Author(s)

Yinfei Wang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK

Corresponding Author

Yinfei Wang

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the profound impact of early childhood education policy within the United Kingdom, focusing on the interplay between policy, political ideology, and educational outcomes. As the bedrock of lifelong learning, early childhood education (ECE) has increasingly been recognized for its critical role in shaping children's futures. This paper explores the dominant discourses influenced by neoliberal ideology that have directed the evolution of early education policies in the UK. Through a detailed analysis of three pivotal policy initiatives, the 1999 Sure Start program, and the 2012 Early Years Foundation Stage reforms, this review assesses how political climates have sculpted educational directives. Utilizing both content and decision process analysis, the article evaluates the effectiveness of these policies in enhancing accessibility, affordability, and quality of early education, while also considering their impact on professional development and disadvantaged children. The findings aim to provide a nuanced understanding of the strengths and limitations of these policy measures, contributing to the ongoing discourse on optimizing early childhood educational practices and policies.

KEYWORDS

Educational policy, ideological influences, childhood outcomes

CITE THIS PAPER

Yinfei Wang, Policy Impact and Ideological Influences on Early Childhood Education in the United Kingdom: An Analysis of Key Reforms and Outcomes. Transactions on Comparative Education (2024) Vol. 6: 97-105. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/trance.2024.060514.

REFERENCES

[1] Great Britain Parliament House of Commons. (1997). Meeting the childcare challenge : A framework and consultation document. House of Commons? 
[2] Neaum, S. (2016). School readiness and pedagogies of competence and performance: Theorising the troubled relationship between early years and early years policy. International Journal of Early Years Education, 24(3), 239-253. 
[3] Simpson, D., Lumsden, E., & McDowall Clark, R. (2015). Neoliberalism, global poverty policy and early childhood education and care: A critique of local uptake in england. Early Years, 35(1), 96-109. 
[4] Kay, L., Wood, E., Nuttall, J., & Henderson, L. (2021). Problematising policies for workforce reform in early childhood education: A rhetorical analysis of england's early years teacher status. Journal of Education Policy, 36(2), 179-195. 
[5] Faulkner, D., & Coates, E. A. (2013). Early childhood policy and practice in england: Twenty years of change. International Journal of Early Years Education, 21(2-3), 244-263. 
[6] Moss, P. (2018). Alternative narratives in early childhood: An introduction for students and practitioners. Routledge. 
[7] Gillies, V. (2008). Childrearing, class and the new politics of parenting. Sociology Compass, 2(3), 1079-1095. 
[8] Sullivan, A., Ketende, S., & Joshi, H. (2013). Social class and inequalities in early cognitive scores. Sociology, 47(6), 1187-1206. 
[9] Wilshaw, M. (2015). The annual report of her majesty's chief inspector of education, children's services and skills 2014/15. Williams Lea Group
[10] Roberts-Holmes, G., & Moss, P. (2021). Neoliberalism and early childhood education: Markets, imaginaries and governance. Routledge. 
[11] Moss, P. (2014). Transformative change and real utopias in early childhood education: A story of democracy, experimentation and potentiality. Routledge. 
[12] Moss, P. (2017). Power and resistance in early childhood education: From dominant discourse to democratic experimentalism. Journal of Pedagogy, 8(1), 11-32. 
[13] Moss, P. (2007). Meetings across the paradigmatic divide. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 39(3), 229-245. 
[14] Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique. Rowman & Littlefield. 
[15] Farquhar, S. (2012). Narrative identity and early childhood education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(3), 289-301. 
[16] La Valle, I., & Smith, R. (2009). Good quality childcare for all? Progress towards universal provision. National Institute Economic Review, 207, 75-82. 
[17] Ball, S. J., & Vincent, C. (2005). The 'childcare champion' ? New labour, social justice and the childcare market. British Educational Research Journal, 31(5), 557-570. 
[18] Harker, L. (1998). A national childcare strategy: Does it meet the childcare challenge? Political Quarterly, 69(4), 458–463. 
[19] Moss, P. (2014). Early childhood policy in england 1997–2013: Anatomy of a missed opportunity. International Journal of Early Years Education, 22(4), 346-358. 
[20] Lewis, J. (2003). Developing early years childcare in england, 1997–2002: The choices for (working) mothers. Social Policy & Administration, 37(3), 219-238. 
[21] Coates, E., Faulkner, D., Aubrey, C., Bertram, T., Broadhead, P., Castle, D., ... Wild, M. (2012). The changing face of early childhood policy and practice in england over the past twenty years: An expert seminar. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/5785
[22] Cameron, C., Mooney, A., & Moss, P. (2002). The child care workforce: Current conditions and future directions. Critical Social Policy, 22(4), 572-595. 
[23] Simon, A., Owen, C., & Hollingworth, K. (2016). Is the 'quality'of preschool childcare, measured by the qualifications and pay of the childcare workforce, improving in britain? American Journal of Educational Research, 4(1), 11-17. 
[24] Benn, M. (2000). New labour and social exclusion. Political Quarterly, 71(3), 309–318. 
[25] Butt, S., Goddard, K., & La Valle, I. (2007). Childcare nation?: Progress on the childcare strategy and priorities for the future. Daycare Trust. 
[26] Kazimirski, A., Smith, R., Butt, S., Ireland, E., & Lloyd-Reichling, E. (2007). Childcare and early years survey 2007: Parents' use, views and experiences. https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/866qw
[27] Barnes, J., Belsky, J., Broomfield, K. A., Dave, S., Frost, M., Melhuish, E., & National Evaluation of Sure Start Research, T. (2005). Disadvantaged but different: Variation among deprived communities in relation to child and family well‐being. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(9), 952-962. 
[28] Glass, N. (1999). Sure start: The development of an early intervention programme for young children in the united kingdom. Children & society, 13(4), 257-264. 
[29] Schneider, J., Ramsay, A., & Lowerson, S. A. (2006). Sure start graduates: Predictors of attainment on starting school. Child: Care, Health and Development, 32(4), 431-440. 
[30] Reading, R. (2006). The national evaluation of sure start research team effects of sure start local programmes on children and families: Early findings from a quasi-experimental, cross sectional study. Health & Development, 32(6), 753–754. 
[31] Lloyd-Reichling, E., & Potter, S. (2014). Early childhood education and care and poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/219374023.pdf
[32] Ball, S. J. (2021). The education debate. Policy Press. 
[33] Lloyd-Reichling, E. (2015). Early childhood education and care policy in england under the coalition government. London Review of Education, 13(2), 144-156. 
[34] Moss, P. (2008). What future for the relationship between early childhood education and care and compulsory schooling? Research in Comparative and International Education, 3(3), 224-234. 
[35] Vandenbroeck, M., De Stercke, N., & Gobeyn, H. (2012). What if the rich child has poor parents?: The relationship from a flemish perspective. In P. Moss, L. Balduzzi, J. Bennett, M. Carr, G. Dahlberg, H. Gobeyn, P. Haug, S. L. Kagan, A. Lazzari, N. D. Stercke, & M. Vandenbroeck (Eds.), Early childhood and compulsory education (pp. 174-191). Routledge.  
[36] Barnett, R. (2008). Critical professionalism in an age of supercomplexity. In B. Cunningham (Ed.), Exploring professionalism. Institute of Education, University of London. 
[37] Evans, L. (2011). The 'shape'of teacher professionalism in england: Professional standards, performance management, professional development and the changes proposed in the 2010 white paper. British Educational Research Journal, 37(5), 851-870. 
[38] Bodman, S., Taylor, S., & Morris, H. (2012). Politics, policy and professional identity. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(3), 14-25. 

Sponsors, Associates, and Links

---

• Advances in Educational Technology and Psychology
  
  
• Curriculum and Teaching Methodology
  
  
• Applied & Educational Psychology
  
  
• Advances in Vocational and Technical Education
  
  
• Adult and Higher Education