Are government early years learning and development frameworks evidence-based? A scientist’s perspective
Angelica Ronald
Abstract
Not all young children attend nurseries, childminders or other group settings before they start school, but many do. It is common for countries to set out a framework to guide practice for early years providers (such as nurseries) to follow. The conundrum regarding these frameworks for young children is that proving evidence of a causal link between early environments and later outcomes is very challenging scientifically. So how do governments choose what learning and development practices and goals to make mandatory for childcare providers? And is it realistic to expect early years providers to meet the legal requirements that these frameworks impose? We do not know which learning and development practices impact positively on later outcomes, and we certainly do not know if there is a one-size-fits-all approach for an early years framework that is guaranteed to work.
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Professor Angelica Ronald is joint editor of JCPP, handling approximately 40 manuscripts each year. She is Professor of Psychology and Genetics at Birkbeck, University of London, where she runs the Genes Environment Lifespan laboratory, a full profile can be found here.