that facilitate learning impact adversely on the life course. The more extreme the earliest experiences are, the greater the impact will be. These issues are just as pertinent to the UK as to other countries, as Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, stressed in her foreword to 1001 Critical Days.

She wrote, 'Those who suffer multiple adverse childhood events achieve less educationally, earn less, and are less healthy, making it more likely that the cycle of harm is perpetuated in the following generation'.

The realisation that these messages are not being heard or acted on has led to a growing global voice for ECD. The call is for there to be a specific measurable goal for the Post-2015 Development Framework (see the University of Northampton's short film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6twHsJD864).

As Dr Pia Britto, senior adviser for ECD at UNICEF, clearly voiced at the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Conception to the Age of Two, it is important that all the scientific knowledge and evidence-based practice is acted on and for there to be 'the political will to make this happen' (Britto, 2013).

Following the APPG, Baroness Walmsley tabled a question in the House Of Lords asking the Government what it was doing to promote ECD as part of the Post-2015 Development Framework. Her presentation at the debate stressed why ECD needs to be a specific goal in the new framework.

'Early childhood holds the long-term solutions to solving the economic and social problems of intergenerational poverty, and to achieving world peace and our environmental survival,' she said.

'That may sound like a very big claim, but mountains of evidence from almost every discipline come to one conclusion: the earliest years of life can give us the strongest foundation for individual, societal, national and global sustainable development (Walmsley, 2013, lines 13-15).

PLAY A PART

Everyone working in the early years knows just how important ECD is. There has never been such an opportunity for everyone in the UK to come together with their early years colleagues globally and have their voices heard collectively.

We now have the chance to make an impact on national and international policy by calling for a specific goal of ECD to be included in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

So how can you help?

Sign the petition launched calling for ECD to be central to the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Ten thousand signatures are needed by February 2014 and we need 6,000 more, so your signature will count. See http://chn.ge/1fbsmgZ
Watch the short film by the University of Northampton supporting this UNICEF campaign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6twHsJD864
Ask the staff and parents in your settings to become involved by sharing the petition and short film.
Invite your local MP to your setting or meet with them to ask them to write to the Prime Minister on your behalf, asking him to advocate for ECD as a specific goal in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Dr Eunice Lumsden has just been appointed head of early years at The University of Northampton.

Prior to her new role, she was the programme leader for the BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies Degree at the university. Her doctoral research focused on Early Years Professional Status

REFERENCES

Speech at the All Party Parliamentary Group meeting on Conception to the Age of Two the first 1001 Days, by P Britto, 7 November 2013.
Linking Child Survival and Child Development for Health, Equity, and Sustainable Development by M Chan (2013) in The Lancet, 381:1514
The 1001 Critical Days: the importance of conception to the age of two period by A Leadsom, F Field, P Burstow and C Lucas. See www.andrealeadsom.com/downloads/1001cdmanifesto.pdf
Early childhood development at the heart of post-2015 framework petition by Tessa Jowell and Ivan Lewis Petition (2013). See www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/un-secretary-general-ban-ki-moon-and-un- member-states-put-early-childhood-development-at-the-heart-of-the-new- post-2015-development-framework-with-targets-that-promise-all-children- care-support-and-services-which-work-together-for-the-best-start-in- l
Reflecting, Celebrating and Shaping the Future: the importance of early childhood development by N Ulkuer, given as an annual children and young people's lecture at the University of Northampton (6 November 2013).
United Nations (2013a) Millennium Development Goals and Post-2015 Development Agenda overview, available from http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/mdg.shtml
United Nations (2013b) Post-2015 Development Agenda. Available from: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/mdg.shtml
Children: Development, a question for a short debate by J Walmsley (2013), available from www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131126-gc0001.htm#13112671000106.