Trend One: There is a story to be told here — the missing power of communications
By: Tarun Varma
Tags: Early Childhood Education, Insights, Covid 19, Perspective, Reflections

This article is part one of our four article series in early learning and childcare post covid. Read the introduction to the series here.

The evidence for early childhood education could not be clearer. Early learning and childcare is beneficial from an individual, societal and economic perspective. Yet for the past few decades, neither have been a priority; they are viewed as separate from formal education.

“This field has the world’s least tapped-into potential to change the future for the better” Ashley Beckner, Imaginable Futures

COVID-19 has highlighted the divergence in access and quality of early learning and childcare available to families. We are in a moment where everyone — parents, teachers, governments and systems — is facing the pain of schools being shut and is open to change.

During our 14 conversations one recurring theme was evident: early childhood education has a communications problem. Great storytelling and a compelling narrative can be drivers of change, but they are not currently being used effectively for early learning. The early learning movement needs a revised narrative to drive the change needed and acquire the social capital as well as political power for all children to have the best start in life.

The problems with communicating the benefits of early learning:

Most narratives are too focused on science/brain development (data driven rather than story driven). This means the narratives do not resonate with people.

Early Learning & Childcare needs communication to show how it can make a difference for a 9.7 billion person planet

Many benefits are explained in terms of “future benefits” to children and society, rather than tangible immediate benefits.

Early learning is not seen as an industry central to society. An example to show this is how industries were picked for support during COVID-19. The stark contrast between support for the hospitality industry, in the UK, with schemes like “eat out to help out” and the lack of any support for childcare services (while insisting they stay open for essential workers’ children) is telling.

The early learning field is fragmented, there is no central voice or champion. And it is tricky to include the voice of our main stakeholders: young children themselves.

A way forward:

We need a simple, clear and sticky message for early learning that everyone can relate to: “Just Do It.” “I’m Loving It.” “When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.” “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Chances are you have heard these famous taglines or phrases, from outside of and within the education sector. There is no equivalent for early learning.

The field needs a group of champions: In the same way Michelle Obama champions girls education or Greta Thunberg is the face of the climate change movement, the early learning movement needs champions. Encouragingly, recently there have been some big names who have started to focus on early learning such as Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge, and Novak Djokovic. In the past, Shakira has led consensus on early learning. It seems to be time now that such individuals pool their influence to address multiple aspects of the field and encourage action.

Overlap with gender and youth movements: While government driven campaigns focus on early learning as a way to create jobs, there is a larger opportunity at hand. Most early years educators are young women. Working with them can take early learning from a niche issue to something that opens the door to governance issues such as gender equality and ballot box issues such as youth employment.

We need a mindset shift. Parents, politicians, governments need to see multiple proof points for early learning. Ones that work in multiple locations and contexts with examples across high and low income countries.

“In reality, formal schooling starts with early learning. A ‘cradle to career’ model has the potential to integrate education and community support holistically”. Ed Vainker, CEO, Reach Foundation