The We Society S9 Ep7: Investing in the Early Years: Can policy catch up with evidence? with Eleanor Ireland
Nov 12, 2025
32:01
Almost a third of five-year-olds in Britain enter primary school without the essential language, communication, and literacy skills they need to thrive. Eleanor Ireland, our guest today, looks at the critical importance of early childhood development and the widening disadvantage gap as inequality deepens in Britain.
Eleanor is one of the Programme Heads for Education at the Nuffield Foundation, which tackles the UK’s biggest social challenges by funding research, generating evidence, and guiding decision-makers to implement solutions that improve people’s lives.
In her conversation with Will, they look at how support systems for parents and children have changed over the years, and the potential impact of the new UK Government policy of providing 30 hours of free childcare a week for working parents with under 5s.
In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.
Eleanor is one of the Programme Heads for Education at the Nuffield Foundation, which tackles the UK’s biggest social challenges by funding research, generating evidence, and guiding decision-makers to implement solutions that improve people’s lives.
In her conversation with Will, they look at how support systems for parents and children have changed over the years, and the potential impact of the new UK Government policy of providing 30 hours of free childcare a week for working parents with under 5s.
In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
Don’t want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to.
The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.
Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
A Whistledown Production
Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert
A Whistledown Production