Regulation of Early Education and Childcare

Executive Summary

Why Regulate?

1. The Government believes that early years education and childcare need to be subject to regulation backed by statute. Children are by definition vulnerable to a greater or lesser extent: regulation can help ensure their safety. But regulation is not just needed to prevent harm but also to ensure a positive experience: good quality early education and childcare can make an enormous contribution to children's personal and social development. Regulation can help ensure that children reap these benefits.

Why Review the Present Regulatory Frameworks?

2. Childcare and early education are already subject to regulation. But some of the regulatory frameworks are very old: for example, local authority schools are governed by the Schools (Scotland) Code 1956 and the Schools Premises Regulations 1967. And early years education and childcare have expanded rapidly in recent years and will expand even further in the next few years. In 1999 the Government has succeeded in making available a quality part-time pre-school education place for virtually every child in the pre-school year. Investment of £138 million extra following the Comprehensive Spending Review will extend this guarantee to every child from his or her third birthday. Similarly there will be massive extra investment in childcare in Scotland: £91 million extra from The Scottish Office over the years 1999-2002; £25 million in lottery resources over 1999-2003 from the New Opportunities Fund for out of school care; and £25-30 million annually from the childcare element of the Working Families Tax Credit. The existing discrepancies in the regulatory standards applied to provision in local authority schools on the one hand, and the private and voluntary sectors on the other, are already a source of strain and can be expected to become more so as provision of both kinds expands. The Government therefore believes that it is right at this time to review our approach to regulating childcare and early years education.

What to Regulate?

3. There are two main issues in looking at what to regulate: What types of provision should be regulated? For what age range of children should provision be regulated?

4. On what types of provision should be regulated, the Government believes that - as now - care in institutional settings should be regulated. This includes schools, playgroups, nurseries, and after-school clubs. We also believe that - as now - care in domestic premises other than the parental home, ie by childminders, should be regulated.

5. The Government does not believe that informal, unpaid care provided by relatives or friends, or care by au pairs, should be regulated. Issues in relation to nannies - ie people providing care within the parental home - are complex. There is not the need to regulate premises or number of children cared for in the same way as for other provision. The Government is promoting the development of a voluntary Code of Practice for nanny agencies. Increased access to criminal record checks is also being introduced. In addition, the paper seeks views on what further might be done to help parents choose nannies.

6. The Government sees a case in principle for increasing the age range for which childcare is regulated. At present care for children under eight is covered although as facilities often provide for a range of ages many older children are protected too - but not all are. However, this raises some quite difficult issues about what form of regulation is appropriate. Arguably the approach taken to regulating care for older children should be different from that for younger children. And the implications for provision such as clubs focusing on sports would need to be thought through. The Government seeks views on the implications if the age range for regulation were to be raised.

7. The Government recognises the need to take account of children with special needs. Given the diversity of those needs it believes that setting of standards is best left to the regulator rather than trying to lay down rigid standards.

8. The Government also seeks views on whether account should be taken of cumulative time in childcare: at present care for under two hours' duration during the day is not regulated but there may be a case for regulation where care is within that limit but amounts to a considerable number of hours over the course of a year.

How to Regulate?

9. The Government believes that it is right to separate registration and inspection of childcare from development work. That is not to say that registration and inspection should not include helpful advice or tips. It does, however, mean that those responsible for registration and inspection should not be so closely involved with providers through helping them with development work that their objectivity may be compromised. In addition, the Government believes that the same body should not both regulate childcare and early education while providing it at its own hand: that risks a conflict of interests. The Government has therefore set out in the White Paper Aiming for Excellence its intention to create a new regulatory body, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care which, in addition to registration and inspection of residential and home-based social care, will also regulate non-residential childcare.

10. Against the background of the intention to set up such an independent regulatory body, the Government believes that it is right for care standards (such as staff and space ratios) to be set mainly in guidance rather than in statute. It also believes that forming a view on 'outputs' such as the overall quality of the experience should continue to ensure high standards in care. But it is suggested that this should be done more extensively for care for younger children than for older children. Older children are likely to be in childcare for shorter periods and to complement formal education. They are also better if not completely able to look after their own interests. In all cases children's own preferences must be taken into account.

Standards: Staff and Space Ratios

11. The Government believes that it is right to set the same standards for comparable provision, whether it is in the public, private or voluntary sector.

12. The Government believes that it is right to set different standards for care delivered in domestic settings eg by childminders and for institutional provision. There is a distinction to be drawn between care given by one person (or more rarely two) in premises not specifically designed for that purpose and care given by a number of staff in premises usually built or adapted for childcare.

13. Consistent with its view that comparable provision should be regulated to the same standard, the Government believes that existing discrepancies between staff ratios in pre-school education in local authority schools and in similar provision in the private and voluntary sector should be removed. It sees some virtues in a sliding-scale approach reflecting the age range of the children concerned and whether care is sessional or all day. While recognising the importance of training and qualifications in general, the Government does not believe that staff ratios should be made less demanding where staff have higher qualifications.

14. On space ratios, the Government believes that experience has shown that the ratio presently set for children aged 3-5 under guidance under the Children Act 1989 are too tight at 2.3m2 per child. It sees merit in raising this ratio for new provision.

Standards: Staff Qualifications and the Role of Teachers in Pre-school Education

15. At present under the Schools (Scotland) Code there is a requirement for teacher involvement in pre-school education given in local authority schools. There is no such requirement for pre-school education in the private and voluntary sectors (although some local authorities may impose this as a condition in commissioning pre-school education from other providers). Evidence from inspections by HM Inspectors of Schools suggests that, while high quality early education can be achieved by teams with staff holding a range of qualifications, there is a high correlation between teacher involvement and effective delivery of the pre-school curriculum. The Government seeks views on a range of issues relating to the extent and nature of teacher involvement in pre-school education.

Conclusion

16. The Government hopes that there will be a wide response to this consultation exercise, dealing as it does with a matter of such vital importance. It particularly welcomes responses from parents on issues of current concern to them on regulation of early years education and childcare. Responses should be sent by 30 June 1999 to:

Peter Willman Scottish Office Education and Industry Department Area 2-B(N) Victoria Quay EDINBURGH EH6 6QQ

Any queries arising from this document may be addressed to Mr Willman (Tel: 0131-244 0977). Comments or queries can also be e-mailed to: peter.willman@scotland.gov.uk