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Contextual Issues in Assessing Value for Money in Early Years Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Verity Campbell-Barr
Verity Campbell-Barr*
Affiliation:
University of Plymouth
*
e-mail verity.campbell-barr@plymouth.ac.uk
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Abstract

Early years education has been attributed as having benefits for the public good, avoiding social stratification and acquiring human capital. Although these outcomes appear social, the focus on value for money highlights their economic undertones. However, an assessment of value for money in early years education has a number of tensions, not only in relation to how and for whom value is assessed, but also with regard to the marginalisation of the economic position of early years education providers and emerging evidence of both hidden and masked costs within the sector. Drawing on interviews with a range of stakeholders, it will be demonstrated, therefore, that there is a need to acknowledge wider contextual issues when making an assessment of value for money in early years education.

Keywords

Early years educationhidden costsmasked costsoutcomesvalue
Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 207 , January 2009 , pp. 90 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

∗

The author wishes to thank Matt Monks, David Wilkinson and the Quality Measurement Framework Project Team at the Office for National Statistics for their helpful comments and input throughout the research and writing of this article.

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