Inclusion training should be mandatory in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) alongside safeguarding and first aid, according to early years charity Dingley’s Promise.

The charity made a number of recommendations to nurseries, policy makers and others as part of a reception at the House of Lords this week.

It called on nurseries to request training in inclusion from their local authority or Stronger Practice Hub, and for local authorities to encourage settings to undertake inclusion training as standard, allowing them to fund this through special educational needs inclusion funding (SENIF).

It also said settings should check the local Childcare Sufficiency Assessment carried out by the local authority to find out the percentage of children in the area expected to have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and to use this for business planning.

Local authorities were called on to review early years teams to understand if they have the capacity to give settings the support they need to be inclusive, and to ensure the existence of a local Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) toolkit which is promoted to settings and families. The OAP is the provision made for children whose special educational needs can be met from the resources generally available to a school or setting.

A survey carried out by Dingley’s Promise found:

• 54% offamilies said their level of trust in the education system was low or very low
• 67% of families have struggled to access support for their child from their local authority
• 29% of families said their child had been turned away from at least one setting
• 41% of families said their children are not accessing their full entitlements

“We want to remove the barriers and reverse the negative culture which has developed in the early years sector, which is impacting the numbers of children with SEND who are able to access their early years education in a meaningful and inclusive way,” said Catherine McLeod, chief executive of Dingley’s Promise. “We need to be brave and invest our resources differently, making greater long-term improvements for children, families, educators and the economy.”

Purnima Tanuku, executive chair of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said: “We would urge the government to look urgently at measures they can take to support the early years sector to care for children with additional needs. NDNA is very supportive of Dingley’s Promise and its research, which although shocking is sadly not surprising.”

She added:  We have carried out our own early years workforce research which confirms how stretched practitioners are on a day to day basis. These pressures mean it is all the more difficult for them to fully meet children’s needs in a setting where they will struggle to have any one-to-one time.

“The government must also prioritise funding to support children with SEND so that professional support can be put in place as soon as children are identified. It’s vital that staff receive the right training to support all our children, particularly those with special needs, and this includes attracting more professionals into the early years sector where they can really make a difference to children and their families.”