Letter: Vouchers fail four-year-olds

The report on nursery vouchers ("Fights in the Nursery", Education+, 17 April) illustrates, yet again, how little the voucher scheme is concerned with the provision of nursery education for four-year-olds. Until recently, we had a clear and widely agreed definition of what constitutes high-quality nursery education, which came from legislation and recommendations on premises and staffing, and from the practice developed in schools and classes. The main features were clearly understood to be:

a fully qualified staff of specialist early- years teachers and nursery nurses, with a minimum ratio of one qualified adult for every 13 children;

spacious, well-planned in- and outdoor learning environments;

a developmentally appropriate curriculum planned and developed by staff, who have assessed children's individual needs;

a partnership between parents and staff.

If this definition were still to be applied, much of what is being passed off as nursery education under the voucher scheme would fall well short of the standard. In fact, we have no more real nursery education than we had before vouchers were introduced. The Government has merely redefined the term so that it can be applied to all forms of provision. If "only just over half" of private nurseries and playgroups can reach the minimal standards required of a "light touch" inspection, questions also need to be raised about the ability of these settings to offer high-quality education.