Nursery World - Free places research: lessons to be learned

An independent review of childcare funding is needed to make sure the free offer works well, says Jill Rutter of the Family and Childcare Trust

As recently covered in Nursery World, new research released in October looked at the impact of the free early education offer on child development. The press release issued alongside the research was ominously titled ‘Free childcare for 3 year olds: no long term benefits for child development’. Seemingly, the early education offer is not working very well.

As is often the case, the spin for journalists is a step removed from the findings of the research itself. The researchers looked at the impact of the introduction of the early education offer on children’s developmental outcomes in the years 2001 to 2007. The conclusions of the research were certainly bracing: the early education offer had only a small impact on educational outcomes at age 5 and 7, and none at all at age 11. As an intervention designed to improve educational outcomes, it is hard to see the free offer in its present form as a success.

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