Early years graduate pilot scheme should pay more

The Children's Workforce Development Council is currently inviting tenders to run a pilot based on the Teach First scheme, which aims to attract top graduates into teaching. But the financial package on offer for the early years scheme would only amount to between £16,000 and £18,000 a year.

The three-year pilot will see 60 graduates, who have achieved at least a 2:1, train for two years, gaining Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) in the first year.

But John Chowcat, general secretary of union Aspect, said that the package proposed is inferior to Teach First. "If you add it all up it is still below the £17,000 to £20,000 offered on Teach First, which also offers other benefits such as 13 weeks holiday and access to a pension," he said.

Members of Teach First gain Qualified Teacher status at the end of the first year, which guarantees a salary of £21,000, but there is no such salary level attached to EYPS.

"To achieve what the campaign for teaching has done, it will be essential to look at salaries," said Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association.

Dwynwen Stepien, director of the early Childhood Unit, also warned "parachuting graduates with 2:1s into settings may have its own dangers of alienating a poorly paid workforce".

The project is due to start in autumn, although the contract for delivering it is set to be awarded in April, unless a general election is called before then.