Making childcare cheaper and better?

I was horrified to hear this on the news this morning. It is blatant cost cutting. This drive to make childcare cheaper is understandable but wrong in my opinion. Do people want the cheapest option for their children? A friend often says of people "they know the price of everything but the value of nothing". Small children need to build relationship with carers, they need to have lots of one to one conversation and interaction. That is much more important than "teaching" them at one, two and three years old! The smaller the adult to child ratio, the more likely they will have that interaction. That's how they learn - being acknowledged, listened to and chatted with and, dare I say it, cuddles. That needs enough adults available to respond to them individually. Common sense, surely.

It's impossible for the children to get the same level of attention if the child/adult ratio is increased. The GCSE level won't make up for the detrimental affect that will have. Nurseries need people who understand and can relate to small children. They're not going teach them advanced maths.

Phonics and reading already forms part of nursery provision so it just goes to prove that Liz Truss had no idea what she was talking about.

Is this the thin edge of the wedge? How long before they change the 30 child maximum class size for reception and KS1? This is nothing to do with improving education but everything to do with making it appear that nursery/school places are increasing.

Liz Truss was interviewed on BBC Breakfast this morning and made the astonishing statement that "safety doesn't depend on the number of children and carers but on the carers' qualifications". Given that the qualifications now required are, as JessM points out, a C grade in GCSE English and Maths, it is hard to understand what she is talking about.

The new plan also wants nurseries to teach children to read and write "rather than just care for them". Has this woman ever visited a nursery? Does she have children? Have her children ever visited a nursery? Does she know anything about child development?

Oh, of course, Michael Gove, salvation of the education system, is her boss.