Calls for a qualified teacher in every nursery on Merseyside

A teachers union on Merseyside is backing calls for every nursery in the country to have a qualified teacher to help children develop key skills like speech and language, a leading charity has said.

Thousands of youngsters are struggling to keep up with their peers as parents are unaware of the importance of pre-school development, Save The Children warned. The charity said failure to properly stimulate toddlers' brains during nursery years could set them back for decades.

It has teamed up with leading scientists and psychologists to emphasise the importance of learning in pre-school years as a "critical opportunity" for the brain to develop key skills.

Last year almost 130,000 children in England were falling behind with language abilities before they even reached school, Save The Children said.

This means six children in every reception class struggled with their early language skills, it said. It warned that failure to develop adequate language skills can leave children struggling to learn in the classroom and unable to catch up to their peers. The charity said a new poll found that almost half of parents have low expectations for their child's early learning.

Of the 1,000 parents from England surveyed, 47% said they hoped their child would know 100 words by their third birthday - but this is only half of the recommended amount.

And 56% of parents do not think they have enough help and advice to understand their child's early learning. The charity said every nursery should have a qualified early years teacher to support children and their parents with early learning.

"Toddler's brains are like sponges, absorbing knowledge and making new connections faster than any other time in life," said Save The Children's director of UK poverty Gareth Jenkins.

"We've got to challenge the misconception that learning can wait for school, as, if a child starts their first day at school behind, they tend to stay behind"

"To tackle the nation's education gap, we need a new national focus on early learning to give children the best start - not just increasing free childcare hours, but boosting nursery quality to help support children and parents with early learning."

Pete Glover from the NUT in Liverpool said:

"Although we often talk about University education or kids getting good GCSE's, those early years are the most important part of a child's life"

"You need a theoretical approach to understand what's going on"

"Nursery staff do a great job, I just think Save the Children say it would be a great idea to have additional support from someone who had specialist training or knowledge for it"

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