What is the SNP doing to improve childcare and early years education?

In government the SNP is taking forward the most significant expansion of childcare and early years education ever seen in Scotland – almost doubling free provision to 30 hours a week by 2020.  The 2018-19 Draft Budget allocates almost a quarter of a billion of new investment in the workforce and infrastructure necessary for this expansion. Read more about the expansion of childcare here.

Nursery education is all about giving children the best start in life. That’s why quality is so important. Increasing the number of teachers and graduates in nurseries is absolutely crucial to tackling the attainment gap right from the start of a child’s education.

Every nursery manager is already required to have a childcare degree. By 2018 every nursery in our most deprived areas will have an additional qualified teacher or childcare graduate, helping children reach their full potential whatever their background. This will mean an additional 435 graduates will be in place in nurseries in Scotland’s most deprived communities by 2018.

We are also piloting a range of different childcare approaches to determine what works best for children and families, with a view to rolling out best practice around the country to improve the availability of high quality and flexible childcare.