Since the summer of 2020 the Department for Education (DfE) has conducted a series of Provider Pulse Surveys designed to capture evidence about the childcare and early years sector. This report outlines findings from the eighth and ninth waves of the research, which were carried out in May and July 2024. On the eighth wave of the survey, questions…

The provision of support to subsidise childcare has been a salient policy topic in recent years. In 2023, the Conservative Government announced an expansion of support for workers, offering 15 free hours a week for two-year-olds. From September 2024, this expands to babies from nine months old, rising to 30 free hours of support from September…

Background: Since the 1990s there has been an exponential growth in childcare provision in the UK, particularly for school-aged children. There has also been a growing interest in the conceptualisation and measurement of quality of childcare and the professionalisation of the childcare workforce. Previous studies have found that one of the most…

This book examines how an understanding of social-cultural and resource dynamics can inform the development of context-sensitive approaches to the early education and care of young deaf children, and the support of their caregivers. The authors investigate what it takes to facilitate deaf children's progress through early childhood, focusing on…

Using a qualitative approach including an online survey and a focus group, the study sought to examine the factors that prevented 'hard to engage' families from taking advantage of the two-year-old funding for free early education and care within one United Kingdom-based context. In particular, the study sought to identify any barriers that…

Professionalisation of the early years workforce internationally foregrounds what it means to gain professional recognition as an early years practitioner and has important implications for developing vocational programmes in higher education. This article explores two early years practitioners' professionality and developing professional…

Scopus, EBSCO, ERIC and British Education Index were interrogated in a systematic review of primary research since 2014 addressing expert practice and outcomes in education and care for young people with special educational needs and disability in the UK. Grey literature and studies of medical settings, preschool children, mainstream education or…

The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure all children have the best start in life and are prepared for school. This includes the requirements for staff: child ratios for all providers delivering the EYFS and the…

Infant attachment theory is now nearly seventy-years old. Despite debates that developed around the original theory relating to the role of the mother and the potential for emotional flexibility in the infant, its core thesis of the role of the 'Internal Working Model' in human mental health endures. Recent neurophysiological research reveals…

This study used a semi-structured approach interviewing 22 participants currently working in playwork. Participants were asked what they thought was the purpose of playwork and comment on their playwork practice because of the lockdown from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom (UK). Using thematic analysis, three purposes of playwork practice were…

British education has faced an upheaval during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, schools often went beyond traditional interpretations of what was needed for educational provision. This article explores how those interpretations have been challenged by the response to COVID-19. It discusses the various ways in which, during the crisis,…

We examined the pathway from grandparental childcare support at age 3 to child social and emotional outcomes at age 7 through maternal mental health and mother-child relationship at age 3 in a sample of n = 1495 biological mothers and their children from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study. Structural equation modelling showed that time spent in the…

The number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a key indicator on the state of youth labour markets and opportunities for young people more generally. However, it is a diverse group as people can be NEET for many reasons, and so understanding the importance of these reasons is crucial for targeting policy…

International comparative ethnographic studies of ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) are difficult to conduct but worth the effort. Comparative studies featuring thick description and polysemic interpretations can challenge taken-for-granted assumptions, expand the menu of the possible, expose the provincialism of national approaches, and…

This paper aims to open up the rationales that are used to argue for an increase in male participation in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce. Two theoretical concepts are highlighted and compared: gender balance and gender flexibility. An ethnographic study was conducted in one unusual nursery that has five male workers, using…