Nursery World - To the point... (4)

Critical of Government childcare policy, Alan Bentley invites a debate about the best time to start formal education I was both interested and yet slightly disappointed to read Professor Helen Penn's column (Nursery World, 12 April).

I was both interested and yet slightly disappointed to read Professor Helen Penn's column (Nursery World, 12 April).

Professor Penn has rightly deduced that the major positive changes claimed by New Labour in the childcare sector over the last ten years are largely, if not totally, illusory.

Government policy on childcare has been driven not by a desire to develop sustainable childcare, but rather by the need to enlarge the workforce in order to sustain economic growth.

The Government's policies - whether it be the Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative, Sure Start, and now even children's centres - are all fatally flawed for the following two reasons:

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