The Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) is a charity which was set up by Graham Allen MP in July 2013, after he had worked for several years on the need to invest time and resources in the lives of young children if we are to achieve a meaningful breakthrough in social mobility. I was privileged to attend the launch of a report he published in July 2011 at the House of Commons when I met Theresa May at the event. She expressed interest in the campaign badge I was wearing as I was seeking to become the Sussex PCC at the time, but she refused my offer of a badge for her to wear and to join the campaign! A few days ago EIF published a new report entitled Language as a Child Wellbeing Indicator which begins with these opening paragraphs:

“Early language acquisition impacts on all aspects of young children’s non-physical development. It contributes to their ability to manage emotions and communicate feelings, to establish and maintain relationships, to think symbolically, and to learn to read and write. While the majority of young children acquire language effortlessly, a significant minority do not.

The UK prevalence rate for early language difficulties is between 5% and 8% of all children, and over 20% for those growing up in low-income households. The high prevalence among disadvantaged children is thought to contribute to the achievement gap that exists by the time children enter school and continues until they leave.

It is well known that language difficulties predict problems in literacy and reading comprehension, but less well known that they may be indicative of problems in children’s behaviour and mental health as well. The evidence shows that children with poor vocabulary skills at age 5 are more likely to have reading difficulties as an adult, more likely to have mental health problems, and more likely to be unemployed. Because language and communication skills are so essential for school education and achievement, and future employment prospects, allowing less well-off children to fall behind in their language development risks undermining their life chances and perpetuating a cycle of disadvantage and poverty.

To ensure children with language development problems do not fall through the cracks, EIF is calling for early language development to be prioritised as a child wellbeing indicator, so that it must be treated as a public health issue, like vaccination, obesity and mental health. This change would make it clear that language development problems have serious consequences and require additional support, even when they are not the result of acute or clinical disorders.”

It seems clear that a meaningful investment in early years education and in particular in ensuring that such provision includes the skills to identify gaps in development areas such as language is available in every setting. In addition the availability of speech and language specialists for all early years settings is also vital. To have such specialists available, but to lack the understanding amongst the various settings as to when such provision is needed would be a mistake, and the same is true if settings identify children that need additional help, then discover that the local authority concerned has not provided such specialists. One of the challenges for early years settings is that they are frequently treated as the Cinderella of education and yet they are best placed to ensure that social mobility is addressed.

“There is no more important place to start than education. Because if the central concern ordinary working class people have is that their children will not enjoy the same opportunities they have had in life, we need to ensure that there is a good school place for every child, and education provision that caters to the individual needs and abilities of every pupil.” Theresa May 9th September 2016