Andy Burnham Must Move Beyond Neoliberalism if He Wants to Transform Early Childhood

By Aaron Bradbury

Andy Burnham Must Move Beyond Neoliberalism if He Wants to Transform Early Childhood

If Andy Burnham wants to become the next Leader of the Labour Party, he has an opportunity to redefine what government believes childhood is for.

For too long, early years policy has treated childcare primarily as an economic tool. Success has been measured by how quickly parents can return to work, how efficiently funded hours are delivered, and how well children meet predetermined outcomes. This has shaped a system where economic priorities and measurable performance dominate.

Successive governments have promised reform, yet little has fundamentally changed.

The Conservatives expanded childcare entitlements and promoted parental choice through a mixed system of providers. Labour has largely continued this approach, extending funded childcare while maintaining similar structures and accountability measures. The rhetoric has shifted, but the underlying model remains.

The question is no longer whether we need more childcare places. It is whether we have lost sight of what early childhood is actually for.

The current system has enabled more parents to work, which is important. But it has also created significant pressures. Providers continue to close. Recruitment and retention remain major challenges. Maintained nursery schools face uncertainty. Funding often falls short of the true cost of quality provision. Practitioners face growing administrative demands while having less time with children.

Perhaps most concerning is that policy increasingly values what can be measured rather than what matters.

Relationships, belonging, curiosity, creativity, emotional security and joyful play are difficult to quantify, yet they are the foundations of lifelong learning. When accountability focuses narrowly on measurable outcomes, these essential aspects of childhood risk being overlooked.

This is not an argument against accountability or supporting parents into employment. Both are important. It is an argument for recognising that early childhood should not be designed solely around economic productivity.

If Andy Burnham wants to present a different vision for Britain, he should begin by recognising early childhood as essential public infrastructure.

That means developing a long-term workforce strategy that addresses pay, professional status and career progression. It means creating sustainable funding that reflects the real costs of quality provision. It means protecting maintained nursery schools while valuing the contribution of all providers within a coherent national system.

It also means moving beyond an obsession with school readiness. Children do not thrive because they meet narrow measures at the earliest possible age. They flourish through secure relationships, meaningful play, responsive adults and environments that nurture curiosity, confidence and wellbeing.

If we define success only by what can be measured at five, we risk overlooking what children need at two, three and four. A genuinely progressive vision for early childhood would place relationships before results, pedagogy before performance measures and children’s rights alongside economic priorities. It would recognise that play is not the opposite of learning but one of its richest forms.

The challenge for any future Labour leader is not simply to spend more money. It is to articulate a different philosophy of childhood. Britain does not need another government that makes incremental changes while leaving core assumptions untouched. It needs leaders prepared to ask a more fundamental question: what kind of childhood do we want to create?

If Andy Burnham is serious about renewing both Labour and public services, early childhood offers the chance to show that policy can be driven by relationships, community and long-term social investment.

Children deserve more than a system designed primarily around economic efficiency. They deserve a childhood built on joy, play, belonging and love.

That would not simply be a different education policy.

It would be a different vision for the country. I know that Andy Burnham won’t read this, but if he does I’m happy to chat about the great things and the ways we can make early childhood opportunities amazing for all, truly giving every child the best start in life.