Opinion - Editor's view - The Government is belatedly moving to preserve best practice
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The sustained fall in the number of nursery schools over the past years has been a crying shame. Their role as beacons of excellent practice and in developing great nursery practitioners has not saved large numbers of them from closure and amalgamation.
Local authorities have tended to look at nursery schools' relativeexpense, as opposed to the high value that their services provide. Thetemptation to have them swallowed up by a primary school can be too muchto resist.
True, some nursery schools have become children's centres, although theymay lose the 'education' focus in the process. It is hard, however, forthem to maintain their tradition of developing nursery teaching inaltered circumstances.
The funding from the DCSF, for Early Education to investigate 'thecurrent and potential role of maintained nursery schools in nurserypractitioners' professional development and in promoting good earlyyears practice', is late, but welcome nonetheless (see news, page 6).Perhaps it can help to preserve what is left of this wonderful provisionand reverse the erosion of nursery education in our early yearssystem.
Nursery World Awards
Speaking of excellent practice, the deadline for entries to the NurseryWorld Awards 2008 has been extended to 7 August, so make sure you don'tmiss out on the opportunity to shine or to highlight the excellence of astaff member or colleague. We're looking for individuals from nurserymanagers to newcomers, settings including nurseries and pre-schools,initiatives such as team development and inclusive practice, and earlyyears equipment of all kinds. See www.nurseryworldawards.co.uk.
