Professor Cate Carroll: The UK should support a right to early childhood education globally
Olivia Bailey has stepped down as early education minister as part of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's cabinet reshuffle. The departure signals potential shifts in early years policy and departmental leadership affecting local authority childcare responsibilities.
Early years leaders have urged the Prime Minister to extend business rates cuts to nurseries and pre-schools, ensuring England aligns with Scotland and Wales where providers already receive reduced rates. The campaign aims to ease financial pressures on early years settings and support the sustainability of childcare provision across the country.
A coalition of 161 early childhood academics has written to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband calling for UK backing of a new protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The proposed measures would strengthen the right to education under international law, enhancing legal protections for young children's learning and development.