Nursery World - Shortage of high quality childcare could hamper rollout of free places for disadvantaged two-year-olds

Finding sufficient high quality childcare to expand free early education to all disadvantaged two-year-olds by 2013 could be problematic, research into the free entitlement suggests.

Previous research has found that childcare in disadvantaged areas tends to be of a lower quality than in more affluent parts of the country.

Working with health visitors and other professionals, local authorities should also use birth data to draw up a comprehensive list of children in their area who would be eligible for the offer before they turn two, in order to target free places for disadvantaged two-year-olds more effectively.

The Government-commissioned study, Rolling out free early education for disadvantaged two-year-olds: an implementation study for local authorities and providers, by the NCB and the National Centre for Social Research, said that in future the Department for Education may need to consider ‘how much variation in quality would be acceptable’ and whether providers delivering the free offer should follow national guidelines.

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