The New Labour party and Childhood Education - Research Proposal Example

?Introduction The New Labour party that took office in 1997 promised a lot of radical changes to systems and structures in the UK. When they took over power, they implemented many of their promises and this included cost-cutting and targeting. Education was one of the areas that the Labour Party's policies affected. In the area of Childhood Education, the New Labour party promised to focus in an all-inclusive system that would promote a higher quality education for children throughout the United Kingdom. However, critics of the New Labour's policies in childhood education argue that the only changes that have come up relate to cost cutting and targeting and this has not really gone so well in promoting quality education. As these debates go on, it is not very clear how well early childhood development and childhood education has been affected by the policies of the Labour Party. This paper would examine the position of children, parents and educators in the policy framework of the New Labour Party after it took office between 1997 and 2007 and the Coalition Government that ruled till 2010. In order to undertake the research, the paper would first contextualise education and care policy and define the core and fundamental concepts relating to stakeholders in education policy. The main body of the essay would examine the early years education and care policy development before 1997 and deduce the main limitations and shortcomings of the existing system. The research would proceed to examine the changes of the New Labour party and the coalition government and produce an evaluation and synthesis of the policies they put in place in relation to childhood and education. The policies would be critiqued and analysed in-depth and the strengths and weaknesses of the systems would be identified and examined. Contextualisation of Education and Child Care Policy This section would examine the very essence of education policy and how it affects governments and fundamental stakeholders in the British society. It would involve the examination of the concept of policy and how it affects life in society. “Policy is a statement by government of what it intends to do such as law, regulation, ruling, decision or a combination of these. The lack of such statements may also by an implicit statement” (Birkland, 2009: p9). This means that policy involves all the plans and the aspirations of a government that forms the blueprint of what they intend to do during their tenure in office. There is also another view of policy. This is a more general view of policy which is “... an intentional course of action followed by a government institution or official for resolving an issue of public concern” (Eisener, 2011: p4). In other words, policy is more of a conscious and direct approach that guides institutions in order to attain some ends that is relevant to the society as a whole. Education policy is a branch of social policy that nations use to guide their actions and their activities when they win power (Birkland, 2009). Most scholars identify that educational policy and child care policies adopted by governments are social in nature because it is strongly linked to the family structure and other social systems in the nation (Clark and Harris, 2011; New and Cochran, 2007). This means that if the social structures change, child care and basic education policy would need to be changed to ensure that the government provides the best kind of support for children in order to reflect the realities in the nation in question. The changes in parenting and social structures suggest “the need of a comprehensive national family policy of which parents are a crucial component” (Clark and Harris, 2011: p306). In a critique of the structure of educational policy and child care policy, Clark and Harris (2011) go on to identify four main classes of stakeholders which include: 1. Parents 2. Caregivers 3. Directors 4. Policy-makers These three stakeholders have interests in communication and interaction in order to form consensus on some important things like staff characteristics, professionalism, involvement, and caregiver practices (Clark and Harris, 2011). This gives the an avenue for these stakeholders to interact and formulate policies that relate to a higher quality of education, financial obligations and benefits of each class of stakeholders and resource commitments (Clark and Harris, 2011). “Quality in early childhood care and education can also contribute to greater social equity and provide the foundations for lifelong learning” (Michel and Mahon, 2007: p2). This means that early childhood care and education are critical and basic building blocks for the society. Hence, it is important to ensure that the best policies are used to build a solid foundation for such children at a tender age. Basically the scope of child care and education spans from: 1. Child care to preschool age children. 2. Other child development focus and early educational experiences 3. Child development, child care and early education information relating to caregivers and parents (New and Cochran, 2007 Thus, quality is the central theme of a good educational policy. This is expressed by the ability of the policy to meet contemporary needs of the society from two dimensions. The first dimension relates to the relative changes in the society and the second component is the objective standard of training children to uphold the best options that would help them through their education in future. The third dimension is the satisfaction of all stakeholders in the society and their expectations. Education and Care Policy Prior to 1997 The Conservative Government ruled Britain between 1979 and 1997. Their rule could be classified into two eras of Margaret Thatcher (1979 – 1991) and John Major (1991 – 1997). Mrs. Thatcher dismissed the need for a national day care provision to secure and retained skilled women workers (Ginsburg, 2009).There were some issues with expert skill shortage in the day care sector of the institutions that educated young people. Thus, early education and child care was left to partnerships with various voluntary organisations, privatisation and there was no policy covering that aspect of education (Jordan, 2012). In 1991, when John Major took over from Margaret Thatcher, there was still a non-interventionist and market oriented policy system that was to be upheld by the Conservatives (Hine and Kassim, 2009). This meant that everything was to be done through the concept of efficiency which meant that that people had to work, earn a fair remuneration and pay for the education of their children (Hine and Kassim, 2009). The Conservative government between 1979 and 1997 refrained from making policies for education at the lower level. People were to work, make money and pay for their children's education. There were no subsidies for education. Education at the lower levels was therefore fragmented and diversified. Child care was not part of the department of education. The diversity made it difficult for coordination. New Labour /Coalition Government & Educational/Childhood Policies When the New Labour party took over in 1997, they made some changes to the structures and systems of the United Kingdom and this affected areas of the society including Education. Couldry (2009) writes “...the New Labour did not simply continue the policy of the Conservative Administrators [Margaret Thatcher and John Major]; it presided over a large increase in public sector in areas such as Health and Education and has introduced important innovations in social policy, for example the “Sure Start” programme which attempts to coordinate better, the childcare and other services available to parents and children” (2009: p57). Bates et al (2009) identify three main reasons why the New Labour party sought to intervene in the education policy of the UK after years of Conservative rule. First of all, there was a fall in the population of children in the United Kingdom. This is because most adults could not afford to have children due to the high cost associated with raising children. Secondly, there was an increase in family diversity. This include an increase in the number of single parents in the UK and the increase in the number of students of non-Anglo-Saxon origins. Also, more mothers were working and could not vgive children the attention they needed. The state had to intervene to support diversity and ensure the development of a united country. Thirdly, there was a high increase in the levels of child poverty because many children were deprived and there was the need for the government to intervene to ensure that children could get the basic necessities of life. The goal of the New Labour Party in education can be classified under three headings (Mooney and Law, 2011). First of all, there was the need to ensure that the service provided for customers who are the parents was up to the standard the they expected. Secondly, there was the need to streamline the operations of service providers who happen to be the nurseries and schools. Thirdly, there was the need to improve the human capital by encouraging a high quality of education and also assisting poor parents who were living in poverty. The New Labour Party had four objectives in mind when they were dealing with children included these four ideas: 1. Combating child policy which was hitherto, a grey area. 2. Revitalising the labour market 3. Increasing social inclusion and 4. Revising the standard of education in the UK (Vincent and Ball, 2009). This formed the framework for the policy making system of the New Labour before they took power. They had also promised to increase the percentage of the UK's gross domestic product spent on education (Docking, 2012). Although in the first year, they could not increase it due to other constraints, they increased the percentage of GDP spent on education from 4.6% spent in 1999 to 5% in 2000 (Dockings, 2012). The idea was to use a system of social democratic policies to formulate significant policies that would guide education and make the UK a better place for the people. This was in contrast to the Conservatives' view of getting people to work, earn and pay for the education of their children and dependants. This culminated in the formulation of a series of policies and other projects that were meant to guide education and enhance the provision of services in the UK. These policies are examined below. National Childcare Strategy (1998) The National Childcare Strategy was commenced in May 1998 (Statham and Mooney, 2009). It was one of the earliest conscious policies towards the formulation of a conscious policy for childcare in the United Kingdom after a long time of neglect. The policy shifted the view that childcare is a private and unstructured event. It sought to provide some kind of system that would bridge the gaps between all the diverse systems and structures in basic education and provide a uniform and conscious approach to child education and childcare in Britain. The aim of the National Childcare strategy was “to increase availability of affordable, accessible and good quality childcare in every neighbourhood” (Statham and Mooney, 2009). This means that it was to promote some kind of general framework for education to be conducted in a unified and high quality system that would give children affordable childcare in all circumstances. The affordability was aimed at cutting costs for parents and meeting important targets that are relevant to the welfare of members of the British society. The strength of this policy is that it was meant to bridge the gap between a system that had no conscious educational policy and fill the gap. It was a general system that was not so well structured but it provided the foundation for the development of other educational policies for children and young people. The policy was meant to do the essential elements that had been missing for the almost two decades of pursuing a capitalistic approach to children's education. It sought to bridge the gap and provide better education to all of UK's children. The downside is that it was so general in outlook that it seems to be almost meaningless. This is because the concept was general and the goals were not really easy to achieve. However, the proponents of the policy argue that it gave the impetus for other policies to follow. Statham and Mooney (2009) report that between March 1998 and March 2000, it saw an increase in the number of children in school and also led to the increase in the number of day schools for children. This laid the foundation for the Every Child Matters/Children Act of 2004 Meeting the Childcare Challenge; Every Child Matters/Children Act 2004 The Green Paper of this bill had four themes (Garrett and Lodge, 2009). First of all, it sought to increase the focus on support in families and careers as the most critical influence on children's lives. Secondly, it sought to ensure necessary interventions take place before children reach crises point and protecting children from falling through the net. Thirdly, the bill sought to address the underlying problems identified in the report into the death of Victoria Climbie in order to reach accountability and the integration of the poor. Finally, the green paper sought to ensure that those who work with children are valued, rewarded and trained. The ECM/Children Act was not primarily focused on cutting down costs of paying for education amongst parents. Rather, it sought to look at some important qualitative matters and elements for the children. The strengths of the ECM/Children Act 2004 is in the ability that it takes the National Childcare Strategy to the next level. For instance, it focus on families and help them to influence their children's lives. This way, parents were given the opportunity to work and bridge the gap that existed in the past. Socially, the policy sought to make the intervention to protect children in a way and manner that was necessary to help them to become more responsible citizens in the future. In other words, the concept of childhood was defined and clearly recognized and children were seen as a vulnerable group and given the protection they needed. This was a conscious effort to help the society. Also, things that were falling out of the net and could not be resolved in the previous act were held. For instance, Victoria Climbie was murdered by his guardians even though the Local Authorities knew about the abuses. The act sought to protect the children from all their problems and abuses. The Children Act 2004 includes local authorities and forced them to check on children regularly (Wilson and James, 2010). The local authorities were to support children and seek to protect children. Social workers were to communicate with children and identify their wishes and feelings in order to help them. The Act sought to integrate non-Anglo-Saxon children in the broad framework and help children of parents who had backgrounds that made them somewhat unsettled in the UK. This included protection from child abuse and also enhance the teaching and learning system of children in schools through the provision of very strong and clearly underlined systems and structures for children and adults. The ECM also sought to get schools to work alongside local agencies and welfare authorities to work together to children. Coordination was a central theme and parents and other stakeholders had to work to resolve it. However, the set back of the ECM/Child Act 2004 is that it sought to create a balance for a society that had been in the doldrums with children's matters for a long time. Due to that, there were huge diversities and this policy could not really go deep into the society and address fundamental problems. There were still some detailed and specialized issues like the roles of all the stakeholders that needed to be addressed relatively more accurately. Ten Year Childcare Strategy This was initiated in December 2004 and it involved an extensive review and consultation of issues relating to children (Waldfogel, 2011: p81) The reviews and consultations sought to review evidence of heaviness on life's chances and this makes children's life a little better and more convenient. The evidence indicated that there is the need to extend parents' needs and improve the quality of care and education for children under 3. It also provided a high quality care and education for 3-5 year-olds (Waldfogel, 2011). The Ten Year Childcare strategy provided a choice for parents to provide the best start for their children and it was meant to improve childcare and education. Again, the concept of cost-cutting for parents was not emphasised in this policy. This is because the focus was on matters of concern that was set for children. It included targets set for the improvement of the lives of children and their upbringing. The essence of this policy is that it provided an empirical basis for improving the well being of children and reducing inequalities (McAuliffe et al, 2011). This meant that children were able to get a tailored policy that provided their needs. However, there were still some issues with the training of staff members and other social workers to gain enough experience to meet the expectations of thir positions. Childcare Act 2006 This policy was to take effect in 2008, in the era of the Coalition Government (Tassoni, 2012). The idea was to set standards for all institutions that were taking part in child care. The Act sought to help children to get a teacher/career student ratio that was suitable for the development of children. There was also the Inspection Act that sought to provide a system for inspections and diagnostics for quality standards in children's education (Pugh and Duffy, 2012). This Act came to institutionalise child care after the years of Labour control of the government. The act provided important rules and regulations for setting standards and for monitoring the rules that had already been made. This had little to do with cost cutting, but targets towards Education Policy Under the Coalition Government The Coalition government of the New Conservative-Liberal Democrats that took power in Britain after 2010 was more of an austerity based government that was struggling to remain afloat after the global financial crisis and the Iraqi war (Churchill, 2011). Due to the joint nature of the government, there was the need for the Labour government's policy to undergo some kind of limits. This included cuts on spending and refocusing. The Coalition however stated that they were still committed to free part-time nursery for pre-school children (Churchill, 2011). Reduction in public spending led to the reduction in so many areas and aspects of education. In 2010, there was a 9% cut in the Sure Start programme (Ball, 2012). This meant that the ?3 billion funding that was to be made available to the programme was to be reduced significantly and this affected the focus. The focus and position of stakeholders, particularly parents was changed and the subsidies were reduced. This led to the formulation of new targets. Conclusion The conservative administration sought to promote a non-interventionist strategy for child care. This led to a disorganised and fragmented system for childcare and education. Child care was not a part of the department of education and it affected the coordination of stakeholders. The New Labour took over in 1997 and at that time there was a fall in children's population and child poverty was rife. They sought to provide the needs for parents, service providers and human capital. The first act was the National Childcare Strategy that sought to increase availability of affordable education to all and bridge the gap created by years of Conservative rule. They provided an all-inclusive system but the downside is that it was too general to be meaningful. Every Child Matters or the Children's Act 2004 was instituted to support families, define childhood and protect children. The idea was to improve the workforce and prevent child abuse. However, it was too broad and had a lot of areas that were not covered. This culminated in the Ten Year Childcare Strategy which took evidence of contemporary issues and provide a policy framework to deal with the related problems. This included training staff and improving quality of education. The Childcare Act 2006 also provided regulation, standardisation and institutionalisation of the policies in education in the UK. It was discovered in the research that the primary focus of the New Labour's policies was to cut costs for parents and improve the quality of education and livelihood for children in the UK. However, it was discovered that the thesis of Henricson was true to a large extent. This is because cost-cutting became common in the Coalition government due to financial hardships and economic crises. This was also influenced by the fact that the coalition included parties that were not in support of the childcare policies of the New Labour since 1997. This automatically reduced the depth and quality of the New Labour educational policies. Currently, the UK is in a more structured and effective position in the area of early education and childcare. However, it is possible for the UK to learn new things and identify new approaches in dealing with childcare. Countries like Canada and Australia can be studied and their successful policies can be integrated to the UK system. References Ball, S. J. (2012) The Education Debate London: Policy Press Bates, J, Lewis, S. and Pickard, A. (2009) Education Policy: Practice and the Professional London: Continuum International Publishin. Birkland, T. A. 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