According to the first research into Tory’s shake-up of childcare, staff are overwhelmed. Why are staff overwhelmed? You are about to find out, so please read on patiently.
The Conservatives’ first significant research into the controversial shake-up of childcare has disclosed that nursery staff often do more “crowd control” than education because of the increased number of kids they care for.
Nurseries in England have been permitted to increase the child-to-staff ratios, and now every teacher takes care of five two-year-old kids instead of four. The change was meant to help deliver a party promise of delivering free child care for 1 hour a week from this month for working parents with children from three years down to nine months.
According to the study, 32% of the staff at nurseries feel that the quality has been hit after following the new guidelines.
In a study of 152 early-year settings by researchers at Nottingham Trent University and Northampton, staff felt they were now “simply firefighting,” some admitted that the arrangements for the two-year-olds were no longer safe.
The results will also increase pressure on Labour, which is committed to making the free childcare hours 30 a week in September. Bridget Philipson has pledged a “sea change” in early-years education; however, critics cautioned that the situation might become worse unless nurseries can employ more staff.
Aaron Bradbury, a co-author of the study and an early childhood studies lecturer at Nottingham University, stated, “We found those who increased their ratios are often experiencing real problems, with children left to cry or hurt themselves because staff are overwhelmed.”
He added that several care providers had “stuck to their principles” and refused to increase the number of children per staff member. However, the sector is in deep crisis, and many nurseries are shutting down, and others have admitted more children “just to keep the lights on.”
An urgent call on the Labour government to review the new rules following these “damning” findings, Bradbury stated that “This was only ever about cost-cutting, but parents want their children to be nurtured and safe.”
One practitioner also commented on the anonymous study, “It makes my role impossible. “Instead of educating, I’m simply crowd control.”
She added that older kids in pre-school were left on their own devices.
Another added: “We often find it difficult to give children the attention they need.”
She said if a staff member is unavailable, the other staff will be left with many kids to care for, which is “unsafe”.
Over 27% of the respondents stated that change harmed the well-being of the staff, with nursery heads absent due to stress or sickness and more staff leaving. According to a director, staff last an average of four to five months.
Another nursery director stated, “Why would you work in such an incredibly stressful environment when you can stack shelves for more money?”
Neil Leitch, the Early Alliance chief executive, stated, “The sector is on its knees, and we have a recruitment and retention crisis worse than ever before, so ministers were out of their minds to increase ratios.”
Leitch added: “The [Conservative] government announced that two-year-olds were entitled to 15 hours of free childcare a week and then thought, ‘How the hell are we going to deliver this?’.
“Nurseries shouldn’t just watch over children; we should help them develop.”
David Wright, a co-founder of the Paint Pots group in Hampshire, stated, “You’ve only got one pair of arms and can only respond to one child at a time.” The Paint Pots group consists of 13 nurseries and pre-schools, which didn’t change the ratios.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education stated, “We hear the sector’s concerns about the balance between managing finances, staffing, and offering the places parents need.”
The spokesperson stated that the child-to-staff ratios “are a minimum requirement – there is no obligation to adopt them”.
