The re/constructed role of nursery schools as local community hubs in the current context of austerity

Abstract

This Occasional Paper examines the re/constructed role of nursery schools’ in their local communities over the past decade. Our research explored the unique, social justice contribution that Nursery Schools make to the early years sector, in terms of educating children and supporting families from disadvantaged backgrounds. We define socio-economically disadvantaged families in our work as those whose parents are in receipt of state-provided benefits, and referred to hereafter as disadvantaged. The project focuses on Nursery Schools’ roles in reducing the disadvantage gap, through an examination of how staff in these schools see their own practice as improving disadvantaged children’s outcomes. Th research highlights some of the policy related context for this work, which may hinder practitioners in this aim. Our research confirmed that the role of the nursery school in supporting all children, but particularly those from socio-economically disadvantaged families has expanded considerably in the past decade as a direct consequence of austerity policies