Consultation on Early Education and Childcare Staff Deployment :
The Communication Trust response condensed
What qualifications do you think staff should have to allow them to operate with these more
flexible arrangements?
The Communication Trust welcomes the drive for improving qualifications for the childcare
workforce, but urges the government to ensure that they have a clear focus on how best to
support children’s speech, language and communication development.
Qualifications need to include a clear focus on children’s speech, language and
communication development
 Communication and language is of the three prime areas in the new EYFS, and evidence
shows the crucial role of language for children’s development. For example, language
development at age 2 has been shown to strongly predict children’s performance on
entry to primary school1and is also linked to outcomes into adulthood2.
 However, in his most recent Annual Report HM Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw,
found that too many children are still entering school without the basic skills they need
to be ready to learn.
 Indeed we know that 34% of all children are still not achieving adequately in CLL at the
end of the foundation stage; and that in areas of social disadvantage around 50% of
children are likely to have significantly delayed language (although many will not have
been identified).3
 The Ofsted report also highlighted that children from the poorest 20% of homes are 19
months behind children from the richest homes in terms of their use of vocabulary at
the age of 5.
 Additionally, evidence shows that many early years staff feel inadequately equipped to
help children with language delay with over 60%4 of teachers reporting they lacked
confidence in their ability to meet children’s language needs. There is also a wealth of
evidence, highlighting the significant and long term impacts on children’s literacy5,
attainment, behaviour, social and emotional development6
So the need for a workforce well-qualified to support children’s speech, language and
communication is clear.
We endorse Professor Nutbrown’s recommendation that ‘level 3 qualifications should become
Roulstone et al (2011), Investigating the role of language in Children’s Early educational outcomes Research report DFE – RR134
Feinstein L (2003) Inequality in the Early Cognitive Development of British Children in the 1970 Economica vol 70
Evidence in Lee, W., and Wagg. E,(2012) Talk of the Town evaluation report highlighted that over 50% of children across three
nurseries in Manchester were starting school with speech, language and communication needs,. More more than a quarter of these
3-4 year olds had standardised scores below 70 – a level which would meet the criteria for a Statement of Special Educational
Needs in many local authorities
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Grasping the Nettle: Early intervention for children, families and communities C4EO
5
Boyer E (1991) Ready To Learn, Carnegie Foundation, New Jersey
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Hartshorne M, (2006) The Cost to the Nation I CAN
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the minimum standard for the workforce’ and welcome her view of the importance of language
and communication. A number of level 3 units are already available on the QCF, developed by
The Communication Trust which could easily be included within existing or new qualifications
and a level 3 award Supporting children and young people’s speech, language and
communication is also available offering an accessible route to accreditation.
The relationship between improving qualifications and adult- child ratios
Clearly we support improved qualifications, particularly where they will reflect skills in speech,
language and communication. However, we have concerns as to how effectively even qualified
practitioners will be able to put into practice the key approaches to supporting children’s
communication development within the context of higher adult-child ratios.
Evidence shows that it is the high quality of adult-child interactions which effectively supports
children’s speech, language and communication development. Research has repeatedly shown
that children need good quality AND quantity of language to develop these skills. This includes:
 scaffolded interactions to develop understanding and expression of language
 following the child’s lead, facilitating interactive and imaginative play activities and
social interaction
 staff knowing the children so they can talk about what they are interested in and move
them on
 having opportunities to build and expand vocabulary, to get involved in interactive
story-telling, supporting behaviour regulation and emotional development through
talk.
Whilst we welcome an increasingly qualified workforce, we feel that it is not merely being
qualified which leads to better outcomes; it is practitioners being able to put their skills and
knowledge gained through qualification effectively into practice - even the most skilled staff
will not be able to consistently provide the experiences and support children need to effectively
develop their speech, language and communication skills with these ratios.
Additionally, we have concerns that there seems to be little in the proposals in relation to
children with SEN or disabilities, or the very many in some areas with delayed speech, language
or communication. There are number of points to consider:
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Ratios set out do not vary or take into account these children at all; where ratios are
higher, children’s needs may go unmet
Many children’s needs are already going undetected and we would be concerned that
this would increase, given that staff, even if better qualified, would have less time to
observe and evaluate children’s language. Research evidence has shown that in some
areas staff are under identifying children’s SLCN at up to 50%.7
Early years staff need to be specifically trained in supporting children with SEN, many of
Lee, W., and Wagg, E,. (2012) Talk of the Town evaluation report
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whom have attention difficulties and behaviour needs, which can be health and safety
risk for themselves and for other children.
We would have concerns as to how targeted interventions focusing on all components
of speech, language and communication would be delivered within these ratios.
In some settings in areas of social disadvantage, the majority of children will have
delayed speech, language and communication skills – this requires staff to be able to
invest time in stimulating language development, and also in working with parents to
support their children’s needs. In this area, in particular, there is a significant evidence
base to demonstrate the importance of low ratios to support the additional needs of
young children from disadvantaged areas, particularly around language development,
that eligible two year olds are likely to need.
Summary
Improving qualifications, particularly with a focus on speech, language and communication is to
be welcomed; however, it is our view that the proposed ratios will impact greatly on the ability
of even well-qualified staff to:
 identify and support children with SLCN
 effectively deliver the 2 year old progress check to identify children with developmental
needs
 narrow the gap, particularly but not exclusively where there are large numbers of
children with SEND or delayed language.
We therefore feel that if criteria are to be put in place in relation to qualifications needed to
operate more flexible arrangements, then there should be specific consultation with reference
to children with SEND and language delay.
The Trust would suggest that skills and knowledge clearly focusing on children’s speech,
language and communication development is a key component of any robust qualification for
early years educators, along with effective skills in identifying and supporting children with
speech, language and communication needs.However, we have concerns over the practical
implications for even well-qualified staff to have adequate opportunity throughout the day for
the high quality interactions needed to support children’s language development within the
ratios outlined in the document. Increased ratios will also impact on the time practitioners are
able to access CPD opportunities and reflect on their learning.
We are proposing that, while not exceeding more than 6 children in total, childminders
should have more flexibility to care for up to four children under the age of five, including no
more than two children under 12 months.
5 What difference do you think this will make to the childminding profession and what
benefits do you think parents will get?
All of the comments for question 4 also apply to childminders. The Trust is therefore concerned
about the impact that staffing ratios may have on the language development of children and on
the ability of childminding professionals to develop language skills.
Additionally, as the Ofsted annual report demonstrates that the quality of childminders,
particularly in areas of social deprivation lags behind other providers, the need for qualifications
to not only be robust and mandatory but flexible and accessible given the working patterns
needs to be taken into account.
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Are there any other elements of our proposals that you wish to comment on specifically?
The Trust very much welcomes the statement included in the section on improving the
regulatory regime which highlights that staff and inspectors should be allowed to ‘concentrate
on the most important consideration: how well adults are interacting with children’. We would
argue that inspectors and staff should be given the necessary resource, time and support to be
able to do this and that by increasing ratios this will have a negative impact on this very aim.
Aligning early years educator requirements more closely to QTS
The Trust would also like to raise concerns that making early years training standards more
closely related to Qualified Teacher Status will not guarantee that the early years workforce will
indeed have the skills needed to effectively support speech, language and communication
development, noting that a recent Ofsted Report documents that inspectors found variation in
the quality of initial training and induction in teaching early language and literacy. 8
Linking More Great Childcare to the Children and Families Bill
Early identification and support are key for children with communication needs to mitigate
against impact of long term SLCN, such as behavioural, learning and mental health issues. There
is no reference about the impact of the proposed changes, particularly in relation to ratios, on
disabled children/children with additional needs.
According to Ofsted just under half of the trainees it surveyed (47%) had good or better skills, while that ‘not enough new teachers
had consistent high-quality training during initial teacher education and induction to ensure that they developed good teaching skills,
underpinned by a deep understanding of language development and the acquisition of literacy skills.’ The report noted that 14 of the
44 new teachers (32%) did not have sufficiently in-depth training in assessing pupils’ skills and knowledge in language and
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literacy to be able to use their judgements effectively to plan lessons and decide how to give extra help.
From training to teaching early language and literacy: The Effectiveness of training to teach language and
literacy in primary schools (Ofsted, 2012)
Given the concurrent passage of the Children and Families Bill, Part 3, and its emphasis on early
identification, it is concerning that there is no impact assessment of the proposed changes for
disabled children and on their rights for equal access and opportunities in the early years.
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It is therefore imperative that;
o staff are trained appropriately in robust qualifications with a focus on
communication
o funding flows correctly through the system to incentivise schools to take a holistic,
joined up hands-on approach
o parents of children with SEN, including SLCN, can be confident of accessing
appropriate provision in their community.
Increasing the role of HMIs in inspecting early years settings
In our view, it will be essential to ensure that HMIs have a full understanding of the role of
speech, language and communication in the early years and effective ways of staff supporting
children’s development in this area; for some HMIs, there will be specific professional
development needs in this area.
Low expectations of literacy and numeracy
Within this section, we would like to highlight that whilst agreeing that ‘parents trust nurseries
to help their children learn to speak’ it is not simply mastering ‘basic literacy’ that will achieve
this – it is staff having skills and knowledge in how children develop speech, language and
communication and how best to support this which will enable children to develop into
effective communicators.
Summary
The Trust recognises that the involvement of well-qualified professionals is fundamental to
achieving high quality early education and would like to ensure that any ‘full and relevant
qualification’ fully recognises the importance of speech, language and communication in its
learning outcomes.
The Trust also believes, that early years educators need to receive robust speech language and
communication training to ensure they can support the 10% of children with SLCN and upwards
of 50% of children with language delay, as well as supporting children with typical language
development. However, it is clear that it is the quality of interactions between adults and
children that leads children to develop good early skills and The Trust is thereby concerned that
the quality of interactions between adults and children may be negatively affected by the
proposal to increase staff ratios.
7 Please let us have your views on responding to this consultation (e.g. the number and
type of questions, was it easy to find, understand, complete etc.)
Comments:
The Communication Trust is a coalition of 47 leading voluntary sector and community-based
organisations with expertise in speech, language and communication. We work to offer a
collective voice for the sector.
In order to provide a fully comprehensive response we spend time consulting with all
members so their views are represented in our final response. Therefore we would urge that
the 12 week timescales are kept to ensure this process is possible.