Four in five teachers say Government will miss its ‘school ready' target
A lack of affordable childcare is having a negative impact on children being ready for Reception, a survey of teachers for Save the Children charity suggests.
A poll of more than 2,500 primary school teachers in England found 80% do not think the Government is likely to meet its goal of 75% of children being 'school ready' by 2028.
The survey, carried out by Teacher Tapp in May, suggests 60% of primary teachers in state schools think the Government should increase access to childcare for low-income families to help meet its target.
In December, Prime Minister Keir Starmer set a target for 75% of five-year-olds in England to be ready to learn when they start school by 2028.
The Government will measure the progress by the percentage of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment – which looks at language, personal, social and emotional development, as well as maths and literacy.
The survey for Save the Children, shared with the PA news agency, suggests 81% of primary school teachers believe a lack of affordable childcare has negatively impacted children being ready for school.
The expansion of funded childcare – which was introduced by the Conservative government – began being rolled out in England in April last year for working parents of two-year-olds.
Working parents of children older than nine months are now able to access 15 hours of funded childcare a week, before the full rollout of 30 hours a week to all eligible families in September.
But charities have called on the Government to do more to ensure children from disadvantaged backgrounds can access high-quality childcare.
When asked what the Government should prioritise to help meet its school readiness target, 85% said access to family support services should be increased and 29% said child-related benefit payments should rise.
Ruth Talbot, policy and advocacy adviser for UK child poverty at Save the Children, said: 'When 80% of teachers are worried that the UK Government won't meet their target on school readiness, we know more needs to be done by ministers to fix this problem.
'Quality childcare that helps children prepare for Reception has been unaffordable and poverty has been allowed to fester for too long.
'Schools are witnessing the dual impact of these issues and it's time for the UK Government to act.
'The upcoming child poverty strategy due in June must address the causes of poverty and its impact, starting by ending the two-child benefit limit and providing good quality childcare for all.
'Without meaningful action, this Government will continue to preside over a rise in poverty while children's outcomes decline.'
A Government spokesperson said: 'We have made no bones about the scale of the challenge to deliver on our Plan for Change so tens of thousands more children, a record proportion, are school-ready at age five. Our plan is ambitious, and rightly so.
'Already, we have started urgent work to extend early language support, deliver thousands of new places in school-based nurseries, and provide parenting support through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.
'In addition, tens of thousands more working parents across England will soon be able to apply for 30 hours of funded childcare to start from September, boosting access to more affordable and high-quality early years education and childcare.
'This goes hand in hand with the work of our cross-government Child Poverty Taskforce, with its wide-ranging strategy to tackle child poverty across the country to be set out in the summer.'
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