Major Middlesex-led study calls for government guidance on nursery baby rooms

One of the largest studies of nursery baby rooms in England to date led by Middlesex University and funded by the Nuffield Foundation has called for clear government guidance on the services for babies

More than 300 baby room educators and nursery managers responsible for thousands of babies have been interviewed or provided comments in the study.
Researchers wanted to find out what makes high-quality provision for children aged 0 to 2 and studied academic literature as well as interviewing baby room and nursery staff through online surveys, focus groups, conferences and dedicated workshops.

In future, the research calls for the government to provide clear guidance on the purposes of baby rooms and that this would then be embedded into the national Early Years Foundation Stage structure and the Best Start in Life strategy.

Kayla Halls, a Researcher in Early Childhood Studies at Middlesex University who co-led the research, said: “It’s been wonderful to see growing attention, research and training focused on the baby room. As the baby room project comes to a close, we’re calling on the Department for Education to set out a clear purpose for baby rooms. Having a clear purpose for baby room provision means everyone, from baby room educators to policy makers, have a shared understanding of who baby rooms are for, what they do, and why they matter. This in turn helps professionals work together more effectively, reducing inequalities, strengthening support for families, and giving babies the best possible start.”

The final research report has identified how group size was one of the biggest factors in the quality of baby rooms. While a 1 staff to 3 babies’ ratio was considered appropriate, in reality the number of babies in a room and settling down to rest at any one time as well as the physical layout of a baby room were more important influences.

With so many babies in one space, researchers say it can become impossible to provide the calm environments babies need to thrive. In workshops with baby room educators and nursery leaders, none suggested that an ideal baby room should contain more than 19 babies, but the research sample suggested this represented 15% of baby rooms.

The research concluded: “While our sample included baby rooms with up to 30 babies, all of our project strands point toward the need for significantly smaller group sizes, and 6–12 babies was identified in the vision-building workshops as an ideal size among baby room educators and nursery managers.”

Researchers found that baby room work is “highly skilled” but the expertise of staff is not “consistently recognised or supported”. Staff are concerned about the relevance of existing qualifications, the lack of access to baby-specific professional learning, and the relatively low status afforded to work with babies within the sector and beyond.

"It's fantastic to see signs that this research is making a difference – from recommendations around capping group size in school-based nurseries to new baby-specific professional learning opportunities for the workforce. But this is only the beginning. If we are serious about giving every child the best start in life, we cannot continue to overlook babies’ experiences in nursery. This is a vital part of what they experience, and we have a collective responsibility to ensure the very youngest children in our society receive the care, relationships and learning experiences they deserve."

Dr Mona Sakr, an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Studies at Middlesex University who co-led the research

The final research report, Achieving High-Quality Provision in English Baby-rooms co-authored by Dr Sakr and Ms Halls from Middlesex University and Dr Sarah Bonetti, an independent researcher.

Read the final report and find out more about the work via the Babyroom project website or the Nuffield Foundation website.

The Nuffield Foundation, an independent charitable trust, funds research that informs social policy, primarily in Education, Welfare, and Justice.