When any group in central government turns their attention to a particular phase or field of education, it creates mixed feelings of joy and despair - that there might be an increase in funding, or that it may be manipulated for short-term political gains.
Of course, it is quite right that governments should focus on the early years. Any society will benefit from paying attention to young children and to finding ways of helping them to stay safe, to be healthy and to achieve well, so that they make a strong contribution as they grow. Any developed society would also take special care of its most vulnerable members and there is also a wealth of compelling evidence from neuroscience to support the idea of a critical period of learning in the very earliest years (Blakemore 2000).
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