The survey of more than 300 early years staff sought the views of staff from local authority early years teams, nursery managers and practitioners and staff from the children's voluntary sector that belong to the National Children's Bureau's early years networks, as well as individuals working in the early years and childcare sector.
It found that the majority of respondents (95 per cent) were against the relaxation of ratios as they felt it would not be in the best interests of the child. Early years staff said that increasing child:adult ratios would lead to a reduction in the quality of relationships between young children and their key person, less individual attention for children and staff focusing on perfunctory tasks such as nappy changing, rather than supporting children's development.
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